The expression of “collectivity” in Romance languages : An empirical analysis of nominal aspectuality with focus on French

Abstract

The empirical and comparative study examines various facets of the linguistic expression of collectivity in Romance languages. Against the background of an onomasiological conception of nominal aspectuality, collection nouns are analysed with regard to their morphosyntactic and derivational properties, as well as to their diachronic paths of evolution. Special focus is laid on uncountable object mass nouns.