Count Nouns Research Articles

Brazilian and English bare nouns: Language variation, experiments, and L2s

This paper proposes to connect research areas with the aim of understanding bare nominals across languages. It focuses on Brazilian Portuguese (BrP) and English. The BrP nominal system challenges the parametric models in Chierchia (1998a, 2010), and two proposals have been raised to explain it within Chierchia’s model: the Bare Singular (BS) is a plural count noun (Schmitt and Munn 1999, 2002; Müller 2002) or it is mass (Pires de Oliveira and Rothstein 2011). Experimental research (Bevilaqua 2019) does not support either of these theories because BrP speakers oscillate between mass and count when interpreting the BS. In contrast, BSs are ungrammatical in English and speakers massify them; they are never counted. Motivated by the experimental studies, Pires de Oliveira (2020, 2021, to appear) presents a new approach: although BrP and English are number marking languages (Chierchia 2010, 2015), atomicity, a grammatical operation (Rothstein 2010, 2017), is activated at different points in the derivation. In English, the first nominal layer projects atomicity, while in BrP, the determiner carries this information; thus, plural inflection is optional on the noun. This paper suggests that language processing and second language acquisition are areas of investigation that may provide new evidence for a better understanding of the semantics of noun phrases.

Referential transparency as the proper treatment for quantification

An important motivation for Montague’s work on quantification (Montague 1974) was to achieve uniformity with respect to referential and quantificational subjects. This was attained by type raising all NPs to denote sets of sets (indeed there are claims that such a move is theoretically necessary) and by giving up a subject–predicate semantics where the verbal predicate predicates of the nominal argument. In this paper we argue for essentially the opposite move whereby all predication is genuine predication and involves arguments -- witnesses of type individual or set of individuals (for plurals). We argue that such an approach is crucial if one is to capture a variety of fundamentally important phenomena involving anaphora, clarification interaction, and speech-gesture cross-references associated with the use of quantificational noun phrases in dialogue, and to explicate several recent key psycholinguistic results on quantifier processing -- all features of an NP semantics which give rise to what we call “Referential Transparency”. The discussion is couched in a new set-denotational framework for plural count nouns, namely sets of ordered set bipartitions. We argue that quantification happens entirely within the noun phrase and involves ref(erence)sets, comp(lement)sets, and max(imal)sets. As a corollary of this denotational foundation, the semantic conservativity universal is an immediate consequence and the range of quantifier denotations is significantly reduced. In addition to collecting empirical motivation for quantification from Referential Transparency Theory and to developing a count noun semantics, a theoretically grounded explanation for complement set anaphora is given. EARLY ACCESS

Indefinite determiners in two northern Italian dialects

Italian and Italian dialects express indefiniteness in different ways, among which with a null determiner (ZERO) like all other Romance languages, but also with the definite article (ART) unlike what is found in Romance. Italian and some northern Italian dialects also display the so-called “partitive determiner” DI+ART, which is present in French. Few northwestern Italian dialects display (bare) DI, parallel to French. We adopt Cardinaletti and Giusti’s (2015, 2016) unified analysis and build on Cardinaletti and Giusti’s (2018, 2020) hypothesis that the variation and optionality in the distribution of the four determiners in regional Italian mirror their distribution in Italian dialects along two isoglosses: the ART isogloss spreading from the center of Italy towards north-west and south-east; and the DI isogloss spreading from Piedmont eastwards. We conduct a quantitative analysis on the results of a questionnaire in Piacentino and Rodigino. We test the distribution of the four determiners with mass and count nouns in two dimensions: sentence type (positive vs. negative) and predicate type (telic vs. atelic). The results confirm the hypothesis that the complexity of the determiner is related to its distribution highlighting two hierarchies of contexts: NEG < POS and ATEL < TEL. It also confirms that Piacentino, located at the crossroads of the ART and DI isoglosses, has more optionality than Rodigino, located at their borders.

Processing Evidence for the Grammatical Encoding of the Mass/Count Distinction in Mandarin Chinese.

Using the Visual World Paradigm, the current study aimed to explore whether the mass/count distinction is determined by syntax in Mandarin Chinese, focusing on classified nouns in nominal phrases. By using dual-role classifiers, ontological count and mass nouns, and phrase structures with and without biased syntactic cues we found that the mass/count distinction is initially computed using phrase structure but can be overridden in cases where the syntax is incompatible with nouns' ontological meanings. The results indicate that in Mandarin Chinese, syntactic cues can be rapidly used to make predictions about upcoming information in real time processing.

