The development and typology of number suppletion in adjectives
Silva Nurmio | Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
This paper looks at the cross-linguistically rare phenomenon of number suppletion in adjectives. I consider how such suppletion arises by looking at six known examples with a special focus on the Brittonic languages (Breton, Cornish and Welsh), which are discussed as an extended case study. Three generalisations are suggested on the basis of the typological study. First, adjectives denoting size (“small” and “big”) are at the centre of this phenomenon. Second, where the etymology of the adjectives is known, the plural member of the suppletive pair for “small” develops from a lexeme denoting something having been divided into or consisting of small parts. These lexemes can also be used with some singular nouns and in such cases they denote the component structure of the referent. Finally, adjectives with number suppletion tend to mark plural number consistently in environments in which plural marking is otherwise optional or rare.
Keywords: suppletion, adjectives, grammatical number, agreement, inflectional morphology, Brittonic languages, verbal number
Published online: 20 July 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.34.2.01nur
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.34.2.01nur
Bibliography
Bibliography
Corpora
Brown, Dunstan, Marina Chumakina, Greville G. Corbett & Andrew Hippisley
Ellis, N. C., C. O’Dochartaigh, W. Hicks, M. Morgan & N. Laporte
(eds.) 2001 Cronfa electroneg o Gymraeg (CEG): A 1 million word lexical database and frequency count for Welsh, Bangor University. www.bangor.ac.uk/canolfanbedwyr/ceg.php.en [CEG]
Isaac, Graham R., Simon Rodway, Silva Nurmio, Kit Kapphahn & Patrick Sims-Williams
(eds.) 2013 Rhyddiaith Gymraeg o lawysgrifau’r 13eg ganrif: Fersiwn 2.0. Aberystwyth University. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/11163 [13c]
Luft, Diana, Peter Wynn Thomas & D. Mark Smith
(eds.) 2007–2013 Rhyddiaith Gymraeg 1300–1425: Welsh prose 1300–1425. Cardiff University. http://www.rhyddiaithganoloesol.caerdydd.ac.uk [1300–1425].
Roberts, Richard Glyn, Sarah Rowles & Patrick Sims-Williams
(eds.) 2015 Rhyddiaith y 15eg ganrif: Fersiwn 1.0, Aberystwyth University. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/26752 [15c]
Willis, David & Ingo Mittendorf
(eds.) 2004 Corpws hanesyddol yr iaith Gymraeg 1500–1850: A Historical corpus of the Welsh language 1500–1850. University of Cambridge. http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/dwew2/hcwl/menu.htm. [1500–1850]
[ p. 162 ]References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y.
Awbery, Gwenllïan
Bauer, Bernhard
2008 Studien zu den Altbretonischen Glossen. Vienna: Magister der Philosophie thesis. http://othes.univie.ac.at/685/. (4 March 2016)
Bobaljik, Jonathan David
Bobaljik, Jonathan David & Heidi Harley
Booij, Geert
Börjars, Kersti & Nigel Vincent
Comrie, Bernard
Corbett, Greville G.
Durie, Mark
Favereau, Francis
Fortson, Benjamin W., IV
Fynes-Clinton, Osbert Henry
Hale, Kenneth, Laverne Masayesva Jeanne & Paula M. Pranka
[ p. 163 ]
Heath, Jeffrey
Hemon, Roparz
Hippisley, Andrew, Marina Chumakina, Greville G. Corbett & Dunstan Brown
Holmes, Philip & Ian Hinchliffe
Jørgensen, Anders R.
2012 Plural suppletion in adjectives: The case of the plural of Breton and Cornish bihan “little”. Paper presented at the Workshop on Building Blocks of Breton Grammar, Philipps University of Marburg, 26–27 April 2012.
Juge, Matthew L.
Jurafsky, Daniel
Kelly, Fergus
Latham, Ronald E., David R. Howlett & Richard K. Ashdowne
Lewis, Charlton T. & Charles Short
Lewis, Henry & Jean R.F. Piette
Linnard, William
Maiden, Martin
Nance, R. Morton
Norris, Edwin
[ p. 164 ]
Nurmio, Silva
Nurmio, Silva & David Willis
Nurmio, Silva
OED Online
Oxford: Oxford University Press. www.oed.com (4 March 2016).
Pedersen, Holger
Phillips, Manon
Schrijver, Peter
Schumacher, Stefan
Sims-Williams, Patrick
Ternes, Elmar
(eds.) 1950– Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. Cardiff: University of Wales Press (2nd edition from 2003–, ed. Gareth A. Bevan & Patrick J. Donovan, www.geiriadur.ac.uk [4 March, 2016]). (GPC).
Veselinova, Ljuba N.
Watkins, T. Arwyn
Williams, Nicholas J.A.
Willis, David
2014 Maintaining the historical directionality of syntactic change in numeral phrases. Paper presented at the 16th Diachronic Generative Syntax Conference, Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 3–5 July 2014.[ p. 165 ]
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Kim, Ronald I.
Nurmio, Silva
Plank, Frans & Nigel Vincent
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 december 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.