LINGUIST List 5.731

Sat 25 Jun 1994

Sum: Quadral number

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Message 1: Quadral number (summary)

Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 18:48:50 Quadral number (summary)
From: "G.Corbett" <lis1gcsurrey.ac.uk>
Subject: Quadral number (summary)

On 16 June 1994 I posted the following query (Vol-5-702):

Does anyone know of properly documented instances of languages with quadral number (in addition to a plural) ?

Languages with a dual (for two referents) and a trial (for three referents) are well known. There appears to be a small number of languages with a quadral (for four referents). The most promising I have found is Sursurunga; Marshallese is another possible (see references below). In both the quadral forms have unusual properties.

There are various references in the literature to other languages with a quadral. Sometimes this is simply a misnomer for plural (that is, the language is claimed to have singular, dual trial and quadral, but it turns out that the the "quadral" is used for four or more, and hence is just a plural). Sometimes the mention of a quadral in a language is carried from writer to writer without any forms being given.

So, are there more languages with possible quadrals? And can anyone throw any more light on Sursurunga and Marshallese ? Please reply to me; if there are so many additional languages that I would need a quadral to describe them I will post a summary to the list.

References Bender, Byron W. 1969. Spoken Marshallese: an Intensive Language Course with Grammatical Notes and Glossary. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. Hutchisson, Don. 1986. Sursurunga pronouns and the special uses of quadral number. In: Ursula Wiesemann (ed.) Pronominal Systems (Continuum 5), 217-55. Tuebingen: Narr.

Many thanks to all who responded. Three responses provided new information, thus demonstrating why English appears not to need a quadral.

Byron Bender (whose grammar is quoted above) gave the following information: "the number specifying suffixes are tacked onto the plural pronouns optionally. One isn't forced into head-counting at every turn. Yet I would say it is quite common to do so in ordinary conversation, with the dual being most frequent and the quadral perhaps least. One factor amplifying the frequency of the quadral is its rhetorical use with groups of more than four, to give an allusion of intimacy: "just among the four of us...." This feature is mentioned in a note on p. 159. The quadral really is a quadral, though, not a mislabelled plural, since there is another suffix in the series -w&j for 'five or more'. Also, of the two dialectal variants for the plural suffix, one is morphologically related to the numeral for 'four'. Emen 'four'; kom-men 'the four of you', kem-men 'the four of us', etc." benderuhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu

Two people drew attention to sign language:

"American Sign Language (ASL) does have dual (inclusive and exclusive), trial, quadral, ?pental (THE-FIVE-OF-YOU/US) pronouns. There are also non-specific WE (inclusive and exclusive) and Y'ALL pronouns.

My suspicion would be that other "well-developed" signed languages (I suggest British Sign, Swedish Sign and French Sign as possibilities) have similarly complex systems." Marina McIntire (mmcintirlynx.dac.neu.edu)

And "ASL (American Sign Language) can easily, and often does, incorporate numbers into verbs. This is aided by the fact that the morphemes meaning 'person' that are used in a great many verbs of movement and position (and their metaphorical extensions) such as 'meet', 'depart', 'be above', 'be popular', etc., are homophonous with morphemes meaning '1': an extended index finger (less frequently thumb) with the other digits closed. The morphemes for numbers from 2 to 5 are composed of an appropriate number of extended digits (in specific sets, not just any [e.g. 3] digits), and 6 through 9 are also represented with single handshapes; all of these handshapes can be incorporated into verbs in the same way as '1'. Number agreement is not mandatory, in that 'three people leave' can use either the '3' morpheme or a more general plural morpheme, but it is not at all uncommon for the specific number to be so incorporated. The 'plural' member of this set has all five digits extended, and it may be difficult to distinguish '5' from 'plural' in many cases. I have not been an active signer or sign linguist for a number of years, so I cannot be sure on this point.

I remember a striking instance in which a woman was speaking of raising her four children. She said she had had four different doctors, one for each child; 'one for each child' was signed with a '4' handshape-morpheme on each hand, moving one hand so that the backs of its extended four fingers came into contact with the palmar surfaces of the extended four fingers of the other hand: '4 corresponding to 4'.

Other sign languages probably exhibit similar widespread numeral agreement." Mark A. Mandel (markdragonsys.com)

Thanks again for this; if anyone else has information on quadrals, please get in touch.

Greville G. Corbett Department of Linguistic and International Studies University of Surrey Guildford Surrey, GU2 5XH Great Britain

email: g.corbettsurrey.ac.uk FAX: +44 483 302605