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GenderandNounClassification

OXFORDSTUDIESINTHEORETICALLINGUISTICS

GENERALEDITORS :DavidAdgerandHagitBorer,QueenMaryUniversityofLondon

ADVISORYEDITORS :StephenAnderson,YaleUniversity;DanielBüring,University ofVienna;NomiErteschik-Shir,Ben-GurionUniversity;DonkaFarkas,Universityof California,SantaCruz;AngelikaKratzer,UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst; AndrewNevins,UniversityCollegeLondon;ChristopherPotts,StanfordUniversity; BarrySchein,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia;PeterSvenonius,Universityof Tromsø;MoiraYip,UniversityCollegeLondon

RECENTTITLES

 TheInteractionofFocus,Givenness,andProsody AStudyofItalianClauseStructure by VieriSamek-Lodovici

 TheMorphosyntaxofGender by RuthKramer

 TheMorphosyntaxofImperatives by DanielaIsac

 SentenceandDiscourse editedby JacquelineGuéron

 Optimality-TheoreticSyntax,Semantics,andPragmatics FromUni-toBidirectionalOptimization editedby GéraldineLegendre,MichaelT.Putnam,HenriëttedeSwart,andErinZaroukian

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 ModalityAcrossSyntacticCategories

editedby AnaArregui,MaríaLuisaRivero,andAndrésSalanova

 TheVerbalDomain

editedby RobertaD’Alessandro,IreneFranco,andÁngelJ.Gallego

 ConcealedQuestions by IlariaFrana

 PartsofaWhole

DistributivityasaBridgebetweenAspectandMeasurement by LucasChampollion

 SemanticsandMorphosyntacticVariation

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 TheStructureofWordsattheInterfaces

editedby HeatherNewell,MáireNoonan,GlynePiggott,andLisadeMenaTravis

 PragmaticAspectsofScalarModifiers

TheSemantics-PragmaticsInterface by OsamuSawada

 EncodingEvents

FunctionalStructureandVariation by XuhuiHu

 GenderandNounClassification

editedby ÉricMathieu,MyriamDali,andGitaZareikar

Foracompletelistoftitlespublishedandinpreparationfortheseries,seepp.

GenderandNoun Classification

GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford, OXDP, UnitedKingdom

OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries

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Contents

Generalpreface x

Acknowledgements xi

Listofabbreviations xii

Thecontributors xvii

.Humans,gods,anddemons  ÉricMathieu

. PartI:Genderandpartition

. PartII:Locusofgender

. PartIII:Morphosemanticnounclassi fication

  Conclusion

PartI.Genderandpartition

.Partitioningthenominaldomain:Theconvergenceofmorphology, syntax,semantics,andpragmatics

Rose-MarieDéchaine

. Introduction

. Thelogicoftheproblem

. CLASS andD

.. PlainsCreeanimacyinflection

.. PlainsCree CLASS selectsD

.. PlainsCreeanimacyisdiscourseconditioned

.. Theinteractionofanimacywithobviation andbiologicalgender

. CLASS andNumber

.. Shona n-classes

.. Shona CLASS isafeatureon NUM

.. Shona CLASS isprolific

. Conclusion

.Categorizationasnounconstruction:Gender,number, andentitytypes

PaoloAcquaviva

. Introduction

. Numberandkind-levelreading

.. Twoempiricalobservations

.. Kindsandentitytypes

  Numberandpartstructure

   TheDPprojectionline

   A finer-graineddivisionofreference

   Threeempiricalanalyses

  GenderasapropertyofDP

.. Genderabovethe ‘lexical’ nounlevel

.. ‘Interpreted’ genderandvariablepositioning

.. ‘Interpreted’ genderandvariablepositioning:Evidence fromItalian

. Conclusion

PartII.Locusofgender

.MultiplefacetsofconstructionalArabicgenderand ‘functional universalism ’ intheDP

AbdelkaderFassiFehri

  Introduction

. Classi fiermorpho-syntaxinanumberlanguage

   Modesoffunctionalunitization

   Groupclassi fication

  ‘Pseudo-partitive’ semi-functionalstructure

   Functionalsingulativesandpluratives

   Moreongroupsandsingulatives

  Manydistinctpatternsofgenderagreement

   SingularlowGenagreement

   Non-humanbasedpluralGenagreement

   The ‘mixed’ plurativeorwhenGenisNum(=Group)

.. Partitives,groups,andkinds

. Furthermotivationforgenderasconstructional

.. Gen asa ‘perspectiviser’

.. PerformativeGen

.. PaucalGenandpaucalnumerals

.. Is –t GenorNum?

. Conclusion

.Limitinggender

ChristopherHammerly

  Introduction

  GenderandnominalmorphologyinFrench

   Alternationswithanimatenouns

Alternationswithinanimatenouns

  Diminutive/augmentative

  Singulative

  AdjectiveNPs

 Summary

  Thestructureandrepresentationofgenderfeatures

   Existingaccounts

   Afeaturegeometryforgender

  Pathwaystointerpretation

   Thedenotationofgender

.. Presuppositionalaccountsofgender

.. Theinterpretivemechanism

.. ImplementationinFrench

.. Associatingmeaningsofsub-structures

. Limitinggender

. Conclusion

.Thedoublelifeofgenderanditsstructuralconsequences:

AcasestudyfromStandardItalian

IvonaKučerová

  Introduction

  Dissociatingclassmarkerandgender

  Naturalgenderandtheorderofsyntacticoperations

  Valuationfromthecontextvsvaluationfromthelexicon

  Predictions:Categoryneutralroots

  Conclusi ons

.OngenderagreementinBrazilianPortuguese

DannieldaSilvaCarvalho

. Introduction

. GenderinBrazilianPortuguese

. Outlininggenderasafeature

. Thesyntacticeffectofgender

. Relativizinggenderagreement

. On ‘non-Agreement’ structuresinBrazilianPortuguese

. Ondefinitenessandagreement:Thecaseofpredicative agreementinGerman

. Finalremarks

.Anovelkindofgendersyncretism

RuthKramer

. Introduction

. Background

.

.

. Gender,number,andsyncretism

Gender/numbersyncretisminDM

. Convergent-to-gender

.

.

.

.

Maay

Amharic:Predictionconfirmed

.. Haro: Metasyncretism

  Largerimplications

   SyncretisminDMandPFM

   Syncretismorsyntax?

  Conclusion

.(Grammatical)gendertroublesandthegenderofpronouns

PhoevosPanagiotidis

. Introduction

. Grammaticalversussemanticgender

. Genderandemptynouns

. Acaseofgrammaticaltransgendering

. Conclusion

PartIII.Morphosemanticnounclassification

.Number,names,andanimacy:Nominalclassesandplural interactionsinGitksan

ClarissaForbes

. Introduction

. ThebasicsofGitksanmorphosyntax

. Classi ficationinAspP:Themass/countcontrast

.. Mass/countinGitksan

.. Propertiesofstem-levelplurality

.. Thestructureofmass/countandstem-plurals

. Classi ficationinDP:Thecommon/determinatecontrast

.. Propertiesofthecommon/determinatedistinction

.. Determinatenumber

.. Thesemanticsof dip

.. Structuringdeterminacyandassociativity

. Classi ficationin φP:Theanimacycontrast

.. Theinanimate φ-system

.. Pronominalpluralityisnotstem-plurality

.. Pronominalpluralityisnotequivalenttoassociativity

. Conclusion

.Pluralmarkingonmassnouns:EvidencefromGreek

MariaKouneli

. Introduction

. Theoreticalbackground

. PluralmassnounsinGreek

. Cross-linguisticimplications 

.. HalkomelemSalishandBlackfoot

.. Ojibwe

.. Persian

. Conclusion

.Productivityvspredictability:Evidenceforthesyntaxandsemantics ofAnimategenderinfourNortheastern-areaAlgonquianlanguages

ConorMcDonoughQuinn

. Introduction

. Alternativeaccounts,andthecurrentproposal

. A ‘family’-basedmodelofAnimatestatus

.. The ‘family’-basedapproach

.. Evidencefor ‘family’ effects:dualanimacyand variableanimacy

. Evidencefordynamicsynchronicproductivity: Passamaquoddy-MaliseetandMi’kmaw

. The ‘family’-basedmodel’ssynchronicprocesses inrelationtovariationand(systematic)diachronicchange

. Outstandingissues

.. Falsifiability

   ModellingthesemanticsofAnimateassignment

  ModellingthesyntaxofAnimateassignment

  Conclusion

.Howtophraseologizenominalnumber

Solv eigaArmoskaite

. Introduction

. Pluralandsingular -yb- nominalscontrast:Evidence

.. Agreementpatternsconfirmthesplit 

.. Quantifierandnumeralpatternsconfirmthesplit 

.. Basecontrastsconfirmthesplit 

. Theoreticalassumptions

. Proposal 

. Conclusions,predictions,andfurtherquestions 

References 

Index

Generalpreface

Thetheoreticalfocusofthisseriesisontheinterfacesbetweensubcomponentsofthe humangrammaticalsystemandthecloselyrelatedareaoftheinterfacesbetweenthe differentsubdisciplinesoflinguistics.Thenotionof ‘interface’ hasbecomecentralin grammaticaltheory(forinstance,inChomsky’sMinimalistProgram)andinlinguisticpractice:workontheinterfacesbetweensyntaxandsemantics,syntaxand morphology,phonologyandphonetics,etc.hasledtoadeeperunderstandingof particularlinguisticphenomenaandofthearchitectureofthelinguisticcomponent ofthemind/brain.

Theseriescoversinterfacesbetweencorecomponentsofgrammar,includingsyntax/ morphology,syntax/semantics,syntax/phonology,syntax/pragmatics,morphology/ phonology,phonology/phonetics,phonetics/speechprocessing,semantics/pragmatics, andintonation/discoursestructure,aswellasissuesinthewaythatthesystemsof grammarinvolvingtheseinterfaceareasareacquiredanddeployedinuse(including languageacquisition,languagedysfunction,andlanguageprocessing).Itdemonstrates, wehope,thatproperunderstandingsofparticularlinguisticphenomena,languages, languagegroups,orinter-languagevariationsallrequirereferencetointerfaces.

