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(2) Sample animate nouns
a. C> C> C> C> ‘child’ =C> =C> =C> =C> ‘children’
b. >=C >=C >=C >=C ‘turtle’ =>=C =>=C =>=C =>=C ‘turtles’
c. A(= A(= A(= A(= ‘firstborn’ =A(= =A(= =A(= =A(= ‘firstborns’ (Kamanda 1998: 323)
d. KK KK KK KK ‘person’ =K =K =K =K ‘people’
e. A AA A A ‘caterpillar’ =A =A =A =A ‘caterpillars’
f. > > ‘Bili (town name)’ => => ‘Bili-ites’
g. ‘Mono person’ = = = = ‘Mono people’
Inanimate nouns do not take the plural prefix. This category includes those words
which are considered prototypical nouns (Givón 1984: 51), such as ‘rock’, ‘tree’,
‘mountain’, and ‘house’. It also includes plant names and body parts (3):
(3) Sample inanimate nouns
a. >=@= >=@= >=@= >=@= ‘rock’ >=@= >=@= >=@= >=@= ‘rocks’
b. ‘tree’ ‘trees’
c. =C= =C= =C= =C= ‘mountain’ =C= =C= =C= =C= ‘mountains’
d. =@= =@= =@= =@= ‘house’ =@= =@= =@= =@= ‘houses’
e. C C C C =( =( =( =( ‘palm nut’ C C C C =( =( =( =( ‘palm nuts’
f. =( =( =( =( ‘hand’ =( =( =( =( ‘hands’
If an animate noun has the vowel = in word-initial position, then the plural prefix
may optionally take the form = =-. = = All the cases in my corpus of this behavior are with
kinship terms (4):
(4) Sample animate nouns which take =- ~ = =- = = ‘PL’
a. =>=( =>=( ‘father’ ==>=( ==>=( ~ ==>=( ==>=( ==>=( ==>=( ‘fathers’
b. =K( =K( =K( =K( ‘uncle’ ==K( ==K( ==K( ==K( ~ ==K( ==K( ==K( ==K( ‘uncles’
c. =(=( =(=( =(=( =(=( ‘brother’ ==(=( ==(=( ==(=( ==(=( ~ ==(=( ==(=( ==(=( ==(=( ‘brothers’
d. =(J= =(J= ‘grandparent/grandchild’ ==(J= ==(J= ~ ==(J= ==(J= ==(J= ==(J= ‘grandparents/grandchildren’
The phonetically long vowel with a level tone which results from the
concatenation of the plural prefix to the forms in 4a and 4b is not attested
tautomorphemically and thus appears to be dispreferred by the grammar. The insertion of
the in such cases serves to break up this structure into more acceptable syllable patterns.
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