Decomposing groups, bunches, and aggregates 16.11.2017, Leiden University, LUSH Mojmír Dočekal & Marcin Wągiel 1/76 Introduction 2/76 Collective nouns Collective nouns (Jespersen 1924): (1) a. committee b. group c. deck • group nouns (Barker 1992) or bunch nouns (Schwarzschild 1996) • involve not only individuals, but also events and degrees (2) a. group of objects b. sequence of events c. range of numbers 3/76 Collective nouns Heterogeneous semantic nature: singular or plural? • plural denotation (Munn 1998, Elbourne 1999) • atomic denotation (Baker 1992, Schwarzschild 1996) • group-formation (Landman 1989, 2000) Standard assumption: • collective nouns ⇒ uniform category 4/76 Collective nouns Recent findings: distinct classes • Pearson (2011): committee nouns vs. collection nouns • Henderson (2017): group nouns vs. swarm nouns Landman (2000): • collective body formation ⇒ swarms • collective action ⇒ groups/swarms • collective responsibility ⇒ groups 5/76 Outline Outline of the talk 1. distinct classes of collective nouns 2. derived collectives in Czech and Polish 3. experiment on 3 classes of derived collectives 6/76 Groups, collections, swarms Based on Pearson (2011) and Henderson (2017): property groups collections swarms plural pseudopartitives plural agreement in BE/CE × ×* count Det heading partitives × ×* ILPs and always ? × ×* only large constituent pluralities × * spatial existence entailments × * support spatial predicates × * * our judgments ? unclear/dubious data 7/76 Plural pseudopartitives Standard syntactic test (Barker 1992): • group noun + of-phrase with a plural complement ⇒ • group noun + of-phrase with a singular complement ⇒ * (3) a. group of children/*child b. collection of shirts/*shirt c. set of chairs/*chair d. pair of shoes/*shoe e. herd of animals/*animal 8/76 Plural pseudopartitives Problem: • expressions referring to game (Ritchie 2013) (4) a. pride of lion b. flock of pheasant However: • English nouns referring to game can have a zero plural (Corbett 2000: 68, Acquaviva 2008: 30) (5) The elephant are downwind of us. (Allan 1976) 9/76 Plural pseudopartitives Nevertheless, the test is flawed anyway: • incorrect predictions wrt object (fake/neat) mass nouns (6) a. group of offspring b. collection of clothing c. set of furniture d. pair of footwear e. herd of livestock Hypothesis: • in pseudopartitive constructions group nouns require nominals denoting pluralities • ⇒ regular singular count nouns do not refer to pluralities 10/76 Plural agreement and count Det heads Possible with groups in BE/CE (Pearson 2011): (7) a. The committee has been arguing all morning. b. The committee have been arguing all morning. (8) a. The committee is old. ⇒ ambiguous b. The committee are old. ⇒ only distributive (9) a. Three of the committee came to the meeting. b. Several of the family objected to her marriage. c. Many of the present cabinet will have to resign. 11/76 Plural agreement and count Det heads Impossible with collections: (10) a. The deck of cards is on the table. b. *The deck of cards are on the table. (11) a. *Three of the bunch of flowers had died. b. *Several of the deck of cards had gone missing. c. *Many of the pile of dishes needed to be washed. 12/76 Plural agreement and count Det heads Absolutely impossible in Slavic: (12) a. Komitet committee kłócił arguedsg się refl przez through całe whole rano. morning ‘The committee has been arguing all morning.’ b. *Komitet committee kłócili arguedpl się refl przez through całe whole rano. morning Indended: ‘The committee have been arguing all morning.’ (13) *Trzech three spośród among komitetu committee przyszło camesg na on spotkanie. meeting Intended: ‘Three of the committee came to the meeting.’ 