Number in marori

2021 ◽  
pp. 660-681
Author(s):  
I Wayan Arka
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Dual Number ◽  
European Languages

The number system in Marori shows a three-way distinction (singular–dual–plural) with distributed and often underspecified (plural vs nonplural, or singular vs non-singular) marking. Nominal number is expressed via marking of free pronouns and certain nouns and their associated verbal indexing, with a three-way distinction in first and second bound pronominals, and a two-way underspecified distinction elsewhere. Verbal number is expressed by suppletive verbal root alternations, typically singular vs non-singular. Dual number/duactional can be expressed by a combination of non-singular and nonplural exponents. Number agreement is semantic in nature, with mismatches possibly expressing an inclusory meaning or a small plural/paucal meaning. While radically different from English in its number system, Marori is similar to English and other European languages in terms of the distribution of plural meanings under negation and other contexts.

The evolution of number in Otomi

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique L. Palancar
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Number System ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Dual Number ◽  
Linguistic Family ◽  
Interesting Object ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Dual Forms

Otomi (Oto-Pamean, Oto-Manguean) is a small group of languages spoken in Mexico which has emerged as a linguistic family in recent times. In this paper, I study relevant changes in the number system of the Otomi languages. These changes constitute an interesting object of study to gain a better understanding of two main phenomena: aspects of language change involving the loss of the dual number; and the constraints on number agreement restricted to conjoining structures. I show that changes in the number system in the Otomi family have different outcomes depending on the dialectal area. Such outcomes include the loss of dual morphology through a semantic rearrangement where the old dual forms have become exponents of either paucal or plural number. In some of the varieties, the old dual is still preserved, but it is relegated to male speech as a token of partnership and camaraderie.

scholarly journals Auxiliary clitics in Polish

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
Dorota Jagódzka
Keyword(s):  
Past Tense ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
The One ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Clitic Placement

Polish auxiliary clitics constitute an interesting set of data which draws attention to cross-linguistic differences among Slavic languages. A general principle for clitic placement in Indo-European languages is the one described by Jacob Wackernagel in his 1892 work. He concluded that clitics appeared in the second position in the clause, after the first word in a sentence. This pattern was true to some degree in Old Church Slavonic and still holds for a number of contemporary Slavic languages e.g. Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Czech and Slovak which have second position clitics. Bulgarian and Macedonian have verb adjacent pronominal clitics and Polish has auxiliary clitics (Migdalski 2007, 2010, Pancheva 2005). Also in the older versions of Polish language the above mentioned tendency was strong. In Modern Polish auxiliary clitics attach to the l-participle most frequently. However, one of the unusual properties they possess is the ability to choose almost every clausal element for their host. Polish auxiliary clitics can trigger morphophonological alternations on their hosts, which is an affix-like property; however, at the same time they display clearly clitic-like behaviour when they attach freely to words of any lexical class. The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the morpho-syntactic properties of two kinds of auxiliary clitics: bound and free. The bound clitics carry person-number agreement markers for past tense (the so called ‘floating’ or ‘mobile’ inflections). The free clitic is the morpheme by used for conditional and subjunctive mood.

scholarly journals Countability, agreement and the loss of the dual in Russian

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-821
Author(s):  
ARTHUR STEPANOV ◽  
PENKA STATEVA
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
Dual Number ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Theoretical Claim ◽  
Internal Syntax ◽  
Quantifier Phrases ◽  
Modern Russian

In this work we investigate the internal syntax and semantics of quantifier phrases (QP) involving cardinal numerals. Concentrating on a set of previously documented puzzles concerning Case and number agreement within the numeral phrase in Russian, we argue that these agreement patterns follow naturally if one recognizes three structural layers in a numeral-based QP: the countability layer, the number layer and the quantificational layer. Our central theoretical claim is that the countability layer is implemented as a (pseudo-)classifier structure whose morphological manifestation obeys a principle of syntactic ‘visibility’. Our specific claim for Russian is that, diachronically, this countability layer has emerged as a result of the loss of the dual number in the course of transition between Old and Modern Russian. We strengthen our conclusions with psycholinguistic evidence from a sentence completion study that tests Russian speakers’ sensitivity to the countability layer.

scholarly journals Non-transitive information flow in Japanese noun-classifier matching

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Levy ◽  
David Yoshikazu Oshima
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Number Agreement ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Measure Phrase ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Different Types

In Japanese, as in other classifier languages like Chinese and Malay, numerals do not directly quantize nouns, but first combine with a classifier to form a measure phrase (MP; cf. Aikhenvald 2000). From the perspective of constraint-based approaches to syntax/semantics, the mutual selective restriction between classifiers and nouns can be stated in terms of information-sharing and featural identity, to some extent parallel to the treatment of gender/number agreement (between determiner and noun, for instance) (cf. Pollard and Sag 1994; Kathol 1999). There are, however, data that challenge this line of approach to noun-classifier matching. We demonstrate in this paper that it is possible that a single noun is associated with different types of classifier, and show why they are problematic for unification-based approaches, similar to the situation with case syncretism in European languages (Ingria 1990 and others). Later in the paper, we argue that information-sharing between noun, predicate and classifier is not completely transitive, and present a formal analysis which models multiple selectional requirements with sets.

scholarly journals COMPOSITION OF NUMERAL SYSTEMS ACROSS LANGUAGES (MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS IN NUMBERS)

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoang Thi Chau
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
Last Millennium ◽  
Semiotic System ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Mathematical Problems ◽  
Numeral Systems ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Decimal Numeration

The number system is investigated in this study as a small yet typical semiotic system of a larger one, i.e. language. The double-faceted nature of signs is self-evident: most numbers have two senses, one being morphological and the other being lexical. Underlying the different additions and multiplications in numbers is peoples’ mathematical and linguistic thought. While the Vietnamese reveal their mathematical thought in “mười”, “mươi”, “một chục” (ten) on the basis of decimal numeration, the French are opted for vigesimal numeration (80=4x20 – quatre vingt), and the Taiwanese merely rely on their hands and fingers. The systematicity and national peculiarities are also visible, even though numbers may have been borrowed from other languages. In this paper, we use data from ethnic languages in Vietnam, Austroasiatic and Austronesian languages, or, to be accurate, Austro-Tai languages which are closely related to Vietnamese. Some languages beyond Vietnam’s borders are also referred to when necessary. We compare and contrast the number systems in isolating, analytic languages in Vietnam and Southeast Asia with those in Indo-European languages, including such typical inflectional, synthetic languages as French, English and German before drawing general conclusions. Finally, the paper offers an overview of the evolution of number systems across languages spanning from about 10,000 years ago to the last millennium, as well as ancestral relations among languages.

Non-standard methods for converting numbers from one number system to another

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 28-30
Author(s):  
D. M. Zlatopolski
Keyword(s):  
Binary System ◽  
Maximum Degree ◽  
Number System ◽  
Binary Form ◽  
Binary Number ◽  
Standard Methods ◽  
Optimal Variant ◽  
Decimal System ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Independent Work

The article describes a number of little-known methods for translating natural numbers from one number system to another. The first is a method for converting large numbers from the decimal system to the binary system, based on multiple divisions of a given number and all intermediate quotients by 64 (or another number equal to 2n ), followed by writing the last quotient and the resulting remainders in binary form. Then two methods of mutual translation of decimal and binary numbers are described, based on the so-called «Horner scheme». An optimal variant of converting numbers into the binary number system by the method of division by 2 is also given. In conclusion, a fragment of a manuscript from the beginning of the late 16th — early 17th centuries is published with translation into the binary system by the method of highlighting the maximum degree of number 2. Assignments for independent work of students are offered.

Latvian agent nouns: their meaning, grammar, and use

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 79-131
Author(s):  
Nicole Nau
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Morphological Process ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Concept Building ◽  
Referential Function ◽  
Colloquial Style ◽  
Verbal Arguments

This article explores semantic and grammatical properties of Latvian agent nouns that are derived from verbs by the suffix -ēj- (for primary verbs) or -tāj- (for secondary verbs). These formations show several peculiarities that distinguish them from agent nouns in other European languages and from similar Latvian nouns formed by other means. They are specialized in meaning, highly regular and transparent. They show verbal features such as aspectuality and combinability with adverbs, and they may inherit verbal arguments. The productivity of the formation is almost unlimited, and many ad hoc formations are found in colloquial style, for example in social media. In discourse, agent nouns often have a referential function, either as the only function or in combination with a concept-building function. The focus of the article is on less institutionalized tokens which show the potential of this morphological process that challenges traditional views about the functions of derivation or its delimitation.

Modern Greek V V dvandva compounds: A linguistic innovation in the history of the Indo-European languages

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ralli
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Compound Formation ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
European Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internal Change ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Asian Languages

This paper deals with [V V] dvandva compounds, which are frequently used in East and Southeast Asian languages but also in Greek and its dialects: Greek is in this respect uncommon among Indo-European languages. It examines the appearance of this type of compounding in Greek by tracing its development in the late Medieval period, and detects a high rate of productivity in most Modern Greek dialects. It argues that the emergence of the [V V] dvandva pattern is not due to areal pressure or to a language-contact situation, but it is induced by a language internal change. It associates this change with the rise of productivity of compounding in general, and the expansion of verbal compounds in particular. It also suggests that the change contributes to making the compound-formation patterns of the language more uniform and systematic. Claims and proposals are illustrated with data from Standard Modern Greek and its dialects. It is shown that dialectal evidence is crucial for the study of the rise and productivity of [V V] dvandva compounds, since changes are not usually portrayed in the standard language.

Phonetic iconicity in the evaluative morphology of a sample of Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian languages

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renáta Gregová ◽  
Lívia Körtvélyessy ◽  
Július Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Phonetic Symbolism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Core Vocabulary

Universals Archive (Universal #1926) indicates a universal tendency for sound symbolism in reference to the expression of diminutives and augmentatives. The research ( Štekauer et al. 2009 ) carried out on European languages has not proved the tendency at all. Therefore, our research was extended to cover three language families – Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian. A three-step analysis examining different aspects of phonetic symbolism was carried out on a core vocabulary of 35 lexical items. A research sample was selected out of 60 languages. The evaluative markers were analyzed according to both phonetic classification of vowels and consonants and Ultan's and Niewenhuis' conclusions on the dominance of palatal and post-alveolar consonants in diminutive markers. Finally, the data obtained in our sample languages was evaluated by means of a three-dimensional model illustrating the place of articulation of the individual segments.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document