A feature-geometric approach for inanimate noun classifiers

• Grant number: 23/18321-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Scher
• Grantee: Lígia Alves Cabral
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/06028-1 - The features involved in classifiers of eight Brazilian indigenous languages, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This project aims to propose a feature-geometric approach for the morphosyntactic features that underlie devices of nominal classification of inanimate entities in Brazilian indigenous languages. To reach that aim, our proposal, based on the feature geometry elaborated by Harley and Ritter (2002) for pronouns, involves comparing and formally analysing secondary data from eight genetically and typologically distinct languages, namely Mamaindê, Nambikwara family (Eberhard, 2009, 2022); Munduruku, Munduruku branch of the Tupi family (Crofts, 1973; Gomes, 2006, 2010); Kotiria, Tukano family (Stenzel, 2004; Coutinho-Silva, 2014); Tariana, Arawak family (Aikhenvald, 1994, 2003); Kadiwéu, Waikurú family (Sandalo, 1995; Sandalo; Michelioudakis, 2016); Kanoê, isolated language (Bacelar, 2004) (Gabas Jr., 1999). In order to conduct the aforementioned formal analysis, we will be using the theoretical assumptions and the grammar architecture of Distributed Morphology (DM) (Halle; Marantz, 1993, 1994). Such architecture presupposes the explosion of the lexical component into three lists accessed by syntax in the course of derivation. Within List 1, our feature geometry accounts for semantic distinctions often found in classifier systems as the result of constraints of abstract features placed by the Universal Grammar. The development of this project will expand the proposal put forward in Cabral (2023), which attests the relevance of the feature [±SOLID] for classifiers denoting inanimate entities in four of the eight languages under analysis in this project.