Atautsikkut: When two actions happen together
Raigelee Alorut and Alana Johns
University of Toronto
I Introduction
This research is part of an ongoing project on the syntax of Inuktitut that investigates properties
of the grammar through oral text data. There are a number of grammatical topics that do not
readily lend themselves to investigation through standard elicitation techniques, although
elicitation can be utilized once analysis has proceeded past a certain point. In particular these
grammatical topics concern links between clauses (see Berge 1997).
There are approximately 6-10 sets of moods markers combined with agreement on the
right end of verbs in Inuktitut. A mood marker is an obligatory element of a verb and
differentiates verb use based on statements, interrogatives, conditionals, etc. This talk is going to
address aspects of one set of mood markers - Atautsikkut. We provide an example in (1), with
Atautsikkut in bold.
1. taqqijaq-&unuk
watching.movie-Ataut.1dual
najanngaqpa-lauq-puguk
Harper 1974, p. 27
nodd.off-d.past-1dual.
[our gloss]
‘While we (2) were watching the movie, we kept nodding off to sleep’
The use of this mood is complex to describe. We will discuss aspects of how it has been
described in previous linguistic literature and also report some properties that have not been
reported. Some of the insights into our findings originate with a class in Nain, Nunatsiavut in
1998, attended by some well-known Labrador language specialists including Rose Pamack,
Bertha Holeiter and Sarah Townley. They are all speakers of the Labrador dialect but in this
paper, we will be focussing our discussion on South Baffin dialects. We will also be leaving aside
some important morphophonological, tense and grammatical variations of forms in this mood, as
they would take us beyond our main points. Our concern in this paper is not a complete analysis
but to present new facts and to discuss the methodologies we are using to examine this mood (see
Kristensen 2010 who is also exploring new methodologies). Since the Atautsikkut mood is used
to connect sentences in discourse, we have been collecting data from solicited written stories,
radio interviews from the internet and the Nunavut Hansard1.
1
Thanks to Richard Compton for suggesting this as a tool in our research.
We will show that a particular set of Atautsikkut forms which are described in the
literature as designating different person subjects (Harper 1974, Smith 1977, Dorais 1988, etc.) is
in fact not always restricted to this use, but can also be used with same person subjects (see also
Hayashi 2010). In addition, we will also show a novel inflectional from of Atautsikkut which
combines properties of both the same subject verb forms and the different subject verb forms 2.
II What is Atautsikkut?
The mood we are examining has received a vast number of English linguistic labels over the
years.3 These include: participial/participle, conjunctive, gerundial, concomitant, contemporative,
appositional, infinitive, and non-finite. Spalding (1992,121) comments on his own term for what
we are calling Atautsikkut mood:
The use of the word participle to describe the -&unga, -&utit, &uni mode of
expression is only partially valid. Certainly it sometimes approximates the
participle form in English. Sometime, however, its use is definitely gerundive, at
others, imperative, and at others still, it seems to replace ordinary indicative
modes. I am using the term participle, then, until someone discovers a more
accurate one, realizing that it is also inadequate to describe the variety of its
functions, realizing that this mode is really a jack-of-all-trades, capable of great
flexibility.
We have adopted the Inuktitut term Atautsikkut for this mood from Dorais (1988). The
mood often indicates that an action takes place at the very same time as another action, as
in the example above in (1). Our choice of term focuses on the fact that one of the central
properties of this mood is the idea of actions happening at the one time; atautsik means
‘one.’
The importance of the Atautsikkut mood within the grammar of Inuktitut is
mentioned in the above quote from Spalding, and it is nicely summarized in Harper
(1974, 22): “The participial [Atautsikkut] mood is the most difficult of verb forms to
master, yet the simple fact is that fluency in the language depends on its mastery.”
2
Atautsikkut relies on the grammatical notion of subject but in this paper we will ignore this
issue and discuss only whether the argument is same person or different person, i.e. coreferential
or not.
