Denominal forms with –naga in North Saami: Between grammar and lexicon

Abstract

This article discusses the morphology, syntax and semantics of the previously under-described suffix –naga in present-day written North Saami. More precisely, the study presents a detailed description of denominal forms with –naga such as varranaga ‘stained with blood’, málanaga ‘stained with paint’ and betoŋganaga ‘stained with concrete’. Forms with –naga have traditionally been labeled adverbs in dictionaries but have largely been ignored in grammatical descriptions of North Saami. Investigation into the morphosyntactic and semantic functions of the form in actual language use suggests, however, that –naga is best analyzed as a productive derivational suffix that is used to turn mass nouns denoting substances into “contaminative adjectives” that describe mostly unwanted states of objects covered in the substance in question. Although forms with –naga lack the comparative and superlative forms common to ordinary adjectives in North Saami, they exhibit typical adjectival properties in that they occur in predicative and adnominal modifying functions, e.g., Giehta lea varranaga/málanaga/betoŋganaga [hand be.3SG blood/paint/concrete.naga] ‘the hand is stained with blood/paint/concrete’ and varranaga/málanaga/betoŋganaga giehta ‘a hand stained with blood/paint/concrete’. In addition to the most prototypical contaminative meaning of –naga, it is also occasionally used in more abstract and creative functions, such as varranaga tragediija ‘bloody tragedy’ or mihcamárnaga [Midsummer.naga] ‘with remnants of (having celebrated) Midsummer’.