Inflected Numerals

[VOORHIS at BrandonU.CA]

> In Catawba numerals may be predicated through the addition of the independent
> modal suffix /-re:/, e.g., n'aNpari 'two', n'aNparire: 'there are two'; this
> alone is not suprising since almost any root in Catawba can be predicated by
> adding the independent modal.  Whether the predicated numeral can be
> inflected for person is another question.  From examples such as
> hiN?r'a?hire: |hiN?+ra?+hi+re:| "this+with+third person singular
> subject+independent modal" 'and the together, with this one' (Speck 1934, p.
> 12) I would assume that it is possible to add
> personal inflections to a construction like n'aNparire: to produce, for
> example, *n'aNpari?a:re: 'we are two, the two of us', but I have never seen
> such a form in the data I have examined.

First, I'll confirm Blair Rudes' observation.  Throughout Frank Speck's Catawba
texts the numerals occur frequently with /-re:/ as well as with other modal
suffixes, but no example with any personal affix is found, whether by rule or
accident.

> On a side note, higher numerals in the Northern Iroquoian languages are
> clearly verbal in origin and even the lower numerals exhibit some verbal
> behavior.  For example, they can occur with the progressive aspect suffix
> which otherwise occurs only with verbs, e.g., Tuscarora n'e:kti: 'two',
> nekti:h'a:?nye? 'two-by-two' (compare: r'eN:tih 'he makes it', reNtih'a:?nye?
> 'he is going along making it').  However, numerals in the Northern Iroquoian
> languages cannot occur with personal inflections.

And I'll append a side note too.  In the central Algonquian languages the form
of a numeral used in counting, such as Kickapoo niiswi 'two', is more like an
adverb than anything else, but numerals also all have verbal forms like
niisiaki 'they (animate) are two, there are two of them' or niisenooni 'they
(inanimate) are two'.  The only truly nominal forms of a numeral would be
participles based on these verbs, such as niisiciki 'they (animate) who are
two, the two of them', but such forms are not especially frequent.  A sentence
like 'Two men arrived' would most naturally be expressed by niisiaki ineniaki
pyeaaciki, literally 'The men who arrived were two' for when quantities and
actions refer to a noun, Kickapoo prefers that the quantity be predicated and
the action modify the noun, just the opposite of English language habits.
Other personal inflections are heard with numeral verbs all the time, and
sentences like kekee$ipwa. seeski neniisipena. 'How many of you are there?
There are just two of us' are common.
Cf. keniimipwa? aakwi, nenakamopena. 'Did you dance? No, we sang'.
	Paul