13/76 ILPs and always Pearson (2011) ⇒ intensional semantics for group nouns • individual level predicates modified by always (14) a. #John always has big feet. ⇒ object b. Elephants always have big feet. ⇒ kind (15) a. *That bunch of flowers is always tall. b. The Pearson family always has big feet. 14/76 ILPs and always Problem: • it seems not all group nouns allow for that (16) a. ??That group of students always has big feet. b. ??That cast of actors always has big feet. c. ??That cabinet always has big feet. Hypothesis: • some groups involve temporal component ⇒ generations of members 15/76 Derived collectives in Czech and Polish 16/76 Different classes • suffix -ice/-ka ⇒ numerals (17) dva/dwa two ⇒ ⇒ dvojice/dwójka twocoll ‘two’ ⇒ ‘group of two’ • suffix -stvo/-stwo ⇒ animate nouns (human) (18) rytíř/rycerz knight ⇒ ⇒ rytířstvo/rycerstwo knightcoll ‘knight’ ⇒ ‘group/totality of knights’ 17/76 Different classes • suffix -í/-e ⇒ inanimate nouns (19) květ/kwiat flower ⇒ ⇒ kvítí/kwiecie flowercoll ‘flower’ ⇒ ‘mass of flowers’ • there are more: -ž, -ina, -eria, -ela, -ba, -ota etc 18/76 Aggregates Derived mass nouns ⇒ the suffix -í/-e (20) a. Czech: list-í ‘foliage’, dřív-í ‘firewood’ b. Polish: pierz-e ‘feather stuffing’, włosi-e ‘bristle’ • derived from -ANIM nouns • no plural forms (21) a. s list-í-minstr.sg b. *s list-í-miinstr.pl 19/76 Aggregates • incompatible with cardinal numerals: *2 list-í, *2 dřív-í – compatible with taxonomic and aggregate numerals (22) a. *2 list-í/dřív-í b. dvoj-í dříví c. dvoj-e listí • compatible with the singular universal quantifier všechno ‘all’ (23) všechno list-í/dřív-í 20/76 Aggregates • obligatorily cumulative: list-í ⊕ list-í = list-í • obligatorily divisive: parts of list-í are list-í (unlike list) • topology plays a role – particular leaves get separated ⇒ list-í ceases to exist – listí ⇒ cluster = plurality of connected objects (Grimm & Dočekal 2017) 21/76 Bunches Group nouns derived from cardinal numerals ⇒ the suffix -ice/-ka (24) a. Czech: tr-oj-ice námořníků ‘group-of-three sailors’ b. Polish: tr-ój-ka marynarzy ‘group-of-three sailors’ • count +ANIM nouns – metaphorical use: troj-ice úkolů ‘group-of-three tasks’) • both singular and plural forms (25) a. s troj-icíinstr.sg námořníků b. s troj-ice-miinstr.pl námořníků 22/76 Bunches • compatible with cardinal numerals (26) 2 troj-ice námořníků • incompatible with the singular universal quantifier všechno ‘all’ (27) *všechna troj-ice námořníků 23/76 Bunches • obligatorily non-cumulative: troj-ice ⊕ troj-ice = 2 troj-ice • obligatorily non-divisive: parts of troj-ice are not troj-ice • topology is not involved – constituents get separated (28) Trojice threecoll detektivů detctives se refl rozjela dispersed do to tří three různých different měst. towns ‘A group of three detectives dispersed to three different towns.’ 24/76 Groups Derived from role nouns (professions) ⇒ the suffix -stvo/-stwo (29) a. Czech: rytíř-stvo ‘knights/chivalry’, duchovenstvo ‘clergy’ b. Polish: rycer-stwo ‘knights/chivalry’, duchowieństwo ‘clergy’ • mostly +ANIM (human) – exception: loďstvo ‘marine/navy’ • only singular forms (30) a. duchovenstvonom.sg b. *duchovenstvanom.pl 25/76 Groups • incompatible with cardinal numerals – compatible with taxonomic numerals (31) a. *2 duchovenstva b. dvojí duchovenstvo • compatible with the singular universal quantifier všechno ‘all’ (32) všechno rytířstvo 26/76 Groups • cumulative: rytířstvo ⊕ rytířstvo = rytířstvo • divisive to a threshold: parts of rytířstvo are still rytířstvo up to atomic knights? • topology is not involved – constituents get separated (33) Rytířstvo knightcoll se refl rozjelo dispersed do to tří three různých different měst. towns ‘A group of knights dispersed to three different towns.’ 27/76 Groups • no topological commitments but some sort of institutionalization • somewhere between collectives and object mass nouns – * with cardinal numerals – with collective predicates like gather (34) Rytířstvo knightcoll se refl shromáždilo gather před before hradem. castle ‘(A group/totality of) Knights gathered in front o the castle.’ 