PLURACTIONALITY AND DISTRIBUTIVITY IN KARITIANA1 • What is the interpretation of distributive numerals in Karitiana? Ana Müller [email protected]; www.fflch.usp.br/dl/anamuller • How does plurality relate to distributivity? University of São Paulo, Brazil
Background: I. Introduction The Cumulativity Universal – denotations of all simple predicates Karitiana is a native Brazilian language of the Arikén family, Tupi stock, in natural languages are cumulative (cf. Krifka 1992, Landmann spoken by about 350 people (Storto & Velden 2005). Their reservation is 1996, Kratzer 2003, 2005). located in the northwest of Brazil (Rondônia). A neo-davidsonian event semantics (Kratzer 2003): Focus: Pluractionality and distributivity in Karitiana. • The subject argument is not a lexical argument of the verb. • The object argument is an argument of the verb. • VP denotations are minimal Facts: Claims: Karitiana is a pluractional language (Müller & Sanchez-Mendes 2008). Pluractional affixes are plural operators over cumulative verb denotations. In Karitiana, sentences without any number marking generate singular, collective and cumulative readings as far as number of Distributive numerals are plural operators on VP denotations - they participants and/or events (Müller et al 2006). pluralize VP denotations and impose a homogeneity restriction on them. Karitiana has distributive numerals. II. Theoretical Background Questions: Goal: Introduce the basic theoretical assumptions. • What is the interpretation of pluractional affixes in Karitiana? A neo-davidsonian event semantics (Parsons 1990): 1 We would like to thank Luciana Storto for helping to elicit and analyse the data. We would also like to thank our Karitiana consulants. Fieldwork for this paper was provided by FAPESP.
1 • VPs are assumed to have an event argument (cf. Davidson 1967, (4) [[√lift]] = {< box1, lifting1>, < box2, lifting2>,…, < box1+box3, Parsons 1990, Schein 1993, Lasersohn 1995, among others). lifting3>…,
2 • Universal quantification and demonstratives are expressed by c. Yn naka’yt sypomp pikom relative clauses. d. Yn naka’yt pikom sypomp (7) Sojxaty akatyym naponpon João sojxaty aka-tyym na-pon-pon-Ø João Typologically, Karitiana is closer to the Chinese-type languages (Chierchia boar be-SUB DECL-shoot-RDPL-NFUT João 1998): ‘João shot at all the boars’ • free occurrence of bare nouns as arguments; Literally: João shot at the boars that are. • absence of number inflection on the NP.
• Other quantifiers are adverbial – they have the same syntactic Nevertheless, unlike the Chinese-type languages, Karitiana makes no use distribution as other adverbs like mynda (‘slowly’) in the language. of classifiers.
(8) a. Kandat jonso nakaot esse Adv S V O IV. Pluractionality in Karitiana Kandat jonso Ø-naka-ot- Ø esse a.lot woman 3P-DECL-get-NFUT water Non-pluractional sentences are neutral for number of ‘Women brought a lot of water’ / ‘Women brought water many times’’ participants and/or events.
b.*Jonso kandat Ø-naka-ot- Ø esse *S Adv V O (10) Taso naka’yt boroja taso ∅-naka-’y-t boroja c. Jonso Ø-naka-ot- Ø kandat esse S V Adv O man 3-DECL-eat-NFUT snake ‘Men ate snakes’ d. Jonso Ø-naka-ot- Ø esse kandat S V O Adv Literally: An indefinite number of men ate an indefinite number of snakes an indefinite number of times. • Numerals are adverbials – they have the same distribution of other adverbials in the language. Karitiana is a pluractional language.
