Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 819Referencessyllable3 nucleus vs satellite4 head 2nucleus vs satellite [Lat. satelles ‘escort,attendant’]In an endocentric construction, term for the antecedent (also: center, head) that issemantically specified (modified) by an attributive element (also: determiner,modifier). In the sentence She sings very well, well is the nucleus of the satellite verywell and sings is the nucleus of the satellite sings very well.complementation and modificationReferencesnumberGrammatical category of nouns which marks quantity. Number can also be applied toother parts of speech ( adjective, pronoun, finite verb form) through agreement.The most common categories of number are singular and plural; there are also systemswhich have a dual ( Greek, Sanskrit, and Gothic) and a trialis (e.g. some South-WestPacific languages). In some languages there is a paucalis for indicating a small number,as in Arabic.Another kind of more complicated number system can be found in languages whichdifferentiate between a basic form (collective) which is indifferent in respect to number,and a more complicated derived form for single entities (singulative) ( Breton). Oftennot all nouns in a language can occur in all numbers (cf. single-only, plural-only, massnouns). Classifying languages generally have no formal number system.ReferencesBartsch, R. 1973. The semantics and syntax of number and numbers. In P.Kimball (ed.), Syntax andSemantics. New York. Vol. 2, 51–93.