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Noun Class and Number in Kiowa-Tanoan 63
d. (IIb)
á: Ø-sɔ́l
stick 3S-stand.Pl
‘Trees (3+) are standing there.’
Class IV divides into three subclasses based on the pronominal prefixes. But, just as
the inverse suffix never occurs on any class IV noun stems, so too does the inverse pronominal
prefix never index a class IV argument; only the singular, dual, and plural prefixes
are used. Classes IVa and IVb both use the singular prefix for singular and the dual for dual.
As with the subclasses of II, the difference is in the marking of the plural. Class IVa marks
the plural with the plural prefix and IVb marks the plural with the singular prefix. Class IVc
differs from the other two in that only the plural prefix is used, whatever the semantic number
is. (5) demonstrates IVa. 7 (6) and (7) show IVb and IVc respectively, using the noun tó:
which, as a IVb noun, means ‘house’ and, as a IVc noun, means ‘tepee’.
(5) (adapted from Watkins 1984:90)
a. (IVa)
ę́:dè c’ó: ę̨́:gɔ̀
Ø-cél
this.BAS rock there 3s-be.sitting.sg/du
‘This rock is sitting there.’
b. (IVa)
ę́:dè c’ó: ę́:gɔ̀ ę̀-cél
this.BAS rock there 3D-be.sitting.sg/du
‘These rocks (2) are sitting there.’
c. (IVa)
ę́:dè c’ó: ę́:gɔ̀ gyà-sɔ́l
this.BAS rock there 3P-be.sitting.Pl
‘These rocks (3+) are sitting there.’
(6) (Watkins 1984:90-91)
a. (IVb)
tó: Ø-cél
house 3S-stand.sg/du
‘There is a house standing there.’
7 These sentences in (5) are constructed by the author. The only examples given in the literature of
this paradigm occur with transitive pronominal prefixes (see Watkins 1984:90), but in the interest of
simplicity and clarity, forms with intransitive prefixes are given here.
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