Punctual Events Research Articles

Event Boundaries Stretched and Compressed by Aspect: Temporal Segmentation in a First and a Second Language

AbstractEvent segmentation tests have shown substantial overlaps in how adults recognize starts and endpoints as events unfold. However, far less is known about what role different language systems play in the process. Variations in grammatical aspect have been shown to influence event processing. We tested how closely first language (L1) speakers of Mandarin and English versus Mandarin learners of English as a second language (L2) align event boundaries with event‐internal changes. We used two event boundary marking tasks (online/offline) and a sorting task. Participants saw 60 animations; their task was to indicate starts and endpoints. For punctual events (e.g., breaking a wall), Mandarin L1 speakers and Mandarin learners of English L2 were significantly further from event transitions than English L1 speakers. This pattern was replicated in the untimed experiment but not in sorting transitions, jointly suggesting that Mandarin L1 and Mandarin learners of English L2 may be less attentive to segmentation of phases surrounding transitions than English L1 speakers. We argue that this variation reflects L1‐specific encoding of ongoingness.

Shoreline Analysis and Extraction Tool (SAET): A New Tool for the Automatic Extraction of Satellite-Derived Shorelines with Subpixel Accuracy

SAET (Shoreline Analysis and Extraction Tool) is a novel open-source tool to enable the completely automatic detection of shoreline position changes using the optical imagery acquired by the Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 and 9 satellites. SAET has been developed within the ECFAS (European Coastal Flood Awareness System) project, which is intended to be the first European service for coastal flood forecasting, management, and recovery analysis. The tool is developed to characterise the shoreline response associated with punctual events such as coastal storms as well as any other phenomenon. For a given beach segment, SAET facilitates the selection of the satellite images closest in time to the analysed events that offer an adequate cloud coverage level for analysing the shoreline change. Subsequently, the tool automatically downloads the images from their official repositories, pre-processes them and extracts the shoreline position with sub-pixel accuracy. In order to do so, an initial approximate definition of the shoreline is carried out at the pixel level using a water index thresholding, followed by an accurate extraction operating on the shortwave infrared bands to produce a sub-pixel line in vector formats (points and lines). The tool offers different settings to be adapted to the different coastal environments and beach typologies. Its main advantages refer to its autonomy, its efficiency in extracting complete satellite scenes, its flexibility in adapting to different environments and conditions, and its high subpixel accuracy. This work presents an accuracy assessment on a long Mediterranean sandy beach of SDSs extracted from L8 and S2 imagery against coincident alongshore reference lines, showing an accuracy of about 3 m RMSE. At the same time, the work shows an example of the usage of SAET for characterising the response to Storm Gloria (January 2020) on the beaches of Valencia (E Spain). SAET provides an efficient and completely automatic workflow that leads to accurate SDSs while only relying on publicly available information. The tool appears to be a useful extraction tool for beach monitoring, both for public administrations and individual users.

Pluractionality in Lithuanian: A tale of two suffixes

The paper investigates the use of the two verbal suffixes -inė- and -dav- in Lithuanian. Both suffixes express pluractionality, but -inė- is derivational and tends to express plurality of sub-events within one situation (event-internal pluractionality), whereas -dav- is inflectional and designates plurality of situations (eventexternal pluractionality). The data show that, when the two suffixes are combined within the same verb form, -dav- always scopes over -inė-, thus, the combination of the two suffixes usually describes the repetition of different situations such as processes, progressive situations, punctual events, delimited processes etc. Most of the data used in the article come from the Web corpus of Lithuanian.

Between Two Minds: The Work of Peirce’s Energetic Interpretant

Abstract This inquiry illustrates how Peirce’s Energetic Interpretant facilitates consciousness-raising between sign users. Because it forces attention and progression of action, the Energetic Interpretant highlights perfective aspectual characteristics, namely atomistic/punctual cause-effect sign relations by featuring junctures between events: beginning, middle, end. For example, the stops and starts of events are influenced by the nature of the action, in addition to the agent’s idiosyncratic preferences and predilections. The Thirdness underlying it further perpetuates the punctual component (Vendler 1967) present in action relations, operational when effort produces resistance against an opposing force. Because effort can materialize physically, or internally, it demonstrates the continued primacy of Peirce’s categories in fostering certain consequences. Energetic Interpretants can inhibit (Secondness), i.e., attention to one stimulus, while ignoring another. Nonetheless, consciously inhibiting/resisting a force (via Energetic Interpretants) introduces control beyond the self—another’s reflections upon the conscious acts of an agent (ms 318). This influence between interlocutors satisfies Peirce’s maxim of a “common place to stand” (ms 614), demonstrating mutual comprehension of the sign’s proper effect (5.475). In fact, Energetic Interpretants may result in an effect of such proportion upon either or both interlocutors that a habit-change materializes. As such, Energetic Interpretants epitomize the perfectivity exercised by particular efforts, intimating the likelihood of their discursive success. Inherent in punctual events (versus dynamic ones) is the element of surprise, which ultimately hastens the kind of habit-change especially exhibited in Peirce’s double consciousness (5.53)—self talking to self or other.

