[Lingtyp] Summary numeral in the world languages

[Pun Ho Lui]

Dear All,

Haspelmath (2007) and Croft (2022) discussed a coordinating construction in which a numeral “summarizes” the number of referents in a list. There are different strategies in which the numeral behaves this way, e.g., a free numeral (1); a dual affix on a coordinand (2); a dual pronoun in apposition with the list+verb with dual marker (3). These numeral may be mono-syndetic or bi-syndatic.


(1) Zaozou
ŋu55-mu55 na53 phiɛ33

1-PL[EXCL] two father_and_child 

“we two (exclusive), my daughter and I.”  (Li, 2020)


(2) Kham 
syar sono:h pusum-ni 

louse and flea-DL

‘the louse and the flea’ (Watters, 2004)



(3)  Mapudungu
(iñché) eymi    inchiu   i-y-u

 I          you:SG we:DU eat-IND-1NONSG-DU

  ‘You and I ate.’ 


Languages with this construction I know are Zaozou, Kham, Mapudungu, Alto Perené, Bangla, Cantonese, Mandarin, Papuan Malay, Yakut, 
Inari Saami, Mongolian, Classical Tibetan, Huallaga Quechua, Wardaman, Khanty, Vedic Sanskrit, Mparntwe Arrernte, Daga, Mapudungu, Enets, Kham and Hualapai


I am wondering if there are other languages sharing similar constructions.

Thank you.

Warmest,
Joe Pun Ho Lui





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