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A typology of the mass/count distinction in Brazil and its relevance for mass/count theories
Edited by Suzi Lima and Susan Rothstein
[Linguistic Variation 20:2] 2020
► pp. 409–419

The count/mass distinction in Ye’kwana

| State University of Roraima

This paper presents a description of the count/mass distinction in Ye’kwana, a Cariban language spoken in Brazil and Venezuela. The methodology used was based on Lima & Rothstein’s questionnaire this volume). The data shows that Ye’kwana is a bare noun language and that mass and count nouns can be pluralized. However, numerals need a container phrase in order to be directly combined with mass nouns. Nominal quantifiers wanna and ooje can be directly combined with count and mass nouns, but they show different interpretations.

Keywords: count/mass distinction, Semantics, quantification, Ye’kwana
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Ye’kwana is a bare noun language
  • 3.Mass and count nouns can be pluralized in Ye’kwana
  • 4.Numerals and the count/mass distinction
  • 5.Quantifiers can be directly combined with count and mass nouns
  • 6.Container phrases in Ye’kwana
  • 7.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.00030.cou
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