How does your language handle associative plurals, e.g. "John and co.", if it has them?
Edit: The information given below is now out of date, partly since Frislandian has undergone major revision since then.
Spoiler:
Frislandian has them; they are formed by complete reduplication of the noun phrase. It freely applies this to all human and proper nouns and is markedly different from the normal plural, signified by the suffix L/G-(e)n.
Jan-Jan
[ˈjan-jan]
John-John John and company
However, since kinship terms (often the targets of such associative plural marking) are denoted by verbs in Frislandian, they need to be nominalised before they can take the associative plural.
apamjat-apamjat
[ˈa.pam.jat̚-ˈa.pam.jat̚]
father.DEF.1-AGT-father.DEF.1-AGT My father and his family (lit. the one who fathers me and those associated with him)
This reduplication strategy may also be applied to other nouns to produce similative plurals:
lovuuk-lovuuk
[ˈl̪o̞.ʋuːk̚-ˈl̪o̞.ʋuːk̚]
wolf-wolf wolves and things
For reference here is an example of the standard Frislandian plural L/G-(e)n.
lovuukken
[ˈl̪o̞.ʋuː.kːɛn]
wolf-PL wolves
Last edited by Frislander on 01 Jun 2017 21:50, edited 1 time in total.
Anto forms associative plurals exactly the same way like normal plurals and it's only applicable to humans.
Intriguingly, the formation is exactly like it is in your Frislandian.
Con Con
[t͡ʃɔn t͡ʃɔn] John PL
John and company
Da fo papa papa
[d̥a fɔː ˈpʰapʰa ˈpʰapʰa] 1SG GEN father PL
My father and his company
However, you can't use "wolf" associatively. The phrase
Bu'me wufas wufas
Means "wolves" or "the wolves" exclusively and never "A wolf and his companions"
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
http://maoridictionary.co.nz/ wrote:1. (particle) and others, and company, and the rest - a word used after names of people, wai and mea, and terms of address, to indicate the inclusion of others whom it is not necessary to specify. With terms of address it merely indicates the plural. It is incorrect to use it after nouns, except when they are being used as a term of address.
Tēnā koutou, e Mere mā. / Hullo, Mary and others.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 2, 13;)
Frislander, I think the main reason why this thread doesn't gain enough interest is that many languages (con and nat) lack associative plurals, and this challenge is practically undoable if a language does not have one.
Ular
The associative plural in Ular is formed by means of the associative plural particle 门 màn.
木千门 Tàthón màn
[tɛ˩sɔn˥ mɑn˩] John ASSOC John and his company
我的爸门 Lăn pō tâ màn
[lɛn˧˩ pɔ˧ tɛ˧˥ mɑn˩] 1SG GEN father ASSOC My father and his associates
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.