Peculiarities of Danish determiners noget, meget and lidt

This article explores the use of Danish neuter gender quantifiers noget, meget, and lidt with singular and plural common gender nouns. The use of these lexemes can be explained by the two tendencies in modern Danish, both of which entail the violation of the grammatical norm, i. e. the use of common gender nouns with neuter gender lexemes (noget mad, noget sygdom, meget tid etc.). The study of linguistic data also demonstrates that the use of these units in combination with countable nouns is getting more common in the Danish language (noget ananas, meget læge, lidt problemer, noget mand). Both tendencies are relevant to the dichotomy “discreteness/non-discreteness” present in modern Danish, where non-discreteness is connected with neuter gender lexemes, such as noget, meget, lidt, while denotations are thought of as one unit. Various denotations can be nondiscrete in Danish. A vast group is constituted by nouns related to food (en ananas — noget ananas; en kage — noget kage etc.). Lack of agreement in gender as well as number between a noun and a quantifier may cause a shift in meaning of a noun, thus abstract nouns acquire a more particular meaning, i. e. kunst ‘art’ and noget kunst ‘a work of art’. It shall also be noted that the change of grammatical norm may be connected with pragmatics, when the speaker expresses his attitude towards the situation, underlying its insignificance to the listener, which is often seen in contexts where nouns describing some events are used (fest ‘celebration’, dåb ‘christening’, sammenkomst ‘party’). Examples presented in this article are taken from Danish tv-series, TV programs and everyday communication.

Usefulness of English Corpora Regarding Encyclopedic Meaning of Grammatical Constructions: Count Noun Vs. Non-Count Noun, Noun Vs. Verb

Usefulness of English Corpora Regarding Encyclopedic Meaning of Grammatical Constructions: Count Noun Vs. Non-Count Noun, Noun Vs. Verb

THE MARKING OF MASS, COUNT AND PLURAL DENOTATIONS IN MULTI‐DIMENSIONAL PARADIGMS*

AbstractThis paper investigates the morphology of nouns in pseudo‐partitive constructions, noun‐numeral constructions and plurals. The data discussed reveal a *ABA pattern that restricts syncretism among these categories. Specifically, in the sequence pseudo‐partitive, counting form and plural, only adjacent forms can be syncretic. I argue that the constraint can be derived from a particular morphosyntactic structure, where, following Borer (2005), mass nouns have the smallest structure, count nouns (found after numerals) are derived by dividing the mass into units, and plural is derived by restricting the count denotation to pluralities. The article further investigates how the relevant forms interact with case marking, and suggests that the forms should be organized into a two‐dimensional paradigm space where syncretic forms occupy contiguous regions.

De constructie ‘Twee typen subject’

Abstract This paper discusses two binominal soort-constructions: twee typen subject ‘two types of subject’ and twee typen subjecten ‘two types of subjects’. The choice between singular or plural subject(en) is contextually determined and reflects a difference in meaning of the second noun. The combination of a plural first noun and a singular second count noun is infrequent, due to the special interpretation assigned to the singular noun.

THE STUDY OF NOUN FOUND IN SHAWN MENDES’ SONG ENTITLED LOST IN JAPAN

Descriptive qualitative method is used in this study. This study aimed to investigate nouns and the variety of nouns found in a song entitled Lost in Japan by Shawn Mendes. In collecting the data, the researchers applied three steps, namely selecting one song to be examined, read and elaborate the song lyrics to discover nouns, and classify nouns based on the types. Based on the data analysis, the researchers discovered 16 nouns with seven types of nouns. All nouns can be indicated to more than one type. The results are summarized as follows; 15 common nouns, 1 proper noun, 11 abstract nouns, 5 concrete nouns, 12 countable nouns, 4 uncountable nouns, and 4 compound nouns. Keywords : Noun, Song lyrics, Types of noun

The linguistic dimensions of concrete and abstract concepts: lexical category, morphological structure, countability, and etymology

AbstractThe distinction between abstract and concrete concepts is fundamental to cognitive linguistics and cognitive science. This distinction is commonly operationalized through concreteness ratings based on the aggregated judgments of many people. What is often overlooked in experimental studies using this operationalization is that ratings are attributed towords, not to concepts directly. In this paper we explore the relationship between the linguistic properties of English words and conceptual abstractness/concreteness. Based on hypotheses stated in the existing linguistic literature we select a set of variables (part of speech, morphological structure, countability, etymology) and verify whether they are statistically associated with concreteness ratings. We show that English nouns are rated as more concrete compared to other parts of speech, but mass nouns are rated as less concrete than count nouns. Furthermore, a more complex morphological structure is associated with abstractness, and as for etymology, French- and Latin-derived words are more abstract than words of other origin. This shows that linguistic properties of words are indeed associated with the degree of concreteness that we attribute to the underlying concepts, and we discuss the implications that these findings have for linguistic theory and for empirical investigations in the cognitive sciences.

