Nouns and Noun Phrases

1
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• HS Sommersemester 2005
• Prof. Dr. Wolf Paprotté

2
Nouns and Noun Phrases
Languages have two components which serve
complementary functions component 1 the closed
class of forms which serve a structuring
function (prepositions, conjunctions,
inflections, ) they give structure to the
content in discourse, and to the conceptual
inventory of language ? their function
giving structure
3
Nouns and Noun Phrases
component 2 the open class of lexical forms
they are numerous it is easy to create new
lexical entries they constitute the conceptual
content of discourse (stems of nouns, verbs,
adjectives, ) ? their function determine the
basic content of discourse
4
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• The stewards served a hot meal to the
  passengers.
• Will the steward serve hot meals to the
  passenger?
• 5 open class elements which determine the
  
• referential content of the depicted situation -
  
• i.e. steward, serve, hot, meal, passenger
• closed class elements
• ed occurring before the time of
  speaking
• the entity known to the speaker and hearer
• -s plurality of number

5
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• closed class elements (cont)
• a entity not known to the hearer
• to indicates who received sth
• the object status indicates the recipient
• if no new open class elements occur, the
  referential content of the depicted situation
  remains the same
• new closed class elements cause
• word order interrogative instead of
  declarative S
• will epistemic modality / future tense
• different assignments of number

6
HS Nouns and Noun Phrases

• 1. Words are assigned to grammatical categories
  on the basis of their shared semantic, syntactic,
  morphological properties
• - semantically based criteria
• Nouