scholarly journals Typology of number systems in languages of Western and Central Siberia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Lasse Däbritz
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Contact Phenomenon ◽  
Central Siberia ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
General Number

This paper investigates the linguistic expression of number in seven languages from Western and Central Siberia. In a first step the number system of each language is described in detail, and afterwards the most relevant convergences and divergences of the languages are dealt with. Three particularly interesting phenomena are discussed in more detail: First, it is shown that the concept of general number, denoting noun forms underspecified for number, is able to account for a range of related phenomena (unmarked noun forms after numerals, nouns denoting paired objects). Second, singulatives in Selkup, Ket and partly Eastern Khanty are analyzed, whereby it is argued that their similar morphosyntactic and grammaticalization patterns allow for analyzing them as a contact phenomenon. Third, two splits on the animacy hierarchy between the first and second person in Dolgan as well as Chulym Turkic are presented. Finally, the results are evaluated against a broader areal-typological background, whereby it is shown that the category of number does not support any larger areal groupings within Western and Central Siberia, but that the analyzed languages rather adhere to patterns of number marking present all over Northern Eurasia.

scholarly journals Nominal and verbal number in Bilugu Opo

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-184
Author(s):  
Joshua A.G. Smolders
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
General Number

Opo (a.k.a. Opuuo, Tʼapo [lgn]), a Koman language spoken in Ethiopia and South Sudan, has complex and interesting systems of both NOMINAL NUMBER and VERBAL NUMBER. This paper provides a description and analysis of these systems as found in the Bilugu dialect of Ethiopia, using Corbett's (2000) model of number systems as a theoretical framework. In Bilugu Opo, NOMINAL NUMBER marking is divided along the animacy hierarchy into two systems. The TOP SYSTEM, encompassing all human referents, marks singular ~ plural opposition via a variety of morphological strategies (lexical, derivational, and inflectional) and patterns (marked plural, marked singular, and both marked). The SECOND SYSTEM, encompassing all non-human referents, encodes GENERAL NUMBER. In the Opo verb system, VERBAL NUMBER (Corbett 2000) or PLURACTIONALITY (Newman 1990) is attested for just under half of verbs. These verbs can be organized into two groups: a large group which derive a plural stem through morpho-phonemic means (tone modification, vowel gemination, and reduplication) with unpredictable semantics, and a small group which derive a plural stem through lexical means (suppletion and stem alternation) with more predictable semantics.

Plural marking on noun-associated forms

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-401
Author(s):  
Francesca Di Garbo
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Type ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Plural Marking ◽  
Type 3 ◽  
Semantic Properties

AbstractNumber systems can be morphosemantic or morphosyntactic, based on whether number marking is restricted to nouns or also extends to noun-associated forms, such as adnominal modifiers, predicates, and pronouns. While it is well-known that asymmetries in the distribution of plural marking on nouns can be due to lexico-semantic properties such as animacy and/or inherent number, the question of whether these properties also affect patterns of plural agreement has been less broadly investigated. This paper examines the distribution of plural agreement in 24 Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) languages. The number systems of the languages of the sample are classified into three types, ranging from radically morphosemantic (Type 1) to radically morphosyntactic (Type 2). A subset of languages displays a combination of morphosemantic and morphosyntactic strategies, and thus qualifies as a mixed type (Type 3). In these languages, the distribution of plural agreement is largely lexically-specified: nouns denoting groups, masses, and collections are more likely to trigger plural agreement than other types of nouns. These results thus show that, similarly to the nominal domain, the lexical semantics of nouns may also affect plural marking on noun-associated forms. Furthermore, in Cushitic, radically morphosemantic and radically morphosyntactic number systems appear to be diachronically connected to each other, with the latter seemingly evolving from the former, as testified by ongoing variation and change in some of the sampled languages. The relevance of these findings for understanding the typology and evolution of number systems is discussed.

Inverse number in dagaare

2021 ◽  
pp. 444-462
Author(s):  
Scott Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Number System ◽  
Formal Semantic ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
Semantic Account ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
System P ◽  
Functional Grounding

This chapter examines the inverse number system in Dagaare (Gur; Niger–Congo). Inverse number systems possess a number morpheme which for some nouns encodes the plural interpretation while for others it encodes the singular interpretation. This chapter argues that a principled lexical semantic classification underlies the inverse number strategy in Dagaare, guiding whether for a particular noun the inverse morpheme codes the singular or the plural interpretation. The chapter further explores the functional grounding of inverse number, in terms of frequency and individuation, and presents a formal semantic account of the inverse number system.

