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

博士论文研究：Tarascan 中名词短语的句法和语义

• 批准号: 1024285
• 负责人: Christopher Collins
• 金额: $ 0.7万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1024285&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Syntax; Semantics

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.

该项目研究了质量/计数分布如何确定塔拉斯加（墨西哥分离株）中名词短语的结构和解释。它重点介绍了四个主题：复数标记的分布和解释，分类器的语义，对不确定文章的解释以及量词结构和含义的描述。几种语言将质量名词（例如英语“蜂蜜”）区分开来，并将名词（例如英语“狗”）区分开来。质量名词不直接与数量名词直接合并。跨语言趋势是指代物质的名词是质量名词，而指定对象的名词是计数名词。但是，尽管某些名词是指划界对象（例如英语“家具”），但某些名词的行为就像大量名词。因此，质量名词和计数名词之间的语法差异并不完全由语言因素决定，在某种程度上是任意的，并且会受到语言差异的影响。塔拉斯卡（Tarascan）在对大规模计数困难的实证研究中尤其揭示，因为它不区分两个类别的名词：诸如'wichu'（狗），大众名词，例如'tékwa'（tékwa'（honey）和一个第三类），我们称之为“ count” mas-mass“ count” nouns（Doetjes 1997）。这三类包括诸如“purhú”（南瓜）和'liclythissïni'（bean）之类的项目。他们与大众名词共享一些语法属性，有些具有名词，在其他方面，它们构成了自己的一类。质量/计数域中的三方区别要求对塔拉斯加名词短语中某些功能类别的语义进行修订。例如，尽管大众名词拒绝多个形态和指称多个实体需要的名词，但在多元化的规范理论中不能说明复数标记与count-mass名词的精确贡献。此外，塔拉斯加（Tarascan）中的分类器和复数标记可以在名词短语中同时发生，这在众所周知的类型学概括下是意外的。这项调查阐明了分类器在个性化计数质词名词表示的作用。这项研究基于Co-PiVázquez-Rojas在Chris Collins博士的监督下在现场收集的语义和句法法官。这些数据将通过启发和自然发生的话语获得，来自墨西哥米歇尔的四名顾问。 Co-PiVázquez-Rojas还将参与培训墨西哥的年轻研究人员，以在全国范围内使用几种土著语言进行类似的调查。