The Cogtse plural marker =<i>ɲê</i> and its evolutionary pathway

Abstract This paper examines the plural marker = ɲê in Cogtse Situ, a Gyalrongic language spoken in Western Sichuan, based on data from Lin (2016) . Although the etymology of = ɲê suggests that it was originally a plural marker, its morphosyntax reveals that its hosts range beyond traditional nominals and further cover infinitives, clauses, and adverbs, indicating that = ɲê has a wider array of uses beyond simply expressing plurality in modern Cogtse. In this paper, I discuss the uses and the semantics of the marker = ɲê extend to honorific, associative, approximative, and intensificative. After describing the different functions of = ɲê , I propose an evolutionary pathway for these uses. The proposal of the pathway provides a possible explanation for the relationship between different uses of this = ɲê , and this paper fills the research gap in the study of the plural marker in Gyalrongic languages.