3
In fact the closest theoretical term for this mood may be absolute construction, as suggested by
Monica Irmia (see Stump 1985).
We will now describe what we are calling Classic Atautsikkut, by which we mean the description
of Atautsikkut according to published grammars.
II Classic Atautsikkut
According to Harper (1974), Smith (1977), and Dorais (1988), which set of Atautsikkut forms a
speaker uses depends on whether the person of the verb which will be marked in Atautsikkut is
the same person (SP) as the person of the main verb, or whether it is a different person (DP) from
the person of the main verb. If the Atautsikkut verb has the same person (SP) as that of the main
verb, regular Atautsikkut endings are used. This rule is shown in (2).
2. a. Q: Is it SP?
YES  use regular Atautsikkut forms
b. taqqijaq-&unuk
watching.movie-Ataut.1dual
najanngaqpa-lauq-puguk
Harper 1974, p. 27
nodd.off-d.past-1dual.
[our gloss]
SP-1du.
1 du.
‘While we (2) were watching the movie, we kept nodding off to sleep’
c. anuri-lauq-tuq
qanniq-tualu-liq-suni
windy-d.past-part.3s.
snow-a.lot-progr.Atau.3sRefl
3s.
SP-3sRefl
‘It was windy, also very snowing’ (see Appendix A)
In (2b) we see that those watching the movie are the same person (SP) 'we' as those nodding off
to sleep. Accordingly, the regular Atautsikkut form -&unuk is used. Similarly in (2b), the same
person (SP), in this case the weather (sila) or 'it', is both windy and snowing. We therefore find
the regular Atautsikkut form –suni. Note that –suni is also marked as third person reflexive which
also indicates that it is same entity as another argument. We show the full set of regular
Atautsikut forms in (3).
3. Regular Atautsikkut forms (intransitive), etc. 4
singular
dual
plural
1
-&unga
-&unuk
-&uta
2
-&utit
-&utik
-&usi
3R
-&uni
-&utik
-&utik
4
Dialects vary as to whether they use & or s so these forms can also be –sunga, -suni, etc. as in
(2c).
What if the Atautsikkut verb form does not involve the same person (SP) as that of the main
verb? What if instead they are different persons (DP)?
NO it’s DP.  use the ti- forms of Atautsikkut
4. a. Q: Is it SP?
b. mumiq-tidlunga
dance-tiAtau.1s
pani-ga
qia-lauq-tuq
daughter-1s/s
cry-d.past-part.3s
DP-1s
(Harper 1974, 28)
3s.
‘While I was dancing, my daughter cried.’
c. tupat-tillunga
silatsiava-u-lauq-tuq
wake.up-tiAtau.1s
(see Appendix A)
good.weather-be-d.past-part.3s
DP-1s.
3s
‘When I woke up in the morning, it was nice weather’
We see in the example (4b) that 'I' is a different person from 'my daughter'. Likewise in (4c) 'I' is
a different person from the weather 'it' being described. For this reason we do not find the regular
Atautsikkut endings from (3), but instead we find the ti- forms of Atautsikkut from (5).
5. Forms of ti-Atautsikkut
sing
dual
plural
1
-tillunga
-tillunuk
-tilluta
2
-tillutit
-tillutik
-tillusi
3
-tillugu
-tillugik
-tillugit
Thus Classic Atautsikkut describes the forms in (3) as being used for same person and forms in
(5) as being used for different person.
As Spalding (1992) and Hayashi (2010) point out, if there is no tense marking on the
Atautsikkut verb, the action takes place at the very same time as the main verb. Thus if the main
verb ('windy') is marked as being in the past, as in (6), the Atautsikkut verb describing snowing
takes place in the past even though there is no past marking on this verb.
6.
anuri-lauq-tuq
qanniq-tualu-liq-suni
[see Appendix A]
windy-d.past.3s
snow-a.lot-prog.-Atau.3sR
‘It was windy and snowing a lot.’
