universal sorter

English

Examples
The term wine is usually uncountable; however, the plural wines can refer to varieties of wine, such as chardonnay and merlot.

Etymology

Compound of universal +‎ sorter; first used in print in or around 1981 by Hendrik Bunt (see quote below) modeled on universal grinder.

Noun

universal sorter

1. (linguistics) A mechanism whereby uncountable nouns are made countable and abstract.
   • 1981, Hendrik Bunt, The formal semantics of mass terms, Amsterdam (dissertation), →OCLC, page 11:

     The conceivability of this machine, that we might call the "Universal Sorter", indicates that in principle any "mass noun" can be used as a count noun. Of course, it is true that a "mass noun" like 'wine' undergoes a shift in meaning when used as a count noun...

Usage notes

A related semantic mechanism, the universal packager, also creates countable nouns. The universal sorter mechanism creates an abstract noun (e.g. wines in the sense of "kinds of wine"); the universal packager can indicate a concrete noun (e.g. coffees in the sense of "cups of coffee").

Related terms

• universal packager
• universal grinder