infrequentale (family possession) 36: inverse number marking: same exponent denoting singular, dual, or plural in different declensions, depending on which number is least expected from…
Month: May 2020
rarissimum 35
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rarissimum 35: zero exponence for plural, non-zero for singular (not singulative!) as well as dual Where found Imonda (Trans-New Guinea, “Papuan”) Domain morphology: inflection Subdomain…
rarissimum 34
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rarissimum 34: verb inflection with non-zero exponent for 3rd person (subject or object agreement/cross-reference), but zero for all other persons Where found Standard English (Germanic,…
rarum 33
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rarum 33: negation expressed negatively, by omission of material present in affirmative clause (marked realis vs. unmarked irrealis mood inflection) Where found Tamil, Kannada, Toda,…
rarissimum 32
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rarissimum 32: plural marking of a small subset of nouns (persons, kin) by lengthening of the vowel of the antepenultimate syllable, not a salient structural…
nonesuch 31
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nonesuch 31: reduplication of verb to form finite verb of restrictive relative clauses with non-actor head nouns Where found Wetan (Eastern Indonesian, Austronesian) Domain morphology:…
rarum 30
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rarum 30: case distinction exclusively by tone Where found Eastern (or Para-)Nilotic (Nilo-Saharan); (some) Cushitic, (some) Omotic (?) (Afroasiatic); (some) Bantu, Bantoid, Kwa (Niger-Congo); Burmese…
rarum 29
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rarum 29: use of metathesis (CV ~ VC) for grammatical purposes, viz. to express distinctions of aspect and/or definiteness, or of word-class (noun-verb) Where found…
rarissimum 28
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rarissimum 28: phonemic secondary ‘labio-palatalization’(simultaneous labial rounding and palatal constriction) Where found Twi (Kwa, Niger-Congo); French (Romance, IE) Domain phonology Subdomain phoneme inventory Keywords palatalization…