Origin of the numeral marker

See data and maps.

Plain text

Melenchenko, M. (2022). “Origin of the numeral marker”. In: Typological Atlas of the Languages of Daghestan (TALD). Ed. by M. Daniel, K. Filatov, T. Maisak, G. Moroz, T. Mukhin, C. Naccarato and S. Verhees. Moscow: Linguistic Convergence Laboratory, NRU HSE. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6807070. http://lingconlab.ru/dagatlas.

BibTeX

@incollection{melenchenko2022,
  title = {Origin of the numeral marker},
  author = {Maksim Melenchenko},
  year = {2022},
  editor = {Michael Daniel and Konstantin Filatov and Timur Maisak and George Moroz and Timofey Mukhin and Chiara Naccarato and Samira Verhees},
  publisher = {Linguistic Convergence Laboratory, NRU HSE},
  address = {Moscow},
  booktitle = {Typological Atlas of the Languages of Daghestan (TALD)},
  url = {http://lingconlab.ru/dagatlas},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.6807070},
}

1 Introduction

This chapter is dedicated to the origins of numeral markers across the East Caucasian family and neighboring languages.

2 Results

Numeral markers in East Caucasian seem to be semantically vacuous, but in some languages they coincide with affixes of different categories. The first map shows the distribution of known origins of numeral markers in the languages of the family. In the Avar-Andic branch and some other languages, numeral markers coincide with intensifying particles (Forker 2015). These particles may originate in copulas ‘to be’ (Maisak, Chumakina 2001: 718). Consider the following examples from Standard Avar which show different uses of this suffix:

1. Standard Avar (Forker 2020: 13)

   anc’-go

   ten-num

   ‘10’

2. Standard Avar (Forker 2015: 8)

   do-b=go	ħami-de-gun
   dem-n=int	donkey.obl-lat-com
   ‘the very same donkey’

In Lezgic languages numerals usually attach a class marker which agrees with the corresponding noun, as exemplified in (3). In Lezgian and Agul, nominal class is lost, and former class markers are petrified as usual suffixes.

3. Kina Rutul (Mukhin 2020: 2)

   xibɨ-r	riši
   three-2	sister(2)three
   ‘three sisters’

In Lak and Archi numeral markers coincide with emphatic particles, which have a class slot inside. In the following examples the same particle has different functions:

4. Archi (Mikajlov 1967: 75)

   wic’-i‹t’›u

   ten-num‹n2.sg›

   ‘10’

5. Archi (Chumakina 2021: 456)

   jamu-tː=ij‹t’›u	ekutːut	nokɬ’=u
   this-n2.sg=‹n2.sg›emph	fall.pfv.attr.iv.sg	house=and
   ‘the same wrecked (falling apart) house’

In Akhvakh of the Andic branch and Tsakhur of the Lezgic branch cardinals use more than one suffix. In Akhvakh the suffix -da is followed by the suffix -CL-e. -da is also the suffix of adjectives, possibly originating in a participle ida-CL-e ‘being’ (Magomedbekova 1967: 67):

6. Northern Akhvakh (Magomedbekova 1967: 71)

   ĩƛːi-da-be

   six-num-cm

   ‘6’

In Tsakhur, on the other hand, the class marker is followed by an additional suffix -le. Functions of this morpheme are ‘similar to those of an attributivizer’ (Kibrik 1999: 158):

7. Mishlesh Tsakhur (Kibrik 1999: 158)

   q’oˤ=b-le

   two=cm-num

   ‘2’

In most Tsezic languages numerals end with -no/-na (-ra in oblique cases), whose origin is hard to trace. Curiously, according to grammars, this marker coincides with the bisyndetic conjunctive suffix which is used as a linking suffix in complex numerals. The numeral marker -no/-na and the conjunctive suffix coincide in four of five Tsezic languages. However, these morphemes differ in behavior. The distinction between the two and the possible diachronic relationship between them has not been studied yet, and in specific cases can appear vague. Consider example (8) from Hinuq of the Tsezic branch:

8. Hinuq (Forker 2013: 394)

   q’o-no	qu=no	oc’e-no	ɬo-no
   two-num	twenty=add	ten-num	three-num
   ‘53’

Many Dargic languages have a common suffix -al, which is attached by different rules in different lects. Example (9) from Tanty shows a typical Dargic cardinal. Its origin is unknown. However, it is worth mentioning that according to Gasanova (1971: 73), -al is one of the suffixes typical for adjectives in Dargic languages.

