Resumen de Variation in the Syntax of Plural Markers: The Case From Plural –Men in Mandarin

Kyumin Kim, Xiao Meng

• This paper provides a novel analysis of plural marker –men in Mandarin as a modifier: –men does not realize a head such as Num(ber); rather, it adjoins to a DP in the nominal structure. The proposed analysis can account for defining properties of –men as a modifier, such as the interpretation of a bare noun with respect to –men, lack of agreement, co-occurrence with a classifier, and so on, which cannot be accounted for by the previous approaches that view –men as realizing a head, such as Num, in the nominal projection. The consequences of this paper support the recent view that the syntax of plural markers is not homogeneous but heterogeneous.