Lecture 3

English 3318: Studies in English Grammar

Form-class WordsNouns

Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg

Objectives

● Identify examples of the four form classes– nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

● Recognize Noun– Noun Derivational Suffixes– Noun Inflectional Suffixes– Irregular Plural Inflection– Plural only Forms– Collective Nouns– Semantic Features of Nouns

Form and Function - Form

● The term form refers to the shape of the word (phrase or clause) – its pronunciation ans spelling

● The four parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs – are labeled form classes– can change their form, by accessing derivational or

inflectional morphemes ● Examples:

– scarcity (noun) – ends on -ity (capacity, velocity)– desk (noun) – pl. form – desks (more than one desk)

Form and Function - Function

● Parts of speech can also be recognized because of the way they behave – by their function

● Most nouns can – follow articles (a, an, the) – a scarcity, the desk– can fit into the blank in a sentence like this: The _____

seemed surprising/ ugly/ atrocious.● Nouns have operational or functional definition

– where they can occur or what words they can appear with

– “a noun is a word that can do x, y or z”

Exercise 1

● Please sort a list of words into four sets – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs.

● book, yellow, fast, drive, drip, light, walk, tree, case

Overlapping Cases● It is necessary to have two ways of identifying

parts of speech because forms can overlap● Example: runs - occurs in two forms run and runs

(pl. form or 3rd per. sing.)– He made two runs yesterday– This car runs well

● It is impossible to distinguish the part of speech only on the basis of form alone– morphemes showed the same suffix may have two or

more different meanings {-s} could be: noun plural (books), noun possessive (snake's), verb present tense (reads)

Forms with Overlapping Functions● Things (nouns) and actions (verbs) appear to be

basic categories into which speakers divide their experience of the world– a noun – is “name of a person, place, or thing” (cat)– a verb – is “an action” (sing)

● Things and events exist on the continuum– some nouns name events (lightning)– some words name both things and action (flame)– compare

● He may study in Europe next summer (verb)● My study is in the front of the house (noun)● The wind usually blows from the west (verb)● He suffered three blows to the head (noun)

Nouns● The noun may be defined as a part of speech

characterized by the following features:– The semantic feature – The morphological features– The syntactical features

Semantic and Morphological Features● Semantic feature

– the generalized lexical meaning of a noun is substantiability

● it expresses “substance” or “thingness”● it is the main nominative part of speech● its lexical meaning may be expressed by a number of

word building suffixes (derivational morphemes): -er; -or; -ment; -ship; -ness; -dom; -hood; etc

● Morphological feature– the noun in Modern English has only two grammatical

categories, number and case, which are expressed synthetically by suffixation and sound interchange

The Syntactical Features● A noun may be used in the function of almost any

part of the sentence – most typical ones are those of subject and object

● As to the combinability of a noun, it is closely connected with its generalized lexical meaning– denoting substances, nouns are naturally associated

with words describing the qualities of substances (adjectives,) their number and order (numerals,) their action (verbs,) and relations (prepositions)

– The combinability of nouns is variable● they have both left-hand and right-hand connections

Noun Derivational Suffixes● Noun-forming suffixes

– -ion and its variants: -tion, -sion, -cion and -ation ● converts verbs into nouns: reflect – reflection, abbreviate-

abbreviation, abstract-abstraction, accuse – accusation– some -ion words function as both nouns and verbs

● question, function, mention, partition– other suffixes convert verb into noun: -ment, -ance, -al,

-ant, -age, -ry, -ure, -er● accomplishment, acceptance, arrival, assistant, breakage,

delivery, departure, teacher– -ness, -th, -dom, -ice, -ity convert adjectives into nouns

● wisdom, prettiness, helplessness, justice, partiality– noun-forming suffix can be added to a word that already

has one or more derivational suffixes● partiality, activation

Rules of Thumb

Tests for NounsFormal Proof

. Has noun-making morpheme1

. Can occur with the plural morpheme2

. Can occur with the possessive 3morpheme

Functional Proof

. Without modifiers, can directly follow 4an article and create a grammatical unit

. Can fit in the frame sentence5 (The) __________seem(s) all right.

governmentgovernments

government's decision

the government, a government

Exercise 2● Test each of the words below against the five

characteristics of nouns summarized in the table above. Which words are nouns? How many of the criteria are valid for each?

