Abstract
The paper explores and compares the distributions and interpretations of nominal expressions without determiner (bare nouns) in a number of French based creole and in one Portuguese based creole, Cape Verdean creole. The goal of this exploration is to determine on the one hand whether the range of meanings that bare nouns can have in creole languages parallels the one observed in non-creole languages and to examine on the other hand the role that various morpho-syntactic factors and in particular the morphological expression of number can play in restricting the available interpretations of bare nouns. The paper also evaluates the success of an alternative approach to Chierchia's Nominal parameter, termed here the Plural parameter in accounting for the observed data. One prediction of this approach that takes nouns to denote kinds terms in all languages is that no language with optional plural should fail to allow for a Kind reading of its bare nouns. This and other predictions are shown to be verified in the sample of languages explored here.
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