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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. 271–287

Maxakalí has suppletion, numerals and associatives but no plurals

| Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
| Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) | Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

The Maxakalí language lacks additive plurals (akin to dog-s) on nouns, but has associative plurals, and a large set of suppletive verbs that indicate whether the internal argument is plural or not. Although it has no plural marking, Maxakalí distinguishes between count nouns and mass nouns. The former can be followed by numerals, while the latter must be coerced or occur with container words. Only count nouns can be distinguished between singular and plural with verbal number. Mass nouns always require plural verbal number. Count nouns are compatible with words like ‘many’ indicating cardinality, while mass nouns are compatible with words like ‘big’ for volume. Granulated substances have variable behavior, depending on whether treated as a whole or as several individuated items. Numerals in Maxakalí show an unusual pattern, whereby 1–3 are treated as unaccusative verbs, and 4 and up, being loanwords, are treated as unergative verbs.

Keywords: Maxakalí, plural marking, verbal suppletion, associative plurals, count/mass distinction, container-words, loanword numerals
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Numerical systems
  • 3.Count and mass nouns
    • 3.1Number
    • 3.2Plurality
      • 3.2.1Associative plural
      • 3.2.2Verbal number
    • 3.3Quantity words, volume and cardinality
    • 3.4Measuring
  • 4.Event counting
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 1 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.00020.nev
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