A Historical Reconstruction of Our Number System

1991 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 46-48
Author(s):  
Kim Krusen
Keyword(s):  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Number System ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Mathematics Students ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Primitive Society ◽  
Humanistic Approach ◽  
Ancient Civilizations

Imagine your class as a “primitive society” just on the brink of civilization. Your society has been using tally sticks to represent numerical quantities. But now that your society is becoming more involved in commerce with other societies, you need an easier way to represent large numbers and some structure so that numbers can be manipulated. You need an organized number system. Creating a number system from scratch was the recent task of my sixth-grade class. My objective was to offer a more humanistic approach for my students further to understand and appreciate the structure of our number system. As the teacher. I was armed with a general knowledge of the number systems of the great ancient civilizations, and my students were armed with an enthusiasm to be cave dwellers for the day instead of mathematics students. With these resources, we began our project.

Counting in Tongan: The Traditional Number Systems and Their Cognitive Implications

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 213-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bender ◽  
Sieghard Beller
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
General System ◽  
Number System ◽  
General Concept ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Specific Number

AbstractIs the application of more than one number system in a particular culture necessarily an indication of not having abstracted a general concept of number? Does this mean that specific number systems for certain objects are cognitively deficient? The opposite is the case with the traditional number systems in Tongan, where a consistent decimal system is supplemented by diverging systems for certain objects, in which 20 seems to play a special role. Based on an analysis of their linguistic, historical and cultural context, we will show that the supplementary systems did not precede the general system, but were rather derived from it. Especially when notation is lacking, having such supplementary systems can even yield cognitive advantages. In using larger counting units, they both abbreviate counting and expand the limits of the general system, thus facilitating the cognitive task of mental arithmetic.

scholarly journals High-Performance RNS Modular Exponentiation by Sum-Residue Reduction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Wu
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Computer Arithmetic ◽  
Number System ◽  
Residue Number System ◽  
Modular Exponentiation ◽  
Number Systems ◽  
Diffie Hellman ◽  
Residue Number ◽  
Diffie Hellman Key Exchange ◽  
Rsa Cryptography

Abstract Modular exponentiation is fundamental in computer arithmetic and is widely applied in cryptography such as ElGamal cryptography, Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol, and RSA cryptography. Implementation of modular exponentiation in residue number system leads to high parallelism in computation, and has been applied in many hardware architectures. While most RNS based architectures utilizes RNS Montgomery algorithm with two residue number systems, the recent modular multiplication algorithm with sum-residues performs modular reduction in only one residue number system with about the same parallelism. In this work, it is shown that high-performance modular exponentiation and RSA cryptography can be implemented in RNS. Both the algorithm and architecture are improved to achieve high performance with extra area overheads, where a 1024-bit modular exponentiation can be completed in 0.567 ms in Xilinx XC6VLX195t-3 platform, costing 26,489 slices, 87,357 LUTs, 363 dedicated multipilers of $18\times 18$ bits, and 65 Block RAMs.

scholarly journals Impact of October Snow Cover in Central Siberia on the Following Spring Extreme Precipitation Frequency in Southern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengqi Zhang ◽  
Jianqi Sun
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Planetary Waves ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Precipitation Frequency ◽  
Stratospheric Polar Vortex ◽  
Central Siberia ◽  
Vertical Propagation

Spring extreme precipitation poses great challenges to agricultural production and economic development in southern China. From the perspective of prediction, the relationship between spring extreme precipitation frequency (SEPF) in southern China and preceding autumn snow cover over Eurasia is investigated. The results indicate that the southern China SEPF is significantly correlated with October snow cover in central Siberia. Corresponding to reduced October snow cover, the vertical propagation of planetary waves is suppressed, which leads to a strengthened stratospheric polar vortex from October to following December. The signal of the anomalous stratospheric polar vortex propagates downward to the surface, contributing to a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)-like pattern in December. The southwesterlies in the northern Eurasia-eastern Arctic associated with the positive NAO induce sea ice loss in the Barents–Kara seas in January–February, which then tends to enhance the vertical propagation of planetary waves by constructively interfering with the climatological wavenumber-1 component. Therefore, the stratosphere polar vortex is significantly weakened in spring, which further contributes to a negative Arctic Oscillation (AO)-like pattern in the troposphere. The negative spring AO is related to an anomalous cyclone in East Asia, which induces upward motion and moisture convergence in southern China, consequently providing favorable dynamic and moisture conditions for extreme precipitation in the region. The snow cover signal in central Siberia in the preceding October provides a potential source for the prediction of spring extreme precipitation variability in southern China with two seasons in advance.