Theseriesisopentoworkbylinguistsofalltheoreticalpersuasionsandschoolsof thought.Amainrequirementisthatauthorsshouldwritesoastobeunderstoodby colleaguesinrelatedsubfieldsoflinguisticsandbyscholarsincognatedisciplines.

Inthecurrentvolume,theeditorshavecollectedasetofstudiesfromaverywide typologicalrangeoflanguages,exploringwhatkindsofcategoriesandfeatureslieat theheartofnounclassification,focusingongender,butextendingtosystemsthatuse number,person,animacy,anddeterminersforthisfunction.Thechaptersexplore thesesystemsviathreecentralquestions:whatisthefunctionalroleofgenderin partitioningnounsintoseparateclasses,andhowisthisbestcharacterizedin syntactictheory?Whatisthesyntacticlocationofgenderinformationinnominal structureandhowdoesthisimpactmorphologicalrealization?And finally,howare genderandrelatedsystemsofclassi ficatoryfeaturessemanticallyinterpreted?Overall thechaptersinthevolumepointtobroadlysimilarconclusionsabouttherole, position,andinterpretationofgender,andthevolumeasawholeservestoprovide areferencepointinstudiesofnounclassi ficationfromtheperspectiveofgenerative syntax.

DavidAdger HagitBorer

Acknowledgements

ThisvolumegrewoutoftheGender,nounclassification,anddeterminationconference heldattheUniversityofOttawainSeptember .Theconferencewastheninth inaseriesdedicatedtoissuesinthesyntaxandsemanticsofthenounphrase.The conferencebroughttogetheraworkinggroupofCanadianlinguistswhoworkonthe nominalphraseandprovidedotherscholarswiththeopportunitytopresentoriginal researchandcollaborate.Thereweretwenty-threeoralpresentations(including fifteen invitedspeakers)andapostersession.Wethankalltheparticipantsforanamazing workshop.

WealsothankSSHRC(SocialSciencesandHumanitiesResearchCouncilof Canada),theFacultyofArts,andtheUniversityofOttawaforgenerousfunding.We wouldliketothankthestudentvolunteerswhohelpedusorganizesuchanexciting conference/workshop:VeselaSimeonova,BrandonFry,TharangaWeerasooriya, andNovaStarr.Fortheiradministrativeassistance:JeanneD’ArcTurpin,Maurice Bélanger,andDonnaDesbiens.Wealsothankthemanyreviewersoftheabstracts, submittedpapers,andgrantproposals.

Listofabbreviations

#count

#Pcountphrase

√ root

√Prootphrase

↑ older

# younger

parallelkin

female

male

 firstperson

 secondperson

 thirdperson

[

]cohortofgo

[+]childofego

[

[

]parentofego

]grandparentofego

*ungrammaticalphrase

ϕ agreementfeatures

☺ positiveeffect

☹ negativeeffect

ACC accusative

addraddressee advbadverbial

AI animateintransitiveverb

ANIM animate

AnimPAnimacy

AspPaspectphrase

assocassociative

attrattributive

AUG augmentative

axagentextraction

Ccomplementizer

C complementizer

ccnjClausalconjunction

CL class

CL classifier

CL clitic

clcausal

CIconceptual-intentionalinterface

ClPclassifierphrase

cmncommon

cnjconjunction

cnncommonnoundeterminer contrcontrastive

CPcomplementizerphrase ctrlcontrol

Ddeterminer(head)

