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Universal 564: Du (noun) ⇒ Du (pronoun)

Posted in Universals Archive

Universal 564: Du (noun) ⇒ Du (pronoun)

Original
If the Dual extends to nouns, it also extends to pronouns.
Standardized
IF the dual extends to nouns, THEN it also extends to pronouns.
Keywords
number, dual, noun, pronoun
Domain
inflection
Type
implication
Status
diachronic
Quality
absolute
Basis
unspecified
Source
Cuny 1906: 2, Gray 1939: 181, Jensen 1952: 9
Counterexamples
1. Some Semitic languages (Afro-Asiatic), Irish, possibly early Polish and other early Slavonic (all Indo-European) (Plank 1989: 297)2. Hopi (Uto-Aztecan) is mentioned in Plank 1989: 297-8 as a counterexample. The direct way of dual marking in nouns (with a suffix), however, is complemented by an indirect way of dual marking with pronouns: it is the combination of plural pronominal subject and singular verb which conveys dual meaning. 3. Önge (Andamanese). 4. The nouns of Paez (Paezan-Barbacoan) have a special “dual” form not paralleled in pronouns, but it is restricted to the “elliptic” reading, i.e., it is a duo-associative (dual form means, e.g., “father and son” but not “two fathers”) (Slocum 1986). 5. Awa and Gadsup (East New Guinea Highlands) (McKaughan (ed.) 1973) have a dual in nouns but apparently not in independent pronouns. There is, however, dual marking in the verbal cross-referencing system.

One Comment

  1. FP
    FP

    See further discussion in Plank 1989: 297; 1994b: 235.

    1. May 2020

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