Publication details
The internal structure of linguistic representations of numbers
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Requested lectures |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | In this paper, I investigate the internal structure and semantics of linguistic representations of numbers. Specifically, I investigate cross-linguistic marking patterns in complex numerals expressing addition and subtraction including patterns with conjunction and spatial modifiers: superessive and ablative markers (e.g., Hurford 1975, 1987, Greenberg 1978, Ionin & Matushansky 2018, Dékány 2025). Building on the proposals advocating the spatial metaphor for numbers (Corver & Zwarts 2006, Nouwen 2008, 2016, Matushansky & Zwarts 2017), nanosyntactic approach to numerals and classifier constructions (Wągiel & Caha 2020, 2021) and mereotopology (e.g., Casati & Varzi 1999, Grimm 2012), I propose an account that derives the meaning of complex numerals preserving at the same time the standard meaning of conjunction and spatial modifiers. |
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