plural agreement for singular subjects

[Stuart Robinson]

Oops. As P. Muysken kindly pointed out, the example that I provided had a 
feminine subject, not a neuter one. (The agreement marker should have been 
'e' and not 'i'). Here are some correct examples:

riro-a   kopii-a       tou-pa-i-voi      vovokio-ia
big-sg.n sickness-sg.n be-cont-3.pl-pres today-loc
Serious illness exists today./Tudei i gat bikpela sik istap.

kopu-pa-vira    tou-pa-i-voi      upiriko      pitoka
uncooked-dv-adv be-cont-3.pl-pres sweet.potato saucepan
The saucepan of sweet potatos is uncooked./Sospen kaukau i no tan.

kasirao-vira tou-pa-i-voi      uuko  rovu
hot-adv      be-cont-3.pl-pres water classifier
The water is really hot./Wara i hot i stap.

Sorry about that.

-Stuart

> I was wondering whether people on the list know of languages that allow
> plural agreement with some subclass of singular nouns. I have found that
> in Rotokas (a non-Austronesian language spoken in Bougainville, Papua New
> Guinea), neuter subjects (which normally take zero subject agreement)
> sometimes occur with the agreement usually found with plural subjects.
>
> For example, here's the usual plural subject agreement (-i) with a plural
> subject (riroirara kopiipairara):
>
> riro-irara  kopii-pa-irara tou-pa-i-voi      eisi ruvaru-pa kepa-ia
> many-pl.hum sick-dv-pl.hum be-cont-3.pl-pres loc  sick-dv   house-loc
> Many sick people are in the medical station. / Plenti sik manmeri ol i stap 
> long haus marasin.
>
> And here's plural subject agreement (-i) with a singular neuter noun
> (evaova):
>
> evao-va   koki-vira      tou-pa-i-voi
> tree-sg.f have.holes-adv be-cont-3.pl-pres
> The tree has holes. / Diwai i gat hol.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards,
> Stuart Robinson
>
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