Abstract
We argue that two types of context are central to grounding the semantics for the mass/count distinction. We combine and develop the accounts of Rothstein (2010) and Landman (2011), which emphasize (non-)overlap at a context. We also adopt some parts of Chierchia’s (2010) account which uses precisifying contexts. We unite these strands in a two-dimensional semantics that covers a wide range of the puzzling variation data in mass/count lexicalization. Most importantly, it predicts where we should expect to find such variation for some classes of nouns but not for others, and also explains why.
Keywords: mass/count distinction, two-dimensional semantics, nouns, counting, context
How to Cite:
Sutton, P. R. & Filip, H., (2016) “Mass/Count Variation: A Mereological, Two-Dimensional Semantics”, Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication 1(2016). doi: https://doi.org/10.4148/1944-3676.1110
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