Cover not available
Part of
Free Variation in Grammar: Empirical and theoretical approaches
Edited by Kristin Kopf and Thilo Weber
[Studies in Language Companion Series 234] 2023
► pp. 284–314

Chapter 10
Optionality, variation and categorial properties

The case of plural marking in Yucatec Maya

ORCID logo | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

In this paper, I propose a semantic account of the optionality of plural marking in Yucatec Maya (Mayan; Mexico) which pins the variation in plural marking on the variation in noun denotations (Chierchia 1998; Borer 2005; Deal 2017; Moroney 2021). I argue that this optionality is not a free variation. I further argue that the noun denotations vary between apportionable and generic, which is manifested in the option of a pseudopartitive operation (Selkirk 1977; Higginbotham 1994) available at the final stage of the interpretation of the nouns in the semantics. The fact that, by this account, the computation of Yucatec constructions that involve counting yields correct results provides further supporting evidence for the proposed analysis.

Keywords: semantics, number, plural marking, optionality, Mayan languages, Yucatec, pseudopartitive operator
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Plural marking in Yucatec
  • 3.Variation unexplained
    • 3.1Morphosyntactic analysis of the Yucatec plural marker
    • 3.2Interpretation of the plural morpheme
      • 3.2.1Degree of animacy
      • 3.2.2Argument structure
      • 3.2.3Numerical quantification
    • 3.3Not a case of free variation
  • 4.The condition of the variation
    • 4.1Individuation and (pseudo-)partitivity
    • 4.2Analysis
    • 4.3Compositionality
      • 4.3.1Pluralised nouns
      • 4.3.2Numeral-classifiers with bare nouns
      • 4.3.3Numeral classifiers with pluralised nouns
  • 5.Further discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 31 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.234.10yu
References
Alexiadou, Artemis
2011 Plural mass nouns and the morpho-syntax of number. In Proceedings of the 28th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, Mary Byram Washburn, Katherine McKinney-Bock, Erika Varis, Ann Sawyer & Barbara Tomaszewicz (eds), 33–41. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Andrade, Manuel J.
1955 A Grammar of Modern Yucatec [Microfilm Manuscripts on Middle American Cultural Anthropology 7.41]. Chicago: University of Chicago Library.Google Scholar
Bale, Alan & Coon, Jessica
2014 Classifiers are for numerals, not for nouns: Consequences for the mass/count distinction. Linguistic Inquiry 45(4): 695–707. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bale, Alan, Coon, Jessica & Arcos López, Nicolás
2019 Classifiers, partitions, and measurements: Exploring the syntax and semantics of sortal classifiers. Glossa 4(1): 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blair, Robert W. & Vermont-Salas, Refugio
1967 Spoken Yucatec Maya. Book 2: Lessons 13–18, transcribed by Norman A. McQuown. Chicago: University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology.Google Scholar
Bohnemeyer, Jürgen
2002 The grammar of time reference in Yukatek Maya [LINCOM Studies in Native American Lingustics 44]. München: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar
Borer, Hagit
2005 Structuring Sense. Vol. 1: In Name Only [Oxford linguistics]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan & Kanerva, Jonni M.
1989 Locative inversion in Chicheŵa: A case study of factorization in grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 20(1): 1–50.Google Scholar
Briceño Chel, Fidencio
1996 La frase nominal en el maya yucateco. Estudios de Lingüística Aplicada 23/24: 95–104.Google Scholar
2002 Lengua e identidad entre los mayas de la península de Yucatán. Los investigadores de la cultura maya 10(2): 370–379.Google Scholar
2006 Los verbos del maya yucateco actual. Chapingo: INALI, Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas.Google Scholar
Bricker, Victoria
1981 The source of the ergative split in yucatec maya. Journal of Mayan Linguistics 2(2): 83–127.Google Scholar
Butler, Lindsay K.
2011 The Morphosyntax and Processing of Number Marking in Yucatec Maya. PhD thesis. Arizona: University of Arizona.
2012 Crosslinguistic and experimental evidence for non-Number plurals. Linguistic Variation 12(1): 27–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 Non-Number plurals. In Proceedings of the 42nd Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society, held at University of Toronto, November 11–13, 2011. Vol. 1, Stefan Keine & Shayne Sloggett (eds), 105–118. University of Massachusetts, Department of Linguistics: GLSA Publications.Google Scholar
Butler, Lindsay K., Bohnemeyer, Jürgen & Jaeger, T. Florian
2014 Syntactic constraints and production preferences for optional plural marking in Yucatec Maya. In Zwischen Kern und Peripherie: Untersuchungen zu Randbereichen in Sprache und Grammatik. Festschrift zum 64. Geburtstag von Norbert Fries [Studia grammatica 76], Antonio Machicao y Priemer, Andreas Nolda & Athina Sioupi (eds), 181–207. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro
1998 Reference to kinds across language. Natural Language Semantics 6(4): 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chung, Sandra
2000 On reference to kinds in Indonesian. Natural Language Semantics 8(2): 157–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comisión de Difusión del Alfabeto Maya (CDAM)
1984 Alfabeto maya acordado en la reunión de agosto de 1984. Mérida: INEA/Academia de la Lengua Maya de Yucatán.Google Scholar
Gillon, Carrie
2015 Innu-aimun plurality. Lingua 162: 128–148. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
1981 Language Universals and Linguistic Typology: Syntax and Morphology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville G.
2000 Number [Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dalrymple, Mary & Mofu, Suriel
