The quantiier contribution Semantic interpretation

both the number feature and the person feature are determined by the head plural pronoun. Quiegolani Zapotec does not have plural pronouns, so the relevant features are found separately. We begin with the number feature.

3.2.1 The quantiier contribution

The number marking role of the quantiier in the special constructions is crucial to the correct interpretation of the construction. There is substantial evidence that the quantiier marks the number of the entire constituent. For example, while 18a can have either of the irst three readings given with the irst one being correct from the context, the last reading is impossible. In contrast, only that reading is possible if the quantiier is changed to y-rup P-two as in 18b. What is crucial to understanding this is that y-ra P-all cannot be used in contexts where there are only two participants, since y-rup provides an alternative way of expressing that. Instead, the plurality expressed by y-ra entails that there are at least three participants. 18 noo. x-patron y-ra noo w-xa-ndxen noo, w-a-xee Sabt 1EX POS-boss P-all 1EX C-eat-breakfast 1EX C-go-rise Saturday ‘Saturday I got up and ate breakfast with all my bosses.’ or ‘Saturday we got up and ate breakfast with our boss.’ or ‘Saturday we got up and ate breakfast with all our bosses.’ but not Saturday I got up and ate breakfast with my boss. a. noo. x-patron y-rup noo w-xa-ndxen noo, w-a-xee Sabt 1EX POS-boss P-two 1EX C-eat-breakfast 1EX C-go-rise Saturday ‘Saturday I got up and ate breakfast with my boss.’ b. Though normally the distinction is made only between dual and plural, using the quantiiers meaning two and all respectively, these structures may also be found where the number marking is singular, as well as where a group of three or four is indicated. Singular marking is used to indicate that the action was done alone, as shown in 19. maa. te-tee maa r-oolbaan yag, lo zob mër te tir Teb 3A one-one 3A H-sing tree face PRsit pigeon one time one ‘One time a pigeon was sitting in a tree singing all by himself.’ 19 20c shows that while the quantiiers two and all may be thought of as selecting two DP arguments and one only one, the quantiiers three and four have three and four DP argument positions, respectively see section 3.3.2 and Black 1994:367-370, 2000:296-299 for the analysis. It is ungrammatical to have more DPs following the quantiier than the quantiier selects: gy-on P-three only selects three DP arguments, so four DPs cannot be present 20c. Further, having less arguments illed than are selected by the quantiier is highly unnatural 20d, and can only be understood to mean there were four people including Susan and myself who came if the two missing arguments are accounted for by the Redundancy Condition, discussed in the next paragraph. The quantiier contribution 11 20 lee. Dolf Susan noo gy-on noo Xiid also Rodolfo Susan 1EX P-three 1EX PRcome ‘Susan, Rodolfo, and I came the three of us.’ a. lee. Biki Dolf Susan noo y-tap noo Xiid also Virginia Rodolfo Susan 1EX P-four 1EX PRcome ‘Susan, Rodolfo, Virginia, and I came the four of us.’ b. lee. Biki Dolf Susan noo gy-on noo Xiid also Virginia Rodolfo Susan 1EX P-three 1EX PRcome Three of us came, including Susan, Rodolfo, Virginia and I. c. lee. Susan noo y-tap noo ??Xiid also Susan 1EX P-four 1EX PRcome Four of us came, including Susan and I. d. There is also a simpler construction which is fully grammatical that acts like a plural or dual, triple, etc. pronoun would in other languages. I analyze this as a special case of the full construction which is subject to a Redundancy Condition. The Redundancy Condition says that if DP 2 andor DP 3 andor DP 4 when the quantiiers meaning three and four are used is the same pronoun as DP 1 then DP 2 is not realized phonetically, since it adds no new information. Constructions illustrating this Redundancy Condition are given in 21a and 22a; the b examples show that repetition of the pronoun is ungrammatical. 21 men. y-rup men S-ya 3 P-two 3 PR-go ‘They both were going.’ a. men. men y-rup men S-ya b. 22 noo. y-ra noo G-u-sëë 1EX P-all 1EX P-eat-dinner ‘We all will eat dinner.’ a. noo. noo y-ra noo G-u-sëë b. This simpler construction can also be used appositively, as in 23, where the number feature of the quantiier must match the number of persons referred to in the appositive construction bracketed, further conirming that the quantiier speciies the number of the entire structure. 23 lee]. noo Dolf bech [txup noo, gy-on noo Xiid also 1EX Rodolfo brother two 1EX P-three 1EX PRcome ‘The three of us came, Rodolfo’s two brothers and I.’ a. 12 Number Marking Innovations in Zapotec lee]. noo Dolf bech txup no [Susan noo, gy-on noo Xiid also 1EX Rodolfo brother two and Susan 1EX P-three 1EX PRcome The three of us came, Susan, Rodolfo’s two brothers and I. b. lee]. Susan no Dolf bech [tson men, y-tap men W-a also Susan and Rodolfo brother three 3 P-four 3 C-go ‘They four went, Rodolfo’s three brothers and Susan.’ c. Dolf]. bech [tson men, y-tap men W-a Rodolfo brother three 3 P-four 3 C-go They four went, Rodolfo’s three brothers. d.

3.2.2 Head type and inclusion