Ordinal Numerals (Feature 35)

From Apics

Feature Annotation

This feature compares ordinal numerals (’first, second, third ...’) with cardinal numerals (’one, two, three ...’). There are different ways in which ordinal numerals are formed, especially with regard to ‘first’ and ‘second’, which are often irregular.
Since we are considering only synchrony, words like English third and fifth are not considered derived from three and five, although from a diachronic perspective they are indeed.
In cases like French, where deuxième (regularly derived from deux ‘two’) and second (suppletive form), both ‘second’, cooccur, select the two (or more) corresponding values. In case of French, these would be value 6 and 7.

Additional remarks

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Values

Value		Value Annotation
1	Ordinal numerals do not exist
2	No distinction of cardinal and ordinal numerals
3	Cardinal and ordinal numerals are identical except for ‘one’ and ‘first’	Sango Mbi wara azo ose, kozo ni [1sg find pl=person two first det ake koli, ose ni ake wali. SM=COP man two DETSM-COP woman] 'I found two persons, the first was a man, the second was a woman.’ Note that the word for ,one’ is oko.
4	All ordinal numerals are derived from cardinal numerals	Tok Pisin nambawan pikinini ,the first child’ or nambafaiv mun ,the fifth month’
5	All ordinal numerals are derived from cardinal numerals, but ‘first’ may also be suppletive	In such languages, there are two words for ‘first’, a regularly derived one, and a suppletive one.
6	Ordinal numerals from ‘two’ upwards are derived from cardinal numerals, ‘first’ is suppletive	Papiamentu promé ,first’ vs. un ,one’, di dos (lit. of two) ,second’, di djesun (lit. of ten) ,eleventh’.
7	‘First’ and ‘second’ are suppletive, the others are regular	This value should also be chosen if there are a few more ordinals (’third’, ‘fourth’, ...) that are suppletive as well. This type is exemplified by English.
8	Other solutions	(Please give details in the “General comments” field.)

WALS No.

53 (Total)