Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation
Mass nouns, vagueness and semantic variation
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DOI：
10.1007/s11229-009-9686-6
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发表时间：
2010-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.5
通讯作者：
Chierchia, Gennaro
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chierchia, Gennaro
质量/计数的区别吸引了认知科学家的大量关注，可能是因为它从根本上涉及语言（即语法），思想（即语言外概念系统）和现实（即物理世界）之间的关系。在本文中，我探讨的观点，即质量/计数的区别是一个问题的复杂性。虽然每个名词/概念在某种意义上都是模糊的，但大量名词/概念是模糊的，这系统地损害了它们在计数中的使用。据我所知，这一想法从未被系统地研究过。我通过超赋值（更具体地说，是“数据语义”）对其进行建模，使其变得精确。我确定了一些关于质量/计数对比如何在世界语言中编码的共性，沿着一些主要维度，沿着哪些语言可能在这一点上有所不同。我认为，在这里开发的基于知识的模型提供了一个有用的视角。这个结果（除了揭示语义变异之外）似乎表明，重复性不仅仅是普遍语法（UG）与概念/意图系统（采用乔姆斯基的术语）相互作用中出现的界面现象，但它实际上是普遍语法结构的一部分。
The mass/count distinction attracts a lot of attention among cognitive scientists, possibly because it involves in fundamental ways the relation between language (i.e. grammar), thought (i.e. extralinguistic conceptual systems) and reality (i.e. the physical world). In the present paper, I explore the view that the mass/count distinction is a matter of vagueness. While every noun/concept may in a sense be vague, mass nouns/concepts are vague in a way that systematically impairs their use in counting. This idea has never been systematically pursued, to the best of my knowledge. I make it precise relying on supervaluations (more specifically, 'data semantics') to model it. I identify a number of universals pertaining to how the mass/count contrast is encoded in the languages of the world, along with some of the major dimensions along which languages may vary on this score. I argue that the vagueness based model developed here provides a useful perspective on both. The outcome (besides shedding light on semantic variation) seems to suggest that vagueness is not just an interface phenomenon that arises in the interaction of Universal Grammar (UG) with the Conceptual/Intentional System (to adopt Chomsky's terminology), but it is actually part of the architecture of UG.