Measure Phrases

Abstract

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.