1. virus 2. viciousness 3. e-mail 4. provider 5. Web site 6. online 7. chatting 8. mailing

– Example:– tree (noun - 4 criteria)– applicable: (2) pluralized; (3) can become possessive;

(4) can directly follow an article; (5) can fit in the frame sentence: (The) tree seem(s) all right.

– not applicable: (1) no noun-making morpheme

Prototypes and Peripheral Cases● Where we place the limits for words belonging to

the noun category?– diligence – fulfills two characteristics of a noun:

● noun-making morpheme {-ce} – like competence, intelligence

● can fit is the frame sentence – Diligence seems necessary● doesn't pluralize or become possessive, doesn't follow

articles– refusing – fulfills only one criterion

● it can fit in the frame of the sentence – Refusing seems all right

● in every other way it is a verb● ends with {-ing} verb inflection● it is a gerund – verb that occupy noun position in the

sentences

A word could meet only a single noun criterion and still be categorized as a noun by default if it was created by means of a noun-derivational morpheme and it is never occurred as any other part of speech

Rules of Thumb Degrees of Nounness

Noun< F D B A C E G >

Adjective Verb

1. A = Nouns that name persons, places, things (cat)2. B = Nouns derived from adjectives (happiness)3. C = Nouns derived from verbs (reaction, runner)4. D = Adjectives that are also nouns (red, cold)5. E = Verbs that are also nouns (run, hit)6. F = Adjectives rarely used as nouns (the Good)7. G = Verbs used in noun positions (walking, seeing)

Noun Features – Semantic Features● Semantic features are elements of human and

nonhuman or animate and inanimate– Examples: *Merle's wristwatch is plotting to kill him.

● normally a human subject is required for plotting, where wristwatch is distinctly non human

– *That plate craves liver vs My cat craves liver● the verb crave requires a subject like cat that has the

semantic feature animate (“alive and capable of movement”), whereas plate is inanimate

– My Sister craves liver – is also completely acceptable (it has features of human and animate)

● animate or human have features of gender (male, female) girl-boy; uncle-aunt; doe-buck; mare-stallion

● inanimate have features solid, liquid I poured a cup of coffee vs *I poured a cup of furniture

Noun Subclasses - Common and Proper

● Nouns are classified to be either common (table, idea, boy) or proper (New York, Hungary, James Joys)– proper nouns are capitalized in writing – are names of

specific places, persons or events.– the difference between the two has grammatical

consequences● common nouns can appear following the articles (a, an, the), proper

can not– Examples: on the/a holiday vs on Thanksgiving; in the city

vs in New York; the/an author vs James Joys– we can only use proper nouns with the article the to refer to such a unique

entity as there were, at least in the imagination, more than one of them: Do you remember the Thanksgiving of 1987? He spoke of the young James Joys

– an article as a part of a proper name or is used with it by convention: the Los Angeles Times or the Atlantic ocean

Noun Subclasses – Count and Mass● Common nouns are subcategorized as count nouns

and noncount (mass) noun– count nouns like pencil, telephone, cousin – refer to

things that are considered separate entities● occur with many or other determiners (words that function like

articles and precede nouns) that make distinctions in number: – many pencils, a pencil, every telephone, these cousins– one pencil, two pencils, three cousins, four telephones

– noncount nouns refer to entities that we think of as not countable but occurring in a mass, such as money, water, electricity, sunshine and bread

● occur in the singular with much and other indefinite determiners that do not include the notion of number

– much money, some electricity, less water, a lot of bread– *one money, *two monies, *three electricities, *four sunshines

