From the meaning of the concrete noun to its grammatical property and back
The property of countability and uncountability is one of important characteristics of English nouns. At the same time, it is an issue of considerable controversy. On the one hand, Huddleston and Pullum (2002: 334) maintain that many nouns can be used with count and mass interpretations. On the other hand, Langacker (2008: 142) claims that probably all nouns can be used as countable and uncountable.
The chapter explores this issue. Its aim is to suggest a methodology that checks Langacker’s claim. In order to do so, we take the CG stance and trace sense extensions of five concrete nouns classified by dictionaries as solely countable. The chapter indicates also certain regularities in this kind of sense extensions.
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Dictionaries
CD – Cambridge Dictionaries Online
CoD – Collins English Dictionary
LED – Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
MD – Macmillan Dictionary
OED – Oxford Dictionaries
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