Speaker: Adam Przepiórkowski (Polish Academy of Sciences & MIT)
Title: Exponence of stacked feature bundles: Evidence from Slavic numerals
Time: Tuesday, December 10, 1pm – 2pm
Location: 32-D461
Abstract: A number of languages exhibit overt case stacking, and it has been argued that other languages also make use of case stacking, but with just one of the stacked cases overtly exponed (e.g., Richards 2013, Pesetsky 2013). Similarly, some languages exhibit overt stacking of phi features (e.g., Clem and Deal 2024), and it has been argued that, at least in Passamaquoddy, covert stacking of phi features may take place, with only the outermost phi features exponed (Grishin 2024). Building on these ideas, I will first show that adopting another exponence rule, Expone Most Marked, makes it possible to immediately explain the quirky homogeneous vs. heterogeneous case pattern of Slavic numeralnoun constructions (e.g., Babby 1987 a.m.o.). I will also generalize previous work on feature stacking to the idea of feature bundle stacking, where feature bundles contain both case and phi features, and I will show how this generalization makes it possible to explain the mind-boggling behavior of Russian paucal numerals. In the process, I will attempt to make the mechanisms involved more explicit and precise than in previous literature, and if time allows I will present some remaining puzzles.