9 Number in Ket (Yeniseian)

Abstract

Ket is a critically endangered language spoken in Siberia in the Yenisei river basin and is the last surviving member of the once widespread Yeniseian family whose typological profile is very different from its closest neighbours. Nouns and pronouns distinguish singular and plural number, usually by adding a plural suffix, with singular number left morphologically unmarked. Plural suffixes have distinct allomorphs for inanimate class nouns, kinship terms, and other animate class nouns, but there are many exceptions and irregular forms. Attributive adjectives and other modifiers are normally left unmarked for number, though a few adjectives have a plural suffix. Demonstrative pronouns, however, regularly express plurality when modifying animate class plural nouns. The Ket verb expresses agreement in singular and plural number with its subject and object and also has a variety of morphological means for expressing pluractionality, resulting in various patterns of multiple exponence of number on the verb. Among other topics, this chapter focuses on the relationship between the expression of number and animacy, which variously manifests itself in the morphology of nouns, pronouns and finite verbs. It also explains how certain irregularities in Ket number marking developed and includes comparisons with the extinct Yeniseian languages.