Singular, plural, and mass nouns
Marcin Wągiel
Brno, 10.10.2017
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Classification I
Subclasses of sg, pl, and mass
(adapted from Lasersohn 2011)
▶ ordinary singulars
(1) a. book
b. student
▶ collective (group/bunch/swarm) nouns (singulars)
(2) a. committee
b. swarm
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Classification II
▶ lexical plurals
(3) a. cattle
b. police
▶ ordinary plurals
(4) a. books
b. students
▶ individuated pluralia tantum
(5) a. scissors
b. glasses
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Classification III
▶ neat (heterogeneous/fake/object) mass nouns
(6) a. furniture
b. footware
▶ mess (homogeneous) mass nouns
(7) a. water
b. gold
▶ mass plurals
(8) a. clothes
b. leftovers
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Patterns I
property ord.sg coll.sg lex.pl ord.pl pl.tant ≈mass mass mass.pl
agree sg sg/pl pl pl pl sg pl pl
cumul.ref * * ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
bare * * ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
much * * * * * ✓ ✓ ✓
numerals * * ? ✓ * * * *
many * * ✓ ✓ ✓ * * *
distr.pred ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * *
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Properties I
Agreement: singular vs. plural
▶ ordinary singulars
(9) a. The book is on a table.
b. *The book are on a table.
▶ collective nouns
(10) a. The committee is failing to achieve its goals.
b. The committee are failing to achieve their
goals.
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Properties II
▶ lexical plurals
(11) a. *The cattle is being slaughtered.
b. The cattle are being slaughtered.
▶ ordinary plurals
(12) a. *The books is on a table.
b. The books are on a table.
▶ pluralia tantum
(13) a. *The scissors is on a table.
b. The scissors are on a table.
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Properties III
▶ neat mass nouns
(14) a. The furniture has been destroyed.
b. *The furniture have been destroyed.
▶ mess mass nouns
(15) a. This water has been contaminated.
b. *This water have been contaminated.
▶ plural mass nouns
(16) a. *Your clothes looks good.
b. Your clothes look good.
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Properties IV
Cumulative reference
(17) a. ∃xy[P(x) ∧ P(y) ∧ x ̸= y] ∧ ∀xy[P(x) ∧ P(y) →
P(x ⊕ y)]
b. A is X and B is X; therefore A and B together are
X.
▶ ordinary singulars
(18) *This is a book and this is a book; therefore these
two entities together are a book.
▶ collective nouns
(19) *This is a committee and this is a committee;
therefore these two entities together are a
committee.
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Properties V
▶ lexical plurals
(20) This is cattle and this is cattle; therefore these
two entities together are cattle.
▶ ordinary plurals
(21) These are books and these are books; therefore
these two entities together are books.
▶ pluralia tantum
(22) These are scissors and these are scissors; therefore
these two entities together are scissors.
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Properties VI
▶ neat mass nouns
(23) This is furniture and this is furniture; therefore
these two entities together are furniture.
▶ mess mass nouns
(24) This is water and this is water; therefore these two
entities together are water.
▶ plural mass nouns
(25) These are clothes and these are clothes; therefore
these two entities together are clothes.
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Properties VII
Possibility of bare forms
▶ ordinary singulars
(26) *Book is on a table.
▶ collective nouns
(27) *Committee is failing to achieve its goals.
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Properties VIII
▶ lexical plurals
(28) Cattle are slaughtered for their meat.
▶ ordinary plurals
(29) Books are on a table.
▶ pluralia tantum
(30) Scissors are on a table.
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Properties IX
▶ neat mass nouns
(31) Furniture has been destroyed.
▶ mess mass nouns
(32) Water has been contaminated.
▶ plural mass nouns
(33) Clothes have been bought.
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Properties X
Compatibility with the quantifier much
▶ ordinary singulars
(34) *Much book is/are on a table.
▶ collective nouns
(35) *Much committee met.
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Properties XI
▶ lexical plurals
(36) *Much police came walking down the road.
▶ ordinary plurals
(37) *Much books are on a table.
▶ pluralia tantum
(38) *Much scissors are on a table.
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Properties XII
▶ neat mass nouns
(39) Much furniture has been destroyed.
▶ mess mass nouns
(40) Much water has been contaminated.
▶ plural mass nouns
(41) Much clothes have been bought.
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Properties XIII
Compatibility with cardinal numerals
▶ ordinary singulars
(42) *Five book are on a table.
▶ collective nouns
(43) *Five committee met.
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Properties XIV
▶ lexical plurals
(44) ?Five police came walking down the road.
▶ ordinary plurals
(45) Five books are on a table.
▶ pluralia tantum
(46) *Five scissors are on a table.
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Properties XV
▶ neat mass nouns
(47) *Five furniture has/have been destroyed.
▶ mess mass nouns
(48) *Five water has/have been contaminated.
▶ plural mass nouns
(49) *Five clothes have been bought.
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Properties XVI
Compatibility with the quantifier many
▶ ordinary singulars
(50) *Many book is/are on a table.
▶ collective nouns
(51) *Many committee met.
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Properties XVII
▶ lexical plurals
(52) Many police came walking down the road.
▶ ordinary plurals
(53) Many books are on a table.
▶ pluralia tantum
(54) Many scissors are on a table.
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Properties XVIII
▶ neat mass nouns
(55) *Many furniture has/have been destroyed.
▶ mess mass nouns
(56) *Many water has/have been contaminated.
▶ plural mass nouns
(57) *Many clothes have been bought.
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Properties XIX
Stubbornly distributive predicates
▶ ordinary singulars
(58) This book is small.
▶ collective nouns
(59) This committee is small.
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Properties XX
▶ lexical plurals
(60) These cattle are small.
▶ ordinary plurals
(61) These books are small.
▶ pluralia tantum
(62) These scissors are small.
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Properties XXI
▶ neat mass nouns
(63) This furniture is small.
▶ mess mass nouns
(64) *This water is small.
▶ plural mass nouns
(65) *These clothes are small.
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Assignment I
▶ Read Section 1 in Lasersohn (2011) [see Study Materials
in IS]
▶ Analyze the battery of the tests introduced above
▶ Decide which tests can be applied to your language
▶ Think of distinct classes of nouns in your language
▶ Apply the relevant test to different classes of nouns in
your language
▶ Classify nouns in your language according to the results
▶ Submit the classification including examples, glosses,
translations, and comments [via Homework Vaults in IS]
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