Nouns (and their properties and subclasses) Flashcards
Nouns have
- semantic properties
- morphosyntactic properties
- discourse pragmatic properties
Nouns
- are a syntactic category.
[CLAUSE Special[ NOUN equipment] is necessary.]
Semantic properties of nouns
a noun is connected to a concept ( a SCHEMA) which is typically BOUNDED or INDIVIDUATED
Morphosyntactic properties of nouns
- Conceptual category “number” is expressed on countable nouns - they have singular and plural forms.
- Number is typically expressed morphologically (singular N + suffix (e)s = plural form)
Number expressed lexically
-strong suppletion: person - people
-weak suppletion (non-systematic variation in form)
-isn’t productive
Root vowel change
mouse - mice
louse - lice
goose - geese
tooth - teeth
foot- feet
die - dice
-(r)en suffix
ox - oxen
child - Children
Foreign plurals
alga - algae
bureau - bureaus
crisis - crises
virtuoso - virtuosi
Discourse pragmatic properties of nouns
in actual language, use nouns to refer/point to discourse-manipulable participants
Nouns: subclasses
- proper names are used to address and identify particular beings, things, or places that are familiar or uniquely identifiable.
- It’s possible to turn a proper name into a common noun:
“That’s the Santa Clause I’ve been waiting to see “
Countable sense
a countable sense means that a noun refers to things that are bounded or individuated enough to be counted
- (1a) “Sirius had a strange ‘dream’”
- (1b) “Can I have two ‘beers’, please?”
- (1c) “There’s too much ‘beer’ in my basement.”
Concrete masses
sand, water, sugar, milk
concrete collections
jewelry, furniture, footwear, equipment
abstract nouns
warmth, brutality, confidence, courage
-refer to various types of the abstract entity or to instances of the abstract idea
action nominalizations
dancing, running, evacuation
The effects of plural marking on basically uncountable nouns
- mass nouns can refer to a quantity of the substance
- mass nouns can refer to several different types of the mass item
Mass nouns
- mass nouns can refer to a quantity of the substance
- mass nouns can refer to several different types of the mass item
Collection nouns
refer to different types of the collection
Collective plurals
- they trigger plural subject-verb agreement, they contain special plural forms like: people, cattle, swine, fowl, vermin, kine, etc
-(1a) “Vermin are having a high time in this town.”
-(1b) “Other fowl have become less resistant to disease.”
Collective nouns
they denote a collection of individuals with nouns such as: board, committee, jury, staff, crew, etc.
- (2a)”The committee has reconvened.”
- (2b)”A new committee has been established.”
Pronouns
- Pronouns are referring expressions that replace determined noun phrases (DPs).
- pronouns don’t just replace nouns or NPs
- (1a) “Albert Brooks talks about [DP the[NP new[NOUN movie]]].”
-(1b) “Albert Brooks talks about it” [it = the new movie = DP]
Types of Pronouns
personal, demonstrative, impersonal, indefinite and quantified
Personal Pronouns
-used to refer to participants already present or active in the discourse
Nominative (personal pronouns)
1st person: I
2nd person you
3rd person: he
3rd person: she
3rd person: it
1st person: we
2nd person: you
3rd person: they
Accusative (personal pronouns)
1st person: me
2nd person you
3rd person: him
3rd person: her
3rd person: it
1st person: us
2nd person: you
3rd person: them
Dependent Genitive (personal pronouns)
1st person: my
2nd person you
3rd person: his
3rd person: her
3rd person: its
1st person: our
2nd person: your
3rd person: their
Independent Genitive (personal pronouns)
1st person: mine
2nd person yours
3rd person: his
3rd person: hers
3rd person: its
1st person: ours
2nd person: yours
3rd person: theirs
Reflexive (personal pronouns)
1st person: myself
2nd person yourself
3rd person: himself
3rd person: herself
3rd person: itself
1st person: ourselves
2nd person: yourselves
3rd person: themselves
Demonstrative pronouns
- point to participants in the context or ideas present in the surrounding text
near: this (singular), these (plural)
far: that (singular), those (plural)
Impersonal pronouns
-refer to impersonal unidentified participants
Like for instance: one, they, you
For example: “They serve good food here”
Indefinite pronouns
- Indefinite pronouns function like an indefinite DP ( a DP with an indefinite article).
Indefinite referential pronouns: (somebody, someone, something.)
Indefinite non-referential pronouns: (anybody, anyone, anything.)
Examples of indefinite pronouns
(1a) They can choose ‘an item’ from the menu.
(1b) They can choose ‘something’ from the menu.
(1c) They can choose ‘anything’ from the menu.
Quantified pronouns
- Quantified pronouns refer to an identifiable set of potential referents.
-every- forms refer to all members of the set
- n- forms refer to none of the members of the set
Examples of Quantified pronouns
(2a) I’m looking forward to telling you ‘everything’.
(2b) It was clear that Ms. Walsh supported ‘nothing’ that Tiller did.
either, neither, and quantifiers
either = any in a set of two
neither = none in a set of two
Quantifiers: can be pronouns that indicate a quantity: all, half, both, numerals
Examples of either and neither
(1a) You have two arms and ‘either’ could lift this suitcase
(1b) We were offered two options, but ‘neither’ was valid
Examples of Quantifiers
(2a) The audience didn’t appreciate your answers. ‘All’ were long-winded.
(2b) The Voughn twins are a success story. ‘Both’ have found new work they like locally.
