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

语言提供了语法手段来计算和分类世界上不同的实体。在英语中，可数名词（狗，书）允许单数/复数对比，而质量名词（水，面粉）则不允许。这个项目讨论了名词的含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是加纳南部的一种古尔语，显示了一种类型学上不寻常的数字标记模式。 对Dagaare的初步研究表明，可以根据名词的数字标记模式来区分多类名词。英语通常将事物与计数名词对齐，将物质与质量名词对齐。 Dagaare以其不同的标记分离出其他几类实体，例如通常在群体中发现的物体（昆虫）或那些紧密结合的聚集体（“草”）。达加雷语中普遍的数字标记模式涉及一种罕见的“极性”标记，即一种后缀，它标记某些名词的复数（“狗”）和其他名词的单数（“蟑螂”）。一个附加的标记表示“一片”，从“草”形成“一片草”。虽然达加雷语和英语显示出不同的数字标记模式，但两者都是根据相同的意义的广泛方面来区分名词的，即名词的“个性化”程度。“格里姆先生将与加纳的达加雷人合作，收集有关名词及其与语法其他领域互动的信息。从Dagaare收集到的见解应该反映在其他语言，包括英语的质量/计数区分的基础上，并对质量，计数和复数术语的正式语言学理论产生影响。 在进行实地考察时，格里姆先生将收集材料，包括文本和对话，这将为达加雷提供新的资源。这些材料将对达盖尔语和其他古尔语的教育工作者、学者和发言者有价值。该奖项的资金由行为认知科学部的语言学项目和国际科学工程办公室的非洲、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.