In contrast, if the Atautsikkut verb itself is marked for past, the action it describes must
take place BEFORE the time of the main verb, as in (7), where the eating takes place
before the walking because of the –lauq- marking on the Atautsikkut verb.
7. niri-lauq-sunga
pisu-rajaa-lauq-punga
[see Appendix A]
eat-d.past-At.1s. walk-take.time-d.past-indic.1s
‘After I ate, I went for a walk’
III Methodologies.
We have been investigating the use of Atautsikkut with a variety of methodologies to collect
natural data.
i. The first method is composed stories where fluent Inuit speakers are asked to write a short story
in Inuktitut without translating from or thinking in English. The emphasis on avoiding the
influence of English is called “direct Inuktitut" (Dicker, Dunbar and Johns 2009).
ii. Our second method has been to record and transcribe excerpts from Inuktitut public radio
through the internet.
iii. The third method is investigate Inuktitut data from the online Nunavut Hansard, keeping in
mind that these are transcriptions and translations for legislative not linguistic purposes.
IV Preliminary Findings
Through these various methods we are able to arrive at some findings. The first is one which was
originally pointed out in a class in Nain in 1998. This is that ti-forms forms of Atautsikkut are not
restricted to different persons for some dialects.
8. Labrador Inuttut
a. tânsi-tlunga nigi-lau-kKunga
dance-Atau.1s.
eat-d.past-indicative.1s
OR
b. tânsi-tillunga
dance-tiAtau.1s
nigi-laukKunga
eat-d.past-indic.1s
'While I was dancing, I ate'
In the Labrador examples in (8) we see that even though 'I' is the same person for the both verbs,
we can find either the regular Atautsikkut ending in (8a) or the ti-Atautsikkut ending in (8b). We
have found that both possibilities are allowed for same person in South Baffin as well, as in (9).
9. South Baffin
a. mumiq-sunga
dance-Atau.1s
niri-lauq-tunga
eat-d.past-part.1s
OR
b. mumiq-tillunga
niri-lauq-tunga
dance-tiAtaus.1s
eat-d.past-part.1s
'While I was dancing, I ate'
This fact is further confirmed in the written stories, as shown by the example in (10).
10. uvattinnuq-tillunga niqi-liu-si-lauq-punga [see Appendix A]
get.home-tiAtau.1s
food-make-process-d.past-indic.1s
*DP-1s
1s
'When I got home, I made something to eat'
We have not found regular (non ti-forms) being used for different persons, so these forms appear
to be very strict about about same person. The ti-Atautsikkut forms are less strict; they can be
found with different person or same person. We do not know whether this is possible in more
western dialects.
We have also found what appears to be an Atautsikkut ending which has not been
attested in the literature before. Whether this is a new form to the language or simply has not been
reported before is not clear at this time. The new ending is –tilluni which is not seen in either (4)
or (5) above. It is composed of a ti-Atautsikkut form –tillu- we see in (5) plus 3R –ni we see in
(4). It should not exist according to Harper (1974, 28). An example of this ending is in (11).
11. ui-ga
husband-1s/s
niuvi-rasuaq-tilluni
buy-try-tiAtau.3R
utaqqisi-qqau-jara.
[see Appendix B]
wait-n.past-part.1s/3s
'When my husband was trying to buy something, I was waiting for him'
We searched the Nunavut Hansard for the various forms of third person singular Atautsikkut
endings.
(12)
a. X &uni
941
b. X suni
1,779
c. X tillugu
7,737
d. X tilluni
141
The results show that although the attested forms in (12 a-c) predominate, the –tilluni form does
exist, although in small numbers.