28/76 Groups • somewhere between collectives and kind terms – with kind-level predicates like be widespread – regular kinds, e.g., bear, are more spatially dispersed (35) Rytířstvo knightcoll bylo was rozšířené widespread ve in středověku. middle-ages ‘(A group/totality of) Knights were widespread in the Middle Ages.’ 29/76 Data summary property BUNCH GROUP AGGREGATE derived from / modifies +ANIM N +ANIM N -ANIM N count × × pseudopartitives × × cumulative reference × large const. plurality × generic predicates × × spatial existence ent. × × 30/76 Another test • more apt for experimental investigation • builds on the known interaction between collectives and reciprocal predicates • reciprocity requires a plural argument ⇒ form of quantification (Schwarzschild 1996, Lønning 2011) 31/76 Another test • contradictory evidence but sometimes possible with plural VP agreement (Pearson 2011) (36) a. *The cricket team usually coaches each other. b. The family can’t stand each other. c. It is puzzling when medical staff disagree with each other. 32/76 Different and same (DS) • subcase/close to reciprocity • anaphoric to a referent introduced in the previous discourse (37) Yesterday I bought Plant’s last CD. a. Today, Peter bought the same CD. b. Today, Peter bought a different CD. 33/76 Different and same (DS) • bound within a clause • sentence internal reading (Carlson 1987) – expresses covariation – the contrast between different and same (38) a. Each student bought the same CD. ⇒ no covariation b. Each student bought a different CD. ⇒ covariation 34/76 Types of DS antecedents • acceptability of DS depends on the type of their antecedents (Carlson 1987) – distributive vs. non-distributive antecedents – contrast between singular and plural different – no contrast with same (39) a. All the men are from different towns/??a different town. b. Each man is from a different town/??different towns. c. All the men are/each man is from the same town. 35/76 DS strategies Cross-linguistic investigations on DS: • Beck (2000): sg and pl different in English ⇒ two distinct lexical items in German: verschieden/ander (40) a. Detmar Detmar und and Kordula Kordula wohnen live in in verschiedenen different Städten. cities b. Jedes every Mädchen girl hat has ein a anderes different Buch book gelesen. read 36/76 DS strategies • Brasoveanu (2008): study on DS lexical items, 11 languages 1. sentence internal reading under distributive quantifiers (plus discourse-anaphoric reading) – German ander, English sg different 2. only discourse-anaphoric reading – English other/another 3. sentence-internal reading with non-distributive quantifiers ⇒ plural DP – German verschiedene NPpl, English different NPpl 37/76 DS strategies • Dotlačil (2012: ch. 5): experimental confirmation of Brasoveanu’s claims – Dutch data: experimental evidence – Czech data: introspection and observation 38/76 DS strategies • Czech DS 1. strategy 1 (distributive): jiný ‘differentsg’ 2. strategy 2 (only discourse-anaphoric): ostatní ‘other’ 3. strategy 3 (non-distributive quantifiers): různý both in sg. and pl. (English ‘differentpl’) (41) a. Každý every chlapec/???ti boy/the chlapci boys měl(i) had jiné different kolo. bike b.???Každý every chlapec/ti body/the chlapci boys měl(i) had různé(á) different kolo(a). bike 39/76 DS strategies • Czech stejný ‘same’ does not distinguish between distributive and non-distributive antecedents – follows the general cross-linguistic pattern for same (42) Každý every chlapec/ti boy/the chlapci boys měl(i) had stejné same kolo. bike 40/76 Formal treatment of DS Dotlačil (2012): • differentsg vs. differentpl (43) a. differentpl = λPλx.#(x) ≥ 2(∀y, z < x)[y, z ∈ AT ∧ y = z → distinct(y, z)] b. differentsg = λPλx.Px ∧ ¬x ◦ y c. same = λPλx.Px ∧ x = y 41/76 Formal treatment of DS • the observed dependence of sentence-internal reading for differentsg – distributivity not part of the semantics of different • differentpl degraded with distributive antecedents • excessive distributivity (44) ???Each boy will each buy a ticket. 42/76 Parallel between DS and reciprocals • reciprocals preferring distributive antecedents • reciprocals preferring collective antecedents – built-in distributivity – pure distributive quantifiers ⇒ reciprocity lost or ungrammatical (45) Každý every policista policeman podezírá suspects ostatní other policisty. policemen (46) a. Petr Petr a and Marie Mary se/jeden druhého refl/each-other pozdravili. greeted reciprocal reading ⇒ b. Každý every policista policeman se/*jeden druhého refl/each-other podezírá. suspects reciprocal reading ⇒ *, only reflexive reading 43/76 The experiment 44/76 Data Reminder: 3 classes of derived collectives in Czech and Polish: • GROUP nouns – rytířcz / rycerzpl (‘knight’) ⇒ rytířstvocz / rycerstwopl (‘group/totality of knights’) • BUNCH numerals – třicz / trzypl (‘three’) ⇒ trojicecz / trójkapl (‘group of three’) • AGGREGATE nouns – listcz / liśćpl (‘leaf’) ⇒ listícz / listowiepl (‘foliage’) 45/76 Motivation • the essential questions: – to what what extent (if any) one can access atomic members of a group plurality to distribute a certain property? – to what extent (if any) different modes of group-formation relate to decomposability of particular collective nouns? • interaction between collectives and so-called A-different expressions – Czech: jiný (‘different’) – Polish: inny (‘different’) 46/76 Motivation • without a distributive universal quantifier in subject position ⇒ only discourse anaphoric reading (Beck 2000, Dotlačil 2010) (47) a. Každý muž pil jinou whisky. ⇒ covariation ‘Every man drank different whiskey.’ b. Ti muži pili jinou whisky. ⇒ no covariation ‘The men drank different whiskey.’ 47/76 Design • parallel experiments on Czech and Polish • Latin Square design, 9 items in each of the 3 classes (conditions) ⇒ 27 items plus 27 fillers • the participants judged sentences in a context supporting a strong co-variating scenario • truth value judgment task • 5-point Likert scale: 1=worst, 5=best 48/76 Design • 3 conditions: 1. COL : the target involved GROUP, BUNCH, or AGGREGATE 2. BP : a bare plural NP 3. QUA : a universal distributive quantifier with a singular bare NP • reference level: QUA 49/76 Items (48) Context: All the knights of the kingdom gathered to fight the final battle against the musketeers. A historian who observed the battlefield realized that none of the knights has the same armor as the others. He recorded the fact in a chronicle: a. Rytířstvo knightcoll má has jinou different zbroj. armor ‘(A group/totality of) Knights have different armor.’ COL b. Rytíři knights mají have jinou different zbroj. armor ‘Knights have different armor.’ BP c. Každý every rytíř knight má has jinou different zbroj. armor 50/76 Items (49) Context: In spring Tomek and Kasia went to the meadow to watch blooming flowers. At a certain moment Tomek noticed that in the whole meadow there no two flowers of the same color. He was very surprised and uttered to Kasia: a. Kwiecie flowercoll ma has inny different kolor. color ‘(A mass of) flowers are of a different color.’ COL b. Kwiaty flowers mają have inny different kolor. color ‘Flowers are of a different color.’ BP c. Każdy every kwiat flower ma has inny different kolor. color ‘Every flower is of a different color.’ QUA 51/76 Research questions • reference level: QUA (nearly total acceptability) • expectation: – COL and BP significantly worse than QUA • research questions 1. differences between COL and BP? 2. differences between GROUP, BUNCH, and AGGREGATE? 52/76 Data collection and analysis • both experiments: run online on Ibex farm • participants: 51cz and 48pl • all were successful with the fillers • R package ORDINAL: the mixed-effects ordered probit regression • the model had 1 predictor: QUA • the subject and item slope + intercept random effects • results: mean acceptability of the 3 classes ⇒ whisker plot 53/76 Results Figure 1: Results: Czech 54/76 Results Figure 2: Results: Polish 55/76 Results • the class BUNCH – bare plurals: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −1.6289, zcz = −7.626, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −1.8408, zpl = −11.56, ppl < 0.001 – collectives: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −1.6819, zcz = −7.783, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −1.7601, zpl = −11.03, ppl < 0.001 – no statistical difference between collectives and bare plurals βcz = 0.05298, zcz = 0.267, pcz = 0.789 βpl = −0.0807, zpl = −0.578, ppl = 0.563 56/76 Results • the class GROUP – bare plurals: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −2.1113, zcz = −10.70, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −2.2537, zpl = −11.15, ppl < 0.001 – collectives: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −2.8955, zcz = −13.56, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −2.6726, zpl = −12.45, ppl < 0.001 – collectives: significantly worse results than bare plurals βcz = 0.7842, zcz = 4.831, pcz < 0.001 βpl = 0.4189, zpl = 2.486, ppl < 0.05 57/76 Results • the class AGGREGATE – bare plurals: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −1.9916, zcz = −8.166, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −2.3726, zpl = −13.58, ppl < 0.001 – collectives: significantly worse results than quantifiers βcz = −2.7251, zcz = −10.731, pcz < 0.001 βpl = −2.7958, zpl = −15.02, ppl < 0.001 – collectives: significantly worse results than bare plurals βcz = 0.7335, zcz = 3.45, pcz < 0.001 βpl = 0.4232, zpl = 3.054, ppl < 0.01 58/76 Discussion • almost identical results in both Czech and Polish – despite different frequency and productivity rates as well as different derivational potentials of corresponding classes – the ppl values tend to be higher than pcz • BUNCH: easier to decompose than GROUP and AGGREGATE collectives – shared collective inferences – asymmetry in the accessibility to the members of a denoted plurality 59/76 Discussion • scale of decomposability in West Slavic (50) GROUP ≈ AGGREGATE < BUNCH ≈ bare plural NP < distr. QP • possibility: GROUP and AGGREGATE are semantically more complex ⇒ group-formation involves an additional mode – GROUP ⇒ kind inferences – AGGREGATE ⇒ topological relations • BUNCH simply establish a membership relation 60/76 Towards explanation 61/76 Preliminary account • very attractive framework of de Vries (2015) • collective nouns denote sets (et) – absence of plural morphology ⇒ shifted to impure atoms (e) • based mostly on experimental data from British English (51) The class are sleeping or drawing. a. coll: (sleepet ∨ drawet)(↑ (classet)e) b. distr: (∗(sleepet ∨ drawet)et,t)(classet) (52) The class is sleeping or drawing. a. only coll: ↑ (classet)e ∈ sleep ∪ draw b. *distr: classet ∈ ∗(sleep ∪ draw) 62/76 Preliminary account • prediction: – if reciprocity and distributivity = quantification over atoms (assumed by many) and – if the connection between atom denotation and morphological number (V) holds (de Vries 2015) – ⇒ Czech BPs should be more acceptable as covariational antecedents than collectives (sg agreement) • empirically correct for AGGREGATE and GROUP • but not for BUNCH collectives 63/76 Preliminary account • possible explanation: the role of animacy (de Vries 2015 following Pearson 2011) – partitives with animate collectives ⇒ distribution over atoms – no distinction betweeen plurals and collectives: Dutch data (53) a. Half of the committee had been painted yellow. (i) distr: yellow(half of the members) (ii) *coll/mass: yellow(half of the committee stuff) b. Half of the girls are covered in mud. (i) distr: mud(half of the girls) (ii) *coll/mass: mud(half of the girls stuff) 64/76 Preliminary account • inanimate collectives do not allow for distribution over atoms – vague ⇒ mass denotation (54) a. Half of the pile of exams has been graded. (i) coll/mass: graded(half of the exam stuff) (ii) ?