Ellise Moon

Plural and non-count nouns have been characterized as having homogeneous reference, the combination of the second-order properties of cumulative and divisive reference. Homogeneous reference is a useful property that captures similarities in the behavior of count plural and non-countable nouns. However, formal semantic definitions of divisive reference—the property that any part of what a noun refers to can also be referred to with that noun—run into the Problem of Minimal Parts. While both a portion of water and another portion of water that it is a part of can be referred to with the noun phrase water, both have parts such as hydrogen and oxygen atoms that are not water. This paper introduces a new formulation of homogeneous reference that avoids the Problem of Minimal Parts by making reference to the sum operation, rather than parthood relations.

Liquids (oil, wine) are considered to be canonical non-countable nouns. Yet nouns referring to cocktails and coffee drinks (margarita, cappuccino) display strongly countable behavior, which raises questions about the semantics of countability and the relationship between nouns and the things to which they refer. This paper investigates these mixed drink nouns and proposes the source of their countability lies in their possessing a MEASURED PART which provides a unit for individuation. This part, in connection with the ratio relationship between the drink’s ingredient parts, is the source of countability for these nouns.