The Plural Prefix in Kx’a, ǃUi and Taa
Chris Collins
March 2015 

In this paper we show that some of the Kx’a, ǃUi and Taa languages have a plural strategy involving a prefix with the shape kV-. We first document the phenomenon for each language where it exists. Then we discuss the commonalities between the plural prefix in the various languages and suggest that it has been inherited from a common ancestor which we call Proto-Kx’a-ǃUi-Taa. We discuss whether or not the existence of this prefixal plural in the various languages could have been the result of borrowing, and conclude that borrowing scenarios are not generally plausible. We conclude that the plural prefix in Kx’a, ǃUi and Taa provides support for the existence of Proto-Kx’a-ǃUi-Taa.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/002416 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2014 Riezlern Conference, Sheena Shah and Matthias Brenzinger (eds.)
keywords:	khoisan, plural, pluractionality, inalienable nouns, double plural marking, language classification, morphology
Downloaded:	1908 times

 

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