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Mystery 1
Only collective forms productively derived from N nouns trigger plural
agreement on the verb.
(1) a. bur-e;
Bur-ad
je/su
nova.
barrel-NSg
barrel-Coll be.Sg/Pl
new.FSg/NPl
The barrels are new.
b. snop-;
Snop-je
je/*su
teko/*teki
beam-MSg
beam-Coll ne.Sg/Pl heavy.NSg/MPl
The beams are heavy.
Note that collectives from M and F nouns are N, those from N are F.
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Mystery 2
Neuter nouns derived from other genders cannot have plural forms.
(3) prozor-
window-MSg
window
prozor--e
window-Dim-NSg
little window
*prozor--(et-)a
window-Dim-Ext-NPl
prozor--ad
prozor--i-i
window-Dim-CollFSg window-Dim-Dim-MPl
little windows (Coll) little windows (Pl)
Mystery 2, still
Diminutives from neuter bases do not have this restriction.
(4) dn-o
bottom-MSg
bottom
dan-c-e
bottom-Dim-NSg
little bottom
dan-c-a
bottom-Dim-NPl
little bottoms
?dan-c-ad
?dan--i-i
bottom-Dim-CollFSg bottom-Dim-Dim-MPl
little bottoms (Coll) little bottoms
Mystery 3
Neuter is not compatible with person, or with deixis.
(5) a. CHILD: *ital-o
sam
knjigu
read-NSg Aux1Sg
book.Acc
I was reading a book
b. Mi *(??spadal-a) smo
radoznal-a.
we joker-NPl
are.1Pl curious-NomNPl
We jokers are curious.
c. (pointing at three kids) #Ona
su neumorna.
they3NPl are tireless.NomNPl
They are tireless.
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Mystery 4
Neuter agreement is bad with assemblies of individuated atoms.
(6) a. Knjiga
i
sveska
su
stajali/stajale pored vaze.
book.FSg and notebook.FSg AuxPl stood.M/FPl by
vase
A book and a notebook were standing by the vase.
b. Selo
i
polje
su
leali/*leala u irokoj dolini.
village.NSg and field.NSg auxPl lay.M/NPl
in broad valley
A village and a field lay in a broad valley.
c. *Trinaest pisama
su
isporuena.
(OK for F and M)
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letter.NGenPl are delivered.NPl
Eleven letters have been delivered. (M/FPl allows both)
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[PART:CL]
NP
marble[CL]
[PART]
NP
air[]
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[PART:CL]
NP
marble[CL]
[PART]
NP
air[]
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More support
Over 90% of N nouns are mass-denoting, productive N nominalizing
suffixes are all either mass or diminutive, no classifier nouns are N.
Only N nouns productively derive collective nouns.
Collective suffixes attaching to neuter bases, -a and -ad, only attach to
count bases and derive only collective nouns, while -je, attaching to
M/F, also attaches to non-count bases and derives mass nouns.
(10) pri-mor-je
pucan-je
istino-ljub-je
by-sea-Coll
shoot-Coll
truth-love-Coll
coastal area
shooting
truthfulness
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Icelandic classifiers
In Icelandic, M and F classifiers can be elided under a modifier
expressing its gender (Maling and Whelpton, ongoing research).
(11) a. Get g fengi anna/annan kaffi?
can I
have another.N/M coffee.N
(presupposed: cup.M; N sort, M cup)
b. Lttu mig f annan/*anna bjr.
let
me get another.M/N
beer.M
(presupposed: glass.N; M both readings, *N)
c. Lttu mig f anna
vin.
let
me get another.N wine.N
(presupposed: glass.N; M only sort reading)
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Mystery 1
Only collective forms productively derived from N nouns, which are all F, trigger
plural agreement on the verb.
(1) a. bur-e;
Bur-ad
je/su
nova.
barrel-NSg
barrel-Coll
be.Sg/Pl new. FSg/NPl
The barrels are new.
b. snop-;
Snop-je
je/*su
teko/*teki
beam-MSg
beam-Coll
ne.Sg/Pl
heavy.NSg/MPl
The beams are heavy.
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Mystery 2
Neuter nouns derived from other genders cannot have plural forms.
(3) prozor-
window-MSg
window
prozor--ad
window-Dim-CollFSg
little windows (Coll)
prozor--e
*prozor--(et-)a
window-Dim-NSg
window-Dim-Ext-NPl
little window
prozor--i-i
window-Dim-Dim-MPl
little windows (Pl)
Deminutive suffixes are transparent for the gender of the base, which
blocks the within-paradigm collective form, allows a derived one.
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Mystery 3
Neuter is not compatible with person, or with deixis.
(5) a. CHILD: *ital-o
sam
knjigu
read-NSg Aux1Sg
book.Acc
I was reading a book
b. Mi *(??spadal-a) smo
radoznal-a.
we joker-NPl
are.1Pl curious-NomNPl
We jokers are curious.
c. (pointing at three kids) #Ona
su neumorna.
they3NPl are tireless.NomNPl
Deixis requires an expressed classifier.
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Mystery 4
Neuter agreement is bad with assemblies of individuated atoms.
(6) b. Selo
i
polje
su
leali/*leala u irokoj dolini.
village.NSg and field.NSg auxPl lay.M/NPl
in broad valley
The village and the field lay in a broad valley.
c. Trinaest pisama
[je isporueno / *su isporuena].
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letter.NGenPl is delivered.NSg are delivered.NPl
Eleven letters have been delivered. (M/FPl allows both)
Conclusion
Count nouns incorporate classifier restrictions: count or paucal.
This restriction remains inactive unless structurally expressed.
Gender (in SC) serves this purpose: it grammatically expresses the
classifier component.
Neuter is the absence of gender (Kramer 2015) unexpressed Cl.
Plurals require a grammatically expressed classifier *NPl.
N resorts to collectives (paucal classifier) to express plural meanings.
This explains several otherwise mysterious properties of N in SC.
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THANK YOU
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References
Chierchia, G. 2010. Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation. Synthese
174(1): 99149.
Corbett G. G. (1991). Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kramer, Ruth. 2015. The Morphosyntax of Gender. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Landman, F. 2011. Count Nouns Mass Nouns, Neat Nouns Mess Nouns. The
Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication, 6, 167.
Rothstein, S. 2010. Counting and the mass/count distinction. Journal of Semantics
27, no. 3: 343397.
Wechsler, S. & L. Zlati. 2000. A Theory of Agreement and its Application to SerboCroatian. Language 76. 799832.
Wechsler, S. &L. Zlatic. 2003. The Many Faces of Agreement. Stanford: CSLI
Publications.
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