Abstract
This chapter explores unpronounced elements in the context of a discussion of the English words few, little, many, much, and numerous. As is well known, few has regular comparative and superlative forms that make it natural to take the word as an adjective. Given this, the general parallelism between few and little, many, and much, combined with the more specific fact that they, too, have comparative and superlative forms, leads to the natural conclusion that little, many, and much are also adjectives. In the phrases many booksor few books, many and few are presumed to modify NUMBER rather than directly modifying books. This claim can be elevated to a claim about universal grammar (UG): in all languages, modifiers with the interpretation of many or few necessarily modify NUMBER (or number).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Movement and Silence |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780199788330 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780195179163 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 1 2007 |
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Keywords
- Adjectives
- Determiner phrases
- English language
- French language
- Grammar
- Polarity
- Quantity
- Syntax
- Universal grammar
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities(all)
Cite this
A Note on the Syntax of Quantity in English. / Kayne, Richard.
Movement and Silence. Oxford University Press, 2007.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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TY - CHAP
T1 - A Note on the Syntax of Quantity in English
AU - Kayne, Richard
PY - 2007/9/1
Y1 - 2007/9/1
N2 - This chapter explores unpronounced elements in the context of a discussion of the English words few, little, many, much, and numerous. As is well known, few has regular comparative and superlative forms that make it natural to take the word as an adjective. Given this, the general parallelism between few and little, many, and much, combined with the more specific fact that they, too, have comparative and superlative forms, leads to the natural conclusion that little, many, and much are also adjectives. In the phrases many booksor few books, many and few are presumed to modify NUMBER rather than directly modifying books. This claim can be elevated to a claim about universal grammar (UG): in all languages, modifiers with the interpretation of many or few necessarily modify NUMBER (or number).
AB - This chapter explores unpronounced elements in the context of a discussion of the English words few, little, many, much, and numerous. As is well known, few has regular comparative and superlative forms that make it natural to take the word as an adjective. Given this, the general parallelism between few and little, many, and much, combined with the more specific fact that they, too, have comparative and superlative forms, leads to the natural conclusion that little, many, and much are also adjectives. In the phrases many booksor few books, many and few are presumed to modify NUMBER rather than directly modifying books. This claim can be elevated to a claim about universal grammar (UG): in all languages, modifiers with the interpretation of many or few necessarily modify NUMBER (or number).
KW - Adjectives
KW - Determiner phrases
KW - English language
KW - French language
KW - Grammar
KW - Polarity
KW - Quantity
KW - Syntax
KW - Universal grammar
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84919772389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84919772389&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179163.003.0008
DO - 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179163.003.0008
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84919772389
SN - 9780195179163
BT - Movement and Silence
PB - Oxford University Press
ER -