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Gender
Nouns (gender and case) 2
Gender distinctions (of pronouns)
masculine / feminie / neuter
personal / nonpersonal
Nouns (gender and case) 3
Personal male/female nouns
who – he; who – she
morphologically unmarked
e.g.: uncle ~ aunt; bachelor ~ spinster
morphologycally marked
e.g.: host ~ hostess; bridegroom ~ bride
sex-neutral forms (AmE)
e.g: s/he; wo/man; firefighter (fireman); spokesperson (spokesman)
Nouns (gender and case) 4
Personal dual gender
e.g.: artist, doctor, parent, student
marking => male/female student
Nouns (gender and case) 5
Common gender
Between personal and nonpersonal
e.g.: child, baby
reference: he/she/it who/which
Nouns (gender and case) 6
Animals
Higher animals
distinct forms
e.g.: bull ~ cow
pronouns can be he/she/it and who/which
Lower animals
no distinct forms
pronouns: as in the case of higher animals
Nouns (gender and case) 7
Names of countries
geographical units, as a class (inanimate): neuter
e.g.: Here is a map of England. It’s a nice country.
political/economic unit: feminine
e.g.: Belgium has increased her exports by 50% since 1998.
team (sport): as collective noun
e.g.: Spain have/has improved a lot since the last World Championships.
Case
Nouns (gender and case) 9
Cases
nominative
accusative
genitive
etc.
In English?
=> common vs. genitive (Quirk et al, 1985)
Nouns (gender and case) 10
Forms of genitive inflection
Regular Ns
pronunciation:
/iz/ (niece’s), /z/ (boy’s), /s/ (cat’s)
spelling: i. The spies were arrested. [pl, common]
ii. The spy’s companion was a woman. [sg, genitive]
iii. The spies’ companions were women. [pl, genitive]
=> i and ii are the same in pronunciation: zero genitive
Irregular Ns
e.g.: child’s ~ children’s
Nouns (gender and case) 11
The zero genitive
Greek names
e.g.: Euripides’, Socrates’
some names ending in /z/ (spelling vs. pronunciation)
e.g.: Dickens’, Jones’, Burns’
some fixed expressions, with Ns ending in /s/
e.g.: for ... sake (for goodness’ sake)
Nouns (gender and case) 12
The genitive and the of-construction
Corresponance:
What is the name of the ship?
What is the ships’s name?
BUT:
John’s school vs. ?the school of John
Nouns (gender and case) 13
The genitive N and the head
structure of genitives (compared to of-constructions)
1. meaning expressed by the relationship between the
head and the genitive
2. N types taking the genitive
3. N heads with the genitive
Nouns (gender and case) 14
Relationship between the head and the genitive
possessive genitive
e.g.: my friend’s flat ~ my friend has a flat
subjective genitive
e.g.: John’s application ~ John applied for ...
objective genitive
e.g.: the family’s support ~ ... supported the family
genitive of origin
e.g.: the general’s letter ~ the letter the general wrote...
descriptive genitive
e.g.: women’s college ~ a college for women
Nouns (gender and case) 15
Relationship between the head and the genitive
genitive of measure
e.g.: three weeks’ holiday ~ the holiday lasted three weeks
genitive of attribute
e.g.: the victim’s courage ~ the victim had courage
partitative genitive
e.g.: Kate’s eyes ~ Kate has (blue) eyes
Not much help to account for choosing either the genitive or the of-construction.
Nouns (gender and case) 16
Ns taking the genitive
personal names and personal nouns
animal nouns
collective nouns
geographical names
locative nouns
temporal nouns
Ns with reference to human activity
Nouns (gender and case) 17
Genitive in favour…
classes highest on the gender scale personal Ns
collective Ns (with personal gender features)
focus (& end-weight) On the head noun (as opposed to of-constructions)
e.g.: The explosion damaged the ship’s funnel.
vs. Having looked at all the funnels, she considered that the most handsome was the funnel of the Orion.
Nouns (gender and case) 18
The genitive with the superlatives and ordinals
Meanings independent from those listed above (under relationships between genitive and head):
the world’s best universities ~ the best universities in the world
this country’s only university ~ the only university in this country
the Cabinet’s greatest mistake ~ the greatest mistake that the Cabinet made
Nouns (gender and case) 19
Noun heads allowing both the genitive and the
of-construction
edge (the river’s edge ~ the edge of the river)
for ... sake (for heaven’s sake ~ for the sake of
heaven)
end, surface
BUT only genitive: at one’s wits, at arm’s length,
within arm’s reach
Nouns (gender and case) 20
The grammatical status of the genitive
determinative
the desk
John’s flat
my sister’s boyfriend
In this case, any word preceding the genitive noun belong to that noun rather than to the head of the superordinate NP.