9. Tanty Dargwa (Sumbatova, Lander 2014: 94)

   wec’-al

   ten-num

   ‘10’

Finally, some East Caucasian languages have no markers at all. In Ingush, cardinals ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, and ‘5’ attach a glottal stop when headless (Nichols 2011: 198). This glottal stop does not appear in adnominal contexts and thus is also not considered in this chapter. In other numerals there is no marker, as in the Standard Ingush cardinal it: ‘10’ (Nichols 2011: 210).

Numeral markers also occur in some other languages of the Caucasus, e.g. Abaza (Genko 1955). A similar but not identical task of mapping numeral markers in the languages of the Caucasus has been undertaken in (Moroz 2012). However, I am not aware of any large-scale typological works on the matter.

3 Distribution

Lezgic languages generally use class markers as numeral markers and Avar-Andic languages particles with emphatic functions (-gu, -go, -da). Dargic and Tsezic branches use different markers whose origins are not identified. Nakh languages and Khinalug do not have numeral markers.

List of glosses

2 — second person; add — additive; attr — attributive; cm — class marker; com — comitative; dem — demonstrative; int — interrogative; iv — class IV; lat — lative; n — neuter; n2 — ; num — numeral; numn2 — ; obl — oblique; pfv — perfective; sg — singular; sgemph — 

References

Chumakina, M. E. (2021). Nesoglasovatelʹnye funkcii soglasovatelʹnyx pokazatelej v dagestanskix jazykax [Non-agreement functions of agreement markers in Dagestanian languages]. Rhema. Rema, 2, 131—148.

Forker, D. (2013). A grammar of Hinuq. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.

Forker, D. (2015). Towards a semantic map for intensifying particles: Evidence from Avar. STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 68(4), 485–513.

Forker, D. (2020). Avar grammar sketch (M. Polinsky, Ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gasanova, S. M. (1971). Očerki darginskoj dialektologii [Essays on Dargwa dialectology]. Makhachkala: Institut istorii, jazyka i literatury im. G. Cadasy.

Genko, A. N. (1955). Abazinskij jazyk. Grammatičeskij očerk narečija tapanta [Abaza language. Grammatical overview of the Tapanta dialect]. Moscow: Akademija nauk SSSR.

Kibrik, A. E. (1999). Èlementy caxurskogo jazyka v tipologičeskom osveščenii [Elements of Tsakhur grammar in a typological perspective]. Moscow: Nasledie.

Magomedbekova, Z. M. (1967). Axvaxskij jazyk [Akhvakh]. Tbilisi: Mecniereba.

Maisak, T. A., Chumakina, M. E. (2001). Diskursivnye časticy [Discursive particles]. In A. E. Kibrik, E. A. Lyutikova, S. G. Tatevosov (Eds.), Bagvalinskij jazyk. Grammatika, teksty, slovari [The Bagvalal language. Grammar, texts, dictionaries] (pp. 702–723). Moscow: Nasledie.

Mikajlov, K. Š. (1967). Arčinskij jazyk [Archi]. Makhachkala: IJaLI.

Moroz, G. A. (2012). Modeli obrazovanija količestvennyx čislitelʹnyx i ustrojstvo jazykovyx sistem sčislenija jazykov Kavkaza [Models of derivation of cardinal numerals and the structure of numeral systems of the Caucasian languages]. RGGU, Moskva.

Mukhin, T. (2020). Numerals in Kina Rutul. Higher School of Economics.

Nichols, J. (2011). Ingush grammar. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Sumbatova, N. R., Lander, Y. A. (2014). Darginskij govor selenija Tanty: Grammatičeskij očerk. Voprosy sintaksisa [Tanty Dargwa: A grammar sketch. Syntax problems]. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskoj kulʹtury.

Typological Atlas of the languages of Daghestan (TALD) is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 International License.

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