16 Number in Marori
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Wayan Arka
Abstract
We describe the nominal and verbal number systems of Marori, a Trans- New Guinea/Papuan language. The expression of number in Marori is distinguished by distributed underspecified exponence. Certain number values can be expressed even when there is no dedicated number marking for that value: for example, third person dual nominal number is expressed not by dual morphology, but by a combination of nonsingular and nonplural exponents. Verbal number, including duactionality, is also characterized by distributed and underspecified exponence, with duactionality expressed by a combination of nonsingular and nonplural verbal number marking. Marori also allows specification of incompatible values for number, with particular semantic effects; a singular argument indexed by nonsingular verb marking gives rise to a comitative-inclusory interpretation, for example. These characteristics make the nominal and verbal number systems of Marori very different from the familiar syntactic number systems of languages like English.
Abstract
We describe the nominal and verbal number systems of Marori, a Trans- New Guinea/Papuan language. The expression of number in Marori is distinguished by distributed underspecified exponence. Certain number values can be expressed even when there is no dedicated number marking for that value: for example, third person dual nominal number is expressed not by dual morphology, but by a combination of nonsingular and nonplural exponents. Verbal number, including duactionality, is also characterized by distributed and underspecified exponence, with duactionality expressed by a combination of nonsingular and nonplural verbal number marking. Marori also allows specification of incompatible values for number, with particular semantic effects; a singular argument indexed by nonsingular verb marking gives rise to a comitative-inclusory interpretation, for example. These characteristics make the nominal and verbal number systems of Marori very different from the familiar syntactic number systems of languages like English.
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
