Count Nouns Research Articles

The problem of the many: a view from the semantics of numerals and countability

AbstractThis paper addresses both semantic issues of countability in linguistics, and philosophical issues arising from the problem of the many. I argue (i) that the problem of the many is orthogonal to vagueness and we should look to the semantics of count nouns and numerals for its solution; (ii) that the problem of the many is a challenge for contemporary mereological analyses of count nouns in semantics; but (iii) that the count criterion in these theories can be weakened to avoid the problem. Specifically, weak quantization is proposed as the criterion: a sum, x, counts as nPs if and only if x has n disjoint parts, each of which is in the extension of P, but where the sum of no two of them is also in the extension of P. I show how importing this idea into the semantics of numerals provides a semantic means of dissolving the paradox.

Lexis and Grammar Specifics of the English Language in Africa

This research work deals with the lexical and grammatical features of the English language variant widely used in Africa. The importance of the use of British English is also taken into account, as well as its transformational processes due to the interaction and mutual influence of local dialects on its structure. Examples of neologisms and modified lexical units are given, based on the influence of local culture and the lack of an equivalent in the recipient language. The article pays attention to the grammatical aspects of language in the functioning of phrasal, modal and prepositional verbs, and also reveals the peculiarities of articles and pronouns use due to the influence of autochthonous languages. The aim of the research work is to identify the specifics of the linguistic and cultural adaptation of the English language in Africa and systematize the lexical and grammatical aspects of the English language as the territorial variant type. The choice of working methods is determined by the goals and objectives of the study. In the research work the method of metalinguistic analysis, methods of contextual and definitional analysis, methods of systematization and classification of linguistic material are used. As a result of the work the high productivity of the realities functioning in autochthonous languages in the lexical structure of the English variant in African countries and the lexical borrowings of terms from autochthonous languages are revealed. This trend is also emphasized in the borrowing of entire lexical phrases from the thesaurus of native languages. With regard to the grammatical part, a significant deviation from British English is emphasized. The research work results in such grammatical changes as: the use of auxiliary verbs together with semantic ones; the functioning of a simplified form of modern forms of the verb; the productive use of uncountable nouns in speech in the form of a countable nouns; significant deviations from British English in the process of using articles, personal and possessive pronouns.

Difficulties in Translating and Employing Word Collocation for Undergraduate Students at Al-Baha University

The point of the study is to assess the difficulties that Al-Baha University undergraduate students face in implementing word collocation. The study aims to demonstrate how collocation was used in translations by thirty Arabian bilingual undergraduates in a translation class, as well as to identify barriers to using collocation with participants translating text during the fall semester of the 2020–2021 academic years. The descriptive analytical method was used in this study. In this research, descriptive and analytical methodologies are used. The research utilized 20 Arabic sentence exams to outline the research topic, and the 30 second-tier degree students, currently studying English at Al-Baha University in Beljurshi, participated. According to the data, students failed to translate word collocations because they employed the word-for-word translation technique, not comprehending that any word paired with another results in a distinct meaning of the collocation, a lack of social and cultural information in the language, and an inadequate awareness of each other. This is due to the variety of meanings of the same term in a language other than the mother tongue. There are many meanings in English, making collocation translation difficult, and students' ignorance of the differences between Arabic and an English collocation is blamed for the difficulties in translating collocations. Collocations that were not covered by the study, such as countable noun collocations, sound collocations, and simile collocations, should be researched further.

On the Use of Articles in English and in Hungarian

On the use of articles in English and in Hungarian The English article system presents many problems for non-native speakers of English, thus to Hungarian learners of English as well, and due to the influence of the mother tongue they commit many errors in using them. While the definite article is the most basic indicator of definiteness, the indefinite article is the most basic indicator of indefiniteness for singular count nouns. However, there is a third type of article, the zero article, which indicates that the noun phrase is used in a generic sense in English whereas in Hungarian the definite article is used here. (e.g., Milk is good for you. Cigarettes are bad for your health. Do you like folk music? vs. A tej jó neked. A cigaretta káros az egészségedre. Szereted a népzenét). Although there are many similarities in the use of articles in English and Hungarian, there are also many crucial differences in this respect between the two languages as illustrated by the examples above. The main aim of this paper is to investigate these similarities and differences by primarily relying on descriptive grammar books commonly used by students during their studies at universities. Special focus will be placed on the use of articles for generalisation (e.g., The bull terrier makes an excellent watchdog./A bull terrier makes an excellent watchdog./Bullterriers make excellent watchdogs. vs. A bullterrier kitűnő házőrző.) and with proper nouns (e.g., Westminster Abbey vs. A Westminster- apátság or Lake Balaton vs. A Balaton, Mont Blanc vs. A Mont Blanc), as these are the most troublesome areas students face when studying the article system of English. I hope to be able to improve students’ understanding of this difficult area and guide them to a more accurate usage of the English article system. Keywords: the definite article, the indefinite article, the zero article, common nouns, proper nouns, countability, generalisation

