quantity (n.)

A term used in PHONOLOGY to refer to the relative DURATIONS of sounds and SYLLABLES when these are linguistically contrastive; also referred to as LENGTH. The term is particularly used in historical studies of VOWEL and syllable length, and is contrasted with the notion of QUALITY; but a quantitative analysis also applies to CONSONANTS, as seen in such notions as ‘long’ v. ‘short’ consonants and GEMINATION.

A term identifying one of the MAXIMS OF CONVERSATION: the maxim of quantity states that a person’s contribution to a conversation should ideally be just as informative as is required for the purposes of an exchange – for example, avoiding verbosity.