No ABA patterns with Fractionals
Yasutada Sudo, Andrew Ira Nevins
April 2022 

Applications of the *ABA generalization (Bobaljik 2012) have been fruitfully proposed in many domains. In this short squib, we propose that a similar generalization obtains in the domain of numerals, with the triplet being the cardinal, the ordinal and the fractional, and hypothesize that these categories stand in a morphosyntactic containment relation. There are ABB patterns (e.g. three, the third, two thirds), AAB patterns (e.g. four, the fourth, three quarters), ABC patterns (two, the second, one half), but no robust *ABA patterns of this type. We have so far surveyed the cardinal, ordinal and fractional expressions for 1 through 5 in 38 languages from 17 language families and look forward to any potential supporting or counterexamples!

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/006622 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Webschrift for Hagit Borer
keywords:	aba patterns, allomorphy, syncretism, containment, numerals, ordinals, fractionals, semantics, morphology, syntax
Downloaded:	162 times

 

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