V Conclusion
Our preliminary conclusions are that the regular Atautsikkut forms are restricted to same person,
but that the ti-Atautsikkut forms can be found with different person and sometimes with same
person. We have reported an unattested ending –tilluni which combines properties of both the
regular Atautsikkut forms and the ti-Atautsikkut forms. On a final note, this ending is also found
in the Utkuhiksalingmiut dialect, but used there with implied first person reference as in (13).
13. Utkuhiksalingmiut (from Briggs' corpus)
kappiahu-liq-paaq-ti?luni
uqallak-kavit
quyanaq-qutit
frighten-become-more-tiAtau3R
speak-caus.2s thanks-indic.2s
'thanks for speaking (telling me the tape was set very wrong) when I was getting frightened, as
usual'
References
Berge, Anna. 1997. Topic and Discourse Structure in West Greenlandic Agreement
Constructions. Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley.
Dicker, Joan, Ewan Dunbar and Alana Johns. 2009. Developing intermediate language learning
materials: a Labrador Inuttitut story database. In J. Reyhner, ed., Indigenous Language
Revitalization: Encouragement, Guidance and Lessons Learned. Flagstaff, Arizona:
Northern Arizona University, 155-166. Available online: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/ILR/
Dorais, Louis-Jacques. 1988. Tukilik: An Inuktitut Grammar for All. Association Inuksiutiit
katimajiit Inc. Université Laval.
Dorais, Louis-Jacques. 2010. The Language of the Inuit. Montreal: McGill Queen's University
Press.
Harper, Ken. 1974. Some aspects of the grammar of the Eskimo dialects of Cumberland
Peninsula and North Baffin Island. National Museum of Man Mercury Series. Ethnology
Division Paper No. 15.
Hayashi, Midori. 2010. The Structure of Multiple Tenses in Inuktitut. Ph.D. thesis, University of
Toronto.
Kristensen, Tikaajaat. 2010. The use of code switching on Facebook among Kalaallit youth. 17th
Inuit Studies Conference, Val-D'Or, Québec.
Nunavut Hansard. url: <http://www.inuktitutcomputing.ca/en/main.html>
Spalding, Alex. 1992. Inuktitut: a grammar of North Baffin Dialects Vol. 1 & 2. Winnipeg:
Wuerz Publishing.
Smith, Lawrence R. 1977. Some Grammatical Aspects of Labrador Inuttut. Ottawa: Mercury
Series, Museum of Man.
Stump, Gregory T. The semantic variability of absolute constructions. Dordrecht: D. Reidel
Publishing.
Appendix A: Saila's Story
DP=Form associated with different person subject of Atautsikkut.
SP=Forms associated with same person subject of Atautsikkut.
*=form that is SP meaning with DP form.
Author: Saila Michael [Iqaluit – Southeast Baffin]
1.
Kajjarnaqtillugu sila
[When the weather was great]
2. ippatsaq ullakut tupattillunga silatsiavaulauqtuq siqinnilauqtuq ammalu
DP-1s.
3s
3s
[When I woke up in the morning it was nice weather, it was sunny and]
3. qannilaungmijuq. nirilauqsunga pisurajaalauqpunga ammalu angajukkunut
SP-1s.
1s.
pulaarialauqtunga,
1s.
[it was snowing too. After I ate I went for a walk and went to visit my older sister,]
4. quviasulauqtunga taikanittillunga tiitulaurama ammalu takulaurakku angajuga Naulaq.
1s
*DP-1s
[I was happy. While I was there when I had tea and saw my older sister Naulaq.]
5. angajukkunningaaqsunga niuvirvingmuulauqtunga
SP-1s
1s
[After I came from my sister. I went to the store]
6. amisunit niuvilauqpunga nirijatsanit.
[and bought lots of groceries, , something to eat.]
7. uvattinnuuliqtillunga anurilauqtuq qanniqtualuliqsuni
DP-1s
3s.
SP-3sRefl
ammalu nuvujalauqtuq.
3s.
