[Lingtyp] Summary numeral in the world languages

Thu Sep 7 09:20:14 UTC 2023

Dear all,

in response to Pun Ho Lui's query, a couple of posts have mentioned the 
well-known inclusory constructions.  However, the prototypical case of 
an inclusory construction is one in which the clause contains an NP 
whose reference is WHOLLY INCLUDED in some other numeral or number 
marking, e.g. (schematically)

JOHN TWO WENT
'John and his associate went'

However, what Pun Ho Lui seems to be asking for is examples where the 
numeral or number marking "summarizes", or is coextensive with (rather 
than wholly including in its reference) some kind of list, or 
conjunction, of referring expressions, e.g.

JOHN BILL TWO WENT
'John and Bill the two of them went'

Thus, while "summary numeral" constructions might fall within the 
definition of "inclusory", most inclusories do not qualify as summary 
numerals.

(BTW, as evidenced by the English rendition of the second example 'John 
and Bill the two of them went', summary numerals are "almost" acceptable 
in standard English, and I suspect are fine in some colloquial varieties 
of English.)

Another point: in cases where the numeral gloms on to the verb, e.g.

JOHN BILL TWO-WENT
'John and Bill the two of them went'

you end up with a garden variety example of number agreement. The 
more"special" cases of the summary numeral construction are those in 
which the numeral or number marking are not targets of agreement but 
rather either separate forms or alternatively form a constituent with 
the listed NPs, e.g.

[ JOHN BILL TWO ] WENT
'John and Bill the two of them went'

Best,

David

On 07/09/2023 02:41, Rachel Nordlinger wrote:
>
> 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
>
> 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
>
>
> 	
>
> *[Alert: Non-NTU Email] Be cautious before clicking any link or 
> attachment.*
>
> 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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-- 
David Gil

Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany

Email:gil at shh.mpg.de
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
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