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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Counting And Measuring: A Theoretical And Crosslinguistic Account, Susan Rothstein
Counting And Measuring: A Theoretical And Crosslinguistic Account, Susan Rothstein
Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication
In this paper, I show that expressions like two glasses of wine are ambiguous between counting and measuring interpretations, and that each interpretation is associated with a different semantic representation. In each interpretation, glasses has a different function. In the counting interpretation, glasses is a relational noun, while in the measure interpretation, glasses is a measure head analogous to litre. This difference leads to a number of grammatical contrasts which can be explained by differences in the grammatical structure. I discuss whether these differences are only semantic or also expressed in the syntactic representation. The assumption that syntax directly reflects …
Container Constructions In Yudja: Locatives, Individuation And Measure, Suzi Lima
Container Constructions In Yudja: Locatives, Individuation And Measure, Suzi Lima
Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication
The possible interpretations of container phrases (such as ‘cups of sugar’) has been long debated in the formal semantics literature because container phrases can be associated with a variety of possible readings that go from individuation to measure. In this paper we explore the interpretation of container phrases in Yudja (Tupi stock, Brazil), a language where container phrases are optional in construction with numerals and are morphosyntactically identical to locative phrases. Based on experimental studies with Yudja children and adults we intend to show that these expressions are ambiguous in at least three ways (locative, individuation and measure) and that …