The visual system

• Main Authors: Greville G. Corbett, Marianne Mithun, Universitlt Of Suney
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Neral; Yup'ik
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.1545; http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/mithun/pdfs/1996+Associative+forms+in+a+typology+of+number+systems.pdf

A g€neral typology of number systems has to coDfront the problem of variation both in the number values in diffelent larguages and in the inventories ofnominals involved. We start from the Smith-Stark Hierarchy and extend this approach to additioaal numbers (such as dual and paucal). Associative plurals appear to undermine this typology, if we tueat them as a tiird mrmber. Either the associative plual or the ordinary plural proves to be exceptional. The morphology of associative marking in Central Pomo and in Central Alaskan Yup'ik suggests that this is the wrong approach. In Central Pomo the associative contains an original plural segment. More significantly, Central Alaskan Yup'ik provides the ideal combination of three numbers and complex morphology to demonstrate that associatives should not be troated as additional numbers. Associativity atrd number are realized separately, \trhich shows tlat associatives are a separate category interacting with number. This allows us to maintain the typology proposed.