Parts of a Whole

ebook ∣ Distributivity as a Bridge between Aspect and Measurement · Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

By Lucas Champollion

cover image of Parts of a Whole

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Format

ebook

ISBN

9780198755135

Series

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

Author

Lucas Champollion

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Release

09 March 2017

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Subjects

Language Arts Nonfiction
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This book uses mathematical models of language to explain why there are certain gaps in language: things that we might expect to be able to say but can't. For instance, why can we say I ran for five minutes but not

  • I ran all the way to the store for five minutes? Why is five pounds of books acceptable, but
  • five pounds of book not acceptable? What prevents us from saying
  • sixty degrees of water to express the temperature of the water in a swimming pool when sixty inches of water can express its depth? And why can we not say
  • all the ants in my kitchen are numerous? The constraints on these constructions involve concepts that are generally studied separately: aspect, plural and mass reference, measurement, and distributivity. In this book, Lucas Champollion provides a unified perspective on these domains, connects them formally within the framework of algebraic semantics and mereology, and uses this connection to transfer insights across unrelated bodies of literature and formulate a single constraint that explains each of the judgments above.

    • Format

    ebook

    ISBN

    9780198755135

    Series

    Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

    Author

    Lucas Champollion

    Publisher

    OUP Oxford

    Release

    09 March 2017

    Share

    Subjects

    Language Arts Nonfiction
    Parts of a Whole