Article published in:
Lexical plurals and beyond
Edited by Peter Lauwers and Marie Lammert
[Lingvisticæ Investigationes 39:2] 2016
► pp. 234–252

Lexical plurals in Telugu

Mass nouns in disguise

| Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main
In this paper I provide a description and analysis of a small class of plural mass nouns in Telugu (Dravidian), as well as an overview of the major properties of the mass/count distinction in the language. The plural mass nouns show the semantic behaviour of mass nouns in Telugu, however, they show the morphosyntactic behaviour of count nouns. I provide an analysis whereby the plurality is inherent to the roots, and it is this inherent plurality interacting with other properties of the morphosyntax of Telugu that makes these nouns appear to be count on the surface, though in reality they are mass nouns.
Keywords: Telugu, mass/count distinction, inherent features, allomorphy
Published online: 30 March 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.39.2.02smi
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