Numeral Reduplication in Taqbaylit

This chapter investigates the phenomenon of numeral reduplication (NumRed) in Taqbaylit, which gives rise to distributive interpretations. We argue that NumRed in Taqbaylit is not a universal distributive quantifier over individuals but rather a marker of event plurality. Furthermore, we show that the variety of distributive readings found with the distributive morpheme Red(uplication) is not due to ambiguity but rather to the vague semantics of this morpheme. Our main claims are that: (i) Red is an event plurality marker, (ii) distributive readings of NumRed arise through spatiotemporal separation of (sub)events, and (iii) participant-distributive readings should be reduced to spatial-distributive readings. The aim of our investigation of NumRed in Taqbaylit has been to contribute insights into distributive numerals and pluractionals across languages, as well to open the door to more investigation of reduplication, distributivity, and pluractionality in the Berber languages.