Sarah Ouwayda

Where Number Lies: Plural marking, numerals, and the collective-distributive distinction [FULL COPY]

Authors: Sarah Ouwayda

Publication date: 2014

Institution: University of Southern California

Description:

This dissertation addresses the question of what a'plural'DP is with special attention to numeral-containing DPs. I argue that cardinal numerals have more than one possible merger site in the DP and that the availability of a collective interpretation of numeral-containing DPs is dependent on the structure, and specifically, on the merger site of the numeral. A lower merger site results in a collective interpretation of the DP and modifier-like behavior of the numeral. A higher merger site results in an exclusively distributive interpretation, and quantifier-like behavior of the numeral. More generally, I propose that a specific functional projection,#, is necessary for the availability of collective reading of a DP. In addition, I argue that there are two types of plural marking on nouns in Arabic: one that is semantically operative and functions as a count morpheme in a count projection, and another that is semantically vacuous and functions as a quantifier.

Where plurality is: agreement and DP structure

Authors: Sarah Ouwayda

Publication date: 2014

Published in: Proceedings of NELS Volume: 42 Pages: 81-94

Description:

My goal is to argue that the availability of a collective reading comes from the DP itself, and not from other elements in the sentence. In addition, I argue that the presence of a cardinal in the DP does not entail that the DP is plural, syntactically (in terms of triggering agreement) or semantically (in terms of allowing a collective reading)(cf. also Landman 1989, 2000), and that cardinals do not have one single syntactic position within the DP.

This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 provides the basic observation that triggered the contrast and introduces the core empirical observation. Section 2 sketches and motivates the proposal of this paper. Section 3 elaborates on the implementation of the proposal. Section 4 discusses predictions and puzzles. Section 5 concludes.

On the DP dependence of collective interpretation with numerals

Authors: Sarah Ouwayda

Publication date: 2017/12

Journal: Natural Language Semantics Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Pages: 263-314

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

Description:

This paper argues that, given a simple [DP VP] sentence, the availability of a collective interpretation crucially depends on the syntactic and semantic properties of the subject DP, specifically the presence versus absence of a pluralizing function that makes the collective interpretation available. In support of my claim, I present Lebanese Arabic and Western Armenian examples in which an indefinite DP contains a cardinal numeral and there is no overt distributivity operator but the interpretation of the sentence is nevertheless obligatorily distributive, regardless of the predicate. I show that neither a distributivity operator within the DP nor one on the predicate can explain this strictly distributive interpretation. Instead, I argue that in order to allow a collective interpretation, an indefinite DP must denote a quantifier over pluralities, a condition that is not always met in numeral-containing indefinite DPs.

Word order variation in Lebanese Arabic DPs: In support of low numerals

Authors: Sarah Ouwayda, Ur Shlonsky

Publication date: 2017/1

Journal: Linguistic Inquiry

Volume: 48 Issue: 1 Pages: 181-193

Publisher: MIT press

Description:

Refining Greenberg’s (1963) Universal 20, Cinque (2005) and Dryer (2009) show that the typological distribution of the order of the four elements Demonstrative, Numeral, Adjective, and Noun is extremely uneven. There are 24 possible permutations of these elements, but only 5 of them constitute the dominant orders across languages (1i). Another 9 orders are attested, but are less frequent (1ii). The final 10 word orders are either unattested or extremely rare, accounting altogether for less than 1% of languages (1iii).

The Wandering Subjects of the Levant:“Verbal Complexes” in Lebanese Arabic as Phrasal Movement

Authors: Sarah Ouwayda, Ur Shlonsky

Publication date: 2016/1/1

Journal: Brill's Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics

Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 136-153

Publisher: Brill

Description:

Lebanese Arabic (LA) presents a puzzling word order in non-finite subordination contexts where the subject of the matrix clause comes sandwiched between the embedded verb and its complement (Hallman 2011). We present new facts concerning this puzzle, and argue in favor of phrasal movement of TP, which transports both verbs and intervening material above the subject, along the lines of Kayne (2005:42). Importantly, while the surface position of the subject may appear to involve rightward movement, we propose the subject itself only undergoes one simple movement leftwards (as a topic), and that the puzzling order follows from the movement of phrases containing it.