Mass and count properties of nouns and verbs
The purpose of this chapter is to look at parallels and differences
代写英语论文betweenthe nominal and verbal systems which are relevant for the way they interactwith quantifying expressions. In this respect the mass/count distinction isa central issue. The example in (1) illustrates the interaction betweenquantifying expressions and the mass/count distinction in the nominalsystem. Whereas much selects a mass noun (bread), many combines with acount plural (sandwiches):
(1) a. John eats too much bread/*sandwiches for breakfast
b. John eats too many sandwiches/*bread for breakfast
The mass/count distinction for nominals has often been compared to
aspectual differences in the verbal domain. Atelic or unbounded verbs, suchas to run, are compared to mass nouns, and telic or bounded predicates,such as to run into the house, are compared to count nouns. Yet, as willbecome clear in the course of this
thesis, the similarities are only partiallyreflected by the way they combine with quantifiers.
This chapter and chapter three are meant to be a primer for the rest of
the thesis, where the quantifying expressions themselves will be in the centreof our attention. For the time being Qs will be mentioned only in as far asthey illustrate aspects of the mass/count distinction. For ease of exposition,the examples will mostly be taken from English.
Abstract nouns and verbs will mostly be disregarded in this chapter, but
I will come back to them in chapters 5 and 6. It will turn out that psych
verbs do not behave in the same way as the stage-level verbs on which I
will concentrate in this chapter, while abstract nouns, when used in
argument position, do not seem to have properties that are very different
from those of other mass or count nouns.
In the first section the mass/count distinction in the nominal system willbe discussed and in the second section properties of mass and count nouns
18 CHAPTER 2
will be compared to mass and count verb phrases. It will become clear thatverbs do exhibit a mass/count distinction which is similar, in severalrespects, to the one found in the nominal system. Next to the parallels,there are some striking differences as well, the most remarkable one beingthat the mass/count distinction in the verbal system is to a large extentcompositional (cf. Verkuyl 1972), and depends on the reference propertiesof certain argumental noun phrases. These arguments are said to MEASUREOUT the event. The discussion of measuring out will be postponed until
chapter 3.
2.1 Mass nouns and count nouns
The basic semantic difference between mass and count nouns seems to be
that count terms always provide us with a criterion for counting, while massnouns do not, or as I will argue below, not necessarily. Nouns such as water,gold and wine are mass nouns and refer to substance, while lake, ring and bottleare count nouns and refer to objects. The distinction between the two typesof nouns is justified by their syntactic distribution. Next to the nouns that
refer to physical objects (count) and stuff (mass) there are also abstractnouns that share the mass or count syntax with the count or the massnouns. Count nouns such as idea, characteristic and opinion do not refer tophysical objects but do provide a criterion for counting and share thedistribution of count nouns. Happiness and appreciation, on the other hand, donot, and function as mass nouns.
In the
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