Measure Phrases
Gregory Scontras · 2020
Language provides the means to count, parcel, and reference both concrete and abstract elements of the world that surrounds us. At the core of this process is measurement – the mapping of individuals onto scales. Here we survey the way that languages encode measurement using a specific yet heterogeneous class of constructions: measure phrases. This survey considers what it takes to count as a measure expression, and how the meaning of these expressions compares with other quantizing nouns and classifiers.