Aspectual information of durativity/punctuality impacts the countability of deverbal nouns in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper explores the countability of deverbal bare singular nouns in Brazilian Portuguese, such as chute ‘kick’ in Maria deu mais chute ‘Maria did more kicking/Maria did more kicks’. More specifically, it investigates whether the aspectual information of a verb impacts the count (cardinal interpretation) or mass (volume/intensity interpretation) interpretation of a bare singular noun. Based on the results of a forced choice task replicating Barner, Wagner, and Snedeker (2008) for English, we show that deverbal bare singulars in Brazilian Portuguese allow count and mass interpretations, depending on the aspectual features of the verbs they are derived from. Punctual events were more likely than durative events to be associated with a cardinal/count response. These results corroborate previous analysis of bare singulars in Brazilian Portuguese, whereby these nouns allow both count and mass interpretations (Pires de Oliveira & Rothstein 2011b).

Atmospheric levels of BPA associated with particulate matter in an urban environment

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an Endocrine disruptor compound (EDC), capable of interfering with hormone related pathways and cause adverse effects, for example, in the reproductive system in wildlife and humans. As it has multiple applications and uses, mainly in the manufacturing of plastic and resin products, increasing amounts are being released into the environment with resulting enhanced exposure pathways. Since negative effects have been demonstrated even at low doses, it has been increasingly studied. However, these investigations have focused on BPA leaching from food cans, drinks and other consumer products as the oral exposure route is believed to be the most important. Consequently, the potential hazards of dermal or inhalation exposure resulting from the current levels of BPA in the atmosphere are poorly understand. Of the few studies reporting BPA occurrence in air, none of these were carried out in South American countries. Thus, the aim the present investigation was to assess BPA current levels in particulate matter in an urban environment (Córdoba, Argentina) and to analyze its spatial-temporal trends and the influence of meteorological parameters using a medium volume air sampler. Our results suggested a spatial trend that decreased according to the distance to emission sources in the order: Industrial area > City Centre > University campus, whose levels were comparable to other urban cities and with the temporal trend showing a higher prevalence of the compound in the colder months. Wind speed (WS), temperature (T), atmospheric pressure (AP) and relative humidity (RL) were the most influenced variables. However daily values are unpredictable and depend mainly on the emission sources and punctual events that release BPA into the atmosphere.No risk factor could be quantified since there is no reference value for this exposure route; Nevertheless, this study represents the first approach and provides data about this emergent pollutant in and Argentinean city, thus contributing to global BPA studies.

Event-duration semantics in online sentence processing

Several experiments in Psycholinguistics found evidences of Iterative Coercion, an effect related to the reanalysis of punctual events used in durative contexts triggering an iterative meaning. We argue that this effect is not related to aspectual features, and that event-duration semantics is accessed during Sentence Processing. We ran a self-paced reading experiment in Brazilian Portuguese whose sentences contain events with an average duration of a few minutes. These sentences were inserted in durative contexts that became the experiment’s conditions following a Latin Square design: control condition (minutes), subtractive (seconds), iterative (hours) and habitual (days). Higher RTs were measured at the critical segments of all experimental conditions, except for the habitual context. The results corroborated our hypothesis while defying the psychological reality of habitual coercion. To better observe the habitual coercion condition, we now present a reanalysis of Sampaio et al. (2014) data. The present analysis confirms the results of our tests.***Semântica da duração de eventos no processamento online de sentenças***Diversos experimentos psicolinguísticos encontraram evidências da CoerçãoIterativa, um efeito relacionado à reanálise de eventos pontuais usados emcontextos durativos, que resultam numa leitura iterativa. Nesse trabalho argumentamos que esse efeito não é relacionado a propriedades aspectuais e que a semântica da duração dos eventos é acessada online. Aplicamos um experimento de leitura auto-monitorada em Português Brasileiro, cujas sentenças contém eventos com duração média de alguns minutos. Estas sentenças foram inseridas em quatro condições durativas, seguindo uma distribuição fatorial (quadrado latino):condição controle (minutos), subtrativa (segundos), iterativa (horas) e habitual (dias). Nossos resultados indicam maiores RTs nos segmentos críticos das condições experimentais, exceto em relação a condição habitual. Esses resultados confirmam nossa hipótese, porém, põem em cheque a realidade psicológica da coerção habitual. Assim, para melhor observar os efeitos dessa condição, procedemos uma reanálise dos dados de Sampaio et al. (2014), que finalmente veio confirmar o resultado de nosso teste.

