Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Syntax and Semantics of Noun Phrases in Tarascan

这个项目调查了质量/计数的区别如何决定了塔拉斯卡纳语中名词短语的结构和解释。主要围绕复数标记的分布和解释、量词的语义、不定冠词的解释、量词结构和意义的描写四个方面展开。有几种语言将体量名词(例如，英语中的蜂蜜)与计数名词(例如，英语中的狗)区分开来。质量名词不与数词直接结合，而计数名词则与数词直接结合。一种跨语言的趋势是，指物质的名词是质量名词，而指定界对象的名词是计数名词。然而，有些名词的行为像质量名词，尽管它们指的是有分隔符的物体(例如英语中的‘家具’)。因此，数量名词和可计数名词之间的语法区别并不完全由语言外的因素决定，在某种程度上是任意的，并受到语言变异的影响。塔拉斯坎在质量-计数区别的实证研究中特别有启发性，因为它区分了不是两类，而是三类名词：计数名词，如‘wichu’(狗)，质量名词，如‘tékwa’(蜂蜜)，以及第三类，我们称之为“计数-质量”名词(Doetjes 1997)。第三类包括南瓜和豆子这样的商品。它们与体量名词有一些共同的语法性质，也有一些与计数名词有相同的语法性质，在其他方面，它们又构成了自己的一类。质量/计数领域的三方区分要求对塔拉斯坎名词短语中的一些功能范畴的语义进行修改。例如，尽管质量名词拒绝复数形态，而涉及一个以上实体的计数名词必然需要复数形态，但用计数-质量名词标记复数的确切贡献不能用规范的多元理论来解释。此外，塔拉斯坎语中的量词和复数标记可以同时出现在一个名词短语中，这一事实在众所周知的类型学概括下是意想不到的。这项研究阐明了量词在个体化计数质量名词的外延中的作用。这项研究是基于在克里斯·柯林斯博士的监督下，由Co-PiVázquez-Rojas现场收集的语义和句法判断。这些数据将通过启发和自然发生的话语从米却肯州梅西科的四名顾问那里获得。Pi Vázquez-Rojas还将参与培训墨西哥的年轻研究人员，以便用全国各地使用的几种土著语言进行类似的调查。

This project investigates how the mass/count distinction determines the structure and interpretation of noun phrases in Tarascan (isolate, Mexico). It focuses on four topics: the distribution and interpretation of plural marking, the semantics of classifiers, the interpretation of the indefinite article, and a description of quantifier structure and meaning. Several languages distinguish mass nouns (e.g. English 'honey') from count nouns (e.g. English 'dog'). Mass nouns do not combine directly with numerals while count nouns do. A cross-linguistic tendency is that nouns that refer to substances are mass nouns, while nouns that refer to delimited objects are count nouns. However, some nouns behave like mass nouns despite the fact that they refer to delimited objects (e.g. English 'furniture'). The grammatical distinction between mass and count nouns is thus not entirely determined by extra-linguistic factors, and to some extent it is arbitrary and subject to linguistic variation. Tarascan is particularly revealing in the empirical investigation of the mass-count distinction since it distinguishes not two but three classes of nouns: count nouns, like 'wichu' (dog), mass nouns like 'tékwa' (honey), and a third class, which we call "count-mass" nouns (Doetjes 1997). This third class includes items like 'purhú' (pumpkin) and 'thatsïni' (bean). They share some grammatical properties with mass nouns, some with count nouns and in other respects they constitute a class of their own. The tripartite distinction in the mass/count domain calls for a revision of the semantics of some functional categories within the Tarascan noun phrase. For instance, while mass nouns reject plural morphology and count nouns referring to more than one entity need it obligatorily, the precise contribution of plural marking with count-mass nouns cannot be accounted for by canonical theories of plurality. Moreover, classifiers and plural marking in Tarascan can co-occur in a noun phrase, a fact unexpected under well-known typological generalizations. This investigation elucidates the role of classifiers in individuating the denotation of count-mass nouns. This research is based on semantic and syntactic judgments collected on site by Co-PI Vázquez-Rojas under the supervision of Dr. Chris Collins. The data will be obtained by elicitation and in natural occurring discourse from four consultants in Michoacán, México. Co-PI Vázquez-Rojas will also be involved in training young researchers in Mexico to undertake similar investigations in several indigenous languages spoken around the country.