1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793960603321

Autore

Gardelle Laure

Titolo

Semantic plurality : English collective nouns and other ways of denoting pluralities of entities / / Laure Gardelle, Université Grenoble Alpes/LIDILEM

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Amsterdam ; ; Philadelphia : , : John Benjamins Publishing Company, , [2019]

©2019

ISBN

90-272-6174-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 215 pages)

Collana

Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory ; ; Volume 349

Disciplina

425.5

Soggetti

Grammar, Comparative and general - Collective nouns

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Sommario/riassunto

"This monograph proposes a comparative approach to all the ways of denoting 'more than one' entity, from collective and aggregate nouns (with the first-ever typology), to count plurals, partly substantivised adjectives and conjoined NPs. This semantic feature approach to plurality, which cuts across number, the count/non-count distinction, and lexical/NP levels, reveals a very consistent Scale of Unit Integration, which establishes clear-cut boundaries for collective nouns, and accommodates cases such as three elephant, cattle or a chain of islands. The study also offers a refined understanding of aggregate nouns (a category nearly as large as that of collective nouns) and quantification in pseudo-partitives, develops Guillaume's notion of 'internal plurality', and proposes the innovative concept of 'hyperonyms of plural classes' (e.g. furniture). The Animacy Hierarchy is also found to be influential, beyond hybrid agreement. The book is meant to be accessible to scholars of any theoretical background interested in these topics"--