Numerosity in Dutch and related languages

The element e(n) which links modifiers to heads in certain Dutch compounds shares its fullest form with the Dutch plural affix -en, as in bloemen flowers - bloemenwinkel flower shop. When the linking element occurs, it may be optional to varying degrees. Thus, bloemkorf flower-basket occurs next to bloemenkorf (Verkuyl 2007), in some dialects appeleboom apple-tree can be heard instead of the standard appelboom, and celstructuur cell structure occurs as equivalent to cellenstructuur. Nevertheless, the presence or absence of a linking element influences the meaning of a compound. Many interpret celstructuur to refer to the internal organization of a cell, and cellenstructuur as pertaining to structures built out of cells. As this example shows, the aspect of a compounds meaning that may be affected by the linking element is its number. For cel(len)structuur the semantic opposition is binary (singular and plural). In compounds such as bloem(en)korf the semantic distinction is gradual and presumably related to humans generative understanding of number (Bloom 2000:233-9). The aim of this program is to investigate the influence of form variation on numerosity. Dutch is compared with related languages, because we expect to find that not only form variation (absence or presence of en, the way this morpheme is pronounced, and its rhythmic context), but also knowledge of a language influences the interpretation of numerosity.