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A noun that refers to one countable thing is singular.

A noun that stands for one countable portion, part, or unit of some non-countable thing is singulative.

See http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsASingulative.htm

Nouns that stand for things that one does not count (e.g. water, oil, benevolence) are non-count or mass nouns.

See http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAMassNoun.htm

What is the term for a noun that stands for more than one countable portion, part, or unit of some non-countable thing?

[As per a comment below by jlawler, I have edited in the following example from English:]

At the restaurant, it makes sense to speak of a) some beer, b) one beer, c) four beers, and d) beers all around. If a) is semantically non-count and b) has singulative meaning, what term do we use to characterize c) and d)?

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    Examples of the phenomenon, please? Theoretical descriptions mostly are useless in identifying phenomena.
    – jlawler
    Jan 30, 2014 at 5:54
  • Lehrer '86 uses the term 'measure classifier': hum.uchicago.edu/ck0/kennedy/classes/f11/na/docs/lehrer86.pdf. @jlawler I think what the questioner has in mind is 'liter' in 'two liters of water'.
    – P Elliott
    Jan 30, 2014 at 9:26
  • Based on your edit, it looks like i was wrong. (b), (c) and (d) all involve coercion of a mass noun into a count noun, which we could perhaps analyse as involving a null classifier, plus bog-standard numerals. This phenomenon is pretty pervasive in English: 'two coffees', 'two waters', etc. etc.
    – P Elliott
    Feb 1, 2014 at 12:04

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