Òåîðåòè÷åñêèå è ìåòîäîëîãè÷åñêèå ïðîáëåìû  èññëåäîâàíèÿ ÿçûêà

 

Luzhna M., Ananieva O.

Bukovyna State Finance Academy, Ukraine (Chernivtsi)

Combinability of Vagueness Quantifiers in English

 

The study of quantification in natural language began with papers from the early 1980s, Barwise and Cooper (1981), Higginbotham and May (1981), and Keenan and Stavi (1986). Quantification in natural language has been widely investigated by philosophers, logicians, and linguists: J. Channel (1990), K. Bach (2000), L. Matthewson (2001), M. Coop Glanzberg (2004).

Our research presupposes the study of vague quantifiers in discourse, regarding their combinability.

  The topicality of our research lies in the study of vagueness quantifiers’ distribution as well as their combinability with words in sentences. Therefore objective of the paper is to reveal a distributional model of vagueness quantifiers in order to help learners understand the discourse values of quantifiers.

Every quantifier of vagueness has its own surrounding: semantical and grammatical. Let us investigate vagueness quantifiers on grammatical level. We distinguish vagueness quantifiers and numerals, according to S. A. Zhabotynska, regarding them as different parts of speech, taking into consideration their spatial and objective forms. We offer to divide quantifiers of vagueness into two subgroups taking into consideration their grammatical semantics and combinability with countable and uncountable nouns (see Table 1).

Table 1

Countable and Uncountable Nouns with Vagueness Quantifiers

Quantifiers used with…

…countable nouns

…uncountable nouns

1.     All

2.     Every

3.     Most

4.     Many

5.     Some

6.     Several

7.     A few

8.     Few

9.     No (none)

1.     All

2.     Most

3.     Much

4.     Some

5.     A little

6.     Little

7.     No (none)

        

So, in noun phrases where quantifier meaning depends on countable  nouns we use vagueness quantifiers: all, every, most, many, some, several, a few, few and no (none). At the same time quantifiers all, most, much, some, a little, little and no (none) are used in noun phrases, where nouns are uncountable.

On the basis of results in Table 1 we are going to preset a scale which reveals distributional model of vagueness quantifiers. It shows combinability of words in phrase or sentence formations. We can order quantifiers roughly on a scale, moving from the inclusive words at the top; to the negative words at the bottom (any we place separately, as its main use, in negative and interrogative contexts, does not fit into the scale). The scale presents the usage of vague quantifiers, which occur with different nouns, depending on the plural forms of the nouns. In existing noun phrases, where nouns are countable such quantifiers are used: all, every, most, many, some, several, a few, few and no (none). Quantifiers all, most, much, some, a little, little and no (none) are used in the noun phrases, where nouns are uncountable. Besides, a quantifier no (none) denotes the most negative meaning.

Scheme 1

Vague Quantifiers Distribution

any

Count                        Uncountable

 

                       many                                                        much

                             some                                              some

                                                                    

                                      a few                              a little

                                         few                          little

 

 

                                                          no                               

We present this Scheme to show combinability of vague quantifiers. Their use depends on the noun with which it occurs in the phrase or sentence. If the noun is countable we use vagueness quantifiers many, some, a few, few, no. If the noun is uncountable we may use only: much, some, a little, little and no.

Vagueness quantifiers are placed in Scheme 1 in hierarchical order. Quantifiers many and much denote the biggest amount of something, while vagueness quantifier no denotes absence of a number/amount.

In the present article we have studied vagueness quantifiers’ combinability and revealed distributional model of vagueness quantifiers in order to help learners understand the discourse values of quantifiers.

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