Word Classes

Question 1

Content v. Function words

Answer 1

Content words: provide meaning with content; open classes; typically nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

Function words: Signal grammatical relationship among content words; Closed classes; Determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions

Question 2

Syntactic and morphological evidence for noun class

Answer 2

Syntactic evidence: Can form (noun) phrases with determiners, adjectives

Morphological evidence: May show different morphological forms based on number

Question 3

Syntactic and morphological evidence for verb class

Answer 3

Syntactic evidence: Can form (verb) classes with (object) noun/noun phrases

Morphological evidence: May show different morphological forms based on tense, aspect, etc.