Plural Morphemes, Definiteness and the Notion of Semantic Parameter *

Abstract

According to the nominal mapping parameter proposed by Chiercha (1998a, b), Chinese and Japanese common nouns are assigned the [+argument, -predicate] features, which means that they are of type e. It follows from this parametric distinction that such languages have rich classifier systems and lack determiners and plural markers. It has often been pointed out, however, that these languages do indeed have plural markers, and this fact seems to be problematic to Chierchia's approach. This paper aims to defend the nominal mapping parameter, and it will be claimed that Chinese and Japanese nouns are layered in the lexicon and common nouns used with plural markers are actually [+argument, +predicate] of type ＜e, t＞, arguing that those plural markers function as definite markers.

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