Imbabura Quichua

[with J. Barchas-Lichtenstein, C. Martin, and P. Munro]

In E. Keenan and D. Paperno (eds.) Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language: Volume 2, pp. 751 — 801. Springer. Download

Expressing identity in Imbabura Quichua in Proceedings of SULA 8

Abstract: The way to express token identity (‘the same X’) in Imbabura Quichua is also used to express intensifiers (‘X himself’) and repeated action (‘X again’). I argue that the semantic core of these meanings is the identity function. The paper discusses the implications for the typology of intensifier expressions.

Only and focus in Imbabura Quichua in Proceedings of BLS 40

Abstract: I show that Imbabura Quichua has an asymmetric pattern of focus marking: focus in question-answer congruency is marked with a suffix -mi. The argument of the exclusive particle -lla 'only', on the other hand, is not morphologically or phonetically marked. I propose a syntactic mechanism of association-by-focus instead.