Re: Number in Trentish

#
# On Thu, 13 Dec 2001 10:14:55 -0500, Muke Tever
# <alrivera@...> wrote:
#
# >I noticed this kind of English sentence:
# >
# >    There are mice in the house.
# >    There are mice in the corner.
# >
#
# It seems to me that in the first sentence, the speaker is actually
# qualifying the house. Sort of, there are two kinds of houses, those with
# mice and those without ones. S/he could say the same after having just
# seen exactly one mouse, and not knowing actually if there are more of
# them. It's not the quantity that matters, rather, the house's being not
# "mice-free".
#
# What do L1 speakers think?

To me, since 'house' is rather general, and 'corner' is rather specific,
the difference between the two sentences seems to be of
either spacial/visible, or (somewhat related), a hearsay/personal experience
difference.

there are mice in the house (so i'm told, i can't actually see them)
there are mice in the corner (i can see them now, i know they're there)

-tim
http://www.zece.com/conlang/