HS Nouns and Noun Phrases

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HS Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Number, Gender, Case
• Bettina Jandt, Lena Bartylla

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Number  The English number system constitutes a
two-term contrast singular, which denotes one,
and plural, which denotes more than one. (Quirk
et alii, Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language, chapter 5, p. 314)   Number is the
grammatical category, most often associated with
nouns and pronouns, whose primary correlation is
with the number of distinguishable
entities. (Trask, A Dictionary of grammatical
terms in Linguistics, London, p. 115)   The
grammatical term number is the name of the system
contrasting singular and plural. (Huddleston and
Pullum, A Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language, p. 484)
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three main number classes 1) singular
invariable nouns a) noncount nouns b) proper
nouns 2) plural invariable nouns a) summation
plurals b) pluralia tantum ending in -s and
without any plural marking 3) variable
nouns have both singular and plural form a)
regular nouns predictable plural with -s b)
irregular nouns unpredictable plural, foreign
plural, compounds
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1a) noncount nouns   This chain is made of gold.
vs This chain is made of
three
golds. I like music. vs I like
three musics.   Invariable nouns ending in -s and
-ics What is the news today? vs What are the
news today? I study phonetics. vs I study
seven phonetics.   b) proper nouns   I will
visit America. vs I will visit
Americas.   Discuss I met Tom. vs I meet
three Toms yesterday.
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  2a) summation plurals   These scissors are
five Euro. vs This scissors is five
Euro.   These trousers are too expensive. vs
This trousers is too expensive.   b) pluralia
tantum   clothes Kleidung vs cloth
Tischdecke arms Waffen vs arm zielen   This
vermin cause disease. vs This vermin causes
disease.  
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3a) Regular nouns I see a dog. I see
several dogs.   exceptions nouns ending in
o -os embryo embryos zoo zoos, dynamo
dynamos -oes hero heros domino dominoes
echo echoes nouns ending in y sky
skies day days
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b) irregular plurals calf calves knife
knifes   mouse mice tooth teeth louse
lice  child children ox oxen brother
brethren sheep sheep cattle cattle
Chinese Chinese
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foreign plurals Latin stimulus stimuli
genus genera virus viruses   larva larvae
alga algae area areas, arena
arenas   medium media curriculum
curricula   index indices codex codices
appendix appendixes matrix
matrixes   Greek  basis bases thesis
theses metropolis metropolises   criterion
criteria phenomenon phenomena electron
electrons proton protons  
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French bureau bureaux/bureaus   Italian tempo
tempi solo solos soprano
sopranos   Hebrew kibbutz kibbutzim cherub
cherubs/cherubim seraph seraphs/seraphim
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compounds   babysitter babysitters close up
close-ups   commander-in-chief
commanders-in-chief mother-in-law
mothers-in-law
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Gender The grammatical category of gender
applies in the first instance to a system of noun
classes differentiated by the agreement patterns
they enter with associates words. (Huddleston
and Pullum, A Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language, p. 484)     By gender is meant a
grammatical classification of nouns, pronouns, or
other words in the noun phrase, according to
certain meaning-related distinctions, especially
a distinction related to the sex of the
referent. (Quirk et alii, Comprehensive Grammar
of the English Language, chapter 5, p.
314)     Gender is a grammatical category found
in certain languages by which nouns are divided
into two or more classes requiring different
agreement forms on determiners, adjectives, verbs
or other words. (Trask, A Dictionary of
grammatical terms in Linguistics, London, p. 115)
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sex (biology) vs
gender (gramar)         English
French
German the nice garden le joli
jardin der schöne Garten the
nice woman la jolie famme
die schöne Frau the nice child
--------- das schöne
Kind  
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3 main gender classes 1) personal male,
female, dual gender 2) nonpersonal (?) common,
collective, animals 3) inanimates
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1) a) male and female nouns male pronoun
correference who-he female pronoun correference
who-she   two types 1) morphological
unmarked bachelor spinster brother sister
2) forms with derivational
suffixes host hostess hero heroine usher
usherette emperor empress (marked female
noun) bridegroom bride widower widow (marked
male noun)   b) Dual gender nouns pronoun
correference who-he or she doctor cook artist
novelist singer enemy speaker writer a
male/female cook
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2a) common gender wide selection of pronouns
who/which-he/she/it, but not all are possible for
every noun in every context I love my baby,
shes so cute. vs A child learns to speak the
language of its environment.     b) collective
nouns pronoun correference it-which,
they-who   The army, it is at home now. vs The
army, they are at home now.   The Commons, the
Vatican the United Nations    
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c) higher animals Pronoun correference
masculine which-he/it, who-he feminine
which-she/it, who-she This dog is so big, I am
afraid of it. This is my cat. She is quite
old. buck doe bullcow gander goose
stallion mare lion lioness dog bitch d)
lower animals pronoun correference
it-which beetle, butterfly, snake, toad,
tadpole Mary saw a butterfly and it was a yellow
one.
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3) Inanimate nouns pronoun coreference
it-which Where is my bike? I cant find
it.   France has been able to increase her
exports.   This is the Titanic. She sank
before she arrived her destination.       Discuss
the term nonpersonal nouns  
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Case  
Case as a General Term   The term case applies
in the first instance to a system of inflectional
forms of a noun to mark the function of an NP
relative to the construction containing it. Case
is a grammatical category that can express a
number of different relationships between nominal
elements.
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(No Transcript)
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Two-case system 1. Plain/Common Case ? a)
Nominative/Subjective Case
? b) Accusative/Objective Case 2.
Genitive Case   Example I slept soundly. ? NP
Nom./Subj. Please help me. ? NP
Acc./Obj. Where is my bag? ? NP Gen./A
dependent of a larger NP
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Plain/Common Case
Nominative vs. Accusative In Present-day English
the contrast between nominative and accusative
case is found only with a handful of
pronouns   Nom Plain Acc Personal  I Me
We Us You He Him She Her They The
m Interrogative  Who Whom
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Semantic Point of View The central but far
from the only use of the genitive, is to express
possession!   Possessive Genitive
Example Mrss Johnsons passport ? has a
passport the earths gravity ? the earth has a
certain gravity Subjective Genitive Example the
boys application ? the boy applied for () her
parents consent ? the parents consented Objective
Genitive
Example the familys support ? () supports the
family the boys release ? released the
boy Genitive of Origin Example the girls story
? the girl told a story the generals letter ?
the general wrote a letter
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Descriptive Genitive Example a womens college
? a college for women a summers day ? a summer
day, a day in the summer Genitive of
Measure Example ten days absence ? the absence
lasted ten days Genitive of Attribute Example th
e victims courage ? the victim had courage/the
victim was courageous Partitive
Genitive Example the babys eyes ? the baby has
(blue) eyes the earths surface ? the earth has
a (rough) surface
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Syntactic Point of View Genitive as
DeterminerMost commonly the genitive functions
as a determinative it fills a slot in the noun
phrase equivalent to a central determiner such as
the. This is so whether the genitive is a
possessive pronoun, a single noun, or a noun
accompanied by its own determiners and/or
modifiers Det Headthe (new) deskher (new)
deskJennys (new) deskMy daughters (new) desk

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Genitive as Modifier There are occasional
examples where the genitive acts as a modifier
rather than as a determinative. There have a
classifying role similar to that of noun
modifiers and some adjective modifiers   Example
There are several womens universities in Tokyo.
several universities for women He wants to
become a ships doctor when he grows up. a
doctor working on a ship
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The genitive and the of-construction   Johns
school but not the school of John The front of
the house but not the houses front   The
explosion damaged the ships funnel. Having
looked at all the funnels, she considered that
the most handsome was the funnel of the
Orion.     Criteria for use of genitive or use
of of-construction Personal nouns and collective
nouns with personal gender characteristics Princip
le of end-focus and end-weight