[Lingtyp] Functional discord?

[Felicity Meakins]

Hi Jeff,

The function of the morphological discord you mention for English (extension of 3SG agreement to 1SG subjects) is cute talk. I’ve heard adults in relationships doing it with each other or when they are putting words in the mouthes of pets). Haven’t heard it as a child-directed speech phenomenon though.

Regards, Felicity

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Jeff Siegel <jsiegel2 at une.edu.au>
Date: Tuesday, 27 November 2018 at 5:16 pm
To: "lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org" <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: [Lingtyp] Functional discord?

Dear colleagues,

People sometimes use morphological discord for joking or stylistic effect – e.g. “Let’s went” (popularised by Poncho in the 1950s TV series The Cisco Kid) 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 Lord of the Rings).

I’m interested in whether such morphological discord can be conventionalised in a language with a particular meaning or function.

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 (sg) vs non-singular (nsg). For non-singular referents, dual number is distinguished from plural by a suffix -(a)re. For example:

áuyè y-wakái [cassowary 3sg-stand] ‘a cassowary is standing’
áuyè e-wakái [cassowary 3nsg-stand] ‘several cassowaries are standing’
áuyè e-wakái-are [cassowary 3nsg-stand-du] ‘two cassowaries are standing’

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.:

áuyè y-wakái-are [cassowary 3sg-stand-du] ‘very many cassowaries are standing’

Or it can be that the state lasted for a long time – e.g.:

kètè wè-mor-ang [there 1sg-stay-inceptive] ‘I stayed there’
kètè yèn-mor-ang [there 1nsg-stay-inceptive] ‘we (3+) stayed there’
kètè yèn-mor-ang-re [there 1nsg-stay-inceptive-du] ‘we (2) stayed there’
kètè wè-mor-ang-re [1sg-stay-inceptive-du] ‘I stayed there a long time’

The same phenomenon occurs with the copula (-re du, -m nd [nondual]), but with other possible interpretations – indicating  that the S is small or alone:

yáf kèrtè y-m [basket heavy 3sg-cop.nd] ‘the basket is heavy’
yáf kèrtè e-m [basket heavy 3nsg-cop.nd] ‘several baskets are heavy’
yáf kèrtè e-re [basket heavy 3nsg-cop.du] ‘the 2 baskets are heavy’
yáf kèrtè y-re [basket heavy 3sg-cop.du] ‘the small basket is heavy’

ambum mèngon y-m [child house.in 3sg-cop.nd] ‘the child is alone in the house’
ambum mèngon e-re [child house.in 3nsg-cop.du] ‘the 2 children are in the house’
ambum mèngon y-re [child house.in 3sg-cop.du] ‘the child is alone in the house’

This combination of sg and du 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.

My question is: Are there examples in other languages that could be evidence of morphological discord being used for particular functions or meanings?

Sorry for such a long post,

Jeff Siegel

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