Distributivity across domains : a study of the distributive numerals in Bangla

In this thesis, studying the numeral indefinites in Bangla, I argue that distributive numerals are not distributivity operators themselves. The distributive numerals introduce a plurality of discourse referents, and they require that this plurality of discourse referents must enter into a formal relationship with the plurality of individuals introduced by another discourse referent. This formal requirement is known as dependency. Conventionally the phenomenon is called covariation. A distributivity operator is such that it allows this formal relationship to hold in its scope. I argue that examples involving ditransitives provide clear evidence for such an analysis. Apart from this, I discuss that the different forms of numerals have an additional restriction about encoding specificity effects. I show that the requirement of specificity and the requirement of covariation interact with each other in the scope of a distributivity operator. This interaction is encoded morphologically by differentiating between simple and complex forms of distributive numerals. The proposal is implemented by using Dynamic Plural Logic. Finally I show that the particular formalization can be extended to account for the difference between adnominal distributive numerals and adverbial (which I call 'pluractional') distributive numerals. To analyze the adnominal and adverbial distributive numerals I propose to differentiate between distributivity in the domain of individuals and distributivity in the domain of events.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Guha, Ishani

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roger Schwarzschild.

• Linguistics and Philosophy.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120678

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/120678