Quadral (grammar)

In grammar, the quadral denotes a number and represents the number four. It is not recorded in any natural language.

Alleged evidence

A 1994 survey by linguist Greville G. Corbett found that there are two languages ​​that have been shown to have a quadral: Sursurunga from New Ireland and Marshallese from the Marshall Islands . In both cases, the alleged quadral turned out to be a timpani , as he stated in his work Number (2000).

Sursurunga

In 1986, the linguist Don Hutchisson identified two pronoun-restricted numbers of the sursurunga as a supposed trial and quadral . In fact, the trial or quadral was a "smaller" or "larger" timpani. The “smaller Paukal” requires at least three people, the “larger” at least four people. However, both are not fixed to an exact number.

	Singular		Plural		dual		Trial		Quadral
1st person	iau	I	git gim	we	guitar giur	we both	gittul gimtul	the three of us	githat gimhat	we Four
2nd person	iáu	you	gam	her	gaur	you both	gamtul	you three	gamhat	you four
3rd person	-i / on / ái	he	di	she	diar	they both	ditul	them three	dihat	they four

Note: Two forms are given for the first person from the plural column onwards: the upper one includes the person addressed (= inclusive , e.g. gitar means "me and you"), the lower one excludes the person addressed ( = exclusive , e.g. giur means "he and I, without you").

Marshalese

The Marshallesian language is also an Oceanic language, but belongs to the Micronesian branch. The Marshallese Quadral also proved to be a timpani for at least four people. The Marshallese Trial, on the other hand, is documented as such.

Tangga

The oceanic language Tangga , which is closely related to Sursurunga, also has a 5-number system . The linguists Capell (1971) and Beaumont (1976) already described the fifth number as a pancake variant and called it "quadruple". For this reason, language was not included in the above 1994 survey.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Summary of Corbett's 1994 survey ( memento of the original from October 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Don Hutchisson: Sursurunga Language Pronouns and the Special Uses of Quadral Number. In: Ursula Wiesemann (Ed.): Pronominal Systems (= Continuum. Vol. 5). Narr, Tübingen 1986, ISBN 3-87808-335-1 , pp. 1-20. See the following table, from Hutchisson, p. 5.
3. ^ Greville G. Corbett: Number . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-64016-4 , pp. 26ff.
4. ^ Byron Wilbur Bender: Spoken Marshallese. An intensive course with grammatical notes and glossary. University of Hawai'i Press, 1969, ISBN 0870220705 .
5. ^ Greville G. Corbett: Number. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-64016-4 , pp. 25-30, 40, 46, 224, 317, 358.
6. ^ Greville G. Corbett: Number. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-64016-4 , p. 29.