DAT dative desdesiderative

DET determiner detrdetransitive

DIM diminutive Divdivision

DivPdivisionphrase dndeterminatenoundeterminer

DO doubleobject

DPdeterminerphrase

DST distaldemonstrative dtmdeterminate

dwiddomainwidener emphemphasis

eN emptynoun episepistematic

Evalevaluative

exprexperiential

EXT extensional

Ffunctional

Ffunctionalcategory

FEM feminine

FEM femalebiologicalgender

FPfunctionalphrase gengenitive

Gengender

GEN ’ N generation

GroupPgroupphrase habhabitual humhuman impersimpersonal iinterpretable

Iinterpretable

II inanimateintransitiveverbstem

IMP Imperative

INANIM inanimate incepinceptive

INCL inclusive

IND indicative

INDEF indefinite indvindividual

INF infinitive

INT intentional

IPinflectionalphrase jussjussive

LFlogicalform

LOC localspeechactparticipant

manrmanner

MASC masculine modmodal

nnoun

Nneuter

NEG negation

NMLZ nominalizer

NOM nominative

nPlittlenounphrase

NPnounphrase

Numnumber

NumPNumberphrase

Ooblique

OBJ object

OBV obviative

OX objectextraction xiv Listofabbreviations

Ppreposition

PCCperson-caseconstraint

pcnjphrasalconjunction

PFphonologicalform

pfxprefix

phraseaspAspect

PL plural

PMpredicatemodification

pncpropernounconnective

PPprepositionphrase

PRED predicate

PRES present

prospprospective

PROX proximate

prtcparticipant

PRX proximaldeixis

PST past

RECIP reciprocal

REFL reflexive

remremote

reportreportative

RootProotphrase

rstrdomainrestrictor

SAPspeechactphrase

SG singular

singsingulative

Sort.sortal

spcfspecific

specspecifier

spkrspeaker

sptspatiotemporal

stemaffaffirmative

SUB subject

suffunknownsuffix

SVsubjectverb

sxintransitivesubjectextraction

Tt-morpheme

TA transitiveanimateverbstem

Listofabbreviations

xvi Listofabbreviations

TI transitiveinanimateverbstem

TRANS transitive

uuninterpretable

u unmarked/unvalued

UnitPunitizerphrase

Vverb

valvalencyadjuster

ververumfocus

VIvocabularyitem

VPverbphrase

VSverbsubject

Xcrosskin

Yyes-noquestion

Thecontributors

P AOLO A CQUAVIVA isAssociateProfessoratUniversityCollegeDublin.Heisagraduateofthe UniversityofPisaandoftheScuolaNormaleSuperioreofPisa,whereheobtainedhisPh.D.in .Hehaspublishedmainlyontherelationbetweensemanticsandmorphology,particularlyaboutthetheoryofnumberandcountability.Hiscurrentresearchinterestsarethelexical semanticsofnounsanditsinterfacewiththeconceptualsystem,names,andtheontologyof naturallanguage. LexicalPlurals,anextensivestudyofvarietiesofnon-canonicalplurality,was publishedbyOxfordUniversityPressin .

S OLVEIGA A RMOSKAITE isAssistantProfessoratUniversityofRochester.Sheiscurrently consumedbythestudyandcomparisonsofsoundsymbolicexpressionsinLithuanian, Finnish,andTurkish.

D ANNIELDA S ILVA C ARVALHO completedhisPh.D.inLinguisticsin  andisnowAssociate ProfessorinLinguisticsattheDepartmentofFoundationsfortheStudyofLanguages,Federal UniversityofBahia,Brazil.Hisresearchinterestsinclude φ-features,theirintra-linguisticand cross-linguistictypologyaswellastheirsyntaxandmorphosyntaxtogetherwiththeirrelation withsemanticstructures,withaspecialfocusonthepronominalsystemofBrazilian Portuguese.

M YRIAM D ALI isaPh.D.candidateattheUniversityofOttawa.Herresearchinterestsinclude thesyntaxandsemanticsofnumberandgender,thestructureoftheDP,thesingulativeaswell asthediachronicevolutionofnumbermarkingsystems.Shehasrecentlyworkedonthe competitionbetweenpluralformsinTunisianArabic.Shehaspublishedanarticlein LinguisticaeInvestigationes andhasabookinpreparationonpluralswithJohnBenjamins.

R OSE -M ARIE D ÉCHAINE isafacultymemberintheDepartmentofLinguisticsattheUniversity ofBritishColumbia.Drawingondatasetsfromawiderangeoflanguages(butmostespecially fromAlgonquian,Na-Dene,andNiger-Congo)herresearchprogrammefocusesonsyntaxat theinterface.Sheinvestigatestheinteractionofsyntaxwithphonology,morphology,syntax, andpragmatics,andthechallengesthattheseinterfaceissuespresentforthedevelopmentofa formalsyntactictypologyofmicro-parametricandmacro-parametricvariation.

A BDELKADER F ASSI F EHRI isProfessorofArabicandComparativeLinguistics,Presidentofthe LinguisticSocietyofMorocco(MohammedVUniversity,Rabat),andanactiveMemberofa numberofArabicInitiatives,Prizes,andAcademies.HereceivedaDoctoratd’ÉtatfromParis IIISorbonneforhisthesison Complémentationetanaphoreenarabemoderne in ,held thepositionofDirectoroftheInstitutefortheStudyandResearchonArabization,and receivedtheKingFaisalPrizeforModernArabicLinguistics(),andtheHighestMerit PrizeforScienceandCulture(Rabat, ).Hehaspublishednumerousbooksandarticlesin Arabic,English,andFrenchonArabicgrammarandlinguistictheory.Titlesinclude Issues intheStructureofArabicClausesandWords (Kluwer ),and KeyFeaturesandParameters

inArabicGrammar (JohnBenjamins ).Heiscurrently finishingabookongender,number, numeral,andquantifierextensionsinArabicvarieties.

C LARISSA F ORBES isaPh.D.candidateattheUniversityofToronto.Shecompletedher undergraduatestudiesattheUniversityofBritishColumbiain ,andhasbeenworking sincethenontheGitksanlanguageincollaborationwiththeUBCGitksanResearchLab.Sheis currentlywritingherdissertationonthetopicofergativeagreementpatternsinGitksanand neighbouringTsimshianiclanguages,andisfurtherworkingonprojectsregardingmorphologicallyconditionedstressandA’-extractionmorphology.

C HRISTOPHER H AMMERLY isaPh.D.candidateintheDepartmentofLinguisticsatthe UniversityofMassachusettsAmherst,whereheissupportedbytheGraduateResearch FellowshipfromtheNationalScienceFoundation.HeholdsaB.A.inLinguisticsandaBS inPsychologyfromtheUniversityofMinnesota,andwasaBaggettFellowattheUniversityof MarylandDepartmentofLinguistics.Hisresearchspansawidevarietyofmethodsincluding formalsyntax,psycholinguistics,and fieldwork,whichheusestoexaminetheinterpretationof morphosyntacticfeatures,theformationofsyntacticdependencies,andtheinteractionof memoryandlanguagecomprehension.

