# Quantization (linguistics)

In linguistics, a quantized expression is such that, whenever it is true of some entity, it is not true of any proper subparts of that entity.[citation needed]

For example, if something is an "apple", then no proper subpart of that thing is an "apple". If something is "water", then many of its subparts will also be "water". Hence, "apple" is quantized, while "water" is not.[citation needed]

## Usage

Quantization has proven relevant to the proper characterization of grammatical telicity (roughly, sentences that present events as bounded/unbounded in time) and the mass/count distinction for nouns. The notion was first applied[when?][why?] to linguistic semantics by the linguist Manfred Krifka.[citation needed]

## Definition

Formally, a quantization predicate QUA can be defined as follows, where ${\displaystyle U}$ is the universe of discourse, ${\displaystyle F}$ is a variable over sets, and ${\displaystyle p}$ is a mereological part structure on ${\displaystyle U}$ with ${\displaystyle <_{p}}$ the mereological part-of relation:[clarification needed][citation needed]

${\displaystyle (\forall F\subseteq U_{p})(QUA(F)\iff (\forall x,y)(F(x)\wedge F(y)\Rightarrow \neg x<_{p}y))}$