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Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 50:1 (2026) ► pp.1–32

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Verbal number in Muyu

ORCiD logo with link | University of Münster
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

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Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Münster.

Published online: 29 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.24035.zah
Abstract
This article analyses verbal number in Muyu, a Lowland Ok language of the Trans New Guinea family spoken in South Papuan Province. Verbal number stands for a system of pairwise lexical contrasts in which alternating verb stems encode a singular/plural opposition for subject or object arguments of the clause (e.g. ‘take one object’ vs. ‘take many objects’) or for how often the denoted event occurs (e.g. ‘hit once’ vs. ‘hit repeatedly’). Muyu has a relatively large inventory of such verb pairings: 37 pairs. Since nominal morphology is virtually absent, verbal number is the most important means to signal participant number. Verbal number in Muyu is analysed as a system of lexical paradigms rather than suppletion. In addition to the synchronic analysis, this paper puts forth a scenario for the diachronic development of the system, in which any verb pair is lexicalised in three consecutive stages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Number as a category
  • 3.Verbal number in Muyu
    • 3.1Subject number
    • 3.2Object number
    • 3.3Event number
    • 3.4Number and finiteness
    • 3.5Two lexicalised number mismatches
  • 4.Verb pairs as lexical paradigms
  • 5.Some thoughts on the diachronic origin of verbal number
    • 5.1Lexicalisation based on continuative constructions
    • 5.2Semantic shifts
    • 5.3Further development
  • 6.Distribution and contact
  • 7.Conclusion and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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