202 Chapter 7 Nominals and noun phrases
ble members. In this construction, the numeral obligatorily follows the quanti-
fied noun.
(90) Na'-kana', tello'-an berka’.
RED-child three-AN run
‘All three children ran.’
(91) Mored dhuwa'-an e-berri' buku ban guru.
student two-AN OV-give book by teacher
‘Both students were given books by the teacher.’
Combining reduplication with the -an suffix also results in a collective, exhaus-
tive interpretation.
(92) Mored maca buku la-lema'-an.
student AV. read book RED-five-AN
‘All five students read the book.’
(93) Dayat maca buku la-lema'-an.
Dayat AV. read book RED-five-AN
‘Dayat read the five books.’
In this instance the resulting number acts much like an adverbial quantifying
over the whole action. As (92) shows, the most natural interpretation is that five
students are doing the reading. In (93), it is that there are five books. Both in-
stances require five acts of reading.
The same construction is possible with the structure ka-Num-an. As the
following examples show, it is not necessary for the quantified noun to occur
next to the quantificational adverb, but the adverb is interpreted as indicating a
plural agent/actor. The structure in (94) is more characteristic of the Eastern
dialect and is not widely accepted in the Western dialect.
(94) a. Ka-tello'-an sengko', Sinap ban Marlena maca sorat rowa.
KA-three-AN I Sinap and Marlena AV.read letter that
‘Sinap, Marlena and I all three read that letter together.’
b. Ka-tello’-an sorat rowa e-baca sengko’, Sinap ban Marlena.
KA-three-AN letter that OV-read I Sinap and Marlena
‘Sinap, Marlena and I all three read that letter together.’
(95) Sengko' ngakan juko' ajam ka-dhuwa'-an ban Amie.
I AV.eat fish chicken KA-two-AN with Amie
‘I ate chicken together with Amie.’