2012 Plural semantics, reduplication, and numeral modification in Indonesian. Journal of Semantics 29(2): 229–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dardjowidjojo, Soenjono
1978 Sentence Patterns of Indonesian [Pali language texts: Southeast Asia]. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii.Google Scholar
Dayal, Veneeta
2012 Bangla classifiers: Mediating between kinds and objects. Rivista di Linguistica 24(2): 195–226.Google Scholar
Deal, Amy Rose
2017 Countability distinctions and semantic variation. Natural Language Semantics 25(2): 125–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dowty, David
1991 Thematic proto-roles and argument selection. Language 67(3): 547–619. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
England, Nora C.
2011 Plurality agreement in some eastern Mayan languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 77(3): 397–412. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gleitman, Lila R.
1994 Words, words, words… . Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 346(1315): 71–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Adele
1995 Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure [Cognitive Theory of Language and Culture Series]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, Jane
1990 Argument structure [Linguistic Inquiry Monographs 18]. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo
2015 Las Cláusulas Relativas en Maya Yucateco [Estudios de lingüistica 22]. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo & Uth, Melanie
2020 Functional projections and language contact: the case of plural marking of Spanish nouns in Yucatec Maya. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters 3(4): 80–104.Google Scholar
Hanks, William F.
1984 The evidential core of deixis in Yucatec Maya. In Papers from the Twentieth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, April 26–27, 1984, 154–172, Joseph Drogo, Veena Mishra & David Testen (eds). Chicago: University of Chicago, Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, Jim
1994 Mass and count quantifiers. Linguistics and Philosophy 17(5): 447–480. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI)
2010 [URL] (March 13, 2023).
Jackendoff, Ray
1983 Semantics and Cognition [Current Studies in Linguistics]. Cambridge, MA, London: MIT Press.Google Scholar
2002 English particle constructions, the lexicon, and the autonomy of syntax. In Verb-Particle Explorations [Interface Explorations [IE] 1], Nicole Dehé, Ray Jackendoff, Andrew McIntyre & Silke Urban (eds), 67–94. Berlin, Boston: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jenks, Peter
2011 The hidden structure of Thai noun phrases. PhD thesis. Harvard: Harvard University.
Jiang, Li J.
2018 Definiteness in Nuosu Yi and the theory of argument formation. Linguistics and Philosophy 41(1): 1–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Kyumin & Melchin, Paul B.
2018 On the complementary distribution of plurals and classifiers in East Asian classifier languages. Language and Linguistics Compass 12(4). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria
2001 ‘A piece of cake’ and ‘a cup of tea’: partitive and pseudo-partitive nominal constructions in the Circum-Baltic languages. In The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact. Vol. 2: Grammar and Typology [Studies in language companion series], Osten Dahl & Maria Koptjevskaja Tamm (eds), 523–568. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kouneli, Maria
2019 Plural marking on mass nouns: evidence from Greek. In Gender and Noun Classification [Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics], Éric Mathieu, Myriam Dali & Gita Zareikar (eds), 234–248. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika
2008 On the plurality of verbs. In Event Structures in Linguistic Form and Interpretation [Language, Context and Cognition 5], Johannes Dölling, Tatjana Heyde-Zybatow & Martin Schäfer (eds), 269–300. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, Manfred
1987 Nominal Reference and Temporal Constitution: Towards a Semantics of Quantity. In Proceedings of the Sixth Amsterdam Colloquium on Formal Methods in the Study of Language, April 13–16, 1987, Jeroen Groenendijk, Martin Stokhof & Frank Veltman (eds.), 153–173. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, ITLI.Google Scholar
Landman, Fred
1996 Plurality. In The Handbook of Contemporary Semantic Theory [Blackwell handbooks in linguistics], Shalom Lappin (ed), 425–457. Oxford et al.: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lehmann, Christian
1998 Possession in Yucatec Maya. Structures – functions – typology. [LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 4]. München: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar
2015 Valency classes in Yucatec Maya. In Valency classes in the world’s languages. Vol. 2: Case studies from Austronesia and the Pacific, the Americas, and theoretical outlook [Comparative handbooks of linguistics 1.2], Bernard Comrie & Andrej Malchukov (eds), 1427–1480. Berlin, Boston: Mouton De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2017 Textos mayas. [URL] (March 13, 2023).
Levin, Theodore, Lyskawa, Paulina & Ranero, Rodrigo
2020 Optional agreement in Santiago Tz’utujil (Mayan) is syntactic. Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 39(3): 329–355. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Link, Godehard
1983 The logical analysis of plurals and mass terms: A lattice-theoretical approach. In Meaning, Use, and Interpretation of Language [Grundlagen der Kommunikation und Kognition/Foundations of Communication and Cognition], Rainer Bäuerle, Christoph Schwarze & Arnim von Stechow (eds), 302–323. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Little, Carol R., Moroney, Mary & Royer, Justin
