the countability of a noun

Is the countability of a noun a basic semantic element of it or assigned by the construction it is in?
Apart from the possibility of being counted，countability also refers to countable meanings or usages as well as count nouns．A count noun is the one whose basic meaning is a countable usage and can be enumerated and pluralized on the basis of this meaning．Under the combined criterion of semantics and syntax，nouns in English fall into four Categories，with one group of count nouns and three groups of mass nouns．Some traditional count nouns like clothes，scissors，cattle，audience are renamed as mass nouns according to this principle.
The countability of noun in English is the hot topic of discussion all the time. The traditional definition of the countability of noun is that those nouns must have the following characteristics: (1) they can be enumerated with cardinal Numbers (such as three pens); (2) they can be singular and plural forms (such as a pen, two pens); (3) the singular form can be embellished with article---a, the and such (such as a pen, the pen, each pen); (4) its plural form can be embellished with few, many (such as few pens, many pens). And the characteristics of the uncountable nouns are totally opposite. (1) They cannot be enumerated with cardinal numbers (three milks); (2) they don't have the distinction between the plurality (such as milk,
milks); (3) they can be embellished with qualifiers such as a little, much (such as a little milk, much milk).
“C ountability” literally means a kind of property that a noun can be counted. However, this kind of definition is too ambiguous to make it clear, for almost all the things can be enumerated according to some certain kinds of ways, or there is no any difference between “a cup of tea”and “three cups of tea”. The way to distinguish the difference between “three cups of tea” and “three tables” is the use of measure word “cup”.
Therefore, the nouns which can be enumerated or pluralized are not all countable nouns. There are some typical uncountable nouns also can be enumerated or pluralized under some certain contexts. For example, “Open th ree beers.” here beers mean container of beer, and “W e tasted four Canadian beers.” here beers mean brands of beer. On the contrary, there are also some countable nouns can not be enumerated or pluralized under some certain contexts. Such as “A n apple a day keeps the doctor away.” and “the salad would be more delicious with a little apple.” We know “apple” is a typical countable noun, however, here “apple”double identities. So, we can see the nouns with double identities can not be simply predicated as countable nouns or uncountable nouns.
From this point of view, it’s necessary to distinguish the
countability of nouns in the aspects of vocabulary and morph syntax. In the aspect of morph syntax, countability exists as the nouns’ word feature. When a noun exists in a plural context, the noun will have the change on its form correspondingly. And in the aspect of vocabulary, all the words have the property of countability and uncountability.
According to the examples listed above, we can find that no matter what the nouns, nouns with double identities or the plural use of uncountable nouns, are all caused by the semantic diversity of nouns, and it is not contradictory with the identities of nouns (countable nouns or uncountable nouns). Therefore, the countability of nouns is determined by the context or the sentence the nouns in, in other word, the countability of a noun is assigned by the construction it is in.。