Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Aug 29, 2015 18:59:45 GMT 5.5
Consider the following sentences:
1ai. Daughter: Mee laki, baba. /mi: lak-i: bəba/1aii. Daughter: Mee khara laki, baba. /mi: khərə lak-i: bəba/1b. Father: Makhoi kayano? /məkhoi: kəyano/1c. Daughter: (Mee) amattani./mi: əməttəni/1d. Daughter: (Makhoi) mee mangani. Khamen ashinba khao amasu puraki. /məkhoi mi: məŋani. khamen əsinbə khao əməsu purək-i:/2a. Husband to wife: Angang tumkhrabra? /əŋaŋ tumkhrəbrə/2b. Husband to wife: Angangsing tumkhrabra? /əŋaŋsiŋ tumkhrəbrə/3a. Father: Nanggi kada mee leibra? /Naŋgi kadə mi: ləibrə/3b. Son: Lei. /ləi/3c. Father: Kanano? /kənano/3d. Father: Kana kanano? /kəna kənano/
In the 1 sentences, the orthographic form "mee" with its phonological form /mi:/ is shared by two morphemic items, singular and plural--"mee" /mi:/ means both "a person" and "people" or "more than one person." The example of the form "mee" or /mi:/ as being shared thus both by singular and plural items is not exceptional in Manipuri--this is a regular feature for all Manipuri nouns. "khamen ashinba" (tomato) in 1d, where it is used in its plural sense, reinforces this example. If a tomato slips off a hole in the bag, the daughter will still say:
While this usage is universal in Manipuri and the native speakers of this language glean the sense of number from the context effortlessly, there often comes the need for calibrating expressions to give more specific number information, and Manipuri has a stock of number markers to choose from. "[ A]ma" and "manga" in (1c) and (1d), respectively, specify the number of "mee" or people.
"Khara" (some) in (1aii) does not exactly specify the number, but it marks the noun's number to indicate a group "mostly" of more than three (I doubt anybody would mark a number less than four by this marker). "Mee" by itself can mean a similar size of group, but it lacks the rough calibration.
Khamen ashinba (ama)tahoure. /Khamen əsinbə əmə tahəure/with or without the number specifier "ama." The presence or absence of "ama" does not have any formal effect on the form of "khamen ashinba," (tomato) which can be counted.
While this usage is universal in Manipuri and the native speakers of this language glean the sense of number from the context effortlessly, there often comes the need for calibrating expressions to give more specific number information, and Manipuri has a stock of number markers to choose from. "[ A]ma" and "manga" in (1c) and (1d), respectively, specify the number of "mee" or people.
"Khara" (some) in (1aii) does not exactly specify the number, but it marks the noun's number to indicate a group "mostly" of more than three (I doubt anybody would mark a number less than four by this marker). "Mee" by itself can mean a similar size of group, but it lacks the rough calibration.
This shows that number marking in Manipuri is quite interestingly complex and needs extensive study.