Pluractionality

Grammatical features
Related to nouns Animacy Case Dative construction Dative shift Quirky subject Nominative Comitative Instrumental Classifier Measure word Construct state Countability Count noun Mass noun Collective noun Definiteness Gender Genitive construction Possession Suffixaufnahme (case stacking) Noun class Number Singular Dual Plural Singulative-Collective-Plurative Specificity Universal grinder
Related to verbs Associated motion Clusivity Conjugation Evidentiality Modality Person Telicity Mirativity Tense–aspect–mood Grammatical aspect Lexical aspect (Aktionsart) Mood Tense Voice
General features Affect Boundedness Comparison (degree) Egophoricity Pluractionality (verbal number) Honorifics (politeness) Polarity Reciprocity Reflexive pronoun Reflexive verb
Syntax relationships Argument Transitivity Valency Branching Serial verb construction Traditional grammar Predicate Subject Object Adjunct Predicative
Semantics Contrast Mirativity Thematic relation Agent Patient Topic and Comment Focus Volition Veridicality
Phenomena Agreement Polypersonal agreement Declension Empty category Incorporation Inflection Markedness
v t e

In

in that the latter have no implication for the number of participants of the verb.

Often a pluractional

paucal

vs. multiple rather than singular vs. plural.

Although English does not have verbal number as a grammatical device, many English verbs such as stampede and massacre are used when one of the participants involves a large number. English also has a number of verbs (often ending in -le, such as nibble) which indicate repetitive actions, and this is similar to some types of grammatically-marked pluractionality in other languages.

In Ainu

The

forms of the latter, kor-pa-re 'to give (one person) many things', kor-pa-yar 'to give (several people) many things'. The -pa may occur more than once; this may be a case of the pluractional verb in its iterative aspect:

hosip-pa-pa "everyone came back"

There are also

suppletive

forms:

Ainu suppletive pluractionals

Paucal	Multiple	Trans.
an	oka(y)	to be
as	roski	to stand
a	rok	to sit
arpa, oman	paye	to go
ek	arki	to come
rayke	ronnu	to kill
uk	uyna	to take

In addition to literal number, pluractionality can be used for politeness, much as plural pronouns are in many languages. (See T–V distinction.)

In Georgian

Georgian shows an illuminating distinction between verbal and nominal number. Georgian verbs may be suppletive for tense and animacy as well as number. When a noun occurs with a numeral in Georgian, it takes the singular form regardless of its semantic number. Verbal agreement is syntactic, and therefore is also singular. However, the pluractionality of the verbal root remains plural.^[2] Thus,

Singular participant, singular verb:

Plural participant, plural verb:

Grammatically singular but semantically plural participant, mixed verb:

(See Interlinear gloss to explain the format of these examples.)

In Mongolic

The Mongolian verb has no personal conjugation, but three different voices requiring a plural subject – reciprocal, cooperative and pluritative –, of which the pluritative may be seen as a true verbal plural.^[3] Cognate forms are found in other Mongolic languages and can be reconstructed to Proto-Mongolic.^[4]

In Muskogean

Muskogean languages such as Koasati have a three-way distinction, with singular, dual, and plural verbs. However, it is not clear if this is pluractionality or simply suppletive verbal agreement for number. See Koasati language for details.

In Hopi

In Hopi, dual nouns as subjects take the suffix -vit and singular verbs. Hopi does not have dual pronouns, but the plural pronouns may be used with singular verbs with a dual meaning. However, it is not clear if this is pluractionality or simply number agreement on the verb. See Hopi language for details.

In Central Pomo

The

suffix -w on these verbs may be replaced with -t for a plural object:

As in Ainu, pluractionality may be used for politeness.

In Hausa

Chadic languages such as Hausa use reduplicated verbs with "a general meaning of a repeated action, an action simultaneously performed by several agents, and action performed on more than one object, or various combinations of these 'plural' meanings" (Eulenberg 1971). There are also derived forms:

• naa aikee su 'I sent them'
• naa a”aikee su 'I sent(pl) them'

The first implies that I sent them all together, whereas the second means that I sent them at different times or to different places.

In Papuan languages

Pluractionality is not uncommon in New Guinea. The Koiarian language Barai has suppletive forms:

fi	'one sits'		kari	'many sit'
abe	'take one'		ke	'take many'

In Slavic languages

The Slavic verb can express pluractionality as part of its morphological equipment besides iterativity. In Slovak and Czech, it is often formed by the prefix po- + iterative form, cf Slovak:

• išla 'she went'  - chodila (iterative) 'she went (often, to many places); walked (about); wandered; circulated'
• pochodila (pluractional) 'she went (to all possible places); visited (all possible people)'

Prefixation generally produces perfective meaning in Slavic verb, so due to the po- prefixation, the pluractional form is aspectually perfective while the iterative is imperfective. That is why, morphologically, this pluractional form may seem as just a perfective counterpart to iterative (chodila - pochodila), yet there is a difference. The pluractional form differs in valency from the iterative form. While the iterative retains the valency of the original verb, the pluractional takes a direct object. So, whereas išla and its iterative chodila requires a directional preposition (išla (chodila) do Malej Fatry / k doktorovi 'she went (often/regularly went) to the Malá Fatra mountains / to (see) a doctor'), the pluractional pochodila takes a direct object: pochodila (celú) Malú Fatru; pochodila (všetkých možných) doktorov 'she wandered the whole of the Malá Fatra mountains; she went to / consulted (all possible) doctors'. (Alternatively, the accusative direct object can be replaced by the preposition po + locative: pochodila po (celej) Malej Fatre; pochodila po (všetkých možných) doktoroch, which has a nuance of a weaker, less expressive perhaps, extent of the action. This construction is also possible with iterative, but then the pluractional meaning is lost.) The change in valency raises the question whether Slavic pluractional forms are lexical, rather than grammatical, derivations; a question similar to the case of Ainu and its suppletive forms.

In American Sign Language

In

rather than pluractionality. For example, ask someone a question is signed by flexing the index finger of an upright G hand in the direction of that person; the dual involves flexing it at both object loci (sequentially with one hand or simultaneously with both), the simple plural involves a single flexing, which spans the object group while the hand arcs across it, and an individuated plural involves multiple rapid flexings while the hand arcs.

References

• Campbell, G. (2000). Compendium of the World's Languages. Taylor & Francis.
• Corbett, G. (2000). Number. Cambridge University Press.
• Eulenberg (1971). Papers in African Linguistics
• Liddell, Scott K. (2003). Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge University Press.
• Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
• Tamura, Suzuko (2000). The Ainu Language. Tokyo: Sanseido.