Semantics for Counting and Measuring
The use of numerals in counting differs quite dramatically across languages. Some languages grammaticalise a contrast between count nouns (three cats, three books) vs 'non-count' or mass nouns (milk, mud), marking this distinction in different ways. Others use a system of numeral classifiers, while yet others use a combination of both. This book draws attention to the contrast between counting and measuring, and shows that it is central to our understanding of how we use numerical expressions, classifiers and count nouns in different languages. It reviews some of the more recent major linguistic results in the semantics of numericals, counting and measuring, and theories of the mass/count distinction, and presents the author's new research on the topic. The book draws heavily on crosslinguistic research, and presents in-depth case studies of the mass/count distinction and counting and measuring in a number of typologically unrelated languages. It also includes chapters on classifiers, constructions and adjectival uses of measure phrases.
1124509628
Semantics for Counting and Measuring
The use of numerals in counting differs quite dramatically across languages. Some languages grammaticalise a contrast between count nouns (three cats, three books) vs 'non-count' or mass nouns (milk, mud), marking this distinction in different ways. Others use a system of numeral classifiers, while yet others use a combination of both. This book draws attention to the contrast between counting and measuring, and shows that it is central to our understanding of how we use numerical expressions, classifiers and count nouns in different languages. It reviews some of the more recent major linguistic results in the semantics of numericals, counting and measuring, and theories of the mass/count distinction, and presents the author's new research on the topic. The book draws heavily on crosslinguistic research, and presents in-depth case studies of the mass/count distinction and counting and measuring in a number of typologically unrelated languages. It also includes chapters on classifiers, constructions and adjectival uses of measure phrases.
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Semantics for Counting and Measuring

Semantics for Counting and Measuring

by Susan Rothstein
Semantics for Counting and Measuring

Semantics for Counting and Measuring

by Susan Rothstein

Hardcover

$138.00 
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Overview

The use of numerals in counting differs quite dramatically across languages. Some languages grammaticalise a contrast between count nouns (three cats, three books) vs 'non-count' or mass nouns (milk, mud), marking this distinction in different ways. Others use a system of numeral classifiers, while yet others use a combination of both. This book draws attention to the contrast between counting and measuring, and shows that it is central to our understanding of how we use numerical expressions, classifiers and count nouns in different languages. It reviews some of the more recent major linguistic results in the semantics of numericals, counting and measuring, and theories of the mass/count distinction, and presents the author's new research on the topic. The book draws heavily on crosslinguistic research, and presents in-depth case studies of the mass/count distinction and counting and measuring in a number of typologically unrelated languages. It also includes chapters on classifiers, constructions and adjectival uses of measure phrases.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781107001275
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 04/06/2017
Series: Key Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics
Pages: 270
Product dimensions: 5.75(w) x 8.82(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Susan Rothstein is a Professor in the Department of English Literature and Linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She has written more than fifty articles and is the author of two previous books, Predicates and their Subjects (2001) and Structuring Events (2004), as well as editor or co-editor of several others.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Numericals and how they work; 3. Counting and measuring; 4. The mass count distinction; 5. Object mass nouns, measuring and counting; 6. A crosslinguistic perspective; 7. The universal grinder; 8. Classifiers; 9. Measures; 10. Additive and attributive uses of measures; 11. In conclusion; ENVOI; References.
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