Quantifiers

In Sereer quantification is obtained via several different syntactic strategies.

Partitive

'Some' is obtained with the noun-class-less plural determiner week (see Determiners and Demonstratives):

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll week a- ndang -a week a- ɓaalig pl-Det 3pl white 3pl some 3pl black \trans Some are white and some are black. </gl>

The 'most' and 'x number of' partitive quantifier is expressed as in a construction similar to the one found in the superlative.

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll ke moʄ na may na xa- bul axe a- ƥalg -a ƥalig Cl exceed Rel many Part pl-Cl marbles Det 3sg be-black 3sg black \trans Most of the marbles are black. </gl>

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll o leng na xa ƥox axe a- rang -a ranig Cl one Part pl-Cl dogs Det 3pl white 3pl white \trans One of the dogs is white. </gl>

Note: the na in the above sentence is not the relative pronoun but a partitive preposition 'of'. The following sentence illustrates that they are distinct:

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xa- bul axe ƥalig na na xa- bul axe mayee pl-Cl marbles Det black Rel Part pl-Cl marbles Det exceed \trans The marbles that are black among the marbles are more </gl>

'The rest of' is expressed in the same syntactic construction as 'most of', but using the verb yok 'to remain':

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll ke yok na o- bul o- leng yaxg -u Cl remain Part sg-Cl Agr one red Adj \trans The remaining one marble is red </gl>

'Half of' is expressed with the verb xaj 'to divide', but without the ke- clitic, and often appears as an adverb (see the Adverbs section):

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xaj na xa bul axe a- ƥalg -a ƥalig half Part pl-Cl marbles Det 3pl be-black 3pl black \trans Half of the marbles are black. </gl>

<gl id="ex1" fontsize=12> \gll xaj lakas le a- yaxig half others Det 3pl red \trans Half of the others are red. </gl>

It is unclear what the function of the ke clitic is (observed in (2) and (5)), and exactly what it is (whether a determiner or a pronoun). It may be the general plural clitic ke but more environments need to be observed.

Existential quantifier

Expressions equivalent to 'there is/are' in English can be obtained in several ways in Sereer. One strategy is with the verb 'have' jeg:

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll a- jeg -a xa- ƥox xa- ƥaal fo xa- tan 3pl have 3pl pl-Cl dogs Agr black and pl-Cl white \trans There are (lit. have) black dogs and white (dogs). </gl>

Another is with the predicational copula ref with -u adjectival form:

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll xa- ƥox axe ƥalig na xa- tadak andef -u pl-Cl dogs Det black Rel pl-Cl five there-are Adj \trans There are three dogs that are black. </gl>

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll xa- bul xa- may -u pl-Cl marbles pl-Cl be-much Adj \trans There are many marbles. </gl>

'Much', 'many' and 'a lot' are expressed with the verb may 'to be a lot'.

<gl id="ex4" fontsize=12> \gll xa- bul xa- may -u pl-Cl marbles pl-Cl much Adj \trans There are a lot of marbles. </gl>

The quantifier 'all' is expressed as the adverbial fop. The same flexibility regarding the position of the adverb in the clause applies, where fop can appear

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll (fop) xa bul axe (fop) nand -u (fop) (all) pl-Cl marbles Det (all) be-same Adj (all) \trans All the marbles are the same color. </gl>

The quantifier 'a few' is also expressed as an adverbial, ondik.

<gl id="ex3" fontsize=12> \gll (ondik) xa bul axe (ondik) ƥalg -u (ondik) (all) pl-Cl marbles Det (all) be-black Adj (all) \trans A few of the marbles are blue. </gl>

Oana 09:04, 14 December 2012 (UTC)