GB039

Is there nonphonological allomorphy of noun number markers?

Summary

Are there different number markers for a single number category? And is the choice between these markers unpredictable from the marker a noun receives in another number category? For example, are there different plural markers while there is only one (or no) singular marker? Or do two nouns receive different singular markers but the same plural marker? This feature targets bound number markers, free number markers, and clitics.

Procedure

1. Code 1 if there are elements marking number on nouns (excluding pronouns), whether they are attached to the noun or not,
2. And it is not entirely predictable what the plural marker will be by looking at the singular marker on the nouns and vice versa.
3. Code 0 if you can predict what the plural marker will be from the singular marking and vice versa.

Examples

Siwu (ISO 639-3: akp, Glottolog: siwu1238)

Coded 1. Nouns that take on the noun class marked by ɔ in the singular, are either marked by ma or si in the plural. It is not predictable from looking at the singular marking to determine what the plural marker will be. The table below is from Dingemanse (2011: 110–112).

Wolof (ISO 639-3: wol, Glottolog: nucl1347)

Coded 0. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the singular class and the plural class. It can be predicted from the singular class what the plural class will be (McLaughlin 1997:3).

Table of Wolof noun class and number markers, based on McLaughlin 1997:3.

Singular	Plural
k	ñ
b	y
g	y
j	y/ñ*
l	y
m	y
s	y
w	y

• Nouns belonging to the j-glass in singular form take either ñ or y in plural, but this does not depend on the noun root but on the speaker (McLaughlin 1997:3).

Further reading

Corbett, Greville G. 1991. Gender (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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

References

Dingemanse, Mark. 2011. The meaning and use of ideophones in Siwu. Nijmegen: Radboud University. (Doctoral dissertation.)

McLaughlin, Fiona. 1997. Noun classification in Wolof: When affixes are not renewed. Studies in African linguistics 26. 1–28.

Related Features

Morphological number marking

• GB042 Is there a productive overt morphological singular marker on nouns?
• GB043 Is there a productive morphological dual marker on nouns?
• GB044 Is there a productive morphological plural marker on nouns?
• GB165 Is there a productive morphological trial marker on nouns?
• GB166 Is there a productive morphological paucal marker on nouns?

Phonologically free number marking

• GB316 Is singular number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a phonologically free element?
• GB317 Is dual number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a phonologically free element?
• GB318 Is plural number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a phonologically free element?
• GB319 Is trial number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a phonologically free element?
• GB320 Is paucal number regularly marked in the noun phrase by a phonologically free element?

Number agreement

• GB184 Can an adnominal property word agree with the noun in number?
• GB185 Can an adnominal demonstrative agree with the noun in number?

Other

• GB041 Are there several nouns (more than three) which are suppletive for number?

Patron

Jay Latarche and Jeremy Collins