BUT: all, both, half
both the girls’ parents vs. both the girl’s parents
Nouns (gender and case) 21
The grammatical status of the genitive
modifier
the words preceding the genitive mostly belong
to the head of the superordinate construction
He sold his old fishermen’s cottage.
BUT modifier in the genitive NP:
How old are those farm workers’ cotteges?
Nouns (gender and case) 22
The group genitive
as it has been seen, the ’s ending is not a case ending => placed after / attached to the NP
the teacher of music’s room
* the teacher’s of music room
Similarly:
[[the University of Minnesota]’s] President
[[the Museum of Modern Art]’s] Director
Nouns (gender and case) 23
The independent genitive
ommission of the head of the genitive
construction if the context makes it possible
My car is faster than Peter’s.
Mary’s was the prettiest dress.
(ellipsis or quasi-ellipsis)
Nouns (gender and case) 24
The ‘local genitive’
head noun ommitted when reference to premises or establishments
We’ll meet at Bill’s.
the reference can also be a restaurant, bar, etc.
What about breakfast at Tiffany’s?
when reference to one-person business, commercial firm, professional establishment
I’m going to the dentist’s.
Nouns (gender and case) 25
The ‘local genitive’
in general, it is used in the case of
normal residences
e.g.: I’ll stay at my aunt’s.
institutions like public buildings
e.g.: St. Paul’s (Cathedral)
places where business is conducted
e.g.: the hairdresser’s, the butcher’s
Nouns (gender and case) 26
The ‘local genitive’
-s endings of companies: Harrods, Barclays =>
as collective nouns, with sg/pl concord
-s ending + indefinite article: genitive is
compulsory
The have taken the rug to a cleaner’s / a cleaners’ /
*a cleaners.
Nouns (gender and case) 27
The ‘post-genitive’ / double genitive
of-construction + genitive as prepositional
complement
e.g.: some friends of Jim’s
! indefiniteness
Nouns (gender and case) 28
Genitive or of-construction?
Functions:
genitive noun: definite determinative
of-phrase: superordinate NP is definite or
indefinite
the funnel of the ship ~ the ship’s funnel
the funnel of a ship ~ a ship’s funnel
a funnel of the ship
Nouns (gender and case) 29
Genitive or of-construction?
Factors
Lexical factors
Relational factors
Subjective and objective relation
Syntactic factors
Communicative factors
Nouns (gender and case) 30
Genitive or of-construction?
Lexical factors
genitive: higher gender classes
of-construction inanimates, normally
e.g.: the roof of the house ~ *the house’s roof
both: geographical nouns, inanimate Ns denoting location, time
e.g.: last year’s profit, China’s / the world’s population
BUT: ?China’s map
Nouns (gender and case) 31
Genitive or of-construction?
Relational factors
relation between the two Ns, like in the
case of partitative constructions
e.g.: a glass of water ~ *a water’s glass
Nouns (gender and case) 32
Genitive or of-construction?
Subjective and objective relation
like subjective and objective genitive the arrival of the train ~ the train’s arrival
the imprisonment of the murderer ~ the murderer’s imprisonment
objective: genitive is not common except for deverbal head Ns
e.g.: men of science ~ *science’s man
generally speaking: subjective: usually genitive or of-construction
objective: usually of-construction
NOTE: intransitives => ambiguity
e.g.: the shooting of the rebels
Nouns (gender and case) 33
Genitive or of-construction?
Syntactic factors
related to expansion
restrictive/nonrestrictive postmodification
head modified
the arrival of a friend(,) which had been expected for several weeks
a friend’s arrival which had been expected for several weeks
other noun modified
the arrival of a friend who had been expected for several weeks
*a friend’s arrival who had been expected for several weeks
Nouns (gender and case) 34
Genitive or of-construction?
Economic factors
focus, end-weight
the world’s ecomony
the economy of the world
Nouns (gender and case) 35
The ‘post-genitive’ / double genitive
postmodifier must be human
e.g.: an opera of Verdi’s ~ *an opera of a composer’s
the head must be indefinite
e.g.: *The daughter of Mrs Brown’s has arrived.
BUT demonstrative is fine: that car of John’s
the head cannot be a proper noun
e.g.: *Mary of Mrs Brown’s