[Lingtyp] Summary numeral in the world languages

[Rachel Nordlinger]

Dear Joe,

These sorts of constructions are very common in Australian languages and known as inclusory constructions – see Ruth Singer’s work on the topic, e.g. https://rest.neptune-prod.its.unimelb.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/fed14adf-fdcc-579e-8833-62e154eb0e11/content

Best wishes,

Rachel

--
Professor Rachel Nordlinger FAHA  (she/her)
Director, Research Unit for Indigenous Language
Linguistics Discipline Chair
School of Languages and Linguistics
University of Melbourne
VIC 3010, Australia

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land where I live and work, the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations, and pay my respects to Elders past and present.


From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Alexander Coupe <ARCoupe at ntu.edu.sg>
Date: Thursday, 7 September 2023 at 10:36 am
To: Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com>, "lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org" <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Summary numeral in the world languages

Dear Joe,

You can add Mongsen Ao (TB, Nagaland) to your list:


            kiphuɹ nə áwkla khə ajila nət áhlù nə zə̀k.
            kiphuɹ   nə      [a-úk-la      khə      a-ji-la          nət]NP    a-hlú                nə        zə̀k
            owner   agt    nrl-pig-f   conj   nrl-dog-f   two       nrl-field          all       send.pst
            ‘An owner sent his dog and his pig to his field.’ (Coupe 2007: 114)

There are more textual examples of this on pp. 207, 216, 217, 237, 239, 322, 325, 388, 469. ‘Two’ seems to be the only numeral that occurs in this role in my data, and I’m not sure if that’s because of defective sampling, or because there is a constraint on the use of other numerals in the summarizing function. The citation form of ‘two’ is anət, so the loss of the prefix suggests that the numeral is somewhat grammaticalized in this construction.

https://www.academia.edu/1317662/A_Grammar_of_Mongsen_Ao<https://www.academia.edu/1317662/A_Grammar_of_Mongsen_Ao>

Best regards,
Alec

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, 6 September 2023 at 2:51 PM
To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: [Lingtyp] Summary numeral in the world languages

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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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