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This paper explores the acquisition of distributivity in Yudja (Tupi, Brazil) based on a study with children and adults. In this paper, we explore experimentally the hypothesis discussed in previous work (LIMA, 2008) that verbal reduplication is a pluractional marker (LASERSOHN, 2005) that also conveys distributivity. Two preference tasks were performed with 11 adults and 17 children. Adults’ results show that the interpretation of ambiguous sentences is affected by the form of the noun phrase (conjoined nouns, pluralized nouns or bare nouns). Children’s results suggest that they have an overall preference for a distributive interpretation of sentences regardless of the verb form and the NP type. Keywords: distributivity; Yudja; verbal reduplication; plural; bare nouns. Resumo: Este artigo explora a aquisicao da distributividade em Yudja (Tupi, Brasil) a partir de um estudo com criancas e adultos. Nesta pesquisa, exploramos experimentalmente a hipotese discutida em trabalhos anteriores (LIMA, 2007, 2008), segundo os quais reduplicacao verbal e um marcador pluracional (LASERSOHN, 1995) que tambem expressa distributividade. Duas tarefas de preferencialidade foram feitas com 11 adultos e 17 criancas. Os resultados dos adultos sugerem que a interpretacao de sentencas ambiguas e afetada pelo tipo de sintagma nominal. Os resultados das criancas sugerem uma preferencia por uma leitura distributiva independentemente das propriedades do verbo e do sintagma nominal. Palavras-chave: distributividade; Yudja; reduplicacao verbal; plural; nomes nus.

Based on a discussion of correlations between syntactic position, prosodic cues, aspect and generic vs. non-generic interpretations, this paper substantiates that Danish Bare Plural count nouns (BPs) have a wider distribution than Bare Singular count nouns (BSs). BPs, unlike BSs, can occur in subject position, function as both generic and existential arguments, and appear with all aspectual verb classes. However, BPs and BSs expressing a non-generic, modificational meaning concur in object position of activity verbs and stative verbs with a possession relation implicature. These V+BP and V+BS structures, it is suggested, form a progressive continuum of three different subtypes of pseudo-incorporation (PI), namely (i) PI of BPs (low integration as inspise æbler‘eat apples’), (ii) PI oftype 1BSs (medium integration as inmale hus‘paint house’), and (iii) PI oftype 2BSs (maximum integration as inspille violin‘play violin’).

The aim of this paper is to shed light on article omission in Moroccan Flavored Dutch (MFD), a language variety in which Moroccan linguistic material (mainly Berber and Arabic) is combined with Dutch. It is well-known that MFD speakers are often inclined to omit articles in nominal phrases, and by doing so expressions contain so-called bare nouns (nominals without articles, i.e. definite or indefinite articles). This raises the question what triggers article omission in MFD. This study focuses on Dutch expressions that are embedded in MFD discourse and provides an innovative explanation for bare noun constructions. In particular, we argue that article omission in MFD is the result of an interplay between identity marking (article omission indexes the belonging to an ethnic subgroup in contrast to outsiders) and information structure. We show that there is a correlation between the syntactic position of a constituent and the type of article (i.e. definite or indefinite) that is omitted. The direct object position yields an indefinite, discourse-new interpretation of the bare nominal phrase. Since the neutral surface order of a Dutch main clause is subject-initial, the direct object position is canonically a focus position that is associated with new information. Therefore, the information structure of Dutch clauses seems to be a trigger for article omission.

In this paper, we offer some preliminary remarks on the syntax-semantics of the nominal system in Cape Verdean (CV) in comparison to English, with the aim of having a better understanding of Number Neutral Languages (Chierchia 2010; 2015). In CV, there are no bare plurals; the plural morpheme is attached to the definite or indefinite articles, which are not obligatory, and are ungrammatical with quantifiers. Thus, CV is not a Number Marking Language. However, it is not a Bare Language, since it distinguishes between mass nouns and count nouns, and numbers combine directly with count nouns. We argue that CV is number neutral. We claim that Baptista & Guéron’s (2007) proposal of a null determiner cannot fully explain the data presented in this paper. We advance the hypothesis that Number Neutral Languages do not select for predicates or kinds, but they are rule-governed by grammar. In argument position, bare nouns denote the kind directly, as in Mandarin, and in the scope of a determiner, they denote the predicate. The only covert operator is the iota. We propose that CV noun phrase has no number projection. The determiner selects for singular or plural, which is then a presupposition of the determiner. This approach predicts that occurrences of bare plural phrases in CV are very restricted. We aim to provide a better understanding of the nominal system in CV, a language under-represented in the literature, as a way to contribute to analyses of nominal grammars cross-linguistically.

This article presents a novel set of observations concerning partitive constructions that indicate that bare nouns in Japanese can be marked with the singular/plural distinction, despite the absence of its overt morphological reflection. The new data set challenges the currently dominant view that bare nouns are number-neutral in classifier languages. A way of accommodating the phenomenon with the syntactically represented singular/plural distinction is provided. Implications for noun classification are also discussed. It is then concluded that it is a mistake to regard Japanese nouns with count semantics as furniture-type nouns and that we need to recognize the familiar mass/count distinction in the language.

The purpose of this article is to substantiate the claim that the semantic feature of homogeneity manifests itself differently in different languages. By contrasting data from Spanish and Danish it is shown that homogeneity is lexically coded in Danish nouns, whereas Spanish nouns are lexically neutral to homogeneity. In Spanish the homogeneity interpretation of nouns is determined when they are inserted into a syntactic structure. The empirical relevance of this assumption is assessed by investigating syntactic and semantic aspects related to the occurrence of bare nominals in object position in the two languages under scrutiny. It is well-known that Spanish as a canonical pattern does not semantically license bare singular nouns with count interpretation (BNs) in object position, viz. #Juan repara coche [Juan repairs car], while in Danish the occurrence of BNs in object position is both possible and normal, viz. Ole maler hus [Ole paints house]. It is argued that this contrast is a predictable consequence of the premise that, in Spanish, transitive activity verbs impose a mass reading on any bare object noun whereas, in Danish, BNs maintain their lexically encoded denotation as inhomogeneous entities. However, contrasting with the leading pattern, the so-called HAVE-verbs (Borthen, 2003) actually license Spanish BNs in object position (cf., e.g., Espinal, 2010; Espinal & Mcnally, 2011), viz. Juan tiene perro [Juan has dog]. It is claimed that the occurrence of BNs in these cases is strongly related to the assumption that HAVE-verbs, contrary to activity verbs, are functionally non-eventive and, therefore, do not impose a specific homogeneity reading on the bare noun in object position.

Much literature has explored the interpretation of the bare singular (BS) in Brazilian Portuguese. Pires de Oliveira and Rothstein (2011) claim that BS nouns are mass because they denote kinds and argue that this explains why only the BS in Brazilian Portuguese can have a non-cardinal interpretation. In this paper, based on an experimental task with Brazilian Portuguese adult speakers, we explore one of their predictions, namely that the ‘volume interpretation’ of the BS cannot be explained as a case of Grinding. Our results show that Grinding and Volume readings of a BS noun are not equivalent (in favor of their hypothesis). We also show that a volume interpretation of a noun is never preferred when a cardinal interpretation is available, but that this can be explained by other lexical and pragmatic factors. We conclude by suggesting that Rothstein’s (in press) distinction between counting and measuring accounts for the fact that non-cardinal readings are not grinding.

Data from a wide range of languages appear to show that bare nouns take obligatory narrow scope. Research on bare nouns has therefore closely tied certain interpretative effects (low scope, number neutrality) to the special overt morphosyntax of bareness (Carlson 1977, inter alia). Thus there appears to be a tight connection between the syntax and the semantics of noun phrases. In this context, the goal of this article is two-fold. The first goal is to present data from Official Malagasy that call into question this correlation: bare nouns in the language can take variable scope. Thus the overt form of a nominal is not a reliable signal of its interpretation. Second, it is argued that bare nouns in Official Malagasy are in fact headed by a null determiner. Supporting data come from a related dialect, Antakarana, where bare nouns take obligatory narrow scope and there is no evidence for a null determiner.

This paper examines apparent noun incorporation in Malagasy that is the result of external possession (possessor raising). It is shown that such incorporation is not derived via head movement or via compounding. Instead, it is argued that this is an instance of pseudo noun incorporation (Massam, 2001): the possessum is merged as an NP sister to the predicate. As for the structure of external possession, a non-movement analysis is proposed: the apparent possessor is generated as the specifier of a null possessive head and binds an empty argument position within the possessum. The resulting structure and meaning are shown to be parallel to experiencer ‘have’ constructions in English.

International audience; Basque weak quantifiers optionally agree with the inflected verb in number. This papers' main aim is to study the dialectal variation shown by this phenomenon. The study will show that it is necessary to differentiate at least three systems : the western-central system, the transition system, and the oriental system. The differences are twofold : (i) some concern the syntactic contexts in which the optional agreement is allowed. The western-central system allows it with every argument position ; the transition system does not allow it with ergative case arguments, and the oriental system allows it only with absolutive case arguments ; (ii) the rest concern the set of quantifiers that permit optional agreement : in the oriental system, weak cardinal quantifiers need not agree with the inflected verb ; in the rest of the systems, agreement is obligatory in these cases. This difference appears to be related to the ability to use bare nouns within the oriental system : bare nouns show the same syntactic distribution as non-agreeing weak cardinal quantifiers.; Euskarazko zenbatzaile ahulek pluraleko komunztadurarik gabe agertzeko aukera dute. Artikulu honek fenomeno horren baitan gertatzen den bariazio dialektala aztertu nahi du. Azterketa honek gutxienez hiru sistema bereizi behar ditugula erakusten du : mendebalde-erdialdekoa deituko duguna, trantsiziokoa (Lapurdiko hiztun zenbaitetan aurkitu duguna) eta ekialdekoa deitu duguna, Coyos-en (1999) Arbailetako (Zuberoa) hizkeraren azterketan oinarritua. Diferentziak bi mailatakoak direla erakutsiko dugu : (i) komunztadura eza zein kontestu sintaktikotan gertatzen den. Erdialdeko-mendebaldeko hizkerek argumentu guzietan agertzen dute ; trantsiziokoak ez du ergatiboarekin agertzen, eta ekialdeko hizkerek absolutiboekin bakarrik onartzen du ; (ii) fenomenoa erakusten duten zenbatzaileen multzoa bera : zubereraz, zenbatzaile kardinalek ez dute zertan pluraleko komunztadura egin ; beste sistemetan komunztadura ezinbestekoa da. Diferentzia hau iduriz ekialdeko hizkerek (gainontzeko hizkerek ez bezala) izen biluziak erabiltzeko duten gaitasunarekin lotzen da : izen biluziek zenbatzaile kardinal komunztaduragabeen distribuzio ia berdina erakusten dute.

In this study I shall focus on two Romance idiomatic patterns and the semantics of nouns. It is shown that idioms, in addition to having distinct basic argument structure representations, are formed in syntax by various instantiations of Merge. It is argued that there is a lexicalization pattern reflecting semantic conflation (Talmy 1985, 2000) between cause and degree. This pattern, in syntactic terms, is the output of subsequent Merge operations (Chomsky 1995) between the object noun of a monadic argument structure, an indefinite quantifier and an adjunct phrase. The study of this lexicalization pattern is of interest with regard to the semantics of bare nouns, especially of bare count singular nouns in object position; it is proved that bare nouns are interpreted as properties, and, because of this, they permit quantification over degrees. By contrast, there is a second lexicalization pattern starting from a composite argument structure which licenses an individual or a kind denoting reading for the DP object.