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17 Number in the languages of South America

  • Olga Krasnoukhova
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Number in the World's Languages
This chapter is in the book Number in the World's Languages

Abstract

This chapter offers a typological overview of the number category in the indigenous languages of South America (SA). The focus is placed on number in independent personal pronouns and on nouns, as well as on verbal number. The discussion is centered around tendencies and patterns that SA languages show in number marking in the (pro)nominal and verbal domains. Whenever relevant, SA data are situated in a larger cross-linguistic context. The section on verbal number constitutes a first comparative account of this phenomenon in SA languages. It is shown that both types of verbal number (i.e. event number and participant number) are widespread in SA, occurring in most language families surveyed. Teasing apart verbal number (of the participant plurality type) and nominal number manifested on the verb (argument indexing) turns out to be an interesting challenge for SA, with many intermediate cases.

Abstract

This chapter offers a typological overview of the number category in the indigenous languages of South America (SA). The focus is placed on number in independent personal pronouns and on nouns, as well as on verbal number. The discussion is centered around tendencies and patterns that SA languages show in number marking in the (pro)nominal and verbal domains. Whenever relevant, SA data are situated in a larger cross-linguistic context. The section on verbal number constitutes a first comparative account of this phenomenon in SA languages. It is shown that both types of verbal number (i.e. event number and participant number) are widespread in SA, occurring in most language families surveyed. Teasing apart verbal number (of the participant plurality type) and nominal number manifested on the verb (argument indexing) turns out to be an interesting challenge for SA, with many intermediate cases.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. 1 Number in the World’s Languages: Configuring the variation space 1
  5. I Africa
  6. 2 Number in Eastern Dan 27
  7. 3 Number marking in Karko and Nilo-Saharan 63
  8. 4 Number in Tswana 107
  9. II Europe and Middle East
  10. 5 Number in Arabic 131
  11. 6 Number in Occitan 167
  12. 7 Number in Slovenian 187
  13. 8 Number in West Circassian 261
  14. III Northern Eurasia
  15. 9 Number in Ket (Yeniseian) 307
  16. 10 Number in Nganasan 351
  17. 11 Number in Nivkh 375
  18. IV Pacific and Australia
  19. 12 Number in Gooniyandi 427
  20. 13 Number in Indonesian 457
  21. 14 Number in Japonic Family 505
  22. 15 Number in the Languages of the Lower Sepik Family 529
  23. 16 Number in Marori 577
  24. V Americas
  25. 17 Number in the languages of South America 609
  26. 18 The category of number in Kakataibo (Panoan) 671
  27. 19 Grammatical simplexity: Number in Kiowa 693
  28. 20 Number in Mohawk (Iroquoian) 729
  29. VI Further perspectives on linguistic diversity
  30. 21 Contact languages: A survey 767
  31. 22 Number in Russian Sign Language 805
  32. 23 Number in grammar: results and perspectives 833
  33. Terms 911
  34. Languages and language families 917
  35. Authors 927
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110622713-018

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. 1 Number in the World’s Languages: Configuring the variation space 1
  5. I Africa
  6. 2 Number in Eastern Dan 27
  7. 3 Number marking in Karko and Nilo-Saharan 63
  8. 4 Number in Tswana 107
  9. II Europe and Middle East
  10. 5 Number in Arabic 131
  11. 6 Number in Occitan 167
  12. 7 Number in Slovenian 187
  13. 8 Number in West Circassian 261
  14. III Northern Eurasia
  15. 9 Number in Ket (Yeniseian) 307
  16. 10 Number in Nganasan 351
  17. 11 Number in Nivkh 375
  18. IV Pacific and Australia
  19. 12 Number in Gooniyandi 427
  20. 13 Number in Indonesian 457
  21. 14 Number in Japonic Family 505
  22. 15 Number in the Languages of the Lower Sepik Family 529
  23. 16 Number in Marori 577
  24. V Americas
  25. 17 Number in the languages of South America 609
  26. 18 The category of number in Kakataibo (Panoan) 671
  27. 19 Grammatical simplexity: Number in Kiowa 693
  28. 20 Number in Mohawk (Iroquoian) 729
  29. VI Further perspectives on linguistic diversity
  30. 21 Contact languages: A survey 767
  31. 22 Number in Russian Sign Language 805
  32. 23 Number in grammar: results and perspectives 833
  33. Terms 911
  34. Languages and language families 917
  35. Authors 927
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