The concept [± count] is attributed to the lexicon structure of almost languages, for all
language communities have their own ways of cognitive developments and ways of
denominating things.
In English, the distinction of the concept is clearly represented through the ability to
combine with or without particular determiners. Nouns like cat can be employed with numerals
like one and two and determiners like a, many and few, but neither with much nor little. On the
contrary, nouns like milk can be used with determiners like much and little, but neither with a,
one nor many. These two types of nouns constitute two morphosyntactic sub-classes of English
common nouns. They have been respectively called count nouns / countable nouns (CNs) and
mass nouns /non-count nouns/ uncountable nouns (UNs). CNs admit the singular/ plural
contrast, while UNs do not. Noun phrases (NPs) that combine a noun with a determiner like 'a'
will be claimed to be count; while NPs that combine a noun with a determiner like 'much' will
be claimed to be mass. These criteria are of course specific to English. Are there other
languages that (would also seem to) draw the count-mass distinction?
According to Lyons [12, p.445-448], [±] count has close relationship with number, the
most common manifestation of which can be seen in singularity / plurality (of noun). This
distinction results from whether we accept things as [±] count or not. The fact that a thing
would be treated as an object or more than an object, a group of objects or mass depends on
many criteria on large-scale since the lexical structures of each language is an open system
both diverse and complicated. Each community has its own ways of expressing and
denominating things and each language has its own distinction between [±] count. For
instance, researchers all agree that in European languages most names of objects are count
nouns whereas this is not the case in Vietnamese: they are non-count nouns because they
cannot directly occur after numerals. Classifiers such as cây, con, chiếc, cái are indispensable
for counting count nouns. They must occur between numerals or quantors. Let ’ s compare.
Vietnamese: hai cái nồi mới instead of * hai nồi mới
mỗi cái chén instead of * mỗi chén
những tấm bảng instead of * những bảng
ba cái bút instead of * ba bút

English : two pencils, five knives
However, there are some nouns denoting object directly stand after numerals such as
hai xe đạp. This case is not common in Vietnamese.
Problems arise, when a learner starts to learn a new language and he discovers that
countability is something specific to a language and a noun which is countable in one language
can be uncountable in another. If the learner assumes that the same countability applies to a
word in English as in their mother tongue, interference errors will be made. Cross-linguistic
differences in countability are the source of such foreign-sounding statements as, ‘I need pen ’
or ‘Apple are in the fridge.’

Variable nouns in English have both a plural and a singular form which differ from each
other, most often by the addition or subtraction of an 's', though there are, of course, many
irregular variable nouns. Invariable nouns in English come in different forms. Some have only a
singular form, as is the case with uncountable nouns like furniture. Others have only a plural
form in English, whereas their counterparts in other languages may have singular forms. For
example, many objects which are made up of two hinged or joined parts and are symmetrical,
such as scissors, scales, secateurs and trousers, have only a plural form in English. To refer to
these nouns in the singular, you have to use 'a pair of’. If the learner assumes that the number
of these nouns is the same in English as in their mother tongue noun forms, like trouser, and
incorrect verb-noun and determiner-noun agreement errors, as in 'this trouser is too small' will
result. The learner who has not sufficiently learnt these facts may rely on the assumption that
these nouns behave in the same way as they do in their mother tongue.
Therefore, the study of countability of concrete nouns in English and Vietnamese will be
useful to Vietnamese learners of English as well as foreign learners of Vietnamese in learning,
translating and enhancing their sense of cultural communication. Similarities and differences
found on the analysis between the two languages will be of great benefit to them.