A corpus-based study of grammatical post-metaphorical expressions

Abstract In Systemic Functional Linguistics, meanings in semantic stratum could be realized by congruent/premetaphorical, metaphorical, or demetaphorical/post-metaphorical expressions in lexico-grammatical stratum. This paper, evidenced from the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), explores the specific pathway from metaphorical expressions to post-metaphorical ones guided by principles of Context-first and AS IF and the principle of double functionality. The findings show that grammatical postmetaphorization is mainly realized by post-metaphor of ideation and that of modality. The former finds its expressions from common nouns to proper nouns (e.g. from security to Security), or from uncountable nouns to countable nouns (e.g. from security to securities), and the latter is evidenced by expressions shifting from explicit objective orientation to its explicit subjective counterpart (e.g. from it is possible that to it might be possible that), or by modal probability of I think type shifting from clausal initial position to clausal medial or final position (e.g. I think in the medial or final position of the clause).

THE IMPACT OF ORTHOGRAPHY ON LEXICAL ACCESS

AbstractPrevious research has shown that orthographic marking may have a function beyond identifying orthographic word forms. In two visual priming experiments with native speakers and advanced learners of German (Czech natives) we tested the hypothesis that orthography can convey word-class cues comparable to morphological marking. We examined the effect of initial letter capitalization of nouns (a specific property of German orthography) on the processing of five homonymous and grammatically ambiguous forms. Both populations showed the same pattern of results: deverbal nouns (conversions) patterned together with countable nouns while in a previous study (with eliminated orthographic word-class cues) they patterned together with infinitives. Together, findings suggest that orthographic cues can trigger word-class-specific lexical retrieval/access. They also suggest a lexical entry structure in which conversion nouns, infinitives, and inflected verbal forms share a category-neutral parent node and that specified subnodes are accessed only when specifying cues are available and/or necessary for processing.

The position of the broken plural in the grammar: Rural Jordanian Arabic as a case study

This research paper investigates the functions of the broken plural in Rural Jordanian Arabic (RJA), offering a syntactic account of these functions within Borer’s (2005) Exo-Skeletal model. It argues that the broken plural in RJA can be a lexical item that functions as a categorizing head merging under n0 with a root of a non-count noun. In such cases, the broken plural expresses abundance or kind readings. Additionally, this paper shows that the broken plural in RJA can be inflectional (i.e., merging within the syntax of categorized words), yielding a ‘one-or-more’ or ‘more-than-one’ interpretation. This paper shows that the broken plural can be a divider merging under Div0 with count nouns and a counter under #0 with classifying and measuring phrases. This essentially indicates that the functions of the broken plural are supposed to be identified in relation to the nominal that it targets in the syntax. In so doing, this paper adds credence to the proposals that favour the split-analysis of plural (in the sense that the broken plural is not restricted to one position in the grammar) (cf. Alexiadou 2011; Kramer 2012; Gillon 2015, among many others).

Not-negation revisited: variation betweenaandanyin verb complements in contemporary spoken American English

Innot-negated English sentences with indefinite expressions following the verb, there is variation between the indefinite article andanyas determiners of nouns. The standard view is that singular count nouns take the indefinite article and singular non-count and plural nouns takeany.However, it is possible to encounter examples likeit isn'tany threat,there isn'tany lockorI don't haveany problem.The article studies variation between the indefinite article andanyas post-verbal determiners of singular nouns in 21,084not-negated sentences in the spoken component ofThe Corpus of Contemporary American English, COCA SPOK. The indefinite article is dominant with 90 per cent of the tokens. Variation is extremely rare in sentences with copularbeand much more frequent in sentences with existentialbeandhave. Among the reasons for variation between verb types is the use ofdo-support withhave(but not withbe). Expressions such ashave a job/car/homeorthere's not a/anwith uncontractednotmay also prevent the use ofany.Variation occurs mostly with abstract nouns such asproblem,choice,way,place,reason. This finding is surprising as abstract nouns have rarely been discussed in the literature on varying countability of nouns.

What's the smallest part of spinach? A new experimental approach to the count/mass distinction

This paper reports on a study that uses a novel methodology, the minimal part identification task, in order to probe the relationship between morphosyntax and interpretation. English, Korean and Mandarin Chinese differ from one another with regard to the count/mass distinction. Building on prior research but using a new methodology, this study examines whether speakers of these three languages also differ in how they interpret count vs. mass nouns. The findings, while uncovering some language-specific effects of morphosyntax, point to the importance of universality, and suggest that interpretation drives morphosyntax rather than the other way around.