[While I was on my way home it was windy also very snowing and also cloudy]
8. uvattinnuqtillunga niqiliusilauqpunga
*DP-1s
1s
mamalauqtuq amisunit nirijatsaliulaurama.
[When I got home I made something to eat; it was good. I had lots of things to eat.
9. taqajummarialulauqpunga taaqtillugu
1s.
DP-3s
unnukkut sinigasualauqtunga 11-muuqtillugu.
1s
DP-3s.
[I got so tired when it got dark in the evening. I went to go to sleep at 11pm.]
10. qanuilangavakkiaq qauppat silami.
Wonder what is the weather going to be tomorrow.
Appendix B: Raigelee’s day
Author Ragelee Alorut (Iqaluit: South Baffin with Hall Beach influence)
1. ullaaq iqqumarama suli irnngutaakka sinittillugit makiqqaujunga,
DP-3p
1s
When I woke up this morning, my grandkids were still sleeping.
2. kaapiliulauq&unga tiiliuq&ungalu siggaliaqturiaqtuqqaujunga.
SP-1s
SP-1s
1s
I made some coffee and tea, then went for a smoke.
3. ullaaq anigama aniiqtukuluutillugit qimmikuluukka takuqqaujaaka.
DP-3p
1s/3d
When I went out this morning, I saw my two little dogs outside.
4. silattiavaaluukaujuq, kaapituriirama
qarisaujaliriqqaujunga ammalu pijaksakka kamagijjuumillugit.
1s
SP-1s/3p
It was very nice outside. After I had some coffee I was on my computer and did some work that I
have to do.
5. ullaarumitaliusiqqaujunga kaalirama.
I started to make breakfast when I got hungry.
6. ullaarumitaliuqtilunga suli irngutara siniqqaujuq.
DP-1s
3s
When I was making breakfast, my grandkid was still sleeping.
7. iqqumarami nirisiqqaujuq paanikiikmi. nirigiiratta salummaqsaisiqqaujunga.
When he woke up, he had some pancakes. After we ate I started to clean up.
8. irrutuillungalu saniq&ungalu piqqaujunga.
SP-1s
SP-1s
1s
I did the dishes and washed the floor.
9. salummaqsaigiirama uqalimaasiqqaujunga.
After I did some cleaning, I did some reading.
10. irngutaakka aniiqtilugit pijaksakka pilirijjuumigasuaqqaujaakka.
DP-3p
1s/3p
When my grandkids were outside, I tried to work on my studies.
11. suli pijariiqtinnanga uvanga pijaksanginni qaiqqaujuit.
DP-neg.1s
3p
When I was not done yet, my grandkids came.
12. irngutara unikkaaqqaujuq pinguavimmiitilluguguuq uqquusiqqaujuq.
*DP-3s 3s
My grandkid said that, when he was in the playground, he got hot.
13. angirraqsimalirmata uimajualuuliqqaujut aisikuliiqtuqqaummata.
When they were at home, they started to run around because they had some ice cream.
14. unnuliqtilugu nirigiiqsimaliqtiluta, paniga uvattinniitilluni, uigalu
DP-3s
DP-1p
DP-3R
pisurajaasiqqaujugut niuvirvimmut.
1p
When it was getting dark, after we had some supper, when my daughter was at our place, my
husband and I went for a walk to the store.
15. unnuttiavaaluuqaujuq anuriqqaunngimmat sila.
It was such a nice evening because it was not windy outside.
16. uiga niuvirasuaqtilluni utaqqisiqaujara qimirruaqtillunga piujuutialunnik.
DP-3R
1s/3s
*DP-1s
When my husband was trying to buy something, I was waiting for him while I was browsing
the products.
17. niuviriirannuk uigalu pisuttillunu angirramut taaqtualuuqaujuq.
DP-1p.
3s
After we bought something, my husband and I were walking home and it was dark.
18. unnumat uirngaliratta sinigasuaqtuinnausiqqaujugut.
In the evening we were tired then we all went to sleep.