A Sortability-based Account of Anti-singularity in Questions

This talk addresses three cases of anti-singularity in questions, illustrated in (1a)-(1c). They all convey that the speaker expects that the answer will name more than one individual:

1a. Which books did you buy? (English)

   b. Was hast du alles gekauft? (German)

         What have you all bought

         “What all have you bought?”

   c. Quiénes se fueron pronto? (Spanish)

        Who-PL REFL left early

        “Who left early?”

The anti-singularity of (1a) has been explained as arising from competition with its singular version: which book did you buy?, which has a uniqueness presupposition – only one book can be named. This explanation does not extend to the other two cases. There is no uniqueness presupposition in the version of (1b) without alles or in the version of (1c) that has a singular wh quién. I argue for a sortability-based approach for the anti-singularity observed in (1b) and (1c). The sortability-based approach draws inspiration from an analysis of the Cuzco Quechua morpheme kuna, illustrated in (2):

2a. Manka-taq urma-ya-mun (Cuzco Quechua)

        Pot-CONT fall-INT-TRANSLOC.3S

        “A pot/Some pots fell.” |falling pot| ≥ 1

  b. Manka-kuna-taq urma-ya-mun

       Pot-PL-CONT fall-INT-TRANSLOC.3S

      “Pots fell.” |falling pot| > 1

This marker has been described as an optional plural marker (Faller 2007) but in joint work with Liliana Sánchez and Janett Vengoa, we argue against this position. While both (2a) and (2b) allow for plural reference, there is a difference: (2a) requires the pots to be like each other, (2b) requires them to be different. We therefore treat kuna as encoding a presupposition that its noun complement can be partitioned along some dimension, such as type, shape, color etc. This is the source of the strict plurality that has been noted in the earlier literature: only a plurality of individuals can satisfy the sortability presupposition.

Insights gained from work on Cuzco Quechua kuna provide a fresh perspective on the phenomena of anti-singularity observed in (1b)-(1c). In each case the literature has focused on number as the locus of explanation but I will show that this leaves unaddressed several properties of such questions. Looking at them through the lens of the sortability hypothesis, I will argue, is both empirically and theoretically preferable.