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Proper Name Plurals in Orizaba Nawatl ( nlv )

Proper Name Plurals in Orizaba Nawatl ( nlv ). David Tuggy ILV-Mexico. I have run up against an interesting construction in a language I work with. A lot of people don’t seem to be aware of it ( though it has certainly been described and discussed by some ) , even though it is

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Proper Name Plurals in Orizaba Nawatl ( nlv )

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  1. Proper Name Plurals in Orizaba Nawatl(nlv) David TuggyILV-Mexico

  2. I have run up against an interesting construction in a language I work with. • A lot of peopledon’tseemtobeaware of it(thoughit has certainlybeendescribed and discussedbysome), eventhoughitis • widespread in theworld • very natural (once you come tothinkaboutit) • likelytobeuseful (once you come tothinkaboutit) • Onenameforitis “associativeplurality”

  3. Associative Plurality • It shows up clearly (and for many languages only) when a proper name is pluralized. • Forinstance, a standard plural in Orizaba Nawatl (=ON, nlv) is–tih, and the plural nameSamueltihdoesnot mean “peoplenamed Samuel”, but “Samuel and hisbunch.” • Thatiswhatassociativeplurality looks like.

  4. Associative Plurality • Onthismap (from WALS.36A) bluedots show whereassociativeplurality has beenreported

  5. Associative Plurality • As you can see, itiswidespread. • Theothercolorsindicateassociativesthataren’talsoused as plurals. White = no associativereported.

  6. Associative Plurality • Itsnaturalnessisfurtherattestedbythefactthatitseemsto pop up more orlessindependently in languagesthat do nothaveit as a regular feature. Forinstance: • English: TheAlberts= Uncle Albert and hisfamily (in a child’sspeech) • French: Les Margaret = GeoffNathan & Margaret Winters • Spanish: En la época de los Borja = back when Borja and hiscontemporarieswerethestarsplayingfootball (soccer) [Apellido>Name>Apellido?] • Spanish: Los Chuchos = followers of (candidate) JesúsHernándezOchoa.

  7. Associative Plurality in Nawatl • Here are someexamples of howassociativeplurality shows up in ON. • New͎itzeh n ichpopochtihkoxamoyonder.they.comethegirlswhethertlahtlaniskehinka n Samueltih. they.will .askwith.themthe Samuel-s • “Thosegirlsovertherethat are headingthisway are probablygoingtoaskafter Samuel and hisfriends.” • (Itmightalsobe Samuel & hisfamily; probablynot Samuel & hispoliticalparty.)

  8. Associative Plurality in Nawatl • Mokniitzkuihnimanyeh se your.sibling his.dog immediately.heone n Simontihkipiah.theSimons they.have.it • “Your brother’s dog is just like one of Simon’s family’s.” • (The chances of itbeing a family are raisedbythe cultural awarenessthatmostothergroupingsdon’towndogs.)

  9. Associative Plurality in Nawatl • Nahuatldoesnotmarkplurality as consistentlyas do someotherlanguages • Astaiknekahki n toahsiampah; until yonder is the our.common.boundary • ompainw͎ansemonamiki n Migelthere with.themwe.meet.each.other the Michael“Our common boundary is over there; that’s where our land borders on Michael’s family’s land” • Migeldoesnotbear a plural suffix. • Thepluralityissignalledonlybythe post-positionalwordinw͎an‘withthem’.

  10. Why Use Associative Plurals? • Fortherest of thistalkI’dliketoconsiderthenotion of whyspeakersmight decide todo this. • Itis no accidentthatassociativeplurality centers onpluralizedNames (=propernouns). • ThisisbecauseNames and plurals are bytheirverydefinitionsopposing, or incompatible, concepts.

  11. General comments • Whenyouputtwonotions (A & B) together in yourmindtoform a complexwhole, youmight do one of threethings: • Make A your “main” idea and fit B toit, ortheotherwayaround. (“Main” idea = ± ‘head’.) • Makeeachadapta bit tofittheother (can = unclearheadship) • Buildsomethingratherdifferentfrom (thoughnotunrelatedto) either(=exocentricity) • Thesestrategies grade intoeachother

  12. General comments • A surprisingamount of syntacticstructureiscoveredbythese simple possibilities. • The ideas joined are almostalwaysdifferent (otherwisewhybotherjoiningthem), butoften are quite compatible. • Whenthey are incompatible theywillnotfittogether in thewayyoumightexpect, so something has togive.

  13. General comments • Either A has tobechanged so it can fitwith B in theexpectedway • or B has tobechangedtofitwith A • oreach has to “give” a littletilltheyfit. • Oryoumaybeableto come up withanunexpectedwayto combine them so thattheyfitcompatibly. • Or, of course, youmayjustrefusetoputthetwo ideas together at all.

  14. Proper Names vs. Plurals • Propernames (=Names) and plurals, I am claiming, are incompatible. • Languagesseemtotake at leastthreetacksregardingthissituation. • Somesimplydon’tallowNamestobepluralized. • SomechangetheName so itfitseasily in the plural construction • Somechangethe Plural so itdoesn’tcontradicttheName

  15. Proper Names and Plurals • Both a plural and a Nameevokestronglythenotion of a group of prominentlyconceived individual Things.

  16. Proper Names and Plurals • Buttheymake incompatible additionstothatbasicnotion.

  17. Proper Names • A Nameassumeseach of thoseThingsisseparatelylabeled, thusdifferent in theirmostrelevant (and ∴ prominent) characteristic

  18. Proper Names • Thenamethen singles outfromthegrouptheoneThingwiththe particular pronounced (orwritten) label.

  19. Plurals • A plural, bycontrast, construesthe individual Things as havingthesamecharacteristics (thuseffectively similar) and designatesthegroup of them.

  20. Plurals • Thecharacteristicssharedbytheindividualswithinthe plural group are expectedtobespecifiedbythe nominal stemwithwhichthe plural affixiscombined.

  21. Plurals • That nominal stemthusfunctionsnot as an individual Thingbut as a type, whichisexpectedtobeinstantiated in manyindividuals.

  22. Plural overrides Name • Onewaytopluralize a Nameistokeepthespecifications of the Plural intact, and forcetheNametofitthem.

  23. Plural overrides Name • Thismakes (coerces) theNameinto a Type, withmultipleinstantiations • Thiscontradictsitsownspecificationthatitdesignates a unique individual.

  24. Plural overrides Name • Thisiswhathappens in English: ifyousay “theCarolyns” you mean “thegirls/women (all) namedCarolyn”.

  25. Plural overrides Name • “BeingnamedCarolyn” isthedefiningcharacteristicforthe new Type of Thing.

  26. Plural overrides Name • (Otherkinds of constructions can effect similar coercions. Forinstance, ifyousay, “[she looks like] a Carolyn” youconverttheNameinto a typewhich can bemodifiedbyanindefinitearticle. • Only in this case thetypespecifiessomeothercharacteristics —presumably visual ones— besidesjusthavingthename. • Ifyouweretosay “theCarolyn”, thatwould come veryclosetojustsaying “Carolyn”.)

  27. Making Plural fit Name • Butwhatif, instead of changingName so itfitswhat Plural expects, wechange Plural so Namefitsbetter?

  28. Making Plural fit Name • Wecouldabandonboth • (a) thespecificationthattheThings in the Plural group are alike and • (b) theprofiling of thegroup as a whole.

  29. Making Plural fit Name • Thenthetwo ideas wouldbe so compatible as tobealmostidentical, • Plural wouldaddnothingtoName, so whybotherto combine them?

  30. Making Plural fit Name • Itis more likelytobeusefultodroptherequirement of alikeness, butkeepthedesignation of a group, lettingitoverrideName’sspecification of an individual.

  31. Making Plural fit Name • Thisisessentiallywhathappens in anassociative plural. • Thecombinationdesignates a groupwithinwhichtheNamedThingisprominent.

