ON THE SEMANTICS OF NUMERAL REDUPLICATION IN HAYA: BETWEEN DISTRIBUTIVITY AND PLURACTIONALITY

This paper provides a first description and analysis of numeral reduplication in Haya, a Bantu language. In literature, numeral reduplication is generally analyzed as a marker of either distributivity or event plurality (pluractionality) in the languages where it is attested. Based on empirical data and the application of standard diagnostics, this study shows that (i) the distributive readings associated with numeral reduplication differ from those conveyed by markers of distributivity, and (ii) numeral reduplication in Haya functions primarily as a marker of pluractionality.