Quantifier scope in Lakhota

vanvalin at acsu.buffalo.edu vanvalin at acsu.buffalo.edu
Tue Nov 30 21:05:51 UTC 1999


I have some questions about quantifier scope in Lakhota, and
unfortunately I haven't been able to locate any native speakers in
Western New York.  So I'd appreciate it if any of you have any relevant
data or could check with a native speaker (if that's practical).  The
questions are:

Is the classic sentence of the type 'Every girl kissed a boy' ambiguous
in Lakhota as it is in English?  That is, does it have both of the
following readings:

1. Every girl kissed a different boy (wide scope for 'every girl')
2. Every girl kissed the same boy (wide scope for 'a boy')

Since a universally quantified NP with 'iyuha' takes plural agreement and
the other NP takes singular in such a sentence, would simply reversing
the order of the NPs affect the interpretation?

Thanks,
Van

***************
Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.                  Tel 716 645-2177, ext. 713
Professor & Chair                         Fax 716 645-3825
Department of Linguistics
609 Baldy Hall
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260-1030   USA              VANVALIN at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU



More information about the Siouan mailing list