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Unorderly ordinals. On suppletion and related issues of ordinals in Europe and Mesoamerica

  • Thomas Stolz EMAIL logo and Maja Robbers
Published/Copyright: December 20, 2016

Abstract

This paper compares the role played by suppletion and a selection of other morphological form-function mismatches in the paradigms of ordinal numerals in the languages of Europe and Mesoamerica. The focus is on identifying the similarities and dissimilarities of those properties which are typical of the two (macro-)regions. The paradigmatic relations of ordinals are looked at in horizontal and vertical perspective. It is argued that suppletive first is a cross-linguistically autonomous phenomenon whereas suppletive second marks an areal preference of a sizable group of languages in Europe. In addition to proper suppletion of stems, there are also combinations of suppletion and derivation. Furthermore, it is shown that in the absence of stem suppletion, certain ordinals of a paradigm may reflect construction types which differ from that of the bulk of the other members of the same paradigm and thus contribute to the heterogeneity of the paradigm.

Funding statement: This joint paper is an offspring of the project STO 186/12-1 Sprachgrenzen überschreitende Geographie der morphologischen Irregularität in Europa/Morphological irregularity and its diffusion across language boundaries in Europe financed from 2009 to 2011 by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Marcus Callies, Hitomi Otsuka, Christel Stolz, Cornelia Stroh, Aina Urdze, and Anabel Velasco for their kind support. A word of thanks goes also to the anonymous reviewer for the many pains taken to make this a study worthwhile publishing. We assume the sole responsibility for the form and content of this paper.

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Appendix

The languages on which our above observations are based are classified genetically for each of the two macro-regions separately. We indicate the language family for each individual language. In the case of the members of the Indo-European language family, we identify additionally the subgroup to which they belong.

Europe (82 languages)

Abkhaz (Northwest Caucasian), Albanian (Indo-European, isolate), Aragonese (Indo-European, Romance), Aramaic (Afroasiatic), Aromunian (Indo-European, Romance), Asturian (Indo-European, Romance), Bashkir (Turkic), Basque (isolate), Breton (Indo-European, Celtic), Bulgarian (Indo-European, Slavic), Catalan (Indo-European, Romance), Chechen (Northeast Caucasian), Chuvash (Turkic), Corsican (Indo-European, Romance), Croatian (Indo-European, Slavic), Cypriot Arabic (Afroasiatic), Czech (Indo-European, Slavic), Danish (Indo-European, Germanic), Dutch (Indo-European, Germanic), English (Indo-European, Germanic), Estonian (Uralic), Faroese (Indo-European, Germanic), Finnish (Uralic), Franco-Pronvencal (Indo-European, Romance), French (Indo-European, Romance), Frisian (Indo-European, Germanic), Friulan (Indo-European, Romance), Galician (Indo-European, Romance), Gascon (Indo-European, Romance), Georgian (South Caucasian), German (Indo-European, Germanic), Greek (Indo-European, isolate), Hungarian (Uralic), Icelandic (Indo-European, Germanic), Ingush (Northeast Caucasian), Irish (Indo-European, Celtic), Italian (Indo-European, Romance), Kalderash (Indo-European, Indic), Kalmyk (Mongolian), Karaim (Turkic), Karelian (Uralic), Kashubian (Indo-European, Slavic), Komi (Uralic), Kurmanji (Indo-European, Kurdish), Ladinian (Indo-European, Romance), Latvian (Indo-European, Baltic), Laz (South Caucasian), Lezgian (Northeast Caucasian), Lithuanian (Indo-European, Baltic), Livonian (Uralic), Low German (Indo-European, Germanic), Luxemburgish (Indo-European, Germanic), Macedonian (Indo-European, Slavic), Maltese (Afroasiatic), Mari (Uralic), Megrelian (South Caucasian), Molise Slavic (Indo-European, Slavic), Mordvinian (Uralic), Norwegian (Indo-European, Germanic), Ossetic (Indo-European, Iranian), Polish (Indo-European, Slavic), Portuguese (Indo-European, Romance), Romanian (Indo-European, Romance), Russian (Indo-European, Slavic), Saami (Uralic), Sardinian (Indo-European, Romance), Scots-Gaelic (Indo-European, Celtic), Sephardic (Indo-European, Romance), Serbian (Indo-European, Slavic), Slovak (Indo-European, Slavic), Slovenian (Indo-European, Slavic), Sorbian (Indo-European, Slavic), Spanish (Indo-European, Germanic), Swedish (Indo-European, Germanic), Tatar (Turkic), Turkish (Turkic), Udmurt (Uralic), Ukrainian (Indo-European, Slavic), Welsh (Indo-European, Celtic), Yiddish (Indo-European, Germanic), Zaza (Indo-European, Iranian), Zyrian (Uralic).

Mesoamerica (30 languages)

Chatino (Oto-Manguean), Chinantec (Oto-Manguean), Chocho (Oto-Manguean), Ch’ol (Mayan), Ch’orti’ (Mayan), Chuj (Mayan), Cora (Uto-Aztecan), Guarijío (Uto-Aztecan), Huave (Huavean), Huichol (Uto-Aztecan), Kanjobal (Mayan), Mazahua (Oto-Manguean), Mazatec (Oto-Manguean), Mixtec (Oto-Manguean), Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan), Otomí (Oto-Manguean), Pima Bajo (Uto-Aztecan), Pocomchi (Mayan), Popoloca (Oto-Manguean), Purépecha (Tarascan), Tepehua (Totonacan), Tlapanec (Subtiaba-Tlapanecan), Tojolabal (Mayan), Totonac (Totonacan), Triqui (Oto-Manguean), Tzeltal (Mayan), Tzotzil (Mayan), Yucatec (Mayan), Zapotec (Oto-Manguean), Zoque (Mixe-Zoque).

Published Online: 2016-12-20
Published in Print: 2016-11-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

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