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Universal 563: Duo-Paucal ⇒ Paucal & Mult(itudin)al

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 563: Duo-Paucal ⇒ Paucal & Mult(itudin)al

Original
If a language knows a Duo-Paucal, it will also contrast a general Paucal with a Multitudinal.
Standardized
IF there is a duo-paucal, THEN there is a contrast between a general paucal and a multal.
Keywords
number, dual, paucal
Domain
inflection
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
languages in Humboldt 1830, including Basque (isolate), Greenlandic (Eskimo-Aleut), Saami (Uralic), Tahitian, Malay (both Malayo-Polynesian), Indo-European (e.g. Sanskrit, Ancient Greek), Semitic languages, American languages (e.g. Quechua, Totonaca, Huasteca, Mapuche, Tamanaca, Chayma)
Source
Humboldt 1830, as interpreted in Plank 1989: 318; Plank 1994b: 232
Counterexamples
Lithuanian (Baltic, Indo-European); Australian, Austronesian, and Papuan languages (Plank 1989: 319).

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    MULTAL is a plural for large numbers, contrasting with a PAUCAL.

    1. May 2020

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