Mass/Count in Linguistics, Philosophy and Cognitive Science

The aim of this colloquium is to provide a platform of exchange between linguists, philosophers and psychologists, working the different aspects of the mass/count distinction. Such a resolutely interdisciplinary approach is indeed necessary to fully apprehend the new questions that are presently arising in connection to the mass/count distinction. This multidisciplinary conference aspires to move this scientific debate forward, and contribute to the evolution of current methodology.

A more detailed description is available on the dedicated website:
http://mass-count.sciencesconf.org/

Wednesday, December 19

Tutorial on the mass/count distinction:
11.00 - 13.00   David Nicolas (IJN)
14.30 - 17.30   Friederike Moltmann (IHPST)

Thursday, December 20
(Room Dussane)

09.00   Registration
09.25   Opening
09.30 - 10.20   Invited speaker Byeong-uk Yi (Toronto University)
Numeral classifiers and the mass/count distinction
10.20 - 11.00   Scott Grimm (Stanford University), Beth Levin (Stanford University)
Who Has More Furniture? An Exploration of the Bases for Comparison

Coffee break

11.20 - 12.00   Peter Smith (University of Connecticut)
Count-mass nouns may not be mass after all
12.00 - 12.40   XuPing LI (CRLAO – CNRS/EHESS/INALCO)
Water and boy in Mandarin: an ontological distinction only

Lunch break

14.00 - 14.50   Invited speaker Almerindo Ojeda (UCDavis)
Countability and Grammatical Number: An Aristotelian View and Its Challenges
14.50 - 15.30   Roberto Zamparelli (University of Trento)
Countability, number and (in)definiteness in Chinese nominals
15.30 - 16.10   Susan Rothstein (Bar-Ilan University), Roberta Pires de Oliveira (UFSC)
Bare Noun Phrases and Comparatives: a cross-linguistic perspective ?

Coffee break

16.30 - 17.10  Ana Muller (Universidade de São Paulo)
Individuation in a Bare-Nouns-Only Language
17.10 - 17.50   Yan LI (Université Paris Diderot)
L'interprétation de la sémantique de 'nom propre-men' en chinois
17.50 - 18.10   Catherine Mazodier (Université Paris Diderot)
« How Much Sideboob Is Too Much Sideboob? » Fonctionnement du nom, quantification et/ou qualification : une analyse énonciative des emplois en contexte du néologisme « sideboob »

18.30 - 20.30  Buffet: Wine and Cheese Reception (organised at the ENS)

Friday, December 21
(room Dussane)

09.10 - 10.00   Invited speaker David Barner (UCSD)
Experimental evidence for the compositionality of sortal concepts
10.00 - 10.40

Coffee break

11.00 - 11.40   Susan Rothstein (Bar-Ilan University), Alessandro Treves (SISSA), Ritwik Kulkarni (SISSA)
A statistical investigation into the crosslinguistic distribution of mass and count nouns: 'morphosyntactic and semantic perspectives.'
11.40 - 12.20   Alan Bale (Concordia University), Brendan Gillon (McGill University)
Re-examining the Mass-Count Distinction
12.20 - 13.00   Suzi Lima (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
The count/mass distinction in Yudja (Tupi): quantity judgment studies

Lunch break

14.20 - 15.10   Invited speaker Dana Cohen et Anne Zribi-Hertz (SFL/Paris8)
"Mass" vs. "Count" : on the distribution of labour between syntax and the lexicon
15.10 - 15.50   Stefan Hinterwimmer (University of Osnabrueck)
A Comparison of Abstract and Concrete Mass Nouns in Terms of Their Interaction with Vague Quantificational Determiners

Coffee break

16.10 - 17.00   Invited speaker Henry Laycock (Queen's University, Canada)
WORDS AND CONCEPTS: the 'object' concept and the 'matter' concept

Scientific committee

Alexandra Arapinis (ENS, IHPST), David Barner (UCSD), Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin (CNRS, Paris 7 University), Jenny Doetjes (Leiden University), Friederike Moltmann (CNRS, IHPST), David Nicolas (CNRS, IJN), Almerindo Ojeda (UCDavis), Susan Rothstein (Bar Ilan University), Elena Soare (Paris 8 University), Fayssal Tayalati (Lille 3 University), Lucia M. Tovena (Paris 7 University), Danièle van de Velde (Lille 3 University), Beyon-Uk Yi (Toronto University), Anne Zribi-Herts (Paris 8 University)

Organising committee
Alexandra Arapinis (ENS, IHPST), Friederike Moltmann (CNRS, IHPST), Lucia M. Tovena (Paris 7 University)