Divisibility and quantity

I start by reconsidering the basic notions of divisibility and quantity in Finnish.

At first sight the divisibility distinction in Finnish appears straightforward, separating singular count nouns from plural count and mass nouns. Yet certain definiteness readings remain problematic. Because divisibility is a semantic concept many nouns can be used in both divisible and non-divisible senses, as in English: for instance kakku ‘cake’. In its divisible usage the word will allow the expression of partitive quantity, but in its non-divisible use it will not. In this latter usage, a partitive would have some other cause, not partial quantity. Recall examples such as the following:

Auto is non-divisible, and the partitive signifies irresultative action; the definiteness of the car is determined by the context.

The verb is resultative and juusto is divisible: it must therefore be read as some cheese, indefinite. But now consider (3):

Kakku can be divisible or non-divisible, so that three readings are possible (out of context, of course):

1. (a) Non-divisible, partitive due to irresultative verb: ‘We were eating a/the cake.’

2. (b) Divisible, partitive marking partial quantity; verb resultative: ‘We ate (some) cake.’

3. […]