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Article published In:
Studies in Language
Vol. 47:2 (2023) ► pp.291–317

Verbal number in Idi

ORCID logo | University of Canterbury
This paper provides a first description of verbal number in Idi, a language of the Pahoturi River family spoken in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Idi shows an intricate system of marking verbal number, evident in verb stems and two sets of suffixes occurring in different positions on the verb, based on a distinction between nonplural (1 or 2) versus plural (more than 2). Verbs also agree in person and number with core arguments; this system of nominal number is distinguishing singular (1) from nonsingular (more than 1). Elements from the two systems are combined to arrive at composite number values for both events and participants. In addition, verbal number interrelates with a lexical aspectual distinction of punctual/telic versus durative/atelic, manifesting on verb stems and in inflectional patterns. The paper provides evidence for the thesis that verbal number in Idi is not merely lexically determined, but largely inflectional.
Keywords: Idi, Pahoturi River family, Papuan languages, nonplural, verbal inflection, stem alternation, lexical aspect, distributed exponence, composite number
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Relevant aspects of Idi grammar
    • 2.1Phonology
    • 2.2Verbal morphology
    • 2.3Nominal morphology
    • 2.4Clausal structure
      • 2.4.1Alignment and marking of core arguments
      • 2.4.2Verbal subclasses and valency
  • 3.Verbal number in Idi
    • 3.1Restricted and extended stems
    • 3.2Relation between lexical aspect and verbal number
    • 3.3Suffixes marking verbal number
    • 3.4Combining number systems for intransitives
    • 3.5Combining number systems for transitives
  • 4.Conclusion and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 12 July 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.21052.sch
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Cited by one other publication

Lindsey, Kate L., Dineke Schokkin & Nairan Wu
2023. The Pahoturi River language family, with special reference to its verbal puzzles. Linguistic Typology 27:3 ► pp. 667 ff. DOI logo

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