Das grammatische Raritätenkabinett
A catalogue of rare and unusual grammatical phenomena documented across the world’s languages. 147 published entries.
147 entries · page 2 of 3
| # | Phenomenon | Found in | Domain | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | lack of even a minimal binary contrast (proximal/distal) in basic local adverbial deictics | Bavarian (Germanic, IE) | morphology: inflection / complexity | adverb, deixis, proximal, distal |
| 52 | a divine gender (for nouns for gods, saints, comets, and other supernatural referents), contrasting with masculine, feminine, animal, and inanimate genders | Jicaltepec Mixtec (Oto-Manguean) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | gender, noun |
| 53 | gender contrast of nouns, but not of pronouns (except interrogative ones, in Teop) | Turkana (Nilotic, Nilo-Saharan); Teop (Bougainville, Oceanic, Austronesian) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | noun, pronoun |
| 54 | gender contrast (MASC/FEM) in personal pronouns for 2nd, 3rd, and sometimes also 1st plural and for 2nd singular but not for 1st and 3rd singular, in some pronominal paradigms | Tàhàggart, Tuareg, Kabyle, Proto-Berber (?!) (Berber, Afroasiatic) [a family trait: limited to Berber but not shared by all members] | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, person, number |
| 55 | gender contrast in personal pronouns exclusively in 1st person singular | Tocharian A (IE); Thai (Daic, Austroasiatic) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, 1st person |
| 56 | gender contrast (MASC/FEM) in personal pronouns exclusively in 1st person plural, both inclusive and exclusive | Shirumba (Heiban, Kordofanian) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, inclusive, exclusive |
| 57 | a mixed (aka "common", "resolution", "indefinite") gender in 3rd person (probably also 2nd and 1st person) non-singular pronouns for reference to mixed sets of antecedents, which naturally is without a singular counterpart | all Central Khoisan lgs, and widespread also elsewhere in Khoisan; Vanimo (Sko, "Papuan"); Bukiyip (Torricelli, "Papuan"); probably also elsewhere in "Papuan"; probably Khasi (Mon-Khmer); probably Turkana (Nilo-Saharan); probably Chinook (Chinookan) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | mixed gender, number |
| 58 | contrast in pronouns for 2nd and 3rd person for sex of the referent and also of the speaker | Diuxi Mixtec (Oto-Manguean) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun |
| 59 | contrast in pronouns for 3rd person for number (SG/PL), gender (both of the referent and of the speaker), kin relationship between speaker and referent (and if affine, then also whether in ascending or descending generation), and ethnic identity (Yuchi vs. other) | Yuchi (isolate, east central Oklahoma, USA) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, number, kinship |
| 60 | contrast in personal pronouns for moyety, kin class, and generation level membership | Adnyamadhanha and other Australian lgs | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, moyety, kinship |
| 61 | choice of 3rd person personal pronoun determined by gender (MASC/FEM/NEUT, contrasting in SG only and not corresponding to animacy distinctions in any consistent manner), except in adpositional phrases (with adpositions governing the dative or genitive), where the relevant contrast rather is one of animacy or related notions, with masculine and feminine pronouns now only referring to animate (or concrete, figure, salient) referents and with the neuter pronoun (both in singular and plural) replaced by local-adverbial forms (da, wo ), preceding rather than following their adpositions, for inanimate (abstract, ground, not-so-salient) referents | German (Germanic, IE) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | personal pronoun, adverb, animacy |
| 62 | inflection of the great majority of words – nominal, pronominal, verbal –for sex of the speaker (and, in the case of male forms, also of the addressee, with males using female forms when addressing females), with female forms formed from male forms by final syllable reduction or male forms formed from female forms by adding a syllable (whose form depends on the class of word so inflected) | Yana (Hokan) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | deixis |
| 63 | pronoun of most respectful address recruited from pronoun of identity ((allerhöchst)dieselben), rather than from indefinite or least definite pronoun | 18th century German (Germanic, IE) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: gender, respect | pronoun of address, respect, social distance |
| 64 | a three-way distinction of possession for possessive pronouns, which also distinguish inclusive and exclusive: alienable, inalienable, family possession | Khinalug (Lezgic, NE Caucasian) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: possession | possessive pronoun, inclusive, exclusive |
| 65 | inclusive/exclusive contrast for 2nd person ('you several, non-SAPs included/excluded') | SE Ambrym (Austronesian), Port Sandwich (Austronesian) (?); Yokuts (Yokutsan); Ojibwe, Cree, Fox, Potawatomi, Naskapi (Algonquian) (?); Otomi (Otomanguean); Abkhaz (East Caucasian) (?); Ghomala? (Grassfield Bantu); Nama (Khoisan); Ordoss (Eastern Mongolian, Altaic); Bavarian (IE) (?) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | inclusive, exclusive, 2nd person |
| 66 | dual with 1st person exclusive but not with 1st person inclusive | Yagua (Ge-Pano-Carib); Tübatulabal (Uto-Aztecan) (?); Savosavo (East Papuan) (?); Ngankikurrungkurr (nonPN, Australian) (?) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | inclusive, exclusive, dual |
| 67 | a three-way distinction among personal pronouns between 'singular speaker', 'singular non-speaker' (i.e. addressee or other), 'plural' (any speech-act role or combination of roles). | Balante (West Atlantic, Niger-Congo) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | personal pronoun |
| 68 | an ambal (aka 'paral', only referring to natural pairs) in addition to a dual (referring to any two referents) | Tocharian A and B (IE) (especially B, since in A the dual itself is obsolescent) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | dual, ambal |
| 69 | a quadral number with personal pronouns | Sursurunga, Tangga (both Patpatar-Tolai, Austronesian) (?) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | quadral, personal pronoun |
| 70 | independent personal pronouns for 1st and 3rd (animate) person inflecting for both number and case, but that for 2nd person inflecting for neither category (defectiveness of 2nd person pronouns in number alone being more common) | Modern Standard English (Germanic, IE) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | personal pronoun, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, number, case |
| 71 | no number inflection at all on any personal pronouns | Mura Pirahã (isolate, Macro-Chibchan); Kawi (Old Javanese, Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | personal pronoun |
| 72 | number marking (for plural and dual) on personal pronouns (suppletive) as well as on expressives (or ideophones; by suffix, which is unusual in Mon-Khmer, a family otherwise preferring prefixes and infixes), but not on any other word class (including nouns and verbs) | Bahnar (or Bahnaric in general?) (Mon-Khmer, Austro-Asiatic) | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | personal pronoun, ideophone |
| 73 | duals up and down the referential hierarchy (ignoring INCL/EXCL) PRONOUNS NOUNS 1ST 2ND 3RD (a) +DU----------------> in abundance +DU-----------> –DU 65+ languages +DU------> –DU------> 3+ languages +DU –DU-----------> 9+ languages +DU----------------> over half of all (existing) lgs (b) –DU +DU-----------> Cl. Arabic (Semitic, Afroasiatic) + –DU------> +DU------> Ugaritic (Semitic, Afroasiatic) + –DU-----------> +DU 10+ languages +DU------> –DU +DU Kewa ("Papuan") (?) +DU –DU +DU------> northern dialects of Ostyak (Uralic) –DU------> +DU –DU 4+ languages –DU +DU –DU------> in no (attested) language (?) +DU –DU------> +DU in no (attested) language (?) –DU +DU------> –DU Rawa (Trans-NG, "Papuan") (?) +DU –DU +DU –DU Sedang (Austroasiatic) –DU +DU –DU +DU in no (attested) language (?) |
see above, or see Image - if you can | morphology: inflection / categories and their domains: person, number | dual, personal pronouns |
| 74 | endoclitics occurring not only inside morphologically complex words, but even within monomorphemic words, with the positioning of the clitic (a)regulated by one general phonological rule, (b) not regulated by a general phonological rule, although when endoclitic to simple verbs, the clitic always comes before the last segment of the verb stem (subject person-number markers are cliticized to constituents in focus, being always enclitic with arguments in focus, but en- or endo-clitic with verbs in focus) |
(a) English (Germanic, IE) (?);<br> (b) Udi (NE Caucasian) | phonology, morphology, syntax / word integrity | clitic, endoclitic |
| 75 | kinship verbs, i.e., pure kinship relations normally expressed by canonical transitive verbs rather than by nouns (which may also exist, though used primarily for purposes of address) | Iwaidjian lgs (Australian); Central Guerrero Nahuatl (Aztec, Uto-Aztecan); Yuman lgs (mostlly); (some lgs of) some further North American Indian families [possibly an infrequentale] | syntax / word classes | verb, kinship |
| 76 | adverb as a distinct word class but not adjective | Kambera (Malayo-Polynesian); Kwaza (unclassified, S. Rondônia, Brazil) | syntax / word classes | adverb, adjective |