(entailed) distr: graded(half of the members) 65/76 Preliminary account • Czech and Polish BUNCH collectives are mostly animate (55) a. trojice mužů ‘group of three men’ b. ??trojice oblaků ‘group of three clouds’ • animate BUNCH ⇒ more decomposable than inanimates • but what about GROUP nouns? also animate: rytířstvo ‘chivalry’ • possibile account: social roles (Zobel 2016) – abstract functions or capacities of individuals (r) – social constructs independent of the individuals that bear them – shifting mechanism relating roles and individuals 66/76 Summary and further investigation • scale of decomposability in West Slavic (56) GROUP ≈ AGGREGATE < BUNCH ≈ bare plural NP < distr. QP • Factor 1: sg agreement – sg agreement forces impure atom interpretation of Slavic collectives ⇒ not totally acceptable as covariation antecedents – to some extent yes ⇒ P-distributivity? (meaning postulates) (57) The team ate a pizza. • if yes, it would be easy to test ⇒ Experiment 2 67/76 Summary and further investigation • Factor 2: animacy – animate BUNCH nouns are acceptable as covariation antecedents to the same extent as bare plurals • again testable ⇒ Experiment 2 – -ANIM bunch nouns: trojice lodí/úloh/hvězd 68/76 Thanks! 69/76 Selected References • Barker (1992) Group terms in English: Representing groups as atoms, JoS 9 • Beck (2000) The semantics of different: Comparison operator and relational adjective, L&P 23 • Dotlačil (2010) Anaphora and Distributivity, LOT. • Grimm (2012) Number and Individuation • Henderson (2017) Swarms: Spatiotemporal grouping across domains, NLLT 35 • Landman (1989) Groups, L&P 12 • Pearson (2011) A new semantics for group nouns, WCCFL 28 • Schwarzschild (1996) Pluralities • De Vries (2015). Shifting sets, hidden atoms the semantics of distributivity, plurality and animacy, Utrecht. 70/76 Appendix 71/76 Pseudopartitive constructions The nominal root specifies constituents: (58) a. dwójka two.coll chłopców boys.gen ‘group of two boys’ b. *rycerstwo knight.coll jeźdźców horsemen.gen c. *wujostwo uncle.coll Austriaków Austrians.gen d. *brzezina birch.coll młodych young drzew trees.gen e. *kwiecie flower.coll niezpominajek forget-me-nots.gen 72/76 Size of constituent pluralities (59) a. dwójka (‘two.coll’) → cardinality = 2 (numeral root → value) b. rycerstwo (‘knight.coll’) → large cardinality c. wujostwo (‘uncle.coll’) → cardinality = 2 (prototypically) d. brzezina (‘birch.coll’) → large cardinality e. kwiecie (‘flower.coll’) → large cardinality 73/76 Spatial existence entailments If a group is dissolved, it ceases to exist (Henderson 2017): • groups survive spatial separation • swarms do not (60) a. dwójka (‘two.coll’) → if separated b. rycerstwo (‘knight.coll’) → if separated c. wujostwo (‘uncle.coll’) → if separated d. brzezina (birch.coll’) → if separated × e. kwiecie (‘flower.coll’) → if separated × 74/76 Spatial predicates (61) Context: particular individuals are arranged in such a way to form a circle. a. #Ta this dziesiątka ten.coll jest is okrągła. circular b. #To this rycerstwo knight.coll jest is okrągłe. circular c. #To this wujostwo uncle.coll jest is okrągłe. circular d. Ta this brzezina birch.coll jest is okrągła. circular ‘This birch grove is circular.’ e. #To this kwiecie flower.coll jest is okrągłe. circular 75/76 76/76