Noncount (Mass) Nouns

● Countable nouns can preface noncount nouns to form phrases– three pints of blood– four bushels of wheat– three pages of information

● Mass nouns can be converted into count nouns by using them to refer to – particular types of varieties of the material they name– the source from which they come

● Our favorite French bakery makes 14 breads● The wines of California are being exported to Europe

Exercise 3 ● Describe each of the following nouns by listing the

features that characterize it. Select from– count, noncount (mass)– common, proper– animate, inanimate– human, nonhuman,– male, female

● Use only features that seem appropriate to the particular word– 1) calculus; 2) analysis; 3) graph; 4) mathematician;

5) paper; 6) arithmetic; 7) student; 8) Euclid

Noun Features – Grammatical Features● Important subclasses exist on the basis

– features of meaning, like animate and inanimate– grammatical features, traits that are important to us

because they influence grammatical choices and create subclasses of nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

● Examples: My car devours gas when the air conditioner is on and Shirley must have been poured into those jeans she wore last night– devour usually requires an animate subject, and pour

normally involves a liquid● although both sentences communicate their meaning quite

well● words were used metaphorically and creatively, by

consciously violating the normal rules

The Meaning of Possessive Case● So far, we have seen the relationship between the

possessive noun and the head word is actually one of possession, or ownership, but such relationship is not always the case– can be a description

● an evening's entertainment; a bachelor's degree; today's news– can be a measure of value of time

● a day's wages; a moment's notice; a dollar's worth– can denote origin

● the teacher's suggestion; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address– sometimes the actual relationship is unclear

● We admired Van Gogh's portrait – either of the artist or done by the artist

Irregular Plural Nouns● Before leaving the noun inflections, we should

note many instances of irregular plurals, such as– old forms historically resisted becoming regularized

● mouse – mice; foot – feet; tooth – teeth; man – men; child – children; ox – oxen

– a number of animals and fish are irregular and have no inflection for plural

● sheep; deer; bass; salmon; trout– borrowed words have retained their foreign plural

inflections● larva – larvae; criterion – criteria; appendix - appendices

– the borrowed words ended on -s● analysis – analyses; nucleus – nuclei; hypothesis –

hypotheses; stimulus - stimuli

Plural-Only Forms● Some nouns even when singular in meaning, are plural

is form– one such group refers to things that are in two parts: scissors;

shears; pliers; trousers; slacks; shorts; glasses● take the same verb as plural subject do in subject-verb agreement:

Your glasses are too strong for me● although a pair of shorts is a single garment we use plural pronoun

in reference to them: I bought a pair of shorts today; they're navy blue.

– another group of nouns that has no singular form include: measles; mumps; means; clothes; athletics

● mathematics, linguistics, physics when referred to an academic discipline is treated as singular noun: Physics is my favorite subject

● sometimes such nouns are used with plural meanings: The statistics on poverty level are quite depressing

Collective Nouns● Any noun that names a group of individual members

(choir, team, majority), can be treated as either singular or plural, depending on context and meaning:– The family have all gone their separate ways– The whole family is celebrating the holiday at home today

● Other singular-in-form nouns (reminder, number, rest) also have plural meaning in certain context:– The rest of the books are being donated to the library– A number of customers have come early

● This system also applies to certain indefinite pronouns (some, all, enough)– Some of the books were missing– All the cookies were eaten

Some More Observations

● Notice what happens to the verb in such sentences, when the modifier of the subject headword is singular– The rest of the map was found– Some of the water is polluted

● The pronoun to use in reference to these noun phrases will depend on the meaning, and usually be obvious– They (some of the books) were missing– It (some of the water) is polluted

Word 'None'

● One special problem occurs with the word 'None' – its original meaning is 'not one'– many linguists insist than none always be singular

● More accurate way to assess its meaning is to recognize none as the negative, or opposite, to all– treat it in the same way with its number (whether

singular or plural) determined by the number of modifiers or the referent

● None of the cookies were left● None of the cake was eaten● None of the guests want to leave● All of the guests are staying; none of them are living