TEMPERATURE TERMS TEMPERATURE TERMS IN WEST GREENLANDICIN WEST GREENLANDIC

AN INVESTIGATION OF AN INVESTIGATION OF PERCEPTUAL, PHYSICAL AND PERCEPTUAL, PHYSICAL AND

SEMANTIC DISTINCTIONS IN THE SEMANTIC DISTINCTIONS IN THE TEMPERATURE DOMAINTEMPERATURE DOMAIN

GREENLANDICGREENLANDIC ESKIMOESKIMO KALAALLISUTKALAALLISUT

Eskimo-Aleut family Eskimo-Aleut family Spoken in Greenland and Denmark Spoken in Greenland and Denmark

(approximately by 45,000)(approximately by 45,000) Dialects: West Greenlandic, Dialects: West Greenlandic,

East Greenlandic East Greenlandic TunumiisutTunumiisut, ,

Thule dialect Thule dialect InuktunInuktun A polysynthetic language A polysynthetic language

POLYSYNTHETIC LANGUAGES

• All words are made up of a stem (base) plus any number of affixes followed by a grammatical (inflectional) ending and, optionally, one or more enclitics beyond that.

Atuarfimmiisimavunga.

atuar-fim-mii-sima-vungaread-place-be.in-PERF-INTR INDIC 1/SG-and

’I have been to school.’

TEMPERATURE TERMS

• Temperature terms are represented by verbs and intransitive participles (derived from the verbs).

• A morphological category of adjectives is not present in West Greenlandic.

TEMPERATURE PHRASES

• In the case of a verbal phrase, the noun occurring in the subject position is the entity whose temperature status is characterized by the verb:

Ullu-mi [[sila]SUBJ [niller-poq]V]VP day-LOC-SG weather-ABS-SG be.cold-INTR-INDIC-3-SG

‘The weather is cold today.’ or ‘It is cold today.’

TEMPERATURE PHRASES

• In the case of a nominal phrase, the noun occurring in the head position is characterized (modified) by an intransitive participle:

[[klima]HEAD [kiat-toq]MOD]NP

climate-ABS-SG heat-PART-INTR-3-SG

‘subtropical climate’ (‘A climate which is hot.’)

Three distinct categories

(1) The category of three temperature zones: the warming, the neutral and the cooling zone (Table A. and B.)

(2) The category of different objects (animate, non-animate, environmental, solid and liquid) whose temperature statuses are characterized by temperature terms (Table A.)

(3) The category of different types of temperature perception: tactile vs. body temperature (Table B.)

The warming zone

1. uunappoq ‘this is hot’(solid / liquid / environmental)

- Uunartoq Qeqertaq ‘Warming Island’

2. kiappoq ‘it is warm’ (weather / degrees)

3. kissarpoq ‘this is warm’ (solid / liquid)

4. oqorpoq ‘this is warm’ (clothes)

5. mannguppoq ‘it is lukewarm’ - weather

The neutral zone

5. mannguppoq ’it is lukewarm, it is warm’ (weather)

6. pueqqorpoq ’it is chilly, it is cool’

(the shift between the neutral and the cooling zone – weather / wind)

The cooling zone

6. (pueqqorpoq ‘it is cool, it is chilly’ – weather)

7. qerivoq ‘this is frozen stiff, the cold affectshim’ (solid / environmental / animate)

8. nillerpoq ‘it/this is cold’ (solid / liquid / weather)

The cooling zone

9. qerinnarpoq ’it is cold, freezes’ (weather / animate*) *the weather is co cold that one is apt to get chilblains or that everything freezes

10. qiianarpoq ‘it is cold, it is so cold that one freezes’ (weather)

11. issippoq ‘it is cold’ (weather / degrees)12. qiiavoq ‘he/she or an animal is freezing’

(animate)

Conclusion

Variety and different distributions of West Greenlandic temperature lexicalizations

result from different nominal and physical classifications

(1) Physical parameters

Clear distinctions between temperature zones (Tables A. and B.)

Temperature terms mark the distinction between zones above and below the

freezing point

(2) Noun-verb combinability

Distinctions between nominal entities which can occur with temperature verbs (Table A.):

- environmental objects (air temperature, weather conditions, wind)

- other (animate and non-animate) objects than environmental objects

(3) Perceptual distinction

The West Greenlandic data exemplify interaction among different physical parameters as we see in:

- nillerpoq (tactile vs. body temperature)

- qerivoq (tactile vs. body temperature)

A language with ’two temperatures’

issisiut ‘a device that measures outside temperature - a thermometer’

kissarnersiut

’a device that measures body temperature

- a clinical thermometer’