Feature GB318: Is plural number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a dedicated phonologically free element?

Patrons: Hedvig Skirgård

Description ⇫

Summary

This question concerns regular marking of plural number in the noun phrase by a marker that is not bound to the noun but free-standing. This marker should occur with an open set of nouns, not with a restricted set. This feature contrasts with GB044 Is there a productive morphological plural marker on nouns? which focuses on bound marking of plural number. For more on wordhood and bound marking, please see this page.

Number marking is often fused with marking of other categories, such as definiteness/specificity or gender/noun class. It is possible for the number marker to also signal other functions and still be coded as 1, as long as these other functions do not interfere with the number distinctions and as long as number marking is productive and regular.

Procedure

  1. Consider the section in the grammar that deals with number or noun phrases.
  2. If the author describes an overt free-standing marker of plural number that occurs regularly, code 1.
  3. If the grammar describes plural number as not marked productively or as only expressed with a bound marker, code as 0.
  4. If the grammar does not describe number marking at all and you have a reason to believe that the author may have missed it, code ?.
  5. If the grammar does not describe number, you encounter no examples of number marking, and the grammar is otherwise comprehensive, code 0.

Examples

Kare (ISO 639-3: kbn, Glottolog: kare1338)

In Kare, plural number of nouns is marked by a free-standing marker, rì, that follows the noun, as can be seen in the example. Kare is an example of a 1 code.

ɓàì        fǒn   wíe   má     váà  rì 
because.of young woman mother dog  PL
‘because of the young woman, mother of dogs’ (Lim 1997: 209)

French (ISO 639-3: fra, Glottolog: stan1290)

French definite and indefinite articles are free-standing markers (sometimes, they are bound). The articles have different forms in the plural (les ‘DEF.PL’, des ‘INDF.PL’) and the singular (le ‘M.DEF.SG’, la ‘F.DEF.SG’, un ‘M.INDF.SG’, une ‘F.INDF.SG’. French is coded 1.

Further reading

Corbett, Greville G. 2000. Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

Lim, François. 1997. Description linguistique du Kare (phonologie-syntaxe). Paris: Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle. (Doctoral dissertation.)

Morphological number marking

Phonologically free number marking

Number agreement within the noun phrase

Other


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0 absent 1676
1 present 368
? Not known 137
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment