<html><head></head><body><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Dear Edith,<br>
<br>
I checked Burushaski and learned that the language lacks an explicite associative
plural (though there is a plural morpheme /-daro/ {with variants} that is
restricted to kin terms and that seems to (historically?) qualify as an
associative marker (e.g. /sayyid-daro/).<br>
<br>
For Hunzib, you should ask Helma van den Berg.<br>
<br>
Let me add some data from three other East Caucasian languages:<br>
<br>
Tabasaran (Lezgian) has a plural /-gh`a"r/ (phar. uvular voiced fricative
+ a-umlaut) ~ /-q'ar/ that is used with both some kin terms and personal
names, e.g. /ibrahim-gh`a"r/ 'those of Ibrahim', /ramazan-gh`a"r/ 'those
of Ramazan' etc. With kin terms, the suffix denotes 'referent plus its surroundings'
(as opposed to the standard distributive plural formation of kin terms in
Tabasaran).<br>
<br>
Rutul (Lezgian, Western Samur) has a relict of an associative plural with
some kin terms (e.g. /did-ab/ 'those of the father' (as opposed to /did-ab-ar/
'fathers') etc.<br>
<br>
Kubachi (a Dargwa variety) has a suffix /-qal(i)/ in just the same function
(/arslan-qal/ 'those of Arslan' etc.). With kin terms, /-qal/ denotes 'the
family of ....' , e.g. /aba-qal/ 'mother's family' (as opposed to /ab-ne/
'mothers').<br>
<br>
In fact, many East Caucasian languages (that are famous for their multiple
plural formation patterns) know a more or less clear-cut plural subcategory
that is/was restricted to kin terms (and personal names). Historically speaking,
most of these plural formations had been associatives esp. when referring
to the 'elders' of a family - today, their semantic specification is often
neutralized in favor of a distributive plural (whether or not an associative
reading then is appropriate is detemined by context).<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Wolfgang <br>
</font><pre class="moz-signature"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">-- <br><br>Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze<br>Institute for General Linguistics and Language Typology<br>[Institut für Allgemeine und Typologische Sprachwissenschaft]<br>Dept. II [Languages and Communication] – F 13/14<br>Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen<br>Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1<br>D-80539 Muenchen<br>Phone: ++49-(0)89-2180-2486 (secretary)<br> ++49-(0)89-2180-5343 (office)<br>Fax: ++49-(0)89-2180-5345<br>Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:W.Schulze@lrz.uni-muenchen.de">W.Schulze@lrz.uni-muenchen.de</a><br>Web: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/ats_eng.html">http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/ats_eng.html</a></font>
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