Chapter 10. Optionality, variation and categorial properties

Abstract

In this paper, I propose a semantic account of the optionality of plural marking in Yucatec Maya (Mayan; Mexico) which pins the variation in plural marking on the variation in noun denotations (Chierchia 1998; Borer 2005; Deal 2017; Moroney 2021). I argue that this optionality is not a free variation. I further argue that the noun denotations vary between apportionable and generic, which is manifested in the option of a pseudopartitive operation (Selkirk 1977; Higginbotham 1994) available at the final stage of the interpretation of the nouns in the semantics. The fact that, by this account, the computation of Yucatec constructions that involve counting yields correct results provides further supporting evidence for the proposed analysis.