Using Riddles Technique to Develop Students’ Vocabulary Mastery

The educational value of applying the riddles technique is to develop students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP Negeri 1 Sausu. Students’ lack of vocabulary, especially about countable nouns and students’ participation throughout the procedure of instruction in the class are the reasons for carrying out this research. The researchers applied a quasi-experimental research design, includes experimental and control class. In the academic year 2022-2023, students in first grade at SMP Negeri 1 Sausu made up the population, includes the classes VIIA and VIIB. The total number of students were 77 students. The sample class was determined using a cluster sampling technique. The instrument in this research was tests, pre-test and post-test. The researchers come to the conclusion that using riddles technique can develop students’ vocabulary mastery in the first grade of SMP Negeri 1 Sausu. It was evidenced by the experimental class’s post-test results (79.29), that was higher than the control class’s post-test (68.40). Also, the t-counted score (8.52) was exceeds than the t-table value (1.674).

Monotonicity in a Numeral Classifier language

While many languages require an obligatory plural morpheme to make reference to plural individuals, numeral classifier languages generally do not (Greenberg 1972; Sanches & Slobin 1973; Doetjes 2012: a.o.). This led some researchers to conclude that noun denotations in numeral classifier languages are inherently plural. In this paper, I show that one can find a syntactic environment which requires a plural reading or a mass reading of a noun phrase in a numeral classifier language. The core empirical finding is that the postnominal measurement construction in Japanese (i) does not allow a singular reading, and (ii) sometimes triggers count-to-mass coercion. This suggests that the constraint that measure phrases select a non-quantised denotation (Krifka 1989) is non-trivially satisfied in Japanese even though Japanese is argued to have inherently cumulative common noun denotations. To solve this, I propose two possible analyses. The first option is to assume the stratified measurement reference (Champollion 2017) and the second option is to assume that Japanese distinguishes singular count nouns, plural nouns and mass nouns in its syntax (Watanabe 2006; 2017). I discuss the implications of these options in light of the previous literature and provide further data which may suggest that Japanese makes an atomicity distinction both in its lexicon and its syntax.

The versatile classifier və¹³ in Zauzou

Abstract This article presents a frequently used versatile classifier və¹³ in the endangered Ngwi language Zauzou. After investigating seven morphosyntactic contexts in which və¹³ may occur, this classifier exhibits considerable syntactic and semantic overlaps with ordinary classifiers and the inanimate plural quantifier in this language. və¹³ is used as the only classifier for unclassified nouns (i.e., some abstract and count nouns) and an alternative classifier for nearly all kinds of ordinary sortal or mensural classifiers for inanimates, especially when the canonical classifier is not known to the speaker. It shares a wide range of distributions with ordinary numeral classifiers and the plural quantifier and parallels these two classes of determiners in marking various referential values in different noun phrases. However, və¹³ is semantically special in that it may classify nouns of various semantic classes, including abstract and mass nouns, and is underspecified in number. It is compatible with singular, plural and mass interpretations. The final quantity in the reference must be determined in the context. Moreover, və¹³ is a lexical item involved in marking partitives, the function that is not found in ordinary classifiers and the plural quantifier. This study is a systematic description of an under-studied type of versatile classifier, highlighting the internal complexity of a classifier system in Tibeto-Burman languages.

Events and objects are similar cognitive entities

Logico-semantic theories have long noted parallels between the linguistic representation of temporal entities (events) and spatial entities (objects): bounded (or telic) predicates such as fix a car resemble count nouns such as sandcastle because they are “atoms” that have well-defined boundaries, contain discrete minimal parts and cannot be divided arbitrarily. By contrast, unbounded (or atelic) phrases such as drive a car resemble mass nouns such as sand in that they are unspecified for atomic features. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the parallels in the perceptual-cognitive representation of events and objects even in entirely non-linguistic tasks. Specifically, after viewers form categories of bounded or unbounded events, they can extend the category to objects or substances respectively (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, in a training study, people successfully learn event-to-object mappings that respect atomicity (i.e., grouping bounded events with objects and unbounded events with substances) but fail to acquire the opposite, atomicity-violating mappings (Experiment 3). Finally, viewers can spontaneously draw connections between events and objects without any prior training (Experiment 4). These striking similarities between the mental representation of events and objects have implications for current theories of event cognition, as well as the relationship between language and thought.

