Doctoral Dissertation Research: The grammar of counting and measuring. A view from Tupi languages

博士论文研究：计数和测量的语法。

• 批准号: 1226449
• 负责人: Angelika Kratzer
• 金额: $ 1.48万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2014-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226449&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; grammar; counting

Linguists and philosophers have long been fascinated with the distinction between so-called "count nouns" (e.g. dog) and "mass nouns" (e.g. blood). Across languages, these two classes of nouns tend to exhibit distinct morphological and syntactic properties that primarily show up when those nouns combine with numerals and quantifiers. Grammatical phenomena affected by the mass/count distinction include number marking and the use of classifiers and measure phrases. The project will investigate the linguistic expression of counting and measuring in two under-studied and endangered Tupi languages spoken in Brazil: Yudja (Juruna family) and Kawaiwete (Tupi Guarani family). Yudja and Kawaiwete are languages that do not obviously fit into known typologies of the count/mass distinction, and thus raise new questions for our understanding of how natural languages encode fundamental conceptual categories. Three aspects of the grammar of counting and measuring will be investigated: (i) the semantic and syntactic properties of numeral constructions and their compatibility with what appear to be notional "count" or "mass" nouns; (ii) the syntax and semantics of measure constructions, and (iii) the semantics of nominal quantifiers. The project will use a mix of methodologies, including fieldwork elicitation, production and comprehension tasks, and the examination of narratives. This project will contribute to the documentation of two endangered languages. The results will be made available to the indigenous communities who speak the two languages, and will be discussed in workshops for indigenous teachers in local schools. The theoretical component of this research has as its audience semanticists, cognitive psychologists, linguistic typologists, philosophers of language, and specialists on Tupi languages.

语言学家和哲学家长期以来一直着迷于所谓的“计数名词”（例如狗）和“质量名词”（例如血）之间的区别。在各种语言中，这两类名词往往表现出截然不同的形态和句法特征，这些特征主要表现在这些名词与数词和量词联合收割机组合时。受质量/计数区分影响的语法现象包括数字标记以及量词和量词短语的使用。该项目将调查在巴西使用的两种研究不足和濒临灭绝的图皮语中计数和测量的语言表达：Yudja（Juruna族）和Kawaiwete（图皮瓜拉尼族）。Yudja和Kawaiwete语言显然不符合已知的计数/质量区分类型学，因此对我们理解自然语言如何编码基本概念范畴提出了新的问题。本文将从三个方面探讨计数和计量的语法：（1）数词结构的语义和句法性质及其与概念性“计数”或“质量”名词的相容性;（2）计量结构的句法和语义;（3）名词性量词的语义。该项目将使用多种方法，包括实地调查启发，生产和理解任务，以及叙述的检查。该项目将有助于记录两种濒危语言。研究结果将提供给讲这两种语言的土著社区，并将在当地学校土著教师讲习班上讨论。这项研究的理论部分有其受众语义学家，认知心理学家，语言类型学家，语言哲学家和图皮语专家。