LINGUIST List 25.2551
Fri
Jun 13 2014
Diss: Yudja, Lang Acq,
Lang Documentation, Psycholing, Semantics: Lima:
'The Grammar of Individuation and
Counting'
Editor for this issue:
Danuta Allen <danutalinguistlist.org>
Date: 13-Jun-2014
From: Suzi Lima
<suzilima1
gmail.com>
Subject: The Grammar of
Individuation and Counting
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Institution: University of Massachusetts at
Amherst
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2014
Author: Suzi Lima
Dissertation Title: The Grammar of
Individuation and Counting
Dissertation URL:
https://www.academia.edu/7088261/The_grammar_of_individuation_and_counting.
Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
Language
Documentation
Psycholinguistics
Semantics
Language Family(ies): Juruna
Dissertation Director:
Lyn Frazier
Angelika Kratzer
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation investigates the linguistic
expression of individuation and counting in
Yudja (Juruna family),
a Tupi language spoken in Brazil. Based on
elicitation data and experimental studies with
children and
adults, three main topics are explored: (i) the
semantic properties of numeral constructions
and their
compatibility with notional count and notional
mass nouns; (ii) the semantics of container
phrases and their
interaction with numerals, and finally (iii)
the semantics of nominal quantifiers. It is
shown that in Yudja
numerals and count quantifiers (such as many in
English) can be directly combined with notional
count (dog)
and notional mass nouns (water). Based on this
fact, the main claim of this dissertation is
that in Yudja all
nouns can be used as count nouns. That is, in
this language maximal self-connected concrete
portions of a
kind can be considered as atoms and can be
counted. This claim is made based on three
fundamental
properties of this language that were supported
by experimental studies with children and
adults. First
(Chapter 2), the data elicit in context-based
elicitation sessions show that notional count
and crucially
notional mass nouns can be directly combined
with numerals even when coercion is not
possible (assuming
that the requirements for coercion – universal
packager - are the same across languages).
Second (Chapter
5), the results of quantity judgments studies
with Yudja children and adults suggest that all
nouns can be
directly combined with count-quantifiers and
that count-quantifiers are necessarily
interpreted as referring to
the number of concrete portions. These two
properties together suggest that in Yudja there
are no linguistic
expressions that select only notional count
nouns such as pïza ‘canoe’ or iidja ‘woman’. To
conclude, based
on felicity judgment tasks with Yudja children
and adults, it is shown that container phrases
can be
interpreted as locatives and do not necessarily
determine the individuation unit in the Yudja
language which
further supports the claim that in this
language all nouns can be interpreted as count
nouns.
Page Updated: 13-Jun-2014