Testing dialects with simulations: the status of pseudo-partitives in US English

This paper presents experimental evidence of direct pseudo-partitives being preferred with measure readings rather than container readings. While direct pseudo-partitives (e.g. two cups water) have been called register specific (i.e. cooking contexts), recent evidence has shown that they not only occur more broadly albeit relatively infrequently when compared to indirect pseudo-partitives (e.g. two cups of water), but also that they do not seem to occur with container readings (i.e. two distinct cups, each containing water), as opposed to measure readings (i.e. water to the amount of two cups), or being ambiguous. The results of the present experiment are such that participants rate direct pseudo-partitives with nonce quantity words (e.g. two dakes water) as more natural in sentences with measure readings than when in sentences with container readings. This evidence is taken to support theories of pseudo-partitive syntax in which measure and container readings are derived, not only with different semantics, but different syntax as well, rather than theories which argue for different semantics but relatively uniform syntax across measure and container readings. Moreover, this data suggests that, while direct pseudo-partitives are most commonly found in cooking contexts in US English they are not-necessarily a register-specific form, given the measure reading is demonstrably preferable to the container reading even in non-cooking contexts.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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