(9)a. Sypomp yn naka’yt pikom (11) Taso naka’y’ydn boroja sypom-t yn naka-’y-t pikom taso ∅-naka-’y-’y-t boroja two- OBL 1s 3-DECL-eat-NFUT monkey man 3-DECL-eat-RDP-NFUT snake ‘I ate two monkeys’/ ‘I ate monkeys twice’ ‘Men ate snakes’ b. *Yn sypomp naka’yt pikom
3 Pluractional and no pluractional versions of the same sentence (14) [[lift’]] = {
Lasersohn 1995 on pluractional markers: (15) PL ([[lift']]) = {
(12) V-PA(E) ↔ ∀e ∈ E [V(e) & card (E) ≥ n] Predictions: where: 1. Pluractionality should be possible for any sentence denoting two or V: verb; more events. PA: pluractional marker; 2. Sentences denoting singular events should not reduplicate. E: variable over sets of events; 3. Sentences with distributive readings of singular events should not e: variable over atomic events; reduplicate. n: variable over the natural numbers (usually taken to be a contextually provided ‘many’). Evidence for prediction 1: Pluralization is possible for sentences about 2 or more events, and not only for sentences about a significant number of Questions: events. • Why would a language have pluractional affixes when it has cumulativity? (16) • What is the role of pluractional affixes in the language? Sypomp nakaponpon João sojxaty kyn sypom-t ∅-naka-pon-pon-∅ João sojxaty kyn Claim: two-OBL3-DECL-shot-REDUPL-NFUT João boar POS • Reduplication in Karitiana is a plural operation on cumulative verb 'João shot twice at boars' denotations – it excludes atomic events from the denotation of verbs (Ferreira 2005 for nouns and verbs, Müller 2000 for nouns). (17) Õwã nakokonat sypomp opokakosypi (13) a. PL = λ P
4 Evidence for prediction 2: Sentences about singular events do not Tamyry -tamyry nakahit õwã myhint kinda’oty João reduplicate. ta-myry -ta-myry Ø-naka-hit-Ø õwã myhin-t kinda’o-POS João 3AN-alone-3AN-alone 3-DECL-give-NFUT child one-OBL fruit João (18) Inacio namangat myhint Nadia ka’it 'Each child gave one fruit to João’ Inacio ∅-na-mangat-∅ myhin-t Nadia ka’it Literally: ‘Children gave fruits in one to João distributiely.’ Inacio 3-DECL-lift-NFUT one-OBL Nadia today ‘Inacio lifted Nadia once today’ (23) *Tamyry-tamyry nakahithidn õwã myhint kinda’oty João ta-myry -ta-myry Ø-naka-hit-hit-Ø õwã myhin-t kinda’o-POS João (19) 3AN-OBL-3AN-OBL 3P-DCL-give-RDPLNFT child one-OBL fruit João *Inacio namangatmangadn myhint Nadia ka’it 'Each child gave one fruit to João’ Inacio ∅-na-mangat-mangat-∅ myhin-t Nadia ka’it Inacio 3-DECL-lift-REDUPL-NFUT one-OBL Nadia today ‘Inacio lifted Nadia once today’ (only one event) (24) Tamyry-tamyry nakam'at py'ejip õwã (20) Context: A group of kids collectively gave one canoe to João. ta-myry-ta-myry Ø-naka-m-‘a-t py'ejip õwã 3AN-alone-3AN-alone 3-DCL-CAUS-do-NFT pencil child Õwã nakahit myhint goojoty João 'Each child made his homework' õwã ∅-naka-hit-∅ myhin-t gooj
5 Õwã nakam’at gooj is true in cumulative Situation 1. NPs and VPs have cumulative denotations in Karitiana. [[*agent]]={
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(27) Õwã nakam’ab’adn gooj (28) õwã Ø-naka-m-’a-’a-t gooj Myhint-myhint õwã nakam’at gooj child 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT canoe myhim-t-myhim-t õwã Ø-naka-m-’a-t gooj ‘Children built canoes’ one-OBL-one-OBL child 3-DCL-CAUS-build-NFT canoe ‘Children built canoes distributively (in ones)’ Interpretation: There is a plural event in which an indefinite number of children built an indefinite number of canoes. × cumulative reading × collective reading True only of plural events: *the child building the canoe, *one distributive readings: child building one canoe, one child building canoes, children o ‘Each child built one canoe.’ building canoes, … . o ‘On every occasion, children built canoes’
