Doctoral Dissertation Research: Number and Individuation: Nominal Semantics in Dagaare

语言提供了对世界上不同实体进行计数和分类的语法手段。在英语中，计数名词(狗、书)允许单复数对比，而物质名词(水、面粉)则不允许。这个项目解决了名词的意义如何影响数字的标记方式。在Beth Levin博士的指导下，Scott Grimm先生将从Dagaare的角度探讨这些问题，Dagaare是加纳的一种南古尔语，显示出一种在类型上不寻常的数字标记模式。对达加雷的初步调查表明，根据名词的数字标记模式，可以区分出多类名词。英语一般用可数名词表示事物，用体量名词表示物质。Dagaare用其不同的标记隔离了其他几类实体，例如通常成群发现的对象(昆虫)或作为紧密结合的聚集体出现的对象(“草”)。Dagaare中流行的数字标记模式包括一个罕见的“极性”标记，即一个后缀，用于标记一些名词的复数(‘Dog’)和其他名词的单数(‘蟑螂’)。另一个标记是“一片”，从“草”变成“一片草”。虽然Dagaare显示了不同于英语的数字标记模式，但两者都根据相同的广泛意义方面来区分名词，即名词的“个性化”程度。格林先生将与在加纳说Dagaare的人合作，获取有关名词及其与语法其他领域的互动的信息。从Dagaare中收集到的见解应该反思包括英语在内的其他语言中质量/计数区别的基础，并与正式的语言理论中的质量、计数和复数词有关。在进行田野调查时，格林将收集包括文本和对话在内的材料，这将为达加雷提供新的资源。这些材料将对达加尔语和其他古尔语的教育者、学者和演讲者有价值。这一奖项的资金由行为与认知科学部门的语言学项目和国际科学与工程办公室的非洲、近东和南亚项目提供。

Languages provide grammatical means to count and classify different entities in the world. In English, count nouns (dog, book) allow a singular/plural contrast and mass nouns (water, flour) do not. This project addresses how the meaning of a noun influences the ways in which number can be marked. Working under Dr. Beth Levin, Mr. Scott Grimm will explore these issues from the perspective of Dagaare, a Southern Gur language of Ghana which shows a typologically unusual pattern of number marking. Preliminary investigation of Dagaare indicates that multiple classes of nouns can be distinguished based on their pattern of number marking. English generally aligns things with count nouns and substances with mass nouns. Dagaare, with its different markers, isolates several other classes of entities, such as objects typically found in groups (insects) or those occurring as close-knit aggregates ('grass'). The prevalent number marking pattern in Dagaare involves a rare "polarity" marker, a suffix which marks the plural for some nouns ('dog') and the singular for others ('cockroach'). An additional marker designates "a piece of," forming 'a blade of grass' from 'grass.' While Dagaare shows different number marking patterns than English, both distinguish nouns according to the same broad facets of meaning, a noun's degree of "individuation." Mr. Grimm will work with speakers of Dagaare in Ghana to elicit information on nouns and their interaction with other areas of the grammar. Insights gleaned from Dagaare should reflect upon the underpinnings of the mass/count distinction in other languages, including English, and bear upon formal linguistic theories of mass, count and plural terms. While conducting his fieldwork, Mr. Grimm will collect materials, including texts and conversations, which will provide new resources on Dagaare. These materials will be valuable to educators, scholars and speakers of Dagaare and other Gur languages.Funding for this award is being provided by the Linguistics Program in the Division of Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, and by the Africa, Near East, and South Asia Program in the Office of International Science & Engineering.