Authors
Edward J Wisniewski, Emily J Clancy, Richard N Tillman
Publication date
2005
Publisher
American Psychological Association
Description
In this paper, we focus on candidates for kinds of categories based on structural differences--in particular, on the types of properties that can be predicated of the four kinds of categories of multiple entities and how people mentally represent these categories. First, we describe a grammatical distinction that is a characteristic of many languages, including English--the distinction between count and mass nouns. We will assume that this grammatical distinction corresponds to a conceptual distinction. On the basis of this assumption, we will hypothesize that there are four kinds of categories involving multiple entities. Next, we elaborate on the conceptual differences among these different types of categories. To do so, we draw on psychological evidence from our studies and those of others and on our own observations and those of linguists about the differences between these categories. Our discussion is also partly …
Total citations
2007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202311111111
Scholar articles