Quantification and individuation in Wa’ikhana

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to describe the basic morphosyntactic properties that make it possible to distinguish between mass and count nouns in the Wa’ikhana language (Eastern Tukanoan). The discussion, circumscribed to the level of the noun phrase, focuses on three points: the grammatical number, quantifiers and the use of numerals as nominal modifiers. As will be shown, mass nouns are distinguished from count ones in that they do not receive plural number suffixes and do not occur in constructions with numerals. On the other hand, the mass nouns can be individuated and receive a count reading when combined with a classifying suffix or with the suffix -do ‘3npl’. The distribution of quantifiers divides inanimate nouns into 1) count and mass ones that denote objects and 2) mass ones that denote granular and liquid substances. In addition to the discussion of count and mass nouns, the article provides a description of the Wa’ikhana numeral system, addressing its extension, the degree of its conventionalization and the interaction between numerals and grammatical number.