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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 5:2 (2019) ► pp.208–243

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Variable number marking in Vera’a

Animacy and beyond

 | Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
Published online: 2 March 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.00006.sch
Abstract
The number interpretation of Noun Phrase structures (NPs) with different animacy values and variable overt marking of number is investigated in a corpus from the Oceanic language Vera’a. It is found that number marking is optional for all nouns and that number marking is essentially semantic, expressing collectivity and distributivity. While statistical patterns of greater likelihood of number marking comply with the animacy hierarchy, the central motivating factor for number marking is found to be likelihood of individuatedness. This study thus contributes to a functionalist account of cross-linguistically observed patterns of hierarchical number marking.
Abstract (Vera'a)
Lēn mōnō menrē rēvrēv agēnē nok tēk sir so sivie lēn gatgat 'a Vera'a ga tēktēk sirēn sava ne vōwal vuva wo sirēn sava ga mēw. 'Aklē masōgin tēktēk ne van sirēn sava ga mēw, ban gatgat e 'aram rōs. Ga lama’i vuva son sava anēn ga mēw nē. 'Aklē masōgin gatgat ga 'aram wal son sava ga mēw, raksag sirēn 'an̄sara. Sōw ēn tēktēk ne vōruō bēne so raga wo ruwa. Wo duru me da 'aram son tēktēk sirēn vavtig 'an̄sara. Wonan tēktēk ne vōwal lik bēne so 'erē. Di me da 'aram son 'an̄sara sin sava lik ga mēw, ba ne vōwal gēn wo ne vōwal gēn senē. Nom lukun ēn 'erē tēktēk senē lēn lōlō kakaka ga mēw, wo nom sōk sier so sin sava vaga gidē ga tēk sir so ne vōwal vuva, ba 'aklē masōgi si di ga mēw, gidē me yusum san 'erē tēktēk ē a ga da 'aram so ga mēw. Raksag sirēn 'an̄sara ē vaga gidē ga dōmdōm sirēn 'erē vavtig, da 'i son 'erē tēktēk 'abēne ne van, raga si ga mēw wo ruwa si ne vōruō vuva, wo 'erē si ne vōvōwal.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Variable and hierarchical number marking: A very short overview
    • 1.2Language background and documentation
    • 1.3Structure of the paper
  • 2.Number in Vera’a
    • 2.1Number values and basic number-marking constructions
    • 2.2NP structure
  • 3.Structural properties of number-marking constructions
    • 3.1Pluralised common NPs with 'erē
    • 3.2Non-singular personal NPs
    • 3.3Expression of number by numeral modifiers
    • 3.4Comparison with neighbouring languages
  • 4.Semantic classes and number interpretation
    • 4.1General number and animacy
    • 4.2Number-marking and animacy
      • 4.2.1Restricted use of number-inflecting pronouns
      • 4.2.2Number-marking strategies and animacy
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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Ridge, Eleanor
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Schnell, Stefan & Danielle Barth
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