Disambiguating quantity judgements: mass/count and extra-grammatical cues

Authors

  • Sven Smeman
  • Maaike Smit
  • James A. Hampton
  • Yoad Winter

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/elm.3.5811

Keywords:

comparatives, mass nouns, count nouns, disambiguation, grinding, packaging

Abstract

Comparative quantity judgements are a useful probe into the semantics of the mass/count distinction, where count nouns usually trigger cardinal comparisons (more dogs), and mass nouns trigger non-cardinal measurement (more rice). However, exceptions like ‘object’ mass nouns (furniture) and ‘mixed’ comparatives (more gold than diamonds) complicate this pattern. In such cases there is often a mismatch between the mass/count status of the noun and the criterion for comparison, which challenges our understanding of the mass/count distinction and how it affects quantity judgements. We propose that these mismatches reflect a systematic ambiguity, where the mass/count distinction is one of the factors influencing disambiguation. Using a new experimental method focused on ambiguity judgements instead of truth-value judgements, the results support the traditional semantic encoding of the mass/count distinction, with operations of ‘packaging’ and ‘grinding’ triggered by extra-grammatical factors.

Downloads

Published

2025-01-24

Issue

Section

Articles