Semantics of Yoruba Mass Nouns: A Preliminary Report

Abstract

There is a dearth of in-depth work on the semantics of mass nouns in Yoruba language. Also, measurement nouns that are required in many languages are optional with mass nouns in Yoruba. This paper gives an insight on the semantics of mass nouns in Yoruba by studying why Yoruba mass nouns combine directly with numerals without losing  their grammaticality, even when there is no intervening measurement noun (MSN) between them and the quantifying elements (numerals/ quantifier). It discusses the mass/count noun distinction showing their interpretations with emphasis on contexts in which the presence of measurement nouns is obligatory. Furthermore, it establishes that different readings of mass nouns in Yoruba can be realized depending on the predicate type. In particular, the occurrence of mass nouns with certain predicate types results in ambiguity. The paper concludes that, to reduce ambiguity, the use of MSN with mass nouns when the quantity of such mass nouns is required in Yoruba is obligatory.