Verbal Plurality and Distributivity

Book excerpt: This volume brings together novel analyses of verbal plurality and distributivity. The contributions draw on a wide range of new empirical data from languages as diverse as Arabic, Cusco Quechua, European Portuguese, Hausa, Karitiana, Modern Hebrew and Russian. The introductory chapter gives an overview of the central issues that underlie much recent research on the semantics of event plurality. The papers on verbal plurality explore the interaction between verbal plurality and plural arguments in Arabic and European Portuguese, the semantics of additive particles in Modern Hebrew, the semantics of a range of pluractional markers in Cusco Quechua and the morphological variability of pluractional markers cross-linguistically. The papers on distributivity examine the syntax and semantics of reduplicated numerals in Karitiana and adnominal distributive markers. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students in syntax, formal semantics, and language typology.