| 77 | object before subject in basic word order | OVS: Coos (Coosan);Apalaí, Arekuna-Taupilang, Bacairí, Hianacoto-Umaua, Hixkaryana, Makushi, Panare (all Carib ), Asuriní (Tupi) (Derbyshire 1977, Derbyshire & Pullum 1981); Wajana (Carib) (Howell 1982); Barasano (Tucanoan) (Pullum 1981).<br> VOS: Siuslaw (isolate), Coeur d'Alene (Salish) (mentioned by Greenberg himself, 1963: 110); Malagasy, Batak [Toba dialect], Fijian, Gilbertese (all Malayo-Polynesian); Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumash (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian) (Keenan 1978); Huave (isolate) (Pickett 1983: 536); Cakchicel, Chol, Huastec, Mopan, Pocoman, Pocomchi, Quiche, Tojolabal (all Mayan), Ojibwa (Algonquian) (Pullum 1981).<br> OSV: Apurinã (Arawakan), Nadëb (Makú), Urubú (Tupi), Xavante (Gê) (Derbyshire 1977, Derbyshire & Pullum 1981); Kabardian (North Caucasian), Hurrian (isolate) (Polinskaja 1987: 89, 1989). | syntax / word order | subject object |
| 78 | expression of numerical approximation ('about 5', 'about the fifth') by inversion of word order from Numeral + Noun to N + Num | Russian and other East Slavonic lgs (Slavonic, IE) | syntax / word order | numeral |
| 79 | (finite) verb-second word order in main declarative clauses (i.e., specifically VERB-second rather than more generally clitic-second or X-second) |
many Germanic languages (IE), excluding English (ignoring a few marginal traces of V2); Sorbian (Slavonic, IE, influenced by German); Old French and some other early Romance lgs (IE) (???), Rhaeto-Romance (Romance, IE); Breton, Middle Welsh (Celtic, IE); Kashmiri (Dardic, Indic or Iranian, IE) | syntax / word order | V2 |
| 80 | (finite) verb-second word order in main declarative clauses generally optional, but obligatory if the first constituent is the unmarked narrative consecutive adverb 'then' (∂a, homonymous with the temporal conjunction 'when' introducing subordinate clauses, whose finite verb generally is final and never second) | Old English (Germanic, IE) | syntax / word order | V2 |
| 81 | (finite) verb-second word order in main declarative clauses only if the first constituent is an adverbial with strong negative force (such as never before, hardly ever) | Modern English (Germanic, IE) | syntax / word order | V2 |
| 82 | parasitic gaps (rather than an overt resumptive pronouns), licensed in main clauses if and only if a coreferential NP in a topicalized, fronted subordinate clause has been moved ahead of the clause-initial complementizer | Bavarian, West Flemish (Germanic, IE), Polish (Slavonic, IE) (?), Latin (Italic, IE) (?) | syntax / pronominalization, zero | parasitic gap |
| 83 | some noun-phrase internal agreement but no agreement at clause level | (some) Pama-Nyungan (Australian); modern Continental Scandinavian Germanic (IE) | syntax / agreement: controllers, targets, categories, domains, conditions | NP, clause |
| 84 | relative pronoun as the only target for agreement in animacy | Modern Standard English (Germanic, IE) | syntax / agreement: controllers, targets, categories, domains, conditions | relative pronoun, animacy |
| 85 | attributive adjectives agreeing (in gender, number, case) when they precede their noun but not when they follow it (using the invariable stem here) | German (Germanic, IE) | syntax / agreement: controllers, targets, categories, domains, conditions | noun, adjective |
| 86 | determiners and modifiers agreeing in all relevant agreement categories (gender, number, case) with only one of two or more conjoined nouns sharing these determiners and modifiers (rather than with both, relying on some resolution strategy in case of conflicting agreement categories), the agreed-with noun being the last (rather than the first) as well as the most distant conjunct (with nouns coming after determiners and modifiers) | Low German (Germanic, IE) | syntax / agreement: controllers, targets, categories, domains, conditions | determiner, modifier, coordination |
| 87 | Suffixaufnahme in more or less prototypical form, i.e., with a noun in an attributive case (genitive and/or other) agreeing in case (and perhaps further inflectional categories) with its head noun | some Australian lgs (indeed about half of them); Awngi (Central Cushitic), Burji, Darasa (Highland East Cushitic) (Cushitic, Afroasiatic); Maasai (and perhaps other Paranilotic lgs, Nilo-Saharan or Afroasiatic); Kikongo group (Bantu, Niger-Congo); many or indeed most modern Indo-Aryan lgs (except all of Magadhan and Singhalese-Maldivian)(IE); Malto (alone in Dravidian); Old Georgian and perhaps further old Kartvelian lgs; Tsezic group (NE Caucasian); Chukchi and perhaps other Chukchi-Kamchatkan lgs; Evenki, Even (Tungus, Altaic); Hurrian and Urartean [i.e., all of the long extinct Hurro-Urartean family, hence an infrequentale?] | syntax / agreement: controllers, targets, categories, domains, conditions | case, genitive, Suffixaufnahme |
