Le sémantème chez Guillaume et la dichotomie mass/count en anglais
The Lexeme in Guillaume and the Mass/Count Dichotomy in English

Summary/Abstract: The mass/count dichotomy in English, which reflects alternative actualizations of a substantive’s lexeme, remains unexplained, even by those who propose dividing lexemes into two classes. What is at the basis of this categorization found in every substantive? Guillaume’s idea that there is an “internal universalization” of the lexeme suggests a possible answer. When he develops this idea, Guillaume ends up proposing that “cardinal” person (or “logical”, “objective”, “generalized”, etc. person) represents the lexeme’s extension as its internal support. Besides making the notion of internal incidence more explicit, his analysis helps us understand the role of the two ways of actualizing the lexeme during the ideogenesis of a substantive in English.

• Details
• Contents