Spatial analysis to identify invasion colonization strategies and management priorities in riparian ecosystems

Abstract Exotic species have different strategies to invade a new area. Invasive species limited by establishment have a wide dispersion range and high seedling mortality rate. Riparian forests are harsh environments for the establishment of plants. In this sense, we tested the hypothesis that the invasive process of G. triacanthos is limited by establishment in a riparian forest of the Uruguay River and that it begins in the fluvial bank at the transition zone between forest and grassland and moves towards the shore border. We expected that: (1) the distribution pattern of adults of G. triacanthos would be decoupled from the distribution pattern of seedlings and saplings (pre-reproductive stages); (2) the population would have a cluster distribution pattern related to the occurrence of punctual events that favoured the development to adult stages; and (3) the abundance of seedlings, saplings and adults would be higher in the transition zone (between forest and grassland) than in the shore border of the fluvial bank. The spatial pattern of G. triacanthos along the Uruguay River was analyzed using spatial point pattern analysis: autocorrelation indexes, hot spots and wavelet analysis. The effect of the fluvial bank position on the abundance of G. triacanthos was evaluated using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). This methodology allowed us to detect a primary invasion area, an invasion focus and the dispersal area. This pattern corresponded to an infiltration invasion pattern limited by establishment. It did not seem to be affected by position in the fluvial bank. This information could be relevant to establish correct decision-making in the control of an invasive process and provide an applicable methodology for any other invasion process, especially in riparian ecosystems.

Diel cycles of reduced manganese and their seasonal variability in the Marque River (northern France)

Electrolabile reduced manganese (II) has been monitored by voltammetry during two periods of one month in summer 2014 and at the end of winter 2015 in a small river (the Marque River) located in northern France and going through a suburban area with agricultural activities. Diel variations, evolution within the one-month periods and seasonal differences have been observed. Taking into consideration the multiple physical, biological and chemical reactions regulating manganese speciation in aquatic systems, it has been demonstrated that manganese speciation is probably controlled by the competition of two antagonist reactions: the photoreduction of manganese oxides (in broad sense and represented thereafter by MnOx) and the biotic oxidation of Mn(II). Depending on the season, the biological activity in the river and the amount of luminosity reaching the MnOx, either the production of reduced labile Mn(II) or the precipitation of MnOx can become the dominant process. Other punctual events such as the drop of oxygen concentration due to large inputs of biodegradable organic matter and eutrophication phenomena, rainy events and high luminosity periods can also affect the behaviour of dissolved Mn(II) in the Marque River and so, of other contaminants.

Segmenting the Belgian charitable sector: The impact of environmental factors on households' generosity

Research on charitable giving has known a renewed interest over the last years. Despite a recent evolution, the literature remains predominantly Anglo‐Saxon, and studies are consequently conducted in societies marked by a strong charitable giving culture. In that respect, donors are generally considered as isolated individuals, and the impact of social and environmental factors such as public policies, institutional specificities, and punctual events is often underestimated. Moreover, research on generosity often suffers from the absence of reliable data, free of desirability bias. Based on fiscal data of tax returns and gift tax returns provided by the official Belgian statistics bureau, this research investigates individual donating behaviors while considering the influence of environmental determinants on generosity. More specifically, we empirically assess the generosity of Belgian households over a period of 8 years marked by natural disasters, massive calls for public generosity, and changes in tax policies. Among other things, we qualify the results of previous research on the role of age and open the debate on the role of household composition as a variable for segmenting donors. Finally, we propose leads for future research in order to stimulate further academic effort on the topic.