Semantics and syntax of quantitative groups in the german language

The work deals with the groups in which the first noun eine Gruppe has a quantitative meaning (eine Gruppe + Subst.Plural), and the second is a countable noun. The analysis of word combinations consisting of two nouns makes it possible to pose and clarify many questions regarding the interaction of syntax and semantics. The corpus of journalistic texts allowed us to see the quantitative distribution of the models on the basis of which the combinations with the noun Gruppe are organized. The combinations without a definition before the second component were organized according to the following models: eine Gruppe + Subst.Plural (eine Gruppe Menschen); eine Gruppe + von + Subst.Plural (eine Gruppe von Menschen); eine Gruppe + Subst.Adj.Plural / Subst.Part.Plural (eine Gruppe Freiwilliger); eine Gruppe + von + Subst.Adj.Plural / Subst.Part.Plural (eine Gruppe von Freiwilligen); The combinations that have a definition before the second component were organized according to the models: eine Gruppe + Adj. / Part. + Subst.Plural (eine Gruppe fleißiger / fleißige Studenten); eine Gruppe + von + Adj. / Part. + Subst.Plural (eine Gruppe von fleißigen Studenten). In our work, the principles of construction and lexical filling of the quantitative group with the noun Gruppe were shown, the mechanism of their use by native speakers was demonstrated. During the research, the noun was tested for compatibility with the names of different semantic groups. We have identified permanent semantic relationships with other names that enter into characteristic syntactic relationships with it.

No Gender Polarity in Arabic Numeral Phrases

Gender polarity is an intriguing morphological phenomenon in Arabic. The numerals 3–10 take the gender opposite to that of their count nouns; that is, when the count noun is feminine, the numerals 3–10 appear in the masculine form, and vice versa. Earlier analyses (see, e.g., Alqassas 2013, 2017, Alqarni 2015) proposed that the numerals 3–10 bear an inherent feminine feature, which is deleted by an impoverishment rule in the presence of a feminine feature on the count noun, yielding gender polarity. This article provides empirical counterevidence to these analyses and the concept of gender polarity on the whole. It shows that the numerals 3–10 do not interact with the gender of the count noun; rather, they interact with the count noun’s morphology—that is, whether the count noun bears the morpheme /at/ or /a:tu/-/a:ti/ in its structure. These findings suggest that gender polarity in Arabic is a misnomer; the phenomenon should instead be termed morpheme polarity. Rather than implementing the impoverishment rules proposed in earlier analyses, this article uses readjustment rules to account for the morpheme polarity at hand.

REPRESENTATION AND PROCESSING OF OVERTLY IDENTICAL COMPLEX FORMS IN L1 AND L2

AbstractIn two visual priming experiments, we investigated the relation of form-identical word forms with different grammatical functions in L1 and L2 German. Four different grammatical types (inflected verbs, infinitives, deverbal conversion forms, and countable nouns) were used as primes and their influence on the processing of form-identical inflected verbs as targets was compared. Results revealed full priming of inflected verbs, but only partial priming for conversion forms and infinitives. No priming was observed for semantically related countable nouns suggesting that they have a separate lexical entry. The findings bring first psycholinguistic evidence for typological claims that deverbal conversion nouns and infinitives fall into the category of nonfinites. They also support accounts assuming representations with a basic lexical entry and word-category specific subentries. The same priming pattern was observed in L1 and L2 suggesting that representation and processing of the studied complex forms is not fundamentally different in the two populations.

DETERMINERS, BARE SINGULARS, PLURALS: A PORTABLE TUTOR FOR SENTENCE GRAMMAR

This paper is based on the assumption that a portable tutor, as a practice-based tool, can offer students ample opportunities to improve their sentence grammar. By focusing on one specific grammar issue at a time, it presents certain sentence patterns that, through repeated practice, can eventually correct that particular grammar issue, in this case, that of determiners, bare singulars, and plurals. Significantly, this study has specific implications for Assumption University students and for Thai students in general, in that it explains why people who grow up speaking a language where nouns do not have determiners will have difficulty when learning a language that has them, for instance English. The paper begins by presenting a classification of determiners followed by a detailed description of one specific type of determiner: the bare singular count noun. The study continues with the proposed research methodology consisting of the Portable Tutor development, and the Experiment’s three main components, pre-testing, “treatment” and post-testing of the participating group of students. The paper concludes with data collection and analysis, and conclusions. 
 
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Child and Children in a Corpus of American Fiction: Contrasting Semantic Preferences and Their Experiential Motivations

Abstract This study investigates the nature of the semantic differences between collexemes of singular child and plural children in a corpus of American fiction. Collexemes in three specific syntactic slots are investigated: adjectives in the attributive position, nouns grammatically possessed by child’s and children’s, and present participial forms of verbs in the position immediately to the right of child/children. The approach relies on Distinctive Collexeme Analysis to establish statistically significant differences, revealing a surprising variety of semantic distinctions not usually acknowledged in discussions of the singularity vs. plurality of count nouns. Finally, an attempt is made to relate the key findings to broader cognitive and behavioural realities.