THEORY: Paucal and Trial Grammatical Number
From: | Tom Chappell <tomhchappell@...> |
Date: | Monday, May 16, 2005, 23:41 |
I read "somewhere" that Greenberg said there are no true "trial" numbers; that
these are all really "paucal".
I also read a very interesting Feature Geometry article (on person, number, and
"class" or grammatical gender) that, if true, would imply that no language
could have both a paucal number and a "true" trial number separate and distinct
from each other.
(1) Does anyone know of any NatLang that definitely has both
* a trial number distinct from its dual and paucal numbers
* a paucal number distinct from its trial and "plural-of-abundance" number
?
Failing that,
(2) Does anyone know of
* a NatLang that has a "true trial" number that is demonstrably not a paucal
* a NatLang that has a "true paucal" that is demonstrably not a trial
?
(Note: for question 2, as for question 1, I mean that the numbers sought are
definitely different from, on the one hand, the dual, and on the other hand,
the "plural of abundance".
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Thanks.
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