Understanding of object properties by sloth bears, Melursus ursinus ursinus

Recent studies have shown that several species within the Carnivore order show impressive cognitive skills. However, bears, especially sloth bears, have received little attention with regard to their cognitive abilities. Here we presented seven sloth bears with three tasks to test their object permanence, short-term memory and ability to use acoustic cues to infer food location. In the object permanence test, subjects saw an object disappear in one of the three holes of a tree trunk. Bears retrieved the food in the correct hole significantly above chance, suggesting that they have some basic understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible. To study sloth bears' short-term memory, we used different time delays (30 s, 60 s, 2 min) between the object's disappearance and the subject's retrieval. Bears performed at chance levels in all conditions. In the acoustic cues test, the experimenter shook one of two identical opaque containers, only one of which had been baited: when the baited container was shaken, this made a noise and thus revealed the presence of food inside; when the unbaited container was shaken, there was no noise, revealing by exclusion the presence of food in the other container. In both cases, bears selected the baited container significantly above chance. As sloth bears are a mainly insectivorous solitary species, good performance in the object permanence and acoustic cue tests suggests that their cognitive skills may be the result of foraging challenges rather than social ones. Failure in the short-term memory test, instead, may suggest that memory for short-term punctual events has little evolutionary significance for bears, although further studies are needed to draw definitive conclusions.

Mapping the narratives of natural disasters and their domino effects. The case study of floods impacting railways

ABSTRACTStudying past at-risk phenomena is useful to prepare against future risks. Thanks to maps, it is possible to locate historical events in their spatial context. Animation and interactivity support the analysis of the dynamics of events. This paper deals with a visual method to represent narratives of past natural risk events in a map. It is based on the case study of past floods, which impacted the railway network. Map visualizations were developed with experts of the railway system, to overcome two main challenges: to visualize punctual events which have occurred at the same place over time and to display causality relationships between events in order to show domino effects. Proposals were evaluated during a user study. It showed that the combination between an animated map and a synthesis map helped users to carry out different tasks. It also showed that the combination between a map and a timeline, in a geovisualization interface, increased the efficiency of the exploration of flood narratives.

Seismogenic rotational slumps and translational glides in pelagic deep-water carbonates. Upper Tithonian-Berriasian of Southern Tethyan margin (W Sicily, Italy)

Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs), which reflect sediment mobilization processes, are helpful to identify punctual events of paleoenvironmental stresses. In the upper Tithonian-Berriasian calpionellid pelagic limestone of the Lattimusa Fm. outcropping in the Barracù section (W Sicily), paleoenvironmental restoration reveals the occurrence of a deep-water flat basin, characterised by undeformed planar bedding, laterally passing to a gentle slope where the deformed horizons alternate with undeformed beds. Here, two types of gravity slides have been differentiated on the basis of different kinds of SSDSs, brittle deformation, involved lithofacies, geometry and morphology. Type 1 slump sheets, involving marl-limestone couplets, are characterised by chaotic stratification, truncated beds, recumbent folds, tension gashes, clastic dikes and small-scale listric normal faults and thrusts. They moved downslope as a rotational slump, displaying the typical wedge-shaped morphology, becoming thicker toe-wards. Type 2 slump sheets, involving bed packages of lime mudstone, are characterised by arcuate slump scars developing downwards as listric normal faults, associated with rotational beds and bulging. Displaying tabular geometries, they moved coherently along an overall bedding parallel detachment surface as a translational glide characterised by sediment creep.Regional geology indicates that the basin (Sicanian), bordered by a stepped carbonate platform, was affected by synsedimentary tectonics throughout the Mesozoic. The synsedimentary extensional tectonics that affect the Upper Triassic-Jurassic deposits with steeped normal faults, causing tilt-block and instability of the seafloor through fluidization processes, triggered the rotational slumps of the lower portion of the section. Seismic shocks, induced by outside sector tectonics, like those recorded in the adjacent Busambra stepped carbonate platform margin, triggered the rotational slumps that are not related to local-scale faults. To explain the translational glides of the upper portion of the section, the aforementioned outside sector earthquakes produced instability of the sea-floor through thixotropy of marls. In this case, the driving forces (i.e., gravitational) were favoured by the uplifting trend that is well recorded in the Southern Tethyan continental margin.We suggest that the various early deformations represent rotational slump and sediment creep that may be characteristic for slump structures in pelagic carbonates, depending on the involved lithologies (i.e., paleoenvironmental setting) and the intensity/distance of the trigger mechanism (i.e., earthquake epicentre).

