Re: Digest Number 217

John:
> And Rosta scripsit:
>
> > I start counting at one, but only for things I'm sure can be counted.
For
> > that, I need to know what re broda would look like and how it differs
from
> > pa broda.
>
> "Two presidents of the U.S. elected in 1790" doesn't make any sense (the
> office is by nature singulative) but that doesn't mean that "one president
> of the U.S. elected in 1790" doesn't make sense either. Sometimes
counting
> is sensible even though it begins and ends at "one".

The singularity is contingent and the phrase is compositional. Because I
can count presidents, I can count presidents elected in the US. Because
I can count mothers, I know I have exactly one mother.

Likewise, as I have already said, I can count integers between 4.1 and 5.1.

To convince me, you'll need to find a noncompositional example whose
singularity is not contingent on facts of the local world.

--And.