plural agreement for singular subjects

[Nigel Vincent]

I agree with Grev that Guillaume's data is both interesting and yet different
from the type of phenomenon that Stuart is talking about. On the 
Guillaume side
of the list one can add the fact that in Italian the general noun 'la gente'
meaning 'people' is grammatically singular (cf the fsg art 'la') and
normatively requires to be followed by a singular verb. In colloquial usage it
is instead commonly followed by a plural verb and indeed this singular 
+ plural
usage is regularly included in lists of phenomena said to characterise
so-called 'italiano popolare'.
Two other points that occur to me:
1. The English pattern Guillaume mentions extends to 'everyone' and 'no-one',
which trigger singular verb agreement but plural tags: 'everyone has arrived,
haven't they?'; 'no-one is missing, are they?'
2. Some nouns in Romance are now singular but derive from Latin plurals: thus
French fsg 'la feuille' 'leaf' from Latin 'folia' neuter plural.
Nigel


Quoting Greville Corbett <g.corbett at SURREY.AC.UK>:

> I think the nice example Guillaume cites is an instance of the Œevasive
> plural¹, avoiding the use of Œhe¹ or Œshe¹. (Some languages use a neuter to
> evade the masculine/plural choice in related but not identical contexts.)
>
> Other phenomena which are general, and which aren¹t I suspect what Stuart
> has in mind, are:
>
> 1. associative uses of the plural or dual, in those instances where it is
> just the agreement which shows associative use. For instance, in the Talitsk
> dialect of Russian you say the equivalent of  Œmy brother have arrived¹ to
> indicate my brother and family.
> 2. respect: e.g. dual agreement with a singular subject in Kobon, to show
> respect
> 3. committee nouns in English: the committee have decided
> 4. instances of attraction: Rise in email viruses threaten net. (Guardian
> 4.Aug.2001)
>
> Examples of all these are in Number and Agreement (CUP). What Stuart has is
> a bit different.
>
> Best
>
> Grev
> Greville Corbett
>
>
> On 31/1/07 08:48, "guillaume cnrs" <segerer at VJF.CNRS.FR> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>> Would it seem stupid to mention english ? There is a famous song by 
>> Sting with
>> these words :
>> If you love somebody, set them free 
>> (http://www.loglar.com/song.php?id=16187)
>> Being a non-native amateur english speaker, I wonder if you would 
>> accept words
>> such as "someone", "somebody" as a 'subclass of singular nouns'.
>> Regards
>> Guillaume Segerer
>>
>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> + -----------------------------------------------------+
>>> | Stuart Robinson <stuart dot robinson at mpi dot nl>  |
>>> | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics           |
>>> | Postbus 310                                          |
>>> | 6500 AH Nijmegen                                     |
>>> | The Netherlands                                      |
>>> | +31 (0)64 854 6708 (mobile)                          |
>>> | http://www.mpi.nl/Members/StuartRobinson            |
>>> + -----------------------------------------------------+
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Greville G. Corbett
>
> Surrey Morphology Group
> CMC
> School of Arts, Communication and Humanities
> University of Surrey
> Guildford                                   email: g.corbett at surrey.ac.uk
> Surrey, GU2 7XH                             FAX:   +44 1483 686201
> Great Britain                               phone:  +44 1483 682849
> http://www.surrey.ac.uk/LIS/SMG/
>
>
>
>



-- 
Professor Nigel Vincent, FBA
Associate Vice-President for Graduate Education


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