86 Chapter 3 Lexical categories
clitic form can be used when the numeral precedes the quantified nominal ex-
pression. This is illustrated in (80).
(80) settong roma or saroma ‘one house’
dhuwa' buku or dhu buku ‘two books’
tello' guru or tello guru ‘three teachers’
empa' mored or pa' mored ‘ four students’
lema' buku or lema buku ‘five books’
ennem sorat or nem sorat ‘six letters’
petto' toronan or pettong toronan ‘seven generations’
ballu' liter or ballung liter ‘eight liters’
sanga' bulan or sangang bulan ‘nine months’
The numbers 1, 2, 4, and 6 have truncated clitic forms. And only the number 4
retains its final glottal stop as a clitic. It is dropped in all of the other numbers
that end in glottal stop. The final glottal stop in the citation forms and the ab-
breviated forms is what Stevens (1968) refers to as an ‘extension’, a minor mor-
phological category of limited membership, which in this case has no effect on
meaning but may be phonologically motivated. (See Chapter 4 section 3 for a
discussion of extensions.) Unlike the numbers 3 and 5, the clitics of the num-
bers 7-9 include a velar nasal ligature. This ligature does not occur in other po-
sitions. While using either the full or clitic form prenominally is fully accepta-
ble, speakers generally use the clitic forms, particularly with 1 and 2.
When the number occurs without an explicit nominal expression or if it
follows the nominal expression that is quantified, only the full form is possible,
as in the examples in (81).
(81) a. Nemmo sampe' olle tello'.
AV.find until get three
‘They could only find three.’
b. Loros kaju e-okor persis padha bi' se tello'.
straight wood OV-measure exact same with REL three
‘The column was exactly the same size as the other three.’
c. Deni a-berri' buku lema' ka Tina.
Deni AV-give book five to Tina
‘Deni gave five books to Tina.’
d. Mored petto' bakal lulus ujiyan.
student seven will pass exam
‘Seven students will pass the exam.’