Nouns and Noun Phrases

1
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• (12.05.05)
• by Sandra Syben, Bastian Thier and Michaela
  Zikofsky

2
Nouns and Noun Phrases (12.05.2005)

• Defining Reference
• Reference denotes the phenomenon by which an NP
  in a certain utterance is associated with some
  entity in the real or conceptual world.
• (Trask 1993, A Dictionary of grammatical terms
  in Linguistics. London p. 232)
• Reference gives information about the
  relationship which holds between an expression
  and what that expression stands for on particular
  occasions of its utterance.
• (Lyons, Semantics, Vol. I, p. 170)
• Reference is an utterance-dependent notion!!!

3
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Peter read his book.
• The NP Peter is a referential expresssion.
• Reference is context-dependent!
• The pronoun his is also a referential
  expresssion.
• The same applies to the NP his book.

4
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Peter read his book.
• Discuss the verb read!
• The verb read is not referential.
• Rather than picking out a certain entity, it
  denotes a relation between two arguments
• x and y. (Peter and his book)

5
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Sara is tired.
• Discuss tired!
• The adjective tired is again a non-referential
  expression. It denotes a property of the argument
  Sara.
• Denotation is not context-dependent.

6
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Discuss
• Are all NPs referential expressions?
• Did Peter come round while I was at the pub?
• Did anyone come round while I was at the pub?

7
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Test for referentiality
• An NP is referential if a coreferential personal
  pronoun can be added in a separate main clause.
• Did Peter come round while I was at the pub?
• He promised to do so.
• Did anyone come round while I was at the pub?
• He / She / They promised to do so.

8
Nouns and Nounphrases(12.05.05)

• Referential expressions or not?
• Five pupils did their homework.
• My book is boring.
• No students arrived on time.

9
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Kinds of Reference
• Singular definite reference
• Emily is beautiful.
• Singular indefinite reference
• Every year we spend our holidays in Spain.
• Distributive and collective reference
• A pint of bitter is 2,50.
• Generic reference
• Dogs are the mans best friends.

10
Nouns and Noun Phrases(12.05.05)

• Sense Bedeutung
• Rachel is a ManU fan.
• A referential expression can be substituted if
  the substitution refers to the same entity.
• She is a ManU fan.
• Referential expressions can be substituted if the
  substitution carries the same meaning.
• Rachel is a ManU supporter.