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
