The maximality puzzle: Evidence from ʔayʔaǰuθəm

Abstract

This paper examines the status of maximality for determiners in ʔayʔaǰuθəm (a.k.a. Comox-Sliammon, ISO 639-3: coo), an endangered Central Salish language traditionally spoken by four communities in British Columbia, Canada. Based on an experiment and original fieldwork, we propose that the ʔayʔaǰuθəm tə determiner encodes maximality, but not familiarity, while the k^w determiner encodes neither. Furthermore, we argue that salience can play an important role in restricting the domain, thus giving rise to maximal readings in technically non-maximal contexts. These findings contribute to establishing the mechanisms modulating reference to plural individuals cross-linguistically.