University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Atomic Mass Nouns: Unity, Plurality and Semantic Flexibility

Cai, Haitao

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89944

Description

Title
Atomic Mass Nouns: Unity, Plurality and Semantic Flexibility
Author(s)
Cai, Haitao
Issue Date
2016
Keyword(s)
  • Mass nouns
  • semantics
  • linguistics
  • atomic mass nouns
  • morphosyntax
Abstract
Atomic mass nouns share morphosyntactic properties with prototypical mass nouns. At the same time, the former semantically deviate from the latter. Based on re-examined empirical data, I propose that the semantics of atomic mass nouns is flexible. Particularly, a semantic shift occurs when the default interpretation of an atomic mass noun results in implausible interpretation or ungrammaticality.
Publisher
Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Series/Report Name or Number
Proceedings of ILLS7
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89944

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Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers PRIMARY
The online working papers of the UIUC Department of Linguistics