M ARIA K OUNELI isaPh.D.candidateatNewYorkUniversity.Herresearchinterestsinclude themorphosyntaxofnumberandgender,thestructureoftheDPmoregenerally,aswellas Caseandagreement.Shehasrecentlyworkedonthecomplexnumbermorphologyofthe Kalenjinlanguage.

R UTH K RAMER isAssociateProfessorofLinguisticsatGeorgetownUniversity.Sheconducts researchonthemorphology-syntaxinterfacewithaparticularinterestinnominalfeatureslike gender,number,anddefiniteness.SheworksmostlyonAfroasiaticlanguages,withspecial focusontheEthiosemiticlanguageAmharic.Hermonograph TheMorphosyntaxofGender waspublishedin  byOxfordUniversityPress,andshehaspublishedpapersinjournals suchas NaturalLanguageandLinguisticTheory, LinguisticInquiry, Syntax,Languageand LinguisticsCompass,andthe JournalofAfroasiaticLanguages,amongothers.

I VONA K U Č EROVÁ isAssociateProfessorofLinguisticsatMcMasterUniversity.Shespecializes intheoreticalsyntaxandsemantics,andtheirinterface.Herworkexploresinformation structureanditsmorphosyntacticcorrelates,definitenesssystemsandtheirrelationtoaspect, themorphosyntaxandmorphosemanticsofcase,agreement,andcasesplits,thesyntaxofnull languages,andthesyntaxofcopularclauses.SheworksmainlyonSlavic,Germanic,and Romancelanguages.

É RIC M ATHIEU isProfessorattheUniversityofOttawa.HecompletedhisPh.D.in  at UniversityCollegeLondon.HisresearchfocusesonFrench(ModernandOld)andOjibwe(an Algonquianlanguage).Hehaspublishedin LinguisticInquiry, NaturalLanguageandLinguisticTheory, Syntax, InternationalJournalofAmericanLinguistics, JournalofLinguistics, Lingua, Probus, StudiaLinguistica,and LinguisticVariation.Heisalsotheauthorofnumerous chaptersinbooks(withOxfordUniversityPress,CambridgeUniversityPress,JohnBenjamins,Routledge,andSpringer,amongothers)andco-authorofseveralbooks;amonograph onislandeffectsentitled ‘Thesyntaxandsemanticsofsplitconstructions’,aspecialeditionof

Lingua onnounincorporation,aneditedvolumeonRomancelanguages ‘Variationacrossand withinlanguages’,andaforthcomingbookonplurals.

C ONOR M C D ONOUGH Q UINN isadocumentaryandrevitalization/reclamationlinguist withtheoreticalinterestscentringprimarilyaroundmorphosyntax,morphosemantics, andrevitalization/reclamationpedagogy.Sincethemid-shehasworkedextensively withtheAlgonquianlanguagesofnorth-easternNorthAmerica,particularlyPenobscot, Passamaquoddy-Maliseet,Mi’kmaw,andWesternAbenaki,aswellasthoseofmainland southernNewEnglandandLongIsland.Hisanalyticaleffortsfocusmainlyonthemore distinctivegrammaticalfeaturesofAlgonquianlanguages:animacy,obviation,pronominalargumentconfiguration,nominaltense,verbalshapeclassifiers,andpolysyntheticstemstructure,amongothers,payingspecialattentiontohowformal/scholarlymodelscanbeusefulin directdialoguewithsecond-languagepedagogicalapproaches.

P HOEVOS P ANAGIOTIDIS isProfessorofTheoreticalLinguisticsandVice-ChairofEnglish StudiesattheUniversityofCyprus.In  hewasawardedaPh.D.inLinguisticsforhis thesis ‘Pronominalsandemptynounheads: “pronominality” andlicensinginSyntax’ bythe UniversityofEssex,publishedasamonographin  as Pronouns,Cliticsandempty nouns (Benjamins ).Healsoeditedthe ComplementizerPhase:subjectsandoperators volumepublishedin  byOxfordUniversityPress.Hehaspublishedarticlesinjournalssuch as LinguisticInquiry, Lingua, NaturalLanguageandLinguisticTheory,Syntax,TheLinguistic Review,TheoreticalLinguistics, StudiaLinguistica, JournalofLinguistics, Morphology,and LingueeLinguaggio.Hisresearchinterestsincludelexicalcategories,adjectives,roots,pronouns,thenominaldomain,mixedprojections,compounding,thenatureoffunctional categories,andthesyntaxofGreekandBalkanlanguages.

G ITA Z AREIKAR isapost-doctoralresearcherattheUniversityofOttawa.Herresearchinterests includethesyntaxandsemanticsofbarenominalsandnumberinterpretationingeneral numberlanguages.Shefocusesonthesyntaxofnounphrasesandmorespecificallyonthe evolutionofclassifiersinnon-numeral-classifierlanguages.Shehasrecentlybeenworkingon theinteractionbetweentelicityandviewpointaspectwithnumberandspecificity.