| 88 | plural marking of numeral (including 'one') to express that the reference of the NP is to groups of entities denoted by the accompanying noun | Finnish, Estonian (Uralic); Icelandic (Germanic, IE) (?) | syntax / numerals and number | plural |
| 89 | ergative (or neutral) case marking higher and accusative case marking lower on the referential hierarchy | PRONOUNS NOUNS<br> 1ST 2ND 3RD<br> ERG-----------> ACC Parachi and Yazguljami, past tense (Iranian, IE)<br> ERG------> ACC NEUT Iha, SG, past tense (West Bomberai, "Papuan")<br> ERG------> NEUT ACC Tirahi, past tense (Dardic, IE)<br> NEUT----------> ACC Nganasan (Samoyedic, Uralic)<br> ERG------> ACC ERG Karitiana (Tupi-Guarani) | syntax / grammatical relations: alignment | case, split, referential hierarchy |
| 90 | accusative alignment for proper names and kin terms (as used for address), tripartite alignment for singular pronouns, neutral alignment for non-singular pronouns and plural common nouns, ergative alignment for non-plural common nouns |
Kalaw Lagaw La (Saibai dialect) (Pama-Nyungan, Australian) | syntax / grammatical relations: alignment | referential hierarchy, proper names, kin terms, personal pronouns, number |
| 91 | double-oblique alignment, with one case (or other coding device) for both subject and object in transitive clauses and another case (or other coding device) for intransitive subject |
Rushan and a few other Pamir lgs (Iranian, IE) as well as a few neighbouring Dardic lgs (Indic or Iranian, IE) | syntax / grammatical relations: alignment | double-oblique alignment |
| 92 | 3rd person independent pronouns as the only NPs to inflectionally distinguish subject and object | Washo (Hokan) | syntax / grammatical relations: alignment | case, pronoun, 3rd person |
| 93 | two object arguments in one construction showing the same syntactic and morphological behaviour as the single object of a primary transitive verb (lgs known as "symmetrical" or "true double accusative") | (not all) Bantu lgs (Niger-Congo); Yagua (isolate, Peru); Martuthunira (Pama-Nyungan, Australian) | syntax / grammatical relations: objects | direct object |
| 94 | a benefactive applied object in a multiple objects construction behaving like the single object of a primary transitive verb, esp. with regard to extraction | Bajau (Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian); LuHaya (Bantu, Niger-Congo) | syntax / grammatical relations: objects | benefactive object, applicative |
| 95 | passive constructions, with subject demoted, corresponding to active ones containing a reflexive pronoun (or reflexive marker) as a direct or indirect object, with the reflexive thus not controlled by a subject in the passive | German (Germanic, IE), Lithuanian (Balto-Slavic, IE), Latin (Italic, IE); Turkish (Turkic, Altaic) | syntax / grammatical relations: voice | passive, reflexive, control |
| 96 | grammaticalization of these verbs, denoting activities with subjects in an agentive role, as auxiliaries of passives where non-agents are promoted to subject: <table class = 'textTable'> <tr> <td>(i)</td> <td> 'give'</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td>(should actually be more common since 'give' is common as an existential verb and existential verbs are common as passive auxiliaries);</td> </tr> <tr> <td>(ii)</td> <td>'eat'</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> (but then, the agentive subject of 'eat' is also a receiving one, cf. 'to take in' or 'to stomach').</td> </tr> </table> |
(i) Luxemburgian German (Germanic, IE);<br> (ii) (some) Munda (Austroasiatic); Sinhala, Bengali (?) (Indo-Aryan, IE) | syntax / grammatical relations: voice | grammaticalization, auxiliary |
| 97 | verbs of cognition (especially 'to think, know, remember' – more precisely, non-communicative cognition, as opposed to cognition based on communication, such as 'to understand') polysemous or heterosemous with, and historically deriving from, verbs of hearing rather than of seeing | widespread among Australian lgs [an infrequentale? – No: Kaurna and Arrernte have 'see' > 'know, think']; Hausa (Chadic, Afroasiatic) (?); Ommura ("Papuan") (?); Suya (Ge, Ge-Pano-Carib) (?) | semantics / polysemy | verbs of cognition and perception |
| 98 | the two meanings 'sun' and 'future tense' expressed by the same form (because the future is grammaticalized from the adverb sina 'tomorrow', which in turn derives from si-na 'sun-come') | Mandinka (Mande, Niger-Congo) | semantics / polysemy | tense, future, grammaticalization |
| 99 | high and low vowels as one class as opposed to mid vowels in determining vowel harmony | Swahili and perhaps other Bantu languages (Niger-Congo) | phonology / segment classes: vowel harmony | vowels, high, low, mid |
| 100 | vowel harmony in terms of vowel peripherality, rather than of backness (palatal harmony), roundness (labial harmony), or ATR (height harmony) | Pasiego (northwestern Spanish dialect, Romance, IE) | phonology / segment classes: vowel harmony | peripherality |