cummulative reading (for two or more events) • Both × collective reading (one event only) Õwã nakam’at gooj and × ‘distributive’ reading (only singular events) Myhint myhint õwã nakam’at gooj have distributive interpretations which make them true in situation 3. Pluractional affixes are not plural/distributive operators on VP denotations. Both lexical cumulativity and myhint myhint generate distributive readings. Karitiana has distributive numerals (Gil 1988). Question: Do both distributive interpretations in Karitiana have the same • There are many languages that express distribution by using semantics? distributive numerals: Maricopa (Hokan, spoken in Arizona), Gã (Niger-Congo, spoken in Ghana), Bura (Afro-Asiatic, spoken in VI. Distributivity in Karitiana Nigeria), Nubian (Nilo-Saharan, spoken in Egypt), Rumanian (Indo-European), Turkish (Altaic), Tagalog (Austronesian, spoken Goal: Tease apart distributive readings generated by cumulativity from the in Philippines), Japanese, and Georgian (South Caucasian) (Gil ones generated by VP plurality. 1982, 1995). Claim: Cumulative ‘distributivity’ differs from VP distributivity. • Cross-linguistically distributive numerals are frequently formed by using reduplication. Availability of distributive interpretations due to lexical cumulativity:
7 (29) Õwã nakam’at gooj (31) õwã Ø-naka-m-’a-t gooj Myhint-myhint Lu Leti nakam’at sypomp gooj child 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT canoe myhim-t-myhim-t Lu Leti Ø-naka-m-’a-t sypom-t gooj ‘Children built canoes’ one-OBL- one-OBL Lu Leti 3-DCL-CS-build-NFT two-OBL canoe ‘Lu and Leti built two canoes distributively’ cummulative reading (two or more events) collective reading × cumulative reading (for ex., one canoe built individually, the other collectively) ‘distributive’ reading - ‘Each child built one canoe’ × collective reading distributive readings (Each girl built two canoes./ On each Distributivity in (29) is an effect of lexical cumulativity. occasion, two canoes were built by Lu and Le.) • Distributivity disappears when the cardinality of the object-NP or Lexical cumulativity differs from VP plurality/distributivity of the events is fixed: (Kratzer 2003, 2005).
(30) Lu Leti nakam’at sypomp gooj Myhint myhint is a plural operator on the VP. Lu Leti Ø-naka-m-’a-t sypom-t gooj Lu Leti 3-DCL-CAUS-build-NFT two-OBLcanoe VII. Distributive Numerals ‘Lu and Leti built canoes in two’/‘Lu and Leti built canoes twice’ 1. The Analysis cumulative reading : for ex., one canoe built individually, the other collectively Focus: The syntax and semantics of distributive numerals in Karitiana. collective reading × distributive readings: Claim: *‘Each girl builds two canoes’ • Distributive numerals are adverbial operators - they pluralize the *‘On each occasion, Lu and Leti built two canoes’ event argument and impose a homogeneity restriction on it.
Lexical cumulativity alone is not enough to pluralize the VP. Myhint-myhint P is true in eventuality E iff E has smaller eventualities e1, e2, …, en, en+1, … as parts, in which P is true, and Distributive interpretations due to VP pluralization: en is atomic.
Distributive numerals only have distributive interpretations.
8 [[myhint-myhint]] = λP
(33) ∃E∃X∃Y [*build (Y) (E) & *agent(X)(E) & *child(X) & Karitiana (Storto 1999):
*canoe(Y) & ∃e1…en [e1…en < E & atomic (en) & *build (Y)(en) & *canoe (Y)]] • There is a complementary distribution between matrix and embedded sentences with regard to the verb position, correlated 2. Evidence for the Analysis with the presence versus absence of the inflectional markers - tense and agreement. Myhint myhint is an adverbial operator, not a D-Quantifiers. In matrix clauses, verbs usually occur in second i. DPs in Karitiana – if they exist – have no non-empty functional position. projections (Müller et al 2005). In embedded clauses, verbs always occur in final position. ii. The interpretation of sentences with myhint myhint does not depend on the position of the operator. Structure for embedded clauses:
(35) [AspP [VP Subj [VP Obj tv ]] [Asp’ V Asp ] ] SOV 3 Where: E, en: variables over singular and plural events; X, Y: variables over singular and plural individuals; P: variable over properties of events.
9 There is only one position available for adverbs in embedded AspP clauses, they may left adjoin to AspP.
In matrix clauses adverbs may be left or right adjoined to CP or VP Asp’ left adjoined to VP.
Subj V V Asp myhint myhint has the same syntactic distribution as other adverbs.
