Introduction

doi:10.1017/9781316823774.002

Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 June 2021

Hana Filip

Edited by

Hana Filip

Show author details

Hana Filip: Affiliation:
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Early theories of the mass/count distinction in formal semantics and philosophy attempted to analyze the meanings of mass and count nouns in terms of properties like cumulativity, divisivity (due to Quine 1960), atomicity, and homogeneity, among others (see Pelletier 1979 and references therein). Many also agree that such properties are best represented in algebraic or mereological terms. This idea was introduced into formal semantics by Link (1983). His main innovation is to propose that the domain of (concrete) entities has the algebraic structure of a complete join semi-lattice. This allows him to model the differences between mass and count nouns, on the one hand, as well as similarities between mass and plural nouns, on the other hand. There is a sortal semantic distinction between mass and count nouns, which is based on the atomic and non-atomic ontological distinction (see, e.g., Link 1983, 1998), and modeled by means of an atomic and a non-atomic join semi-lattice, respectively. Count nouns are interpreted in the atomic lattice, mass nouns in the non-atomic one. Mass nouns pattern with plurals in having the property of cumulative reference (the term coined by Quine (1960) for the semantics of mass terms, realized as nouns or adjectives).

Type: Chapter
Information: Countability in Natural Language , pp. 1 - 13

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316823774.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bach, Emmon (1986). The algebra of events. Linguistics and Philosophy 9.1: 5–16.Google Scholar

Barner, David, and Snedeker, Jesse (2005). Quantity judgments and individuation: Evidence that mass nouns count. Cognition, 97.1: 41–66.Google Scholar

Champollion, Lucas, and Krifka, Manfred (2016). Mereology. In Aloni, Maria (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Formal Semantics, pp. 513–541. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Chierchia, Gennaro (1998a). Plurality of nouns and the notion of “semantic parameter.” In Rothstein, Susan (ed.), Events and Grammar: Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy Vol. 7, pp. 53–103. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRef Google Scholar

Chierchia, Gennaro (1998b). Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6.4: 339–405.CrossRef Google Scholar

Chierchia, Gennaro (2010). Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation. Synthese 174.1: 99–149.Google Scholar

Grimm, Scott (2012). Number and Individuation. PhD Dissertation, Stanford University.Google Scholar

Krifka, Manfred (1986). Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermen, Individualtermen, Aspektklassen. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Munich, Germany. Published in 1989. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag.Google Scholar

Krifka, Manfred (1989). Nominal reference, temporal constitution and quantification in event semantics. In Bartsch, Renate, van Benthem, Johan, and van Emde Boas, Peter (eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expression, pp. 75–115. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar

Krifka, Manfred (1998). The origins of telicity. In Rothstein, Susan (ed.), Events and Grammar: Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy Vol. 7, pp. 197–236. Dordrecht: Kluwer.Google Scholar

Landman, Fred (1989a). Groups, i. Linguistics and Philosophy 12.5: 559–605.Google Scholar

Landman, Fred (1989b). Groups, ii. Linguistics and Philosophy 12.6: 723–744.CrossRef Google Scholar

Landman, Fred (2011). Count nouns – mass nouns – neat nouns – mess nouns. In Glanzberg, Michael, Partee, Barbara H., and Šķilters, Jurģis (eds.), Formal Semantics and Pragmatics: Discourse, Context and Models. The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 6, 2010, pp. 1–67, http://thebalticyearbook.org/journals/baltic/issue/current.Google Scholar

Lederer, Richard (1998). Crazy English. New York, NY: Pocket Books.Google Scholar

Link, Godehard (1983). The logical analysis of plurals and mass terms: A lattice-theoretic approach. In Bäuerle, Reiner, Schwarze, Christophe, and von Stechow, Arnim (eds.), Meaning, Use, and the Interpretation of Language, pp. 302–323. Berlin: de Gruyter.CrossRef Google Scholar

Link, Godehard (1984). Hydras. On the logic of relative clause constructions with multiple heads. In Landman, Fred and Veltman, Frank (eds.), Varieties of Formal Semantics, GRASS 3, pp. 245–247. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar

Link, Godehard (1987). Algebraic semantics for event structures. In Groenendijk, Jeroen A. G., Stokhof, Martin J. B., and Veltman, Frank J. M. M. (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Amsterdam Colloquium, pp. 153–173. Amsterdam: ITLI.Google Scholar

Link, Godehard (1998). Algebraic Semantics in Language and Philosophy. CSLI Lecture Notes 74. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

McCawley, James D. (1975). Lexicography and the count–mass distinction. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 1975, 314–321.Google Scholar

Partee, Barbara H. (1999). Nominal and temporal semantic structure: Aspect and quantification. In Hajičová, Eva, Hoskovec, Tomáš, Leška, Oldřich, Sgall, Petr, and Skoumalová, Zdena (eds.), Prague Linguistic Circle Papers, Vol. 3, pp. 91–106. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar

Pelletier, Francis J. (1979). Mass Terms: Some Philosophical Problems. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar

Pelletier, Francis J., and Schubert, Lenhart (1989/2003). Mass expressions. In Guenthner, Franz and Gabbay, Dov M. (eds.), Handbook of Philosophical Logic. Volume x, 2nd ed., pp. 249–336. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Updated version of the 1989 version in the 1st ed. of Handbook of Philosophical Logic.Google Scholar

Quine, Willard v. O. (1960). Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar

Rothstein, Susan (2004). Structuring Events: A Study in the Semantics of Aspect. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar

Rothstein, Susan (2010). Counting and the mass/count distinction. Journal of Semantics 27.3: 343–397.Google Scholar

Rothstein, Susan (2017). Semantics for Counting and Measuring: Key Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Scha, Remko (1981). Distributive, collective and cumulative quantification. In Groenendijk, Jeroen A. G., Janssen, Theo M. V., and Stokhof, Martin B. J. (eds.), Formal Methods in the Study of Language, Part 2, pp. 483–512. Amsterdam: Mathematisch Centrum.Google Scholar

Schwarzschild, Roger (1996). Pluralities. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar

Schwarzschild, Roger (2011). Stubborn distributivity, multiparticipant nouns and the count/mass distinction. In Lima, Suzi, Mullin, Kevin, and Smith, Brian (eds.), NELS 39: Proceedings of the North East Linguist Society, pp. 661–678. Amherst, MA: GLSA.Google Scholar

Zucchi, Sandro, and White, Michael (1996). Twigs, sequences and the temporal constitution of predicates. In Galloway, Teresa and Spence, Justin (eds.), Proceedings of SALT 6, pp. 329–346. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.Google Scholar

Zucchi, Sandro, and White, Michael (2001). Twigs, sequences and the temporal constitution of predicates. Linguistics and Philosophy 24.2: 223–270.Google Scholar

Book contents

Introduction

Summary

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive