1887
Volume 1, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2950-189X
  • E-ISSN: 2950-1881

Abstract

Abstract

This paper argues that the word for ONE in Russian and Dutch is not a cardinal numeral but a classifier with an unvalued [Unit:_] feature. The value of this feature, e.g., [person], [gender], [place] is provided by the syntactic environment of ONE. Cardinal numerals ≥ TWO are phrasal quantifiers with a specific value for the feature [Partitioning:_]. We propose a novel structure for numeral containing nominal phrases, representing two types of classifiers, generally corresponding to count (lower classifier) and amount (higher classifier). In non-oblique environments the relation between the numeral (except for ONE) and the noun is established by a (silent) P. We show that this structure neatly captures the distinct distribution of ONE, Cardinals, and Indefinite Numerals (like ‘many’) with respect to the case assignment patterns and the availability of functional classifier-like nouns (Russian), as well as their cooccurrence with prepositions or diminutive morphology (Dutch).

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2025-01-24
2025-02-15
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Cardinals; classifiers; comparative morphosyntax; Dutch; Indefinite Numerals; ONE; Russian
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