Two people recently asked me about postbases so I will try to answer here.
Postbase is a term used in Inuttitut linguistics for morphemes (pieces of a word) that follow the base (root). They should not be confused with endings such as -vunga -mut etc. which appear at the very right of the word and are very grammatical.
base + (postbase(s)) + ending Here ( ) means it is optional – not necessary.
a. a postbase can follow a noun
Kimmik ‘the dog’
dog
Kimm-siak ‘the good dog’
dog-good
b. a postbase can follow a verb.
nigi-vunga ‘I am eating’
eat-statement.1s
nigi-guma-vunga ‘I want to eat’
eat-want-statement.1s
c. a postbase can change a noun into a verb.
Kimmi-Ka-vuk ‘There is a dog’
dog-there.is-indicative.3s
d. a postbase can change a verb into a noun.
ilinnia-vunga ‘I am learning’
learn-statement.1s
ilinnia-vik ‘school (a place for learning)’
e. and very importantly, postbases follow other postbases. This allows an Inuttitut word to be like an English sentence.
nutaga-tsa-Ka-li-mmi-juk ‘She is going to have another baby’
child-potential-have-now-again-statement.3s
