associative plurals

[Paul Hopper]

Associative duals and plurals in early Scandinavian:

In Old Norse a noun (almost always a proper name) could be placed in
apposition to a 1/2 dual pronoun or a 3 plural pronoun to give something
like what Edith refers to. From Heusler, Altislaendisches Elementarbuch,
para 395:

(1) erom vit Gunnarr nu' sa'tter "wir beide, (ich und) G., sind nun
versoehnt"

(2) si'than flutto their okr mo'thor mi'na higat "dann schafften sie uns
beide, (mich und) meine Mutter, hierher"

(3) thar sagthe hann fra' okr O'lafe digra "da erzaehlte er von uns beiden,
(mir und) Olaf dem dicken"

While not exactly the same as the Associative Plural described by Edith,
the construction can come quite close to it. E. V. Gordon in his
Introduction to Old Norse (p. 312) mentions examples like the following:

(4) their Gri'mr ok Helgi

which can be translated either as "Grim and Helgi" OR "Grim and Helgi AND
THEIR MEN". If there is only one name, the resemblance is even closer:

(5) their Gizurr "Gizurr AND HIS PARTY"

and from Heusler (para 404):

(6) klae'the brunno af theim Hro'lfe "die Kleider brannten von (an) Hrolfr
UND SEINEN MANNEN"

(7) thau A'stri'thr ho,ftho thar dualzk litla hri'th "A'. UND IHR GEFOLGE
hatten dort kurze Weile verweilt." (thau "they" is here actually a neuter
plural, because there are mixed genders, Astrithr being feminine)

The Old Norse/Old Icelandic examples might be interesting in that the
"associative" construction is (a) not morphological, being a syntagm of
pronoun and name, and (b) an extension of an appositional use. In fact
Gordon refers to the associative (e.g. their Gizurr "G and his party",
theim Hro'lfe "Hrolfr und seinen Mannen") as "partial apposition", in
contrast to the type okr mo'thor mi'na "mich und meine Mutter [uns meine
Mutter)" which he calls "complete apposition". One might say "exhaustive
apposition" here.

Is it possible that limiting the inquiry to strictly morphological
associatives might result in some loss of insight into the nature of the
construction?

- Paul Hopper


(v'=acute accent for long vowel, th=thorn, ae=ash, o,=open o)






--On Tuesday, August 14, 2001 1:50 PM -0500 Edith A Moravcsik
<edith at CSD.UWM.EDU> wrote:

> Mikhail Daniel and I are working on a paper on the world-wide
> distribution of associative plurals, forming part of the World Atlas for
> Language Structures project now under preparation. Out of the 200
> languages in our sample, there are many for which we have been able to
> ascertain either the presence or the absence of this construction; but
> there are also many for which we have not found relevant information.
> These are languages for which grammars do not mention associative plurals
> and we do not have  informants available to find out whether this is an
> accidental omission or whether the language does not in fact have the
> construction.
>
> This message is to ask whether you are familiar with any of the languages
> listed below to the extent that you could tell us whether there is an
> associative plural construction in them or not. We will much appreciate
> your help.
>
> The associative plural construction consists of a noun N - usually a
> proper name or a kinship term - and a marker (often the same as the
> regular plural marker of the language). The meaning is 'N and his
> family (or friends; or associates)'. An example is Japanese:
>
>    Tanaka-tachi 'Tanaka and his friends'
>
> The information that we would need is this:
>
>    (a) Does language L have associative plurals or not?
>    (b) If it does,
>        - could you give us one or two examples?
>        - can you describe the composition and/or additional use of
>          the associative marker? In particular, is it or is it
>          not identical to the regular plural marker of the language?
>
> Here are the languages that we are primarily interested in:
>
>    - Acoma
>    - Bagirmi
>    - Barasano
>    - Burushaski
>    - Canela-Kraho
>    - Copainale Zoque
>    - Cree
>    - Daga
>    - Egyptian Arabic
>    - Grebo
>    - Guarani
>    - Harar Oromo
>    - Hmong Njua
>    - Imonda
>    - Jacaltec
>    - Kewa
>    - Kiowa
>    - Koasati
>    - Mangarayi
>    - Mapuche
>    - Maricopa
>    - Maung
>    - Maybrat
>    - Otomi
>    - Paiwan
>    - Rama
>    - Sanuma
>    - Supyire
>    - Tamazight (Ayt Nghir dialect)
>    - Tiwi
>    - Tukang Besi
>    - Warao
>    - Wari
>    - Apiboni
>    - Awa Pit
>    - Aymara
>    - Bawm
>    - Beja
>    - Bribri
>    - Cahuilla
>    - Cambodian
>    - Carib
>    - Cayuvava
>    - Coast Tshimshian
>    - Dehu
>    - Diola-Fogny
>    - Dongolese Nubian
>    - Ekagi
>    - Epena Pedee
>    - Fur
>    - Haida
>    - Hanis Coos
>    - Hunzib
>    - Igbo
>    - Ika
>    - Iraqw
>    - Kapau
>    - Karo Batak
>    - Kawesqar
>    - Ket
>    - Khasi
>    - Khmu
>    - Kilivila
>    - Koromfe
>    - Kunama
>    - Ladakhi
>    - Latvian
>    - Lealao Chinantec
>    - Maba
>    - Maranungku
>    - Mundari
>    - Murle
>    - Ndyuka
>    - Nenets
>    - Ngiti
>    - Nkore-Kiga
>    - Paamase
>    - Passamaquoddy
>    - Pitjantjatjara
>    - Selknam (Ona)
>    - Semelai
>    - Sentani
>    - Shipibo-Konibo
>    - Southeastern Pomo
>    - Squamish
>    - Suena
>    - Taba
>    - Tetelcingo Naguatl
>    - Tlingit
>    - Trumai
>    - Tunica
>    - Una
>    - Ungarinjin
>    - Usan
>    - Wambaya
>    - Witoto
>    - Yimas
>    - Yuchi
>    - Yurok
>    - !Xu (Ju/'hoan)
>
> Thank you for your attention.
>
> Mikhail Daniel (daniel at qub.com)
> Edith Moravcsik (edith at uwm.edu)
>    **********************************************************************
>    ** Edith A. Moravcsik
>			  Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
>			  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>		          Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
>                          USA
>
>			  E-mail: edith at uwm.edu
>		          Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/
>				     (414) 332-0141 /home/
>		          Fax: (414) 229-2741
>
>
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>