Processing of Numeral + Noun structures by L1 Persian learners of L2 English, using an online reading task

Within the last two decades, researchers have begun to investigate how L2 learners process syntactic, morpho-syntactic, and lexical information during the comprehension of L2 sentences. The present study aimed to add to research by investigating how L1 influences L2 processing of sentences indicating plurality in constructions involving numerals. More specifically, the research investigated whether Persian speaking low-proficient L2 learners of English showed L1 transfer effects performing a self-paced online reading task. To address this issue, employing the IBEX software, reaction times on critical regions and accuracy rates of learners’ performance were measured on four types of structures (i.e., Numeral + Count Noun, Numeral + Classifier + Mass Noun, Numeral + Classifier + Count Noun, and Numeral + Non-referential Noun + Noun) and two sentence types (ill-formed vs. well-formed). Statistical analysis indicated the effect of both structure and sentence type on reaction times on the critical regions studied. Results also indicated traces of L1 effect in processing Numeral + Classifier + Mass Noun and Numeral + Classifier + Count Noun structures. Concerning the Numeral + Count Noun and Numeral + Classifier + Non-referential Noun + Noun, no clear evidence for L1 transfer effect was observed. Further studies employing a larger sample size, investigating the issue at higher proficiency levels, and having native English speakers as control group are suggested.

Analysis of Noun Found in Song “Lonely” By Justin Bieber

The aim of this research is to find out noun used in a song by Justin Bieber entitled “Lonely”. This research applied descriptive qualitative method. There are several steps researcher conducted, including read the song lyrics, discovered nouns from the lyrics, then classified nouns based on the types. Based on research analysis, researcher discovered 12 nouns with 5 types. Therefore, the research results showed that there are 12 common nouns, 7 for each concrete and countable nouns, and 5 for each abstract and uncountable nouns found in song entitled “Lonely”.

Word sense disambiguation: Mathematical modelling of adaptive word embedding technique for word vector

Word embedding is the method of representing ambiguous words into word vectors. The existing methods of word embedding are applicable for homonymous words. Constructing word vector of polysemous words is the challenge. The word vector of polysemous words are made by considering context information. The proposed adaptive word embedding technique is discussed in this article. The adaptive word embedding technique is applicable for both homosemous and polysemous words. While representing ambiguous word into word vector the context information is considered. The adaptive word embedding technique generates dynamic word vector for ambiguous word. The word vector with dimension size 198 is created here. There are 198 features are considered in the discussed model. The countable nouns are used as features in adaptive word embedding.

Danish bare singular count nouns in subject position

This paper aims at investigating under which conditions Danish Bare Singular Count Nouns (BSCNs) can function as subjects in standard categorical statements, i.e. outside special discourse types such as proverbs, newspaper headlines, titles of paintings, etc. Taking as a point of departure a brief discussion of the distributional differences between, on the one hand, Bare Plural count nouns (BPs) and mass nouns and, on the other, BSCNs, it is shown that, contrary to BP- and mass noun subjects, BSCNs in subject position are non-referential and do not imply existential presupposition. On these grounds, and on the basis of analyses of phenomena such as agreement features, genericity and pseudo-incorporation, it is argued that the BSCN-subjects of categorical statements are objects which, owing to the lack of realisation of nominal functional categories, act as property-denoting modifiers restricting the denotation of a covert predicate. Consequently, it is concluded that BSCNs in subject position do not function as arguments in themselves, but are instead pseudo-incorporated into the covert predicate as modifiers.

Precis of Conjoining Meanings

Precis of Conjoining Meanings

Mass or Count Noun: Latin Considerations of the Use of sanguis in the Plural

Educated by generations of grammarians who state that the term sanguis (blood) is used only in the singular, Fathers of the Church, exegetes, and commentators were confronted with about twenty scriptural, essentially veterotestimentary tokens where sanguis is used in the plural. Justifications for this particular use appear throughout the commentaries. My study will attempt to answer a series of questions. Which passages interested the commentators the most and why? Which grammarians were involved and in what respect? What kind of justifications were provided? Was their interest purely hermeneutic or did the exegetes aim to preserve a state inherited from scrupulous translations? Were the passages treated in isolation or set in resonance? Does this assessment of the commentaries allow us to identity filiations? It will also be seen that this matter is another piece of the puzzle in the relationship between grammar and faith.

