From measure predicates to count nouns: Complex measure nouns in Russian

This paper offers a semantic analysis of morphologically complex measure nouns in Russian (e.g., trexlitrovka ‘three-liter-ka^suffix’). Prima facie such nouns look very much like measure predicates such as three liters that appear in pseudo-partitives as three liters of water. I show that they are not such. In particular I shall argue that: (i) complex measure nouns are not measure predicates, but are genuine count nouns denoting entities with certain measure characteristics; (ii) they are derived via an operation which shifts measure predicates expressing measure properties to nouns denoting disjoint entities that have these properties; (iii) the interpretational domain involves a wide range of entities including containers and portions. I will then show that the analysis has at least two important implications: (a) it supports the reality of measure predicates (three liters); (b) it shows that measure-to-count
shifts are productive semantic operations.