1

Humans,gods,anddemons

ÉRICMATHIEU

Humansliketocategorizethings.Thisismostprevalentinthewayweuselanguage toplacenounsinspeci ficgroupsandinthewaylinguisticstructurereflectsthis cataloguing.Forexample,inTamil,nounscomeintwosuper-classes:the ‘rational’ andthe ‘irrational’ . ‘Rational’ nounsincludehumans,gods,andmonsterswhile ‘irrational’ nounscompriseanimals,objects,aswellasabstractnouns(Asher : ;Aikhenvald : ). ‘Rational’ nounsarefurtherdividedintothreecategories: masculinesingular,femininesingular,andrationalplural,while ‘irrational’ nounsare furthersplitintotwoclasses:irrationalsingularandirrationalplural(neuterforms).

Thenatureofsuper-classesvariescross-linguistically:feminineversusmasculine formsinIndo-Europeanlanguages(withathirdneutertypeinsomelanguages)or inanimateversusanimateformsinAlgonquianlanguages.Anounmayalsosimply belongtoagivenclassbecauseitsharesasimilarmorphologicalformwithothernouns.

Despitethevariationincontent,suchacategorizingprocessisauniversalfeature ofhumanlanguages.Itiscallednounclassificationorsimplygender,andtheterms areoftenusedinterchangeably(Corbett ).

Theaimofthisvolumeistoestablishwhatfunctionalorlexicalcategoriesare responsibleforthistypeofclassification,especiallyalongthenominalsyntacticspine, inatheoreticalcontextstartedwiththeadventofthePrincipleandParameters framework(Jackendoff ;Szabolcsi , ;Abney ;Ritter , , ;amongothers)andfurtherdevelopedwithinMinimalismandDistributed Morphology.Weaimtoshowwhere,inthenominalstructure,genderisableto functionasaclassifyingdeviceandhow,intheabsenceofgenderasaclassifying device,determinersandotherfunctionalelementsinthenominalspinecometo fill thatgap.

Muchdiscussionwillalsocentreonhowgenderparticipatesingrammatical concordandagreementphenomena.Thisisonlynaturalsinceitisoftenproposed thatgenderreferstoclassesofnounswithinalanguagethatare ‘ reflectedinthe behaviourofassociatedwords’ (Hockett : ).Thefeature ‘gender’ isoften referredtoas ‘gender ’ inalanguageifitconcernstheclassi ficationofthenominal inventoryofthelanguage,butonlyiftheinherentlyassignedgendervaluesfoundon

GenderandNounClassification.Firstedition.ÉricMathieu,MyriamDali,andGitaZareikar(eds). Thischapter©ÉricMathieu .Firstpublished  byOxfordUniversityPress.

nounsarematchedbycontextuallyassignedgendervaluesfoundontargetsof agreementingender.Ifalanguagehasasystemofnominalclassi ficationexpressed throughinflectionalmorphology,butthefeatureofnominalclassi ficationdoesnot participateinagreement,itdoesnotqualifyas ‘gender’ (KibortandCorbett ). Insum,genderisexclusivelyafeatureofagreement.

Ingenerativegrammar,genderfeaturesmakeup,withnumberandperson features,thesetof φ-featuresthatparticipateinagreement(atopicthathasspawned alotofresearch,Chomsky , ;BéjarandRezac ;Harbour,Adger,and Béjar ;Rezac ;Preminger ).AProbecarryinganuninterpretable featureentersintoanagreementrelationshipwithaGoalcarryinganinterpretable feature(Chomsky , ).Thisisrelevantnotonlyfornumberandperson butalsoforgenderfeatures,exceptthatforgrammaticalgender,theagreementpair isoftencharacterizedasuninterpretable(Probe)–uninterpretable(Goal)ratherthan interpretable(Probe)–uninterpretable(Goal).

Semanticagreement,incontrast,involvesaprioriastandardagreementpair uninterpretable(Probe)–interpretable(Goal).Semanticornaturalagreement,asit issometimescalled,isaphenomenonthathasmanyimplicationsforsyntactic theoryandtheoriesofinterpretation,anditisalsodiscussedatlengthinthisvolume. Casesofhybridagreement(Landau ;Smith ;deVries )thatarisedue toadistinctiongrammarssometimesencodebetweennatural(orsemantic)gender, ontheonehand,andgrammaticalgender,ontheother,arealsodiscussed,since thisisparticularlyrelevantforanydiscussionfocusingongenderandsinceithas generatedsomuchinterestrecentlyintheliterature.

Oneimportantconclusionreachedfromthearticlesincludedinthisvolumeis thatgender,moreoftenthannot,dependsonsomethingelse:number,person, determination,etc.Bydiscussinggenderinthecontextofarticulatedtheoriesof themorphology,syntax,semantics,orpragmaticsofnouns,weobtaininteresting resultsthatcontributetoabetterunderstandingofpartitionandnominalstructure. Genderusedtobestudiedindependentlyfromother φ-featuresorfeaturesof thenominaldomainandthisledtospuriousgeneralizationsandproblematic proposals.Wearenowbetterequippedtheoreticallyandmoreinclinedtostudy genderfromamultifacetedapproach.Ourcollectionofarticlesonthetopic contributestothisinmanyways.

