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Full Idea
If a plural variable is said to have not a single value but some values (some clothes), then a non-count variable may have, more quirkier still, some value (some clothing, for instance) in ranging arbitrarily over the scattered stuff.
Gist of Idea
If plural variables have 'some values', then non-count variables have 'some value'
Source
Henry Laycock (Words without Objects [2006], 4.4)
Book Ref
Laycock,Henry: 'Words without Objects' [OUP 2006], p.135
A Reaction
We seem to need the notion of a sample, or an archetype, to fit the bill. I hereby name them 'sample variables'. Damn - Laycock got there first, on p.137.
| 12794 | Plurals are semantical but not ontological [Laycock] |
| 17694 | Some non-count nouns can be used for counting, as in 'several wines' or 'fewer cheeses' [Laycock] |
| 17695 | Some apparent non-count words can take plural forms, such as 'snows' or 'waters' [Laycock] |
| 17696 | 'Humility is a virtue' has an abstract noun, but 'water is a liquid' has a generic concrete noun [Laycock] |
| 12791 | It is said that proper reference is our intellectual link with the world [Laycock] |
| 12792 | The category of stuff does not suit reference [Laycock] |
| 12818 | We shouldn't think some water retains its identity when it is mixed with air [Laycock] |
| 12795 | Parts must be of the same very general type as the wholes [Laycock] |
| 12797 | If plural variables have 'some values', then non-count variables have 'some value' [Laycock] |
| 12799 | Descriptions of stuff are neither singular aggregates nor plural collections [Laycock] |