Re: THEORY: Number and animacy
| From: | Chris Peters <beta_leonis@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 15:56 |
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>Hi!
>
>Benct Philip Jonsson writes:
> > Does anyone know of a natlang which distinguishes
> > number for animate, but not for inanimate nouns?
> >...
>
>From: Henrik Theiling
>
>Maybe also Japanese? I don't know Japanese very well, but I think it
>only has plural forms for animate nouns (and these, I think, are
>irregular without a generic plural form, in contrast to Mandarin).
>
>**Henrik
Japanese does have a plural suffix, "-tachi", which is use for animate nouns
and pronouns:
"hito" = person; "hitotachi" = "people"
"watashi" = I; "watashitachi = "we"
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