The tones of numerals and numeral-plus-classifier phrases: on structural similarities between Naxi, Na and Laze
Numeral-plus-classifier phrases have relatively complex tone patterns in Naxi, Na (a.k.a. Mosuo) and Laze (a.k.a. Shuitian). These tone patterns have structural similarities across the three languages. Among the numerals from ‘1’ to ‘10’, three pairs emerge: ‘1’ and ‘2’ always have the same to...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2024
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177699 |
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Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
Language: | English |
Summary: | Numeral-plus-classifier phrases have relatively complex tone patterns in
Naxi, Na (a.k.a. Mosuo) and Laze (a.k.a. Shuitian). These tone patterns have
structural similarities across the three languages. Among the numerals from ‘1’ to
‘10’, three pairs emerge: ‘1’ and ‘2’ always have the same tonal behaviour;
likewise, ‘4’ and ‘5’ share the same tone patterns, as do ‘6’ and ‘8’. Even those tone
patterns that are irregular in view of the synchronic phonology of the languages at
issue are no exception to the structural identity within these three pairs of numerals.
These pairs also behave identically in numerals from ‘11’ to ‘99’ and above, e.g.
‘16’ and ‘18’ share the same tone pattern. In view of the paucity of irregular
morphology—and indeed of morphological alternations in general—in these
languages, these structural properties appear interesting for phylogenetic research.
The identical behaviour of these pairs of numerals originates in morpho phonological properties that they shared at least as early as the stage preceding the
separation of Naxi, Na and Laze, referred to as the Proto-Naish stage. Although no
reconstruction can be proposed as yet for these shared properties, it is argued that
they provide a hint concerning the phylogenetic closeness of the three languages. |
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