ThevolumeisdividedintoPartsI,II,andIII,eachaddressingaparticular theoreticalquestionthatariseswhenwestudygenderandnounclassificationin context(a–c).Weshowhoweachchapterspeakstothesetheoreticalquestions.

()a.Whatistheroleofgender?

b.Whereisgenderlocatedinthenominalspine?

c.Howisgenderinterpreted?

Thenumberoflanguagescoveredinthisvolumeisvast.Wementioninparticular:Greek,English,French,Arabic,Italian,Persian,Gitksan,Italian,Brazilian Portuguese,Amharic,Lithuanian,Serbo-Croatian,Slovenian,Japanese,German, Cree,Maay,Haro,Penobscot,Shona,Mi’kmaw,Passamaquoddy-Malisset.

. PartI:Genderandpartition

PartIconsistsoftwochaptersaddressingthequestionin(a) ‘Whatistheroleof gender?’ Bothchaptersareseminalinnatureandofferinsights,notonlyforthe languagesdescribedinthosechaptersbutalsoformanyotherlanguages,sincestrong cross-linguisticpredictionsaremade.Alltheotherchaptersofthisbookdealoneway oranotherwiththecoreissuesintroducedbythesetwointroductorychaptersand constantreferenceismadetothemthroughoutthevolume.

Chapters  and  arguethatgenderisamechanismforintroducingapartition:its functionistoclassifyorcategorize.Thisproposalmeansthatnounsaresubstructures ofDPsandthatnominallexicalknowledgecanbemodelledasasyntacticstructure thatdistributesthecontentofanounalongtheDPprojectionline.Thisisincontrast withthetraditional,lexicalistviewaccordingtowhichthemeaningofanounis independentfromthesyntacticcontext.

Toillustratehowpartitionemergesinnaturallanguages,considerthecaseofnoun classesinBantulanguages.Forexample,Ndalihas  differentnounclasses;inother words,thereare  differentwaysnounsarepartitioned(Aikhenvald : ).The classesrefertonounsasfollows:

(

)a.Classes  and  topersonsandkinshipterms( isforsingularswhile  isfor plurals)

b.Classes  and  toinanimatesandnaturalphenomena(alsousedfor augmentativeandpejorativedescriptions)

c.Classes  and  tonaturalphenomena,bodyparts,plantnames,etc

d.Classes  and  tomiscellaneousreferentsandtoimpersonalthings

e.Classes  and  forimpersonal,animals,tools,etc

f.Class  toimpersonalobjects,bodyparts,plants,insects,abstractconcepts

g.Classes  and  tobodyparts,mannersofaction

h.Class  toabstractnouns,namesofgeographicalareas

i.Class  toverbalnouns

j.Class  tonounswithlocativemeaningthatinvolvesproximitytosomeone orsomethingnearthespeaker

k.Class  tonounswithlocativemeaningthatinvolvesproximitytosomeone orsomethingfarfromthespeaker

l.Class  toasituationinsidesomething

m.Class  fornounswithaugmentativeorpejorativemeaning.

Anothergoodillustrationoftheideathatgendercreatespartitionscomesfrom singulativelanguagesthatusegendershift.¹AninterestingexamplecomesfromArabic, inparticulartheTunisiandialect,whichistakenasapointofreferenceforthesakeof

¹Gendershiftcanalsohaveanevaluative/expressivevalue.SeeGoddard()andDéchaine(this volume),forAlgonquian;Panagiotidis(thisvolume)forGreekandPortuguese;andFassiFehri(this volume)forStandardArabic.Cross-linguistically,evaluativemorphologyisnotuncommon.SeeMaho  onBantu;Steriopolo  onRussian;WiltschkoandSteriopolo  onGerman;andKramer  onmultiplelanguages.Itappearstobehighinthenounphrase,above#,andpossiblyevenaboveD.

discussion.Inthislanguage,gendershift(frommasculinetofeminine)cancreateaunit outofacollectiveoramassnoun(Ojeda ;Zabbal ;FassiFehri –, ).Collectivenounstypicallyrefertomassesandaggregates,anddenotekinds (Ojeda ;Zabbal ;FassiFehri –, ;Mathieu a, b, a, b).Singulativenounsdenotesingleunitsorpartitionsofakind(Ojeda ).Individuationisachievedwithoutadeterminer,genderbeingthesolemarkerof categorization(orrecategorizationinthiscase).²Example(a)involvesacollective noun,grammaticallysingular,butsemanticallyplural,thatbecomessingulativizedby wayofthefemininesuffix –a togive ‘ oneorange ’.Example(b)involvesamassnoun thatalsogetssingulativizedbywayofthefemininemarker –a togivethistimea measure/portionreading, ‘onegrainofsand’.³

()a.bordgen ! bordgen-a[TunisianArabic] orange.masc.collorange-fem.sing ‘ oranges ’‘ oneorange ’ b.rmal ! raml-a sand.masc.collsand-fem.sing ‘sand’‘onegrainofsand’

Theuseofgendershifttocreateanindividualverymuchdependsonthenoun beingused.Ifthenounisacollectiveormassnoun,genderiscapableofcreatingan atomoutofsomethingthatisnotatomized(thecollectiveormasstermcanbeseen aspluralsemantically,Chierchia ,orsimplyundivided,Borer a,thusakin togeneralnumbernouns,Corbett ).