scholarly journals The syntax and morphology of nominal modification in Ògè

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Priscilla Lola Adenuga
Keyword(s):  
Minimalist Program ◽  
Yucatec Maya ◽  
Short Forms ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
General Number ◽  
Plural Marking ◽  
Open Class

This dissertation investigates several aspects of nominal modification in Ògè, an understudied language of Benue-congo spoken in Àkókó Northwest in Nigeria. The study focuses on two areas of nominal modification namely, Nominal Attributive Modifiers (NAMs) and the strategies of number marking. The discussion and analysis of NAMs in the language reveal that Ògè belongs to the group of languages which lacks adjectives as a lexical category. NAMs are nominal and they are derived from an existing lexical category namely, verbs. Predicative modifiers and NAMs have forms that are similar to the long and short forms (LF & SF) of adjectives in languages in which adjectives form an open class, for example, Russian, SerBoCroatian (BCS) and German. Based on the Minimalist program, the dissertation reveals that unlike Russian, BCS, and German in which the discrepancies between the two forms of adjectives are related to definiteness (as in the case of BCS) and Agree, the discrepancies in the two forms of modifiers in Ògè are related to the fact that Ògè lacks adjectives and resorts into the nominalization of stative verbs in order to derive attributive forms. Using the analyses of adjuncts according to Truswell (2004) and Zeijlstra (2020), the dissertation proposes that NAMs are adjuncts in a modification structure while they are heads in possessive and genitive constructions. In addition, I propose that NAMs are attributive-only modifiers which modify the NP rather than the DP. The dissertation also investigates the strategies of number marking in Ògè. Unlike languages in which number marking is obligatory in the nominal domain (Hebrew, German, English), nouns in Ògè are not always marked for number. This means that nouns in Ògè have general number. The general number nature of nouns in Ògè is like that of the nouns in modifying plural marking languages namely, Halkomelem, Korean, Yucatec Maya and Yorùbá. However, I argue that unlike the modifying plural marking languages in which the Number Phrase (NumP) is not projected, NumP is projected in the nominal spine of Ògè, claiming that NumP bears an interpretable number feature which values the uninterpretable number feature in D. Argument in support of this comes from the interpretation of the noun in the presence of òtúro (an element which translates to the plural definite interpretation of the noun). I analyze òtúro as a plural determiner which occupies the D-head in the syntax of Ògè. The dissertation argues following Alexiadou (2019) that the locus of the occurrence of the marker of plurality in the nominal spine does not depend on its interpretation as a plural morpheme, rather, the locus of the occurrence of the element that is sensitive to the plural interpretation of the noun depends on other parameters which are definiteness, specificity and animacy.

scholarly journals Number Marking in English and Thali: A Contrastive Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Zafar Iqbal Bhatti ◽  
Muhammad Asad Habib ◽  
Tamsila Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Number System ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Number Marking ◽  
Arabic Characters ◽  
And Gender

The aim of this paper is to explore the number system in Thali, a variety of Punjabi spoken by natives of Thal desert. There are three number categories singular, dual, and plural but all modern Indo Aryan languages have only singular and plural (Bashir & Kazmi, 2012, p. 119). It is one of the indigenous languages of Pakistan from the Lahnda group as described by Grierson (1819) in his benchmark book Linguistic Survey of India. Layyah is one of the prominent areas of Thal regions. The native speakers of Thali use this sub dialect of Saraiki in their household and professional life. The linguistic boundaries of the present Siraiki belt have changed under different linguistic variational rules as described by Labov (1963), Trudgal (2004), Eckert (2002) and Meryhoff (2008). There are many differences between Thali and Saraiki, on phonological, morphological and orthographical levels. Husain (2017) has pointed out linguistic differences between Saraiki and Lahnda and Thali is one of the popular languages of Lahnda spoken in different parts of Thal regions. According to the local language activists, Thali has been greatly influenced by Saraiki and Punjabi. The lexicon of Thali is composed for 20% of Punjabi, 45% of Saraiki, and 5% of loan words particularly English. Another particularity is that Perso-Arabic characters are used to write Thali. The most distinguishing characteristics of Thali are its parts of speech, word order, case marking, verb conjugation and, finally, usage of grammatical categories in terms of number, person, tense, voice and gender. In this perspective, number marking is the area to focus on noun morphology and exclusively on the recognition of number system in Thali nouns. The analysis of linguistic systems including grammar, lexicon, and phonology provide sound justifications of number marking systems in languages of the world (Chohan & García, 2019).

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