Reduplicated distributivity in Mandinka

Reduplication is commonly exhibited by markers of distributivity. Although distributivity markers can either mark the key (as determiner each does, as in each child saw a lion) or the share (as with adnominal each, as in the boys saw a lion each), it has been conjectured that distributivity markers formed through reduplication are always markers of the share, rather than the key. Here we discuss a case that challenges but ultimately vindicates this conjecture. In Mandinka (spoken in Senegambia), reduplicating a nominal with interposition of the morpheme -woo- gives rise to a distributive reading. We investigated the semantics of the X-woo-X construction and found that it behaves as a key-marker, but also as a share-marker. We take these findings to support an analysis on which X-woo-X signals ‘simultaneous distributivity’, simultaneously marking both key and share.