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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear colleagues,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People sometimes use morphological discord for joking or stylistic effect – e.g. “Let’s went” (popularised by Poncho in the 1950s TV series
<i>The Cisco Kid</i>) and this heading on an internet discussion list: “3D TV, I has one…I likes it” (perhaps derived from the speech of Gollum/Sméagol in
<i>Lord of the Rings</i>).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m interested in whether such morphological discord can be conventionalised in a language with a particular meaning or function.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What led me to this interest is a structure in Nama, a Papuan language of Southern New Guinea. In Nama, the S argument of a stative verb is indexed by a prefix indicating person and number – normally singular (<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg)
</span>vs non-singular (<span style="font-variant:small-caps">nsg</span>). For non-singular referents, dual number is distinguished from plural by a suffix
<i>-(a)re</i>. For example:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>áuyè <b>y</b>-wakái </i>[cassowary <b>3<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-</span>stand<span style="font-variant:small-caps">] ‘</span>a cassowary is standing’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>áuyè e-wakái </i>[cassowary <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3nsg-</span>stand<span style="font-variant:small-caps">] ‘</span>several cassowaries are standing’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>áuyè e-wakái-<b>are</b></i><b> </b>[cassowary <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3nsg-</span>stand-<b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">du</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">] ‘</span>two cassowaries are standing’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But in apparent morphological discord, a singular prefix can co-occur with the dual suffix. The resultant meaning can be that of large plural – e.g.:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>áuyè <b>y</b>-wakái-<b>are</b></i> [cassowary <b>3<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-</span>stand-<b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">du</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">]
<b>‘</b></span><b>very many cassowaries are standing’</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or it can be that the state lasted for a long time – e.g.:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>kètè <b>wè</b>-mor-ang </i>[there 1<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg-</span>stay-<span style="font-variant:small-caps">inceptive] ‘</span>I stayed there’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>kètè yèn-mor-ang </i>[there <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
1nsg-</span>stay-<span style="font-variant:small-caps">inceptive] ‘</span>we (3+) stayed there’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>kètè yèn-mor-ang-<b>re</b> </i>[there <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
1nsg-</span>stay-<span style="font-variant:small-caps">inceptive-<b>du</b>] ‘</span>we (2) stayed there’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>kètè <b>wè</b>-mor-ang-<b>re</b></i> [<b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">1sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-</span>stay-<span style="font-variant:small-caps">inceptive-<b>du</b>]
<b>‘</b></span><b>I stayed there a long time’</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The same phenomenon occurs with the copula (<i>-re</i> <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
du</span>, <i>-m</i> <span style="font-variant:small-caps">nd [</span>nondual]), but with other possible interpretations – indicating that the S is small or alone:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>yáf kèrtè <b>y</b>-m</i> [basket heavy <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3sg-cop.nd] ‘</span>the basket is heavy’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>yáf kèrtè e-m</i> [basket heavy <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3nsg-cop.nd] ‘</span>several baskets are heavy’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>yáf kèrtè e-<b>re</b></i> [basket heavy <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3nsg-cop.<b>du</b>] ‘</span>the 2 baskets are heavy’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>yáf kèrtè <b>y</b>-<b>re</b></i> [basket heavy <b>3<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-<b>cop.du</b>]
<b>‘</b></span><b>the small basket is heavy’</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>ambum mèngon <b>y</b>-m</i> [child house.in <b>3<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-cop.nd] ‘</span>the child is alone in the house’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>ambum mèngon e-<b>re</b></i> [child house.in <span style="font-variant:small-caps">
3nsg-<b>cop.du</b>] ‘</span>the 2 children are in the house’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>ambum mèngon <b>y</b>-<b>re</b></i> [child house.in <b>3<span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg</span></b><span style="font-variant:small-caps">-<b>cop.du</b>]
<b>‘</b></span><b>the child is alone in the house’</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This combination of <span style="font-variant:small-caps">sg
</span>and <span style="font-variant:small-caps">du</span> is clearly used to express a variety of meanings, but they have the common thread of referring to something unusual (in Nama culture or in the context of a narrative). However, these constructions are
extremely rare, and the meanings they have are normally expressed in other ways. These facts have led me to wonder if they originated from morphological discord being used as a stylistic device, with meanings that became conventionalised.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My question is: Are there examples in other languages that could be evidence of morphological discord being used for particular functions or meanings?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sorry for such a long post,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jeff Siegel</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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