Non-number Values of Nominal and Pronominal Plural Forms in Yuwan in Crosslinguistic Perspective

Abstract

Plural forms of nouns and pronouns in Yuwan (Amami, Northern Ryukyuan) have several functions which are different from ordinary plurals. Those functions are compared with “special uses” of plural forms according to Corbett (2000: 234) in this paper. Briefly speaking, plural markers in Yuwan have the functions of tachi and nado in Standard Japanese. Crosslinguistic differences and commonalities of this kind of phenomena are analyzed by a methodology called “semantic map.” In this paper, “number values” (e.g., singular, dual, plural) are distinguished from “non-number values” (e.g., additive and associative), which makes it possible for the “special uses” of plural forms to be compared with one another on the same level. Among the special uses, “group exemplar” and “disjunctive exemplar” have not been distinguished in previous research (and both functions were sometimes called with the same label, “approximative”). In addition, plural forms in Yuwan can be used pragmatically to indicate a single referent (but they are different from so-called “polite plurals” because they do not express politeness). The function is called “negative exemplar” or “solo exemplar” in this paper, and it is also compared with other non-number values of plural forms by a semantic map.