Case inflection on numerals (Northern Mansi)

NoPronNum: The language has case affixes, but numerals do not appear in pronominal function. (Nouns – or some replacement – are required to appear alongside numerals.)


(1) manasawit ūs-t ōl-s-ǝn? χūrēm ūs-t.
how_many town-loc be-pst-2sg three town-loc
‘How many towns have been to? - Three.’ (T. M.)


(2) χūrǝm ūs-t ōlǝ-s.
three town-loc be-pst-3sg
‘He/she has been to three towns.’ (T. M.)


In Northern Mansi, the numeral cannot appear in a pronominal position: the noun always has to be overt (1). There is no agreement between the modifier and the noun head (Kálmán 1976: 66), thus numerals are always in their base forms (2).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh