Classifiers and Plurality: evidence from a deictic classifier language

Authors

Filomena Sandalo, University of Campinas, Brazil
Dimitris Michelioudakis, University of York, UK

Keywords

plural morphology, classifier language, number marking, kadiweu

Abstract

This paper investigates the semantic contribution of plural morphology and its interaction with classifiers in Kadiwéu. We show that Kadiwéu, a Waikurúan language spoken in South America, is a classifier language similar to Chinese but classifiers are an obligatory ingredient of all determiner-like elements, such as quantifiers, numerals, and wh-words for arguments. What all elements with classifiers have in common is that they contribute an atomized/individualized interpretation of the NP. Furthermore, this paper revisits the relationship between classifiers and number marking and challenges the common assumption that classifiers and plurals are mutually exclusive.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Sandalo, Filomena and Michelioudakis, Dimitris (2016) "Classifiers and Plurality: evidence from a deictic classifier language," Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication: Vol. 11. https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-3676.1112

References

Aikhenvald, A. 2000. Classifiers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Alexiadou, A. 2011. ‘Plural mass nouns and the morphosyntax of number’. In M. B. Washburn, K. McKinney-Bock, E. Varis, A. Sawyer & B. Tomaszewicz (eds.) ‘Proceedings of WCCFL 28’, 33–41. Somervill, MA: Cascadilla Press.

——. 2016. ‘Some puzzles about number’. Paper presented at Syntax and Semantics of the Nominal Domain, University of Frankfurt, 4 February 2016.

Baker, Mark. 1985. ‘The mirror principle and morphosyntactic explanation’. Linguistic Inquiry 16: 373–415.

Bale, A. & Khanjian, H. 2008. Classifiers and Number Marking. Semantics and Linguistics Theory.

——. 2014. ‘Syntactic complexity and competition: the singular-plural distinction in Western Armenian’. Linguistic Inquiry 45, no. 1: 1–26.

Borer, Hagit. 2005. Structuring Sense, Vol I: In Name Only. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cheng, L. L., Doetjes, J. S., Sybesma, R. P. E. & Zamparelli, R. 2012. ‘On the interpretation of number and classifiers’. Italian Journal of Linguistics 24, no. 20.

Chierchia, G. 1998. ‘Plurality of mass nouns and the notion of “semantic parameter”’. In ‘Events and Grammar’, 53–103. Springer Netherlands.

Cinque, G. 2006. ‘Are all languages ‘Numeral Classifier Languages’?’ Rivista di Grammatica Generativa 31: 119–122.

Fargetti, C. 2001. Estudo fonológico e morfossintático da língua Juruna. Ph.D. thesis, Unicamp.

Grondona, V. 1998. A Grammar of Mocovi. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Krifka, M. 1995. ‘Common Nouns: A Contrastive Analysis of Chinese and English’. In Gregory N. Carlson & Francis Jeffry Pelletier (eds.) ‘The Generic Book’, 398–411. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Li, X. & Bisang, W. 2012. ‘Classifiers in Sinitic languages: From individuation to definiteness-marking’. Lingua 122, no. 4: 335–355.

Lima, S. 2014. The grammar of individuation and counting. Ph.D. thesis, UMass.

Lima, S. & Rothstein, S. 2016. ‘The count/mass distinction questionnaire. University of Toronto & Bar-Ilan University, Ms.

Lima, Suzi. 2012. ‘Numerals and the universal packager in Yudja (tupi)’. In ‘SULA 6: Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on the Semantics of Under-represented Languages in the Americas and SULA-Bar’, 81–104.

Longobardi, G. 2008. ‘Reference to individuals, person, and the variety of mapping parameters’. In Alex Klinge & Henrik Hoeg Muller (eds.) ‘Essays on nominal determi- nation: From morphology to discourse management’, 189–211. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Longobardi, G. & Guardiano, C. 2009. ‘Evidence for syntax as a signal of historical relatedness’. Lingua 119, no. 11: 1679–1706.

Longobardi, G., Guardiano, C., Silvestri, G., Boattini, A. & Ceolin, A. 2013. ‘Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages’. Journal of Historical Linguistics 3, no. 1: 122–152.

Longobardi, G. et al. (submitted). ‘Who likes to travel alone? Languages and genes in the history and geography of Eurasian migrations’.

Roberts, I. 2012. On the nature of syntactic parameters: a programme for research. Parameter theory and linguistic change.

Rothstein, S. 2011. ‘Counting, measuring, and the semantics of classifiers’. The Baltic International Journal of Cognition, Logic, and Communication 6: 1–42.

Sandalo, F., Rodrigues, C., Roeper, T., Amaral, L., Maia, M. & Silva, G. in press. ‘A Pilot Study on Pirahã Prepositional Phrases’. In Luiz Amaral, Marcus Maia, Andrew Nevins & Tom Roeper (eds.) ‘Recursion across Domains’, Cambridge University Press.

Schvarcz, B. & Rothstein, S. to appear. ‘Hungarian classifier constructions and the mass/count distinction’. In ‘Approaches to Hungarian: Volume 15’, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Tsoulas, G. 2006. ‘Plurality of mass nouns and the grammar of Number’. Paper presented at the 29th GLOW colloquium in Barcelona.

Verkuyl, H. 1994. ‘Distributivity and collectivity: a couple at odds’. In Makoto Kanazawa & Christopher J. Piñón (eds.) ‘Dynamics, Polarity and Quantification’, 49–80. Center for the Study of Language (CSLI).

Verkuyl, H. J. 1972. ‘On the Compositional Nature of the Aspects’. In ‘Foundations of Language, Supplementary Series, Vol. 15’, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.

Wiltschko, M. 2008. ‘The syntax of non-inflectional plural marking’. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 26, no. 3: 639–694.