The features involved in classifiers of eight Brazilian indigenous languages

• Grant number: 25/06028-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 28, 2025
• End date: February 27, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Linguistic Theory and Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Scher
• Grantee: Lígia Alves Cabral
• Supervisor: Martina Wiltschko
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/18321-0 - A feature-geometric approach for inanimate noun classifiers, BP.MS

Abstract

This research internship project describes my proposal for working under the supervision of Professor Martina Wiltschko, at the Pompeu Fabra University, during the fall term of 2025. The main goal to be achieved in this research internship is to determine a set of morphosyntactic features that underlie devices of nominal classification of inanimate nouns in eight Brazilian indigenous languages. In doing so, I lay the ground for the later development of a feature-geometric analysis for these classifiers, inspired by Harley and Ritter's (2002) proposal for pronouns, which is the ultimate goal in my main research project . To reach this project's goal, I will compare and formally analyse secondary data from the following languages: Mamaindê, Nambikwara family; Munduruku, Munduruku branch of the Tupi family; Kotiria, Tukano family; Tariana, Arawak family; Kadiwéu, Waikurú family; Kanoê, isolate language; Karo, Ramarama-Puruborá branch of the Tupi family; and Hup, Nadahup family. I hypothesize that semantic categories found in classifiers for inanimate nouns cross-linguistically (i.e. shape and consistency, cf. Allan, 1977; Croft, 1994) are a consequence of a finite number of abstract features. In Cabral (2023), I attest the relevance of dimension (e.g., round), or the lack thereof (e.g., liquid) in classifiers. In order to account for the empirical significance of dimensionality, I proposed the [±SOLID] feature. With this research internship project, I inquire if dimensionality is empirically relevant for classifiers in four other languages. Under the supervision of Wiltschko, I intend to investigate how these features may fit into her Universal Spine Hypothesis (cf. Wiltschko, 2014, and subsequent works). (AU)