Desarrollo larval de anfibios anuros en un río impactado por urbanización: efecto de factores ambientales

En este trabajo se estudio el efecto de variables ambientales sobre la abundancia y el desarrollo larval de anuros, en un rio urbanizado de la provincia de San Luis, Argentina. Abundancia y riqueza de larvas, temperatura del agua y caudal fueron relevados, en siete sitios con diferente grado de urbanizacion del rio Volcan, durante cuatro meses. Las larvas se identificaron a nivel de especie, y en una muestra se midio su longitud y se estimo su estadio; se encontraron larvas de tres especies: Rhinella arenarum, Hypsiboas pulchellus y Odontophrynus occidentalis. La abundancia y riqueza de larvas variaron entre sitios y, aunque no se correlacionaron significativamente con la urbanizacion, fue posible identificar eventos puntuales de impacto sobre la abundancia. Las larvas de anuros crecieron y se desarrollaron en sitios con diferentes grados de perturbacion, y fue posible establecer efectos del caudal, la temperatura del agua y la antropizacion en el crecimiento y desarrollo. Este trabajo proporciona informacion basica relevante sobre el desarrollo de anuros en ambientes loticos y los efectos de variables ambientales en sitios con impacto urbano. Los conocimientos generados son de utilidad para analisis integrados de calidad ambiental y como herramientas para medidas basicas de conservacion de la anurofauna nativa.Palabras clave: abundancia, larvas, impactos ambientales.

Negative effects of wind speed on individual foraging performance and breeding success in little penguins

AbstractMost effects of environmental and climate variability on predator life history traits and population dynamics result from indirect effects mediated through the food chain. There is growing evidence that wind strength might affect seabirds while foraging at sea. Here, we investigated the effect of wind speed on the foraging performance of a flightless marine predator, the little penguin (Eudyptula minor). To this end, we used satellite‐derived wind data collected over 11 breeding seasons during which the daily attendance and body mass changes of more than 200 penguins breeding at Phillip Island (Victoria, Australia) were recorded by an automated penguin monitoring system. Over 17 363 foraging trips, we found that wind speed had important effects on foraging and provisioning parameters in breeding adults. During incubation and chick‐guard, stronger winds were associated with decreased foraging efficiency (lower body mass gain). During chick‐guard, stronger winds were furthermore associated with lower meal sizes provided to the chicks, but parental body reserves appeared unaffected. Under extreme wind conditions (>14 m/s) during the post‐guard phase, adults maintained their body reserves by shifting towards longer foraging trips, while providing chicks with smaller meals. Chick meal size and foraging trip duration during chick rearing had direct effects on breeding success, suggesting that the influence of wind on individual fitness was mediated by changes in foraging performances and success. Furthermore, using a long‐term wind data series spanning 150‐yr from a coastal wind station, we found a slight decline in wind speed and a decrease in wind speed variability in the Bass Strait where little penguins forage. Interestingly, based on this wind data, we found birds to be more directly affected by punctual events of strong winds (e.g. storms or gales), than by an overall change in wind patterns over time. Potential candidate mechanisms mediating the effects of wind speed on foraging efficiency may include swell formation, energy costs of travelling and thermoregulation, and a possible disruption of thermoclines, which may be important for little penguins. Plasticity in foraging strategies allowed parents to partially compensate for negative wind effects.

Http://ria.revuesonline.com/article.jsp?articleId=19005

Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the emotion contagion phenomenon in order to model emerging group behaviour. In this article, we propose the MA/SDEC (Mixed Agent/Social Dynamics for Emotion Computation) architecture in order to manage the set of emotional dynamics : punctual events, temporal dynamics and external influences. In an embodied agent approach, the first is the responsibility of the agent’s mind, the second of the agent’s body, and the third of the environment. We show how contagion can be calculated when social relations between agents are unknown. Several experiments allow us to validate the model, analyze its properties, calibrate its parameters and evaluate its performance.

