The parameterisation of Number

Abstract

AbstractThe interpretation and marking of number greatly varies crosslinguistically. This paper examines the connections between the marking and interpretation of number for count nouns, based on evidence found in a range of languages. I argue that a consistent number interpretation depends on the presence of the grammatical feature Number, hosted on a functional Num head (as proposed by Ritter (1991)). If the Number feature and the Num head are present in the extended projection of the noun, then the denotation of that noun will be restricted accordingly in terms of number. I also argue that number marking results from a property of the Number feature, such that a language that marks number through an affix on the noun will have raising of N to the Num head and languages without such marking will be able to value the Number feature of the noun in situ. This leads to the proposal that the Number feature is the locus of parametric variation in the number system and predicts a new typology of number marking which accounts for languages that mark plural only, languages that also mark singular, languages that maintain a general number interpretation, and canonical classifier languages.