Basic Categories - Word Classes Flashcards
Defining Word classes -
what are word classes?
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc.
Parts of speech
Lexical classes
Sets of words grouped together in grammatical analysis
> on what grounds?
Semantics is a poor indicator of word class
> Most nouns denote entities.
Most adjectives denote properties.
Most verbs denote events.
But this is not actually the ground of the groupings.
Some nouns denote properties
> E.g. beauty, whiteness…
Nouns can denote events
> E.g. storm
Both adjectives and verbs frequently denote states
> E.g. stand up
> E.g. infuriated
Defining properties of word classes are morphosyntactic
- Morphology
Morphology English nouns > Take plural one house two houses *two youngs
English adjectives
> Comparative and superlative inflections
> -ly derivation to make adverbs
> slow / slowly
young
younger
youngest
*housest
Defining properties of word classes are morphosyntactic
- Syntax
English nouns
> Can head a noun phrase
We saw the white house.
English adjectives
> Cannot head a noun phrase
*We saw the young.
We saw the young one.
Morphosyntactic properties of word classes are: CRITERIA
> A decision of the descriptor.
Has to reflect the internal logic of the system.
Word classes do not pre-exist to the description.
> Linguists do not ‘find out’
what ‘adverbs’, ‘adjectives’, ‘verbs’ are in language x.
>They DEFINE what they are.
Typical of verbs
head clauses
inflect for TAM
agree in pers/nb
describe events
Typical of nouns
head NPs take plural take case have articles split in classes repres. arguments describe entities refer
Typical of adjectives
modify nouns
agree in gender
used with copulas
describe properties
Closed vs. Open:
OPEN CLASSES
OPEN:
Verbs, nouns, adjectives
> With cross-linguistic variation!
- large no. of items
- lexical meaning
- new items can be added
Closed vs. Open:
CLOSED CLASSES
CLOSED: > More grammatical: Prepositions Conjunctions Articles Coverbs Classifiers
- Small number of members
- Additions impossible or rare
Different languages have different word classes
English does not have coverbs and classifiers (closed class examples)
Classifiers
Nouns are grouped together under a class as a classifier: THAI: 300+ items, Used when counting nouns
Geographic distribution: > East Asian languages > Amazon, Meso-America > Pacific North-West > Some Austronesian languages
Not rare, but completely absent in some parts of the world
Large open word classes
3: Verbs, nouns, adjectives. > Adverbs are a closed class in many languages.
There is also a lot of variation in open classes
UNIVERSAL:
All languages have a noun/verb distinction.
OR: all languages have more than one open word class.
OR: in all languages there are morphosyntactic differences
between non-grammatical words.
Lot of variation in third class (noun/adjective distinction) - many langs do not have a third class - a lot of AUSTRALIAN LANGS
verbs & nouns/nominals
If a lang does not have a third class:
Either: The two classes have verb- and noun-like properties (VERBS AND NOUNS) > adjectives usually closed class EG Hausa: approx 12 adjectives big small, new old, long short, black white, fresh bad, red Crosslinguistically common set of properties.
OR
One class has properties typical of nouns and adjectives
(VERBS AND NOMINALS)
> Bipartite classes are cross-linguistically widespread
Word classes are language-specific
why are word classes are language-specific? Evidence
Variation in defining properties
English nouns:
> Take plural marking.
> Can head noun phrases.
Bininj Gun-wok (Gunwinyuan nPN, Australia):
> No plural marking.
> But there is three-fold distinction between verbs/nouns/adjectives.
> Based on gender
