Counting Minimal Groups: Towards a Unified Semantics of the Polish Measure Word 'Para'
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Grazer Linguistische Studien |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | obsah relevantního čísla časopisu |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | measure words; pluralia tantum; collectivity; atomicity; plurality |
| Description | In this squib I discuss a puzzle concerning the Polish measure word para (‘pair of’) and its supposedly heterogeneous behavior in phrases in which it combines with regular count nouns and, on the other hand, with pluralia tantum. The puzzle concerns the different cardinality of denoted objects and the relationship between atomicity and collectivity. Building on the theory of Krifka (1995) which I extend with the group-forming operation developed by Landman (1989) I propose a unified semantic interpretation of para. I posit that the denotation of regular count nouns includes only sums of individuals whereas pluralia tantum denote complete semi-lattices. In each case, para selects a minimal element of the denotation of a noun, i.e., either a sum consisting of 2 individuals or an atom, and turns it into a group which can be further counted. |