2022 Classifying classifiers. In Proceedings of Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on the Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA 11), Seung Suk Lee & Yixiao Song (eds), 145–160. Amherst, MA: GSLA Publications.Google Scholar
Löbel, Elisabeth
1994 KP/DP-syntax: Interaction of case-marking with referential and nominal features. Theoretical Linguistics 20(1): 37–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lønning, Jan T.
1987 Mass terms and quantification. Linguistics and philosophy 10(1): 1–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lucy, John
1992 Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis [Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language 12]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martinet, André
1955 Économie des changements phonétiques: Traité de phonologie diachronique. Bern: Francke.Google Scholar
McNay, Anna
2007 Split Topicalisation and Pseudo-Partitivity. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 13(1, 19): 239–252Google Scholar
Monforte, Jorge, Dzul, Lázaro & Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo
2010 Narraciones Mayas. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas.Google Scholar
Moroney, Mary R.
2021 Definiteness and quantification: Evidence from Shan. PhD thesis. Cornell: Cornell University.
Nomoto, Hiroki
2013 Number in classifier languages. PhD thesi. Minnesota: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Pfeiler, Barbara
2009 The acquisition of numeral classifiers and optional plural marking in Yucatec Maya. In Development of Nominal Inflection in First Language Acquisition. A Cross-Linguistic Perspective [Studies on Language Acquisition [SOLA] 30], Ursula Stephany & María D. Voeikova (eds), 91–110. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pinker, Steven
1989 The acquisition of argument structure. In Language, Cognition, and Human Nature, Steven Pinker (ed), 160–179. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Roeper, Peter
1983 Semantics for mass terms with quantifiers. Noûs 17(2): 251–265. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rutkowski, Pawel
2006 The syntactic structure of grammaticalized partitives (pseudo-partitives). University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 13(1, 26): 337–350.Google Scholar
Schellenbach, Daniela
2018 Grammatical Intuitions and Literacy: a case study on Yucatec Maya. Master’s thesis. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University.
Selkirk, Elisabeth
1977 Some remarks on noun phrase structure. In Formal syntax, Peter Culicover, Thomas Wasow & Adrian Akmajian (eds), 285–316. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Skopeteas, Stavros & Verhoeven, Elisabeth
2009 The interaction between topicalization and structural constraints: Evidence from Yucatec Maya. The Linguistic Review 26(2/3): 239–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith-Stark, Thomas C.
1974 The plurality split. In Papers from the Tenth Regional Meeting Chicago Linguistic Society, April 19–21, 1974, Michael W. La Galy, Robert A. Fox & Anthony Bruck (eds), 657–667. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Stickney, Helen
2007 From Pseudopartitive to Partitive. In Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA), Alyona Belikova, Luisa Meroni & Mari Umeda, 406–415. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Tonhauser, Judith
2003 Focus constructions in Yucatec Maya. In Proceedings of Second Conference on the Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA 2), Jan Anderssen, Paula Menéndez-Benito & Adam Werle (eds), 203–223. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, GLSA.Google Scholar
Trubetzkoy, Nikolai S.
1939 Grundzüge der Phonologie [Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 7]. Prague: Cercle Linguistique.Google Scholar
Tsoulas, George
2008 On the grammar of number and mass terms in Greek. In Proceedings of the 2007 Workshop in Greek Syntax and Semantics at MIT [MITWPL 57], Clair Halpert, Jeremy Hartman & David Hill (eds), 131–146. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Uth, Melanie & Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo
2018 La marcación de número en los préstamos españoles del maya yucateco: variación y restricciones. Cuadernos de Lingüística de El Colegio de México 5(1): 183–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, Violeta, García Fajardo, Josefina, Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo & Pozas Loyo, Julia
2018 The definite article in Yucatec Maya: the case of le… o’. International Journal of American Linguistics 84(2): 207–242. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, Elisabeth
2007 Experiential constructions in Yucatec Maya: A typologically based analysis of a functional domain in a Mayan language [Studies in Language Companion Series 87]. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilhelm, Andrea
2008 Bare nouns and number in Dëne Sułiné. Natural Language Semantics 16(1): 39–68. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wiltschko, Martina
2008 The syntax of non-inflectional plural marking. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 26(3): 639–694. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xrakovskij, Viktor
1997 Semantic types of the plurality of situations and their natural classification. In Typology of Iterative Constructions [LINCOM studies in theoretical linguistics 04], Viktor S. Xrakovskij (ed), 3–64. München: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar
Yu, Alan C. L.
2003 Pluractionality in Chechen. Natural Language Semantics 11(3): 289–321. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, Yidong
2020 Optional Plural Marking in Yucatec Maya. Ms. Göttingen: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. [Handout at General Linguistics Colloquium, Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar].Google Scholar
Forthcoming. Pluralizing Entities and Events in Yucatec Maya. PhD thesis. Göttingen: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.