rarissimum 115: stem suppletion of ‘two’, as the only numeral, depending on the use of the numeral for counting or for quantifying a noun
Where found
Maltese (Semitic, Afroasiatic); Chinese (Sinitic, Sino-Tibetan)
Domain
morphology: inflection
Subdomain
suppletion
Keywords
numeral
Type
rarissimum
Universals violated
none
Source
Hurford, James R. (2002). The interaction between numerals and nouns. In Frans Plank (ed.), Noun Phrase Structure in the Languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
German and Basque also have distinct counting and quantifying forms for ‘two’, but the stems, zwo and zwei (German) and biga and bi (Basque), are still formally related, unlike tnejn and xew0 in Maltese and èr and liâng in Chinese. Such counting/quantifying suppletion seems somewhat more common for ‘one’.
German and Basque also have distinct counting and quantifying forms for ‘two’, but the stems, zwo and zwei (German) and biga and bi (Basque), are still formally related, unlike tnejn and xew0 in Maltese and èr and liâng in Chinese. Such counting/quantifying suppletion seems somewhat more common for ‘one’.