Ob tv Matrix clauses: j (37) a. Myhint myhint nakam’at gooj õwã Structure for matrix clauses: one-OBL one-OBL 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT child canoe
(36) [CP Subj [C’ V [IP [VP [VP Obj tv ] ts ] I ] ] ] SVO b. *Õwã myhint myhint nakam’at gooj child one-OBL one-OBL 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT canoe
CP c. Õwã nakam’at myhint myhint gooj child 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT one-OBL one-OBL canoe Subj C’ d. Õwã nakam’at gooj myhint myhint child 3-DECL-CAUS-build-NFT canoe one-OBL one-OBL V IP Embedded clauses: the only possibility is for adverbs to adjoin to VP or VP I AspP.
VP ts (38) Δ a. [Myhint –myhint jonso õwã mangataty] ytapyting yn Obj tv [Myhim-t –myhim-t jonso õwã mangat-ty] y-ta-pyting-∅ yn one-OBL one-OBL woman child lift-OBL 1P-DECL- want-NFUT 1p ‘I want women to lift children distributively’
b. *[jonso myhint -myhint õwã mangataty] ytapyting yn Adverbs only adjoin to maximal projections (Storto 1999). woman one-OBL one-OBL child lift-OBL 1P-DECL- want-NFUT 1p
10 c. *[jonso õwã myhint –myhint mangataty] ytapyting yn ______. On the Plurality of Verbs. In: J. Dölling & T. Heyde-Zybatow (eds.), woman child one-OBL one-OBL lift-OBL 1P-DECL- want-NFUT 1p Event Structures in Linguistic Form and Interpretation. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin. 2005. d. *[jonso õwã mangataty myhint –myhint] ytapyting yn KRIFKA, M. Thematic Relations as Links between Nominal Reference and woman child lift-OBL one-OBL one-OBL 1P-DECL- want-NFUT 1p Temporal Constitution. In: SAG, I.; SAZBOLSCI, A. (Ed.), Lexical Matter. Chicago: CSLI, pg. 29-53, 1992. Myhint myhint does not belong with subject or object NPs. LANDMAN, F. Plurality. In: LAPPIN, S. The Handbook of Contemporary Myhint myhint is an adverbial operator. Semantic Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, pg. 425-457, 1996. LASERSOHN, P. Plurality, Conjunction, and Events. Dordrecht, Boston: Kluwer VIII. Summing up Academic Publishers. 1995. MÜLLER, A. & E.V. NEGRÃO On Distributivity in Karitiana. Talk presented in Workshop on Nominal and Verbal Plurality, CNRS-Pouchet, Paris 2008 The great array of readings that result from argument-predicate MÜLLER, A. & SANCHEZ-MENDES, L. Pluractionality in Karitiana. combinations in Karitiana is due to nominal and verbal Proceedings of SuB 12, Oslo: Department of Literature, Area Studies and cumulativity. European Languages, University of Oslo, pp. 442-454, 2008. Pluractional affixes in Karitiana are plural operators on verbs: they MÜLLER, A.; STORTO, L.; COUTINHO-SILVA, T. Number and the count- subtract singular events from cumulative verb denotations. mass distinction in Karitiana. UBCWPL 19: Proceedings of the Eleventh Distributive numerals are adverbial plural operators on the VP. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in Languages of the Americas, pg. 122-135, 2006. PARSONS, T. Events in the Semantics of English: A Study in Subatomic • We have provided support for the Cummulativity Universal and Semantics. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990. for a difference between lexical cumulativity and VP plurality. SCHEIN, B. Plural and Events. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993. STORTO, L. Aspects of Karitiana Grammar. MIT Ph.D. dissertation, 1999. Remaining question: Is distributivity just an effect of plurality¿ STORTO, L.; VAN DER VELDEN, F.F. Karitiana. Povos Indígenas do Brasil. Disponível em References http://www.socioambiental.org/pib/epi/karitiana/karitiana.shtm. 2005. Accessed on May 5, 2008. GIL, D. Distributive Numerals. PhD Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1982. _____. Distributive Numerals. In: Haspelmath, Martin & Dryer, Matthew S. & Gil, David & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online.Munich: Max Planck Digital Library, chapter 54, 2008. Available online at http://wals.info/feature/54. Accessed on 2008-11-03. KRATZER, A. The Event Argument and the Semantics of Verbs. http://semanticsarchive.net. 2003. Accessed on May 5, 2008.
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