Monitoring of trace metals and pharmaceuticals as anthropogenic and socio-economic indicators of urban and industrial impact on surface waters

The research focuses on the monitoring of trace metals and pharmaceuticals as potential anthropogenic indicators of industrial and urban influences on surface water. This study includes analysis of tracers use for the indication of water pollution events and discussion of the detection method of these chemicals. The following criteria were proposed for the evaluation of indicators: specificity (physical chemical properties), variability (spatial and temporal), and practicality (capacity of the sampling and analytical techniques). The combination of grab and passive water sampling (i.e., diffusive gradient in the thin film and polar organic chemical integrated samplers) procedure was applied for the determination of dissolved and labile trace metals (Ag, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) and pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, diazepam, paracetamol, caffeine, diclofenac, and ketoprofen). Samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MS; trace metals) and liquid chromatography-tandem MS electrospray ionization+/- (pharmaceuticals). Our results demonstrate the distinctive spatial and temporal patterns of trace elements distribution along an urban watercourse. Accordingly, two general groups of trace metals have been discriminated: "stable" (Cd and Cr) and "time varying" (Cu, Zn, Ni, and Pb). The relationship Cd >> Cu > Ag > Cr ≥ Zn was proposed as an anthropogenic signature of the industrial and urban activities pressuring the environment from point sources (municipal wastewaters) and the group Pb-Ni was discussed as a relevant fingerprint of the economic activity (industry and transport) mainly from non-point sources (runoff, atmospheric depositions, etc.). Pharmaceuticals with contrasting hydro-chemical properties of molecules (water solubility, bioaccumulation, persistence during wastewater treatment processes) were discriminated on conservative, labile, and with combined properties in order to provide information on wastewater treatment plant efficiency, punctual events (e.g., accidents on sewage works, runoff), and uncontrolled discharges. Applying mass balance modeling, medicaments were described as relevant socio-economic indicators, which can give a picture of main social aspects of the region.

Health status of Pomatoschistus microps populations in relation to pollution and natural stressors: implications for ecological risk assessment

Effects induced on wild populations by recurrent environmental contamination may difficult the ecological risk assessment of punctual pollution events such as oil spills. Here, the issue was addressed by comparing the health status of Pomatoschistus microps populations from four NW Iberian estuaries, using an integrated chemical–biological monitoring. Despite high seasonal variability, the parameters measured discriminated estuaries with different contamination levels and associated biological effects with chemical and abiotic stress. The decreased health status of fish from polluted sites strengthens the need of considering pollution-induced background effects and seasonal variability when assessing impacts and risks of oil and other chemical spills.

Spontaneous brain activity as a source of ideal1/fnoise

We study the electroencephalogram (EEG) of 30 closed-eye awake subjects with a technique of analysis recently proposed to detect punctual events signaling rapid transitions between different metastable states. After single-EEG-channel event detection, we study global properties of events simultaneously occurring among two or more electrodes termed coincidences. We convert the coincidences into a diffusion process with three distinct rules that can yield the same mu only in the case where the coincidences are driven by a renewal process. We establish that the time interval between two consecutive renewal events driving the coincidences has a waiting-time distribution with inverse power-law index mu approximately 2 corresponding to ideal 1/f noise. We argue that this discovery, shared by all subjects of our study, supports the conviction that 1/f noise is an optimal communication channel for complex networks as in art or language and may therefore be the channel through which the brain influences complex processes and is influenced by them.

Events and the ontology of individuals: Verbs as a source of individuating mass and count nouns

What does mass–count syntax contribute to the interpretation of noun phrases (NPs), and how much of NP meaning is contributed by lexical items alone? Many have argued that count syntax specifies reference to countable individuals (e.g., cats) while mass syntax specifies reference to unindividuated entities (e.g., water). We evaluated this claim using the quantity judgment method, and tested the interpretation of words used in mass and count syntax that described either protracted, “durative” events (e.g., mass: some dancing; count: a dance), or instantaneous, “punctual” events (e.g., mass: some jumping; count: a jump). For durative words, participants judged, for example, that six brief dances are more dances but less dancing than two long dances, thus showing a significant difference in their interpretation of the count and mass usages. However, for punctual words, participants judged, for example, that six small jumps are both more jumps and more jumping than two long jumps, resulting in no difference due to mass–count syntax. Further, when asked which dimensions are important for comparing quantities of durative and punctual events, participants ranked number as first in importance for durative and punctual words presented in count syntax, but also for punctual words presented in mass syntax. These results indicate that names for punctual events individuate when used in either mass or count syntax, and thus provide evidence against the idea that mass syntax forces an unindividuated construal. They also indicate that event punctuality as encoded by verbs is importantly linked to the individuation of NPs, and may access a common underlying ontology of individuals.