The universal measurer

Abstract

It is well-known that numerically modified container phrases such as four glasses of water are ambiguous between individuating and measure interpretations. We show that this ambiguity arises for numerically modified atomic predicates generally, including e.g. four oranges and four grains of rice, but not for measure phrases like four ounces of water. We develop an analysis that accounts for this generalization in terms of a type-shifting principle, the Universal Measurer.