  32. Making Plural fit Name • Therelationshiponthebasis of whichtheassociationisformedisnotspecified, at least in themostschematicversions of theconstruction.

  33. Making Plural fit Name • In the “true” plural, of course, therelationshipisone of similarityoreffectiveequality, of sharing of theessentialcharacteristicsspecifiedbythenounstem.

  34. Making Plural fit Name • This, however, has beenspecificallynegated in the case of theassociative plural.

  35. Making Plural fit Name • Thisdoesnot mean theassociatedthings are different in allimportantrespects. Itdoes mean anyimportantsharedcharacteristics are notthosedesignatedbytheName.

  36. Making Plural fit Name • Names, of course, mosttypically are usedtodesignatehumans. (Naming of places, computerprograms, etc., are secondaryusages.)

  37. Making Plural fit Name • So, quite naturally, theprototypicalcollectiveName-plural constructionalsospecifieshumans. • (In fact I have no clear ON exampleswith non-humans)

  38. Making Plural fit Name • Althoughthesehumans are alike in beinghuman, theyhavedifferentnames, and a nameiswhatisdesignatedbythestem.

  39. Making Plural fit Name • So theassociativegroupisestablishedonthebasis of someotherrelationships. • Typicallythey are therelationshipsthattypicallygrouphumans. • Kinship • Friendship • SharedActivities • Nearness • Hierarchy(e.g.boss-peon) • Etc.

  40. Making Plural fit Name • Userscountoncontexttoconstrainthelikelihoodthatonerelationshipratherthananothershouldbeadopted • (as in theexampleswesawearlier.)

  41. Associative-plural lookalikes • There are a couple of othercommonphenomenathat are very similar tothiscollective plural structure. • Seeingthesimilaritiesand differ-encesmaybeinstruc-tive.

  42. Doing “dishes” • In (my) Englishtheworddishbyitselfmostprominentlymeans “a plate”. • Butthe plural dishescan mean either “a group of plates” (a normal plural), or

  43. Doing “dishes” • dishes can mean “dishes and (/or?) other similar types of things”, prominentlyincludingglasses, silverware, pots and pans and cookingutensils.

  44. Doing “dishes” • Thisismuchlikeanassociative plural. There are differenceshowever. • Ratherthanthestemdesignatingan individual and the plural a collection of individuals, bothdesignatea type anda collectionof types.

  45. Doing “dishes” • Thereis a strongtendencyforusageswiththismeaningtooccur as part of certain set phrases, including “do thedishes”, “washthedishes”, “dirtydishes”, and so forth.

  46. Doing “dishes” • Thereissomethingcertainlyrighttosayingthatdish has acquired a schematicmeaning “thingassociatedwithfoodpreparation (whichmayneedwashing)”. • Thatmeaningislimitedtothe plural constructionand isfavoredbyother more extensiveconstructionsconcurrently (e.g. “washthe ____es”).

  47. Doing “dishes” • Acquiringsuch a more schematicsense as part of a polysemicstructureisone of thestandardways lexical itemsdevelop.

  48. Doing “dishes” • Manywords in manylanguagesgeneralize in similar ways. • E.g. in Nawatlƛāka can mean “man (adulthumanmale)” or “humanbeing”. • Thelattermeaningispracticallylimitedto plural forms and favorsconstructionslikenochiƛākah ‘allmen (= humans)’

  49. “Plural” pronouns • Anotherassociative-plural look-alikeiswhat are traditionallycalled “plural pronouns”. • LikeNames, singular pronounsdesignate a single individual out of a group. • Particularlyrelevanthere are 1st and 2ndpersonpronouns. They are definedbyspecific roles in the “communicationsituation” (akathe “epistemicground”, etc.)

  50. “Plural” pronouns • 1stperson singular designatesthe individual communicating (prototypically, speaking) • 2ndperson singular, of course, designatesthe individual towhomthatcommunicationisdirected.

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