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