Lecture | Descriptive Linguistics Seminars
Allomorphy in Sarazi numerals
- Date
- Friday 9 October 2026
- Time
- Serie
- Descriptive Linguistics Seminars
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 2.01
Abstract
Cross-linguistically, numeral systems operate on a small inventory of monomorphic lexical items which are then deployed compositionally in compounds or phrases to build higher values. New Indo-Aryan (NIA) is typologically unusual in possessing a remarkably large set of morphologically unanalyzable numeral forms. The consensus in literature on NIA numerals is that forms from 11 to 99 are morphologically irregular compounds which lack a transparent synchronically analyzable compositional structure.
Employing data from Sarazi, an under-documented NIA language, this talk explores an alternative analysis which questions this assumption. The analysis also extends to other NIA languages. I will establish that synchronically regular patterns underlie the apparent irregularity. We particularly look at construction of additive complex numerals between 11 and 99. There is an unusual systematic paradigm-like organization of allomorphy in these compounds, where the morphological class of one bound constituent determines which cell of a multi-member paradigm of the other constituent is realized. This creates an analogue of an inflectional/derivational class system, with compound-partner classes systematically determining the realization of the paradigm, while the same multi-cell pattern is replicated across several numerals making this system distinctive.