Nominal Modifiers in Tὲὲ

The paper analyzed nominal modifiers in Tὲὲ within a formal linguistic framework. The paper identified ten discrete nominal modifiers in the grammatical structure of Kana. The paper found that pre-head and post-head modification are attested in the grammar of Tὲὲ as seven of the modifiers occur before the head noun while three occur after the head noun in the grammatical structure of the noun phrase. The paper reported that there is no distinction between mass and count nouns in the use of quantifiers in Tὲὲ. The paper noted that there can be no intervening element between the prepositional phrase modifier and the head noun. The study also showed that the demonstrative can only co-occur with the head noun in the maximal projection of the noun phrase in mutually exclusive distribution with the prepositional phrase. The study also noted that the numeral modifier does not participate in the maximal expansion of the NP. The paper, therefore, recommended a detailed investigation of numerals and numeracy in Tὲὲ in order to ascertain the structural status of the numeral element in Tὲὲ.

VIETNAMESE EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SENSITIVITY TO THE ENGLISH MASS-COUNT DISTINCTION

This paper examines how Vietnamese learners of L2 English interpret the English mass-count distinction. In a picture-based judgment experiment, sixty-two college students learning English as their L2 made judgments that reflect their sensitivity to the English mass-count distinction and morphosyntax-semantics mappings. The findings indicate that Vietnamese learners of L2 English correctly based their judgments on number for count nouns (e.g., cup) and object-mass nouns (e.g., furniture), and on volume for substance-mass nouns (e.g., milk). In addition, Vietnamese learners performed at chance level with English flexible nouns, i.e., nouns that are interpreted as count in the presence of the plural marker -s and as mass in its absence. Furthermore, no significant correlation was found between learners’ L2 proficiency scores and their judgments. Taken together, these findings suggest that Vietnamese college students are insensitive to the morphosyntactic cues of English flexible nouns when interpreting their meaning. Such insensitivity might be due to L1 effects and can be independent of L2 proficiency.

Predicting the Outcome of a Pregnancy of Unknown Location: What Can the Endometrial Stripe Thickness Reveal?

Objective: To investigate the role of the uterine endometrial thickness and sonographic pattern as potential predictors for a pregnancy with an unknown location (PUL) and its possible outcomes. Materials and Methods: A convenient sample of 330 symptomatic extra preposition female patients were enrolled in this study with a diagnosis of PUL. The clinical variables of endometrial stripe thickness and endometrial sonographic pattern were determined with transvaginal sonography. These sonographic examinations (it seems that examination in this context is a countable noun) were conducted during the first 24 hours of referral, and their predictive values for PUL outcomes (normal intrauterine pregnancy (IUP), ectopic pregnancy (EP), and pregnancy loss) were assessed after clinical follow-up sessions provided a definite outcome. The statistical significance was set a priori at a P value < .05. Results: The mean initial endometrial stripe thickness among participants, with a normal IUP, was more than those patients with an abnormal pregnancy outcome ( P < .05). The optimum cut-off value for predicting a an EP, compared to a normal IUP was 11 mm and had a sensitivity of 73.3% and specificity of 39% ( P < .001). These results also demonstrated no statistically significant relationship between the PUL outcome and the categories of endometrial sonographic pattern ( P = .15). Conclusion: In this large cohort of patients, the endometrial stripe thickness of more than 11 mm, among those who were symptomatic and deemed as PUL, had the potential to predict ectopic pregnancy as an unlikely diagnosis.

Object mass nouns and subkind countability

We argue for a novel cross-linguistic definition of object mass nouns—e.g. furniture, equipment— which accommodates the observation that some can combine with numericals to count subkinds. The primary observation comes from Hungarian, where counting subkinds with object mass nouns was not found to be more marked than with count nouns or substance mass nouns—e.g. három készlet (‘three stock) can refer to three kinds of products to the same extent as három termék (‘three products’), and it was not found to be more marked than három sör (‘three beers’) referring to three kinds of beer. This differs from English and Dutch, where object mass nouns are uncountable altogether, i.e. they cannot count objects or subkinds (Cowper & Hall 2012; De Belder 2013; Grimm & Levin 2017; Rothstein 2017; Sutton & Filip 2018). We argue for a definition that distinguishes object mass nouns from count nouns in the ability to refer to objects in count morphosyntax, thus leaving open the possibility of counting subkinds. Lastly, we suggest that general number (Corbett 2000; Paul 2012) is a necessary (but insufficient) condition for a language to have object mass nouns that can count subkinds.

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