TEMPERATURE TERMS IN WEST GREENLANDIC

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TEMPERATURE TERMS IN WEST GREENLANDIC

• AN INVESTIGATION OF PERCEPTUAL, PHYSICAL AND
  SEMANTIC DISTINCTIONS IN THE TEMPERATURE DOMAIN

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GREENLANDIC ESKIMO KALAALLISUT

• Eskimo-Aleut family
• Spoken in Greenland and Denmark (approximately by
  45,000)
• Dialects West Greenlandic, East Greenlandic
  Tunumiisut,
• Thule dialect Inuktun
• A polysynthetic language

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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.

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Atuarfimmiisimavunga.

• atuar-fim-mii-sima-vungaread-place-be.in-PERF-INT
  R INDIC 1/SG-and
• I have been to school.

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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.

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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 silaSUBJ niller-poqVVP
  day-LOC-SG weather-ABS-SG
  be.cold-INTR-INDIC-3-SGThe weather is cold
  today. or It is cold today.

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TEMPERATURE PHRASES

• In the case of a nominal phrase, the noun
  occurring in the head position is characterized
  (modified) by an intransitive participle
• klimaHEAD kiat-toqMODNP
• climate-ABS-SG heat-PART-INTR-3-SG
• subtropical climate (A climate which is hot.)

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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.)

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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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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Conclusion

• Variety and different distributions of West
  Greenlandic temperature lexicalizations result
  from different nominal and physical
  classifications

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(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

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(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

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(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)

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A language with two temperatures

• issisiut a device that measures outside
  temperature - a thermometer
• kissarnersiut
• a device that measures body temperature
• - a clinical thermometer