Plural Words in Austronesian Languages: Typology and History

IF 0.4 3区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

OCEANIC LINGUISTICS Pub Date : 2022-10-05 DOI:10.1353/ol.2022.0024

Jiang Wu

{"title":"Plural Words in Austronesian Languages: Typology and History","authors":"Jiang Wu","doi":"10.1353/ol.2022.0024","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This paper investigates the typology and history of plural words in the Austronesian family, by using a sample of 128 languages representing both genealogical and geographical diversity. I first consider the definition of plural words, which are grammatical words indicating nominal plurality at the phrasal level. I then present the distribution of plural words in the sample and examine their history. Several findings can be drawn from the data. First, plural words are the most common type of plural markers in the Austronesian family, attested in more than half of the sample languages. Second, languages with plural words exhibit an uneven distribution: they are typically found in the Philippines, eastern Indonesia, and across the Pacific islands, particularly in New Ireland and Vanuatu, but virtually absent in western Indonesia. This uneven geographical distribution also correlates with a skewed genealogical distribution. Third, as for the diachronic developments of plural words, the previously reconstructed proto plural word *maŋa is only reflected to a limited extent, almost exclusively in the Philippine languages. More commonly, plural words reflect the grammaticalization of third-person plural pronouns, a path found for nearly half of the plural words.","PeriodicalId":51848,"journal":{"name":"OCEANIC LINGUISTICS","volume":"61 1","pages":"721 - 756"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"OCEANIC LINGUISTICS","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ol.2022.0024","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract:This paper investigates the typology and history of plural words in the Austronesian family, by using a sample of 128 languages representing both genealogical and geographical diversity. I first consider the definition of plural words, which are grammatical words indicating nominal plurality at the phrasal level. I then present the distribution of plural words in the sample and examine their history. Several findings can be drawn from the data. First, plural words are the most common type of plural markers in the Austronesian family, attested in more than half of the sample languages. Second, languages with plural words exhibit an uneven distribution: they are typically found in the Philippines, eastern Indonesia, and across the Pacific islands, particularly in New Ireland and Vanuatu, but virtually absent in western Indonesia. This uneven geographical distribution also correlates with a skewed genealogical distribution. Third, as for the diachronic developments of plural words, the previously reconstructed proto plural word *maŋa is only reflected to a limited extent, almost exclusively in the Philippine languages. More commonly, plural words reflect the grammaticalization of third-person plural pronouns, a path found for nearly half of the plural words.

查看原文本刊更多论文

南岛语言中的复数词：类型学与历史

摘要：本文以128种代表系谱和地理多样性的语言为样本，研究了南岛语族复数词的类型学和历史。我首先考虑复数词的定义，复数词是在短语层面上表示名词复数的语法词。然后，我展示了复数词在样本中的分布，并考察了它们的历史。从这些数据中可以得出一些发现。首先，复数词是南岛语族中最常见的复数标记类型，在超过一半的样本语言中得到了证实。其次，复数单词的语言分布不均：它们通常分布在菲律宾、印度尼西亚东部和整个太平洋岛屿，特别是在新爱尔兰和瓦努阿图，但在印度尼西亚西部几乎没有。这种不均衡的地理分布也与谱系分布的偏斜有关。第三，关于复数词的历时发展，先前重建的原复数词*maŋa只在有限的程度上得到反映，几乎只在菲律宾语言中得到反映。更常见的是，复数词反映了第三人称复数代词的语法化，这一路径适用于近一半的复数词。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

OCEANIC LINGUISTICS LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

44.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： Oceanic Linguistics is the only journal devoted exclusively to the study of the indigenous languages of the Oceanic area and parts of Southeast Asia. The thousand-odd languages within the scope of the journal are the aboriginal languages of Australia, the Papuan languages of New Guinea, and the languages of the Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian) family. Articles in Oceanic Linguistics cover issues of linguistic theory that pertain to languages of the area, report research on historical relations, or furnish new information about inadequately described languages.