15 Number in the Languages of the Lower Sepik Family
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William A. Foley
Abstract
For the six languages of the Lower Sepik family, number is a pervasive and elaborated grammatical category, perhaps on a scale that few other language families can match. The number of number distinctions varies from language to language and word type to word type. The most elaborate distinctions are in the pronominal systems, where the languages commonly distinguish four numbers, singular, dual, paucal (from three to about seven) and plural. Such a four way number distinction for nouns is also attested in some languages of the family. These are concordial languages as well, so number marking carries a high grammatical functional load, manifested through agreement for number (and class for a subset of the languages), as verbs must agree with their core arguments and modifiers with their heads.
Abstract
For the six languages of the Lower Sepik family, number is a pervasive and elaborated grammatical category, perhaps on a scale that few other language families can match. The number of number distinctions varies from language to language and word type to word type. The most elaborate distinctions are in the pronominal systems, where the languages commonly distinguish four numbers, singular, dual, paucal (from three to about seven) and plural. Such a four way number distinction for nouns is also attested in some languages of the family. These are concordial languages as well, so number marking carries a high grammatical functional load, manifested through agreement for number (and class for a subset of the languages), as verbs must agree with their core arguments and modifiers with their heads.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- List of authors ix
- 1 Number in the World’s Languages: Configuring the variation space 1
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I Africa
- 2 Number in Eastern Dan 27
- 3 Number marking in Karko and Nilo-Saharan 63
- 4 Number in Tswana 107
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II Europe and Middle East
- 5 Number in Arabic 131
- 6 Number in Occitan 167
- 7 Number in Slovenian 187
- 8 Number in West Circassian 261
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III Northern Eurasia
- 9 Number in Ket (Yeniseian) 307
- 10 Number in Nganasan 351
- 11 Number in Nivkh 375
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IV Pacific and Australia
- 12 Number in Gooniyandi 427
- 13 Number in Indonesian 457
- 14 Number in Japonic Family 505
- 15 Number in the Languages of the Lower Sepik Family 529
- 16 Number in Marori 577
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V Americas
- 17 Number in the languages of South America 609
- 18 The category of number in Kakataibo (Panoan) 671
- 19 Grammatical simplexity: Number in Kiowa 693
- 20 Number in Mohawk (Iroquoian) 729
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VI Further perspectives on linguistic diversity
- 21 Contact languages: A survey 767
- 22 Number in Russian Sign Language 805
- 23 Number in grammar: results and perspectives 833
- Terms 911
- Languages and language families 917
- Authors 927
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- List of authors ix
- 1 Number in the World’s Languages: Configuring the variation space 1
-
I Africa
- 2 Number in Eastern Dan 27
- 3 Number marking in Karko and Nilo-Saharan 63
- 4 Number in Tswana 107
-
II Europe and Middle East
- 5 Number in Arabic 131
- 6 Number in Occitan 167
- 7 Number in Slovenian 187
- 8 Number in West Circassian 261
-
III Northern Eurasia
- 9 Number in Ket (Yeniseian) 307
- 10 Number in Nganasan 351
- 11 Number in Nivkh 375
-
IV Pacific and Australia
- 12 Number in Gooniyandi 427
- 13 Number in Indonesian 457
- 14 Number in Japonic Family 505
- 15 Number in the Languages of the Lower Sepik Family 529
- 16 Number in Marori 577
-
V Americas
- 17 Number in the languages of South America 609
- 18 The category of number in Kakataibo (Panoan) 671
- 19 Grammatical simplexity: Number in Kiowa 693
- 20 Number in Mohawk (Iroquoian) 729
-
VI Further perspectives on linguistic diversity
- 21 Contact languages: A survey 767
- 22 Number in Russian Sign Language 805
- 23 Number in grammar: results and perspectives 833
- Terms 911
- Languages and language families 917
- Authors 927
