The oblique case forms of some nouns have the morphological characteristics of the wrong number.
Archi nouns display numerous case forms, a representative sample of which is given below. The following points should be noted:
|
'sickle'
(consonant-final base) |
'(military) division'
(vowel- final base ) |
'lover'
(substatnivized adjective) |
||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| ABS | áˁrum | áˁrum‑mul | áˁri | áˁri‑t̅u | kɬ’ánnu | kɬ’ánnib |
| ERG | áˁrum‑li | áˁrum‑mul‑čaj | áˁri‑li | áˁri‑t̅aj | kɬ’ánnum-mu | kɬ’ánnim‑maj |
| GEN | áˁrum‑li‑n | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑n | áˁri‑li‑n | áˁri‑t̅e‑n | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑n | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑n |
| DAT | áˁrum‑li‑s | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑s | áˁri‑li‑s | áˁri‑t̅e‑s | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑s | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑s |
| COMIT | áˁrum‑li‑ɬ:u | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑ɬ:u | áˁri‑li‑ɬ:u | áˁri‑t̅e‑ɬ:u | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑ɬ:u | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑ɬ:u |
| COMP | áˁrum‑li‑xur | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑xur | áˁri‑li‑xur | áˁri‑t̅e‑xur | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑xur | kɬ'ánnum‑me‑xur |
| PERM | áˁrum‑li‑kɬ’əna | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑kɬ’əna | áˁri‑li‑kɬ’əna | áˁri‑t̅e‑kɬ’əna | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑kɬ’əna | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑kɬ’əna |
| PART | áˁrum‑li‑qˁiš | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑qˁiš | áˁri‑li‑qˁiš | áˁri‑t̅e‑qˁiš | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑qˁiš | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑qˁiš |
| SUPERLAT | áˁrum‑li‑t̅ik | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑t̅ik | áˁri‑li‑t̅ik | áˁri‑t̅e‑t̅ik | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑t̅ik | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑t̅ik |
| SUBLAT | áˁrum‑li‑kɬ’ak | áˁrum‑mul‑če‑kɬ’ak | áˁri‑li‑kɬ’ak | áˁri‑t̅e‑kɬ’ak | kɬ’ánnum-mu‑kɬ’ak | kɬ’ánnim‑me‑kɬ’ak |
In a few nouns, the ergative ending is the one typically found with the other number. Consequently, the oblique case endings are those of the wrong number. Thus, the word haˁtəra has the default ergative plural ending in the singular, c’aj has the -t̅aj allomorph of the ergative plural in its singular, and xali has -maj allomorph of the ergative plural in its singular. The word xˁon, on the other hand, has the default singular ergative -li in its plural.
|
'river'
|
'goat'
|
'family'
|
'cow'
|
|||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| ABS | haˁtəra | haˁtər-mul | c’aj | c’ohor | xali | xalit̅u | xˁon | buc:’i |
| ERG | haˁtər-čaj | haˁtər-mul-čaj | c’ej-t̅aj | c’ohor‑čaj | xal-maj | xali-t̅aj | xˁin-i | buc:’i-li |
The words haˁtəra and xali are unique in their behaviour (v. 2, pp. 28-29). The word c’aj is not unique: the ending -t̅aj is found with some mass or collective nouns. Some of these are singularia tantum (e.g. daj ~ dej-t̅aj 'pottery'), others have both singular and plural forms (Kibrik 1977a, vol. 2: 27-28; see also entries in Kibrik 1977b). Note that agreement markers on verbs and modifiers distinguish singular from plural, so that the singularia tantum nouns are demonstrably singular. Xˁon has a completely suppletive plural, but other nouns with suppletive plurals have identifiably plural ergative forms (Kibrik 1977a, vol. 2: 50).
The word xali shows a mixed agreement pattern: in the oblique singular forms (i.e., the ones which are morphologically plural) it takes plural agreement, but in the absolutive singular it takes singular agreement:
| oblique (plural agreement) | absolutive (singular agreement) | ||||||
| misginn-ib | xal-me-n | lo | misginnu-b | xali | [*misginn-ib xali] | ||
| poor-PL | family(III).-OBL.PL-GEN | son.ABS | poor-III.SG | family(III).ABS | |||
| 'son of a poor family' | 'poor family' | ||||||
Kibrik, Aleksandr Evgenievič. 1977a. Opyt strukturnogo opisanija arčinskogo jazyka (three volumes). Moscow: Izdatel´stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta.
Kibrik, Aleksandr Evgenievič. 1977b. Arčinskij jazyk: teksty i slovar´. Moscow: Izdatel´stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta.
Thanks to Marina Chumakina for drawing our attention to this phenomenon.
1 With the exception of a group of kinship terms that have an oblique stem distinct from the ergative (Kibrik 1977a, vol. 2: 21).