A note on the origin of the ablative case in modern Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic)
A note on the origin of the ablative case in modern Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic)
Author(s): José Andrés Alonso de la FuenteSubject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Non-European Languages
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Inuit-Yupik-Unangax languages; case; typology; historical linguistics
Summary/Abstract: According to modern descriptions of Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic), the ablative case ending is -minngaanii(t). There is no record of such an ending in the early documentation of the language from around the turn of the twentieth century. This brief contribution attempts to reconcile these two facts by proposing that the ablative in modern Tunumiisut is an innovation that resulted from the interaction of the noun and the demonstrative declensions which is facilitated by well-known mechanisms in the history of the Inuit-Yupik languages.
Journal: Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
- Issue Year: 143/2026
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 49-65
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English
