Field and river

20th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES20)
Mekelle University, Ethiopia

"Regional and Global Ethiopia - Interconnections and Identities"
1-5 October, 2018

ICES20 logo

Use the "back" button of your browser to return to the list of abstracts.

INTERDEPENDENCE IN NUMBER AND DEFINITENESS MARKING IN OMOTIC [Abstract ID: 0804-05]

AZEB Amha, African Studies Centre, Leiden University

In this presentation I will discuss the interesting way that number and definiteness/specificity interact in a number of Omotic languages. In some languages, for example Yem, morphological allomorphs of plural number are distributed according to the definite-indefinite value of nouns. In others, for example Gamo and Wolaitta, all plural-marked nouns are interpreted as definite, even when the latter category is not overtly marked. I will examine this phenomenon of category-dependence and discuss any correlation it might have with the formal way in which number is marked (affixation, reduplication or modification by an independent word) and/or the types of number distinctions that are made (singular - plural only, or this extend to the distinction of dual and paucal as well).