Number, names, and animacy

Abstract

Chapter 10 identifies three distinct types of noun classification active in Gitksan: mass/count, animate/inanimate, and common/determinate. It further identifies three types of number contrast each conditioned by a specific noun class; these are additive, pronominal, and associative plurals, respectively. These plurals, particularly the additive and associative plural, are shown to differ from each other in both their syntax and semantics. The author locates each of the three pairs of noun class and number contrasts in a distinct functional projection, from a nominal AspP, to φ‎P, to DP. By doing so, the chapter provides insight into the articulated projections that make up the Gitksan nominal spine, and exemplifies the variability that noun classes and number contrasts may have even within the grammar of a single language.