[Lexicog] Re: [FLEx]Noun categorization in English (was: ... Bantu)

[John Roberts]

Kim,

I don't think verb agreement in English is a reliable guide as to the 
count/mass status of a nominal. First of all, all plural form nouns trigger 
plural subject agreement on the verb even when they do not take a numeral. 
E.g.

(*three) expenses were/*was claimed.
The (*four) foundations were/*was shaking.

On the other hand, some singular form nouns (mainly animals, fish and fruit) 
can trigger plural subject agreement. E.g.

Zebra is/are a more difficult prey.
Grouse is/are good to eat.
Trout is/are delicious fried.

Some singular form nouns are used to refer to a group. They are collective 
nouns. E.g.

The enemy is/are attacking.
England is/are winning 2-0.
The government has/have made its/their decision.

With the plural noun form, plural subject agreement is obligatory. But with 
the singular noun form it is optional depending on whether the noun is 
referring to multiple entities or not.

Returning to the point I was trying to make to Mike Maxwell, a noun like 
"zebra", for example, can belong to the class of count nouns with 
"zebra/zebras" (singular or plural) as possible forms or the class of mass 
nouns with only "zebra" as the possible form (singular form only). In the 
count noun usage "zebra" refers to the animal with stripes and in the mass 
noun usage "zebra" refers to the properties of 'zebraness' such as food. 
Mike would maintain that this second usage is actually another lexeme, but I 
notice that neither my COBUILD nor my NODE dictionaries list this second 
usage as either an additional sense or as an additional lexeme for "zebra". 
In any case, the Wikipedia suggests you shouldn't use meaning as a means of 
distinguishing formal classes of words. Thus "zebra" belongs to two formal 
classes of noun: the count class with formal exponents of "zebra/zebras" and 
the mass class with the formal exponent of "zebra". Only the plural form 
"zebras" triggers plural agreement on the verb.

John Roberts



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