Reduplicated Numerals as Pluractionals: Distributivity as a Window to the Individuation of Events

Abstract

The focus of this paper are Reduplicated Numerals in Mandarin Chinese (Sino-Tibetan) and in Karitiana (Arikem, Tupi). Our goal is to elucidate their semantics and thus to contribute to the understanding of the relation between distributivity and individuation in the event domain. It is well known that reduplicated numerals have distributive effects across languages (Gil 1988, Balusu 2006). In this paper, we look at reduplicated numerals in two typologically unrelated languages that lack morphological Number marking on the NP/DP. We analyze the distributive effects of reduplicated numerals as generated by a pluractional operation (see also Cable 2014). By considering the semantic contribution of the numeral phrase within the pluractional operator, we wish to open a window on the delicate issue of event individuation.