Nounsotherthancollectiveormasstermsareindividuateddifferently.Indefinite nounsarebare(withapossiblenullindefinitedeterminer,dependingonthetheory) andarenotindividuatedbythefemininemarker(a–b).Theyaresingularsalready (addingthefemininemarkerisnotimpossible,butdenotesagroup(seeZabbal ; FassiFehri,thisvolume;DaliandMathieu ).Definitenounsappearwiththe determiner el ‘the’,usedforbothmasculine(a ’)andfeminine(b’)nouns.

()a.kalba’.elkalb[TunisianArabic] dogThedog.mas.sg

‘adog’‘thedog’

b.souriyab’.elsouriya shirttheshirt

‘ashirt’‘theshirt’

²ItisalsopossibleinsomedialectsofArabicforgendertocreateindividualsthatrefertogroups(see Zabbal ;DaliandMathieu ).

³Singulativesystemsarenotalwaysostensible.Whileitmightbetemptingtoarguethatthisorthat languagelacksacount/massdistinctionbecausetheylackcertainpropertiesseeninIndo-European languages(ashasbeendonebyDavisandMatthewson  forSt’át’imcets;DalrympleandMofu  forIndonesian;andWiltschko ,  forHalkomelemandBlackfoot),severallanguagesappearto haveunderlyingsingulativesystems(seeMathieu, a, bforOjibwe;Gillon  forInnutut;and Deal  forNezPerce)suggestingthatalllanguagesmakecountabilitydistinctionsandthatthecount/ massdistinctionisgrammaticalizedineverylanguage(Deal ).

Insum,thesingulativefunctionslikeaclassi fier(Greenberg ):itpartitions collectiveandmasstermstoreturnindividuals.

Chapter ,by Rose-MarieDéchaine (UniversityofBritishColumbia,Vancouver, Canada),entitled ‘Partitioningthenominaldomain:Theconvergenceofmorphology,syntax,semantics,andpragmatics’ discussesShona,aBantulanguage,which likeNdali,hasmanynounclasses.InadditiontoShona,thischapterfocuseson PlainsCree(anAlgonquianlanguage),alanguagewithananimate–inanimate contrastfornouns.Déchaineproposesthatgenderisresponsibleforintroducing nominalclassesintothenominaldomain.Functionalcategoriesinduceanounclass fromrootsandeachsuccessiveF-categoryintroducesanothernounclass.CLASS(or gender)isproposedtobeeitherthefeatureofsomefunctionalheadoritheadsits ownprojection.Itcanappearhigh(inassociationwithD)orinthemiddle(in associationwithNum)orlow(inassociationwith n)inthenominalspine.This combinationofmodeandlocationpredictssixdistincttypologicalpossibilitiesfor CLASStoappearwithinthenominalspine.

UsingexamplesfromEnglishandItalian, PaoloAcquaviva (UniversityCollege Dublin,Ireland)inChapter  entitled ‘Categorizationasnounconstruction:Gender, number,andentitytypes ’ alsoarguesthatgender,likenumber,canbedistributed acrossvariousfunctionalheadsonthenominalspine.Hisconstructionist approachtotheingredientsofnominalitycross-linguisticallyinvolvesanominalizedrootthatiseitherarootcate gorizedbyanominalizingmorpheme n,orasa ‘self-merged’ rootwithanominallabel(onself-merge,seeAdger  ).Whilethe informationsignalledbygenderisgene rallyexpressedverylowinDP,itdoesnot represent ‘ lexical ’ informationcontrastingwithhigher ‘grammatical ’ determinations.Rather,whatdefi nesnominalityisacertainsyntacticstructure,witha sequenceoffunctorsthatbetweenthemde fi nearangeofpossibleinterpretations. Onthisview,thestructureandthesemanticrangeitcanexpressareanything butarbitrary.

BothChapters  and  setthescenefortheremainderofthebookanddiscuss issuesthatcomebackregularlythroughout.Inaddressingtheroleofgenderin creatingpartitions,theyprovideseminalworkonnominalstructurewithinaneoconstructionistapproach,offeringtremendousinsightsintothevariousissuesrelated tonominalclassi fication.

PartII:Locusofgender

ThesixchaptersofPartIIaddressthequestionin(b): ‘Whereisgenderlocatedin thenominalspine?’ Anarrayoflanguagesarediscussed(Arabic,French,Italian, BrazilianPortuguese,Amharic,Greek)andcasestudiesareprovided.TheintroductionofmorelanguagesallowsustotestDéchaine’spredictionofsixdistinct typologicalpossibilitiesforCLASSaswellasAcquaviva’sproposednominalarchitectureforgender.

Assumingastructurealongthelinesof(),itisproposedhistoricallyinthe literaturethatgenderoccupies n,Gen,Num,orD,oracombinationofthese, dependingonthelanguage(butalsoontheauthor).Earliersyntacticaccountsof

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