Quantification in Warlpiri

In this chapter, I provide a descriptive overview of quantification in Warlpiri, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken by approximately 3,000 people in central Australia. Warlpiri’s quantificational system is of particular interest due to the fact that a number of Warlpiri A-quantifiers are interpreted as taking nominal scope; that is, as Dquantifiers. Conversely, a number of Warlpiri D-quantifiers are interpreted as modifying the VP or event; that is, as A-quantifiers. I show that Warlpiri has a relatively large inventory of D-quantifiers, many of which are morphologically complex. This challenges standard assumptions of quantifiers as a typically monomorphemic lexical category, and sheds light on the relevant compositional properties of Warlpiri quantifiers.