Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

(80) a. *een stuk aantal chocola
a piece [of] number [of] chocolate
b. *een stuk kilo chocola
a piece [of] kilo [of] chocolate
b′. *een stuk kilo’s chocola
a piece [of] kilos [of] chocolate
c. *een stuk doos chocola
a piece [of] box [of] chocolate
d. *? een stuk reep chocola
a piece [of] bar [of] chocolate
e. *een stuk groep eenden
a piece [of] group [of] ducks
Binominal constructions 605
The examples in (81) show that the collective nouns behave just like the measure
and container nouns.
(81) a. *een verzameling boel thee
a collection [of] lot [of] tea
b. *een verzameling ons thee
a collection [of] ounce [of] tea
b′. een verzameling onsjes thee
a collection [of] ounces [of] tea
c. een verzameling zakjes suiker
a collection [of] bags [of] sugar
d. een verzameling repen chocola
a collection [of] bars [of] chocolate
e. een verzameling series postzegels
a collection [of] series [of] stamps
4.1.1.3.3. Some semantic properties
This section discusses some of the semantic properties of the different types of N1s,
focusing on their quantificational meaning. We will see that quantifier nouns are
quite similar to cardinal numerals in various respects.
I. The quantificational force of N1s
In the previous sections it has repeatedly been claimed that all N1s are
quantificational in the sense that they indicate a certain amount or quantity of the
denotation of N2. In this respect, they behave like cardinal numerals or quantifying
adjectives like veel ‘many/much’. As is shown in (82), the latter elements can be
questioned by means of the wh-word hoeveel ‘how many/much’. If N1s indeed have
quantifier-like properties comparable to cardinal numerals or quantifying adjectives,
we expect them to yield felicitous answers to the question in (82a) as well. Example
(82b′) shows that this indeed holds for quantifier nouns.