Article published In: Studies in Language
Vol. 49:1 (2025) ► pp.224–241
News from the field
Specificity contrasts in Lalo Yi
Structure and interpretation
Published online: 25 April 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.23038.hu
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.23038.hu
Abstract
Lalo Yi (Tibeto-Burman; China) makes systematic distinctions in the encoding of specificity with
numerically-quantified nominals. Whereas specific indefinite NPs involve the presence of an article nikhe in an
NP-internal position [Noun nikhe Numeral Classifier], non-specific existentially-asserted indefinites require the
use of a syntactically discontinuous floating quantifier pattern [NP…Numeral-Classifier…]. A third, distinctive patterning is
found with weak, non-specific indefinites (indefinites that are not existentially asserted). This paper describes these previously
undocumented contrastive forms in Lalo Yi and how the language has developed a strikingly transparent linking between
morpho-syntax and semantics/pragmatics in the domain of nominal phrases.
Keywords: Lalo Yi, specificity, numeral classifiers, articles
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Notions of specificity – a brief review
- 3.Lalo Yi and the representation of (non-)specificity
- 3.1Referential specificity
- 3.2Scopal specificity
- 3.3Epistemic specificity
- Context for (17/18)
- Context for (19/20)
- Context
- 4.(Non-)specificity marking in Lalo Yi: Distinctive properties and structures
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Abbreviations
References
References (29)
Alfonso-Ovalle, Luis & Paula Menéndez-Benito. 2010. Modal
indefinites. Natural Language
Semantics 181. 1–31.
Downing, Pamela. 1996. Numeral
classifier systems: The case of
Japanese. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ebert, Christian, Cornelia Ebert & Stefan Hinterwimmer. 2013. The
interpretation of the German specificity markers bestimmt and
gewiss. In Cornelia Ebert & Stefan Hinterwimmer (eds.), Different
kind of specificity across
languages, 31–74. Berlin: Springer.
Farkas, Donka & Adrian Brasoveanu. 2019. Kinds
of (non-)specificity. In Daniel Gutzmann, Lisa Matthewson, Cécile Meier, Hotze Rullmann & Thomas Zimmermann (eds.), The
Wiley Blackwell Companion to
Semantics, 1–26. Oxford: Wiley.
Fodor, Jerry & Ivan Sag. 1982. Referential
and quantificational indefinites. Linguistics and
philosophy 51. 355–398.
Givón, Talmy. 1984. Syntax:
A functional-typological introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hawkins, John. 1978. Definiteness
and indefiniteness: A study in reference and grammaticality
prediction. London: Croome Helm.
Hu, Yaqing & Andrew Simpson. Forthcoming. Floating
quantifiers, specificity and focus in Lalo Yi. To appear in Journal
of East Asian Linguistics.
Ioup, Georgette. 1977. Specificity
and the interpretation of quantifiers. Linguistics and
philosophy 11. 233–245.
Kagan, Olga. 2007. Choosing
among alternatives: semantic and pragmatic contribution of the Hebrew indefinite determiner
eyze. Talk given at the Funny Indefinites
conference, Berlin Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, July 6–7
2007.
Kasher, Asa & Dov. M. Gabbay. 1976. On
the semantics and pragmatics of specific and nonspecific indefinite expressions. Theoretical
Linguistics 21. 145–188.
Kratzer, Angelika. 2005. Indefinites
and the operators they depend on: From Japanese to Salish. In Gregory Carlson and F. Jeffry Pelletier (eds.) Reference
and quantification: the Partee
effect, 113–142. Stanford: CSLI.
Latrouite, Anja & Robert Van Valin. 2014. Referentiality
and telicity in Lakhota and Tagalog. In Doris Gerland, Christian Horn, Anja Latrouite & Albert Ortmann (eds.) Meaning
and grammar of nouns and
verbs, 401–426. Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press.
Li, Xuping & Weimei Bu. 2021. Semantics
for numerals in Lalo Yi. Paper presented at the TripleA 8
conference, University of Singapore, June 23–25
2021.
Liu, Hongyong & Weimei Bu. 2018. The
syntax of relative clauses in Lalo Yi. Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on
Sino-Tibetan Languages and
Linguistics, 566–587. Available at: [URL] (last
access 21 March
2024).
Matthewson, Lisa. 1999. On
the interpretation of wide-scope indefinites. Natural Language
Semantics 71. 79–134.
Minagawa, Harumi. 2008. Quantifier
position in Japanese and the domain of specificity and indefiniteness. Journal of Japanese
Linguistics 24(1). 69–87.
Partee, Barbara. 1972. Opacity,
coreference and pronouns. In Donald Davidson & Gilbert Harman (eds.), Semantics
of natural
language, 415–441. Dordrecht: Reidel.
von Heusinger, Klaus & Elif Bamyacı. 2017. Specificity
effects of Turkish differential object marking. In Leyla Zidani-Eroğlu, Matthew Ciscel & Elena Koulidobrova (eds.), Proceedings
of the 12th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics
(WAFL12), 145–156. Cambridge, MA: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.
von Heusinger, Klaus & Roya Sadeghpoor. 2020. The
specificity marker -e with indefinite noun phrases in modern colloquial
Persian. In Kata Balogh, Anja Latrouite & Robert D. Van Valin (eds.), Nominal
anchoring: Specificity, definiteness and article systems across
languages, 115–147. Berlin: Language Science Press.
von Heusinger, Klaus, Kornfilt, Jaklin & Semra Kızılkaya. 2019. Differential
object marking, partitivity and specificity in Turkish. In Tanya Bondarenko, Justin Colley, Colin Davis & Mitya Privoznov (eds.), Proceedings
of the 14th Workshop on Altaic Formal Linguistics
(WAFL14), 145–156. Cambridge, MA: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.
von Heusinger, Klaus. 2002. Specificity
and definiteness in sentence and discourse structure. Journal of
Semantics 191. 245–274.
. 2011. Specificity. In Klaus von Heusinger, Claudia Maienborn & Paul Portner (eds.), Semantics:
An international handbook of natural language
meaning. Vol. 21, 1025–1058. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Yang, Cathryn. 2010. Lalo
regional varieties: Phylogeny, dialectometry, and
sociolinguistics. Melbourne: La Trobe University PhD dissertation. Available at [URL] (last
access 22 March
2024).
Zhou, Tingsheng & Suhua Hu. 2015. Vitality
and endangerment of the Lalo language. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman
Area 38(2). 225–244.