Questions about pluractionality/verbal number

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Das Baron
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Questions about pluractionality/verbal number

Post by Das Baron »

I'm reading up on the concept of pluractionality, which I only learned about recently, so it's still rather confusing to me. The general sense is that the verbal action itself is plural (either involving multiple referents or a repetition of action), but that it also crosses over somewhat with ergativity -- e.g. an intransitive pluractional verb can indicate subject number, but a transitive verb indicates object number. I'm sure it's not quite as simple as that, but I'm simplifying. My question is this: what if a transitive verb requires a non-singular agent/subject? Can a language show distinct markers for both verbal and nominal number? For example:

wa-thá I am standing > wa-tháyo We are standing (pluractional)

Is the following possible? (-s- being a causative suffix)

wa-l-thás I erect it > wa-l-thásyo I erect them > ke-l-thásyo We erect them
AKA Benjaburns

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