Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun
This paper aims to broaden our understanding of countability beyond what is found with concrete nouns, providing a one-word case study of the countable and non-countable uses of the noun crime. I show that the behavior of crime runs counter to a variety of expectations inherited from the literature...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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New Prairie Press
2016-12-01
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| Series: | The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://newprairiepress.org/biyclc/vol11/iss1/4 |
| _version_ | 1819009428173619200 |
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| author | Scott Grimm |
| author_facet | Scott Grimm |
| author_sort | Scott Grimm |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims to broaden our understanding of countability beyond what is found with concrete nouns, providing a one-word case study of the countable and non-countable uses of the noun crime. I show that the behavior of crime runs counter to a variety of expectations inherited from the literature on countability: its countable use cannot be directly grounded in atomic acts or events, nor is its non- countable use simply equivalent to a plural individual composed of individual crimes, as one might expect on analogy with certain analyses of furniture. Additionally, while crime has a use as a bare plural, that use does not refer to a kind. A quantitative study supports these conclusions. Altogether, crime demonstrates a novel noun type with respect to its nominal semantics and countability behavior, which is also an indication of the large empirical terrain that awaits exploration for eventive and abstract nouns. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T00:56:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4a6f44228a0d475d800f33a8a0cd1cca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1944-3676 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T00:56:12Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | New Prairie Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-4a6f44228a0d475d800f33a8a0cd1cca2022-12-21T19:21:17ZengNew Prairie PressThe Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication1944-36762016-12-0111010.4148/1944-3676.11119414871Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent NounScott GrimmThis paper aims to broaden our understanding of countability beyond what is found with concrete nouns, providing a one-word case study of the countable and non-countable uses of the noun crime. I show that the behavior of crime runs counter to a variety of expectations inherited from the literature on countability: its countable use cannot be directly grounded in atomic acts or events, nor is its non- countable use simply equivalent to a plural individual composed of individual crimes, as one might expect on analogy with certain analyses of furniture. Additionally, while crime has a use as a bare plural, that use does not refer to a kind. A quantitative study supports these conclusions. Altogether, crime demonstrates a novel noun type with respect to its nominal semantics and countability behavior, which is also an indication of the large empirical terrain that awaits exploration for eventive and abstract nouns.http://newprairiepress.org/biyclc/vol11/iss1/4countability |
| spellingShingle | Scott Grimm Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun The Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication countability |
| title | Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun |
| title_full | Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun |
| title_fullStr | Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun |
| title_short | Crime Investigations: The Countability Profile of a Delinquent Noun |
| title_sort | crime investigations the countability profile of a delinquent noun |
| topic | countability |
| url | http://newprairiepress.org/biyclc/vol11/iss1/4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT scottgrimm crimeinvestigationsthecountabilityprofileofadelinquentnoun |