|
:
|
How Scissors Cut Agreement.
Abstract
In English, invariant plural words like scissors denote single
objects. To explore whether mismatches between grammatical and conceptual
number affect linguistic relationships, we elicited errors of agreement
between subjects and verbs, and subjects and pronouns. Both types of
agreement revealed reliable modulations of grammatical number by conceptual
number. The Dutch equivalents of the invariant plurals are singular, and
behaved like simple singulars in a parallel experiment. The results
suggest that conceptual singularity dilutes grammatical plurality.
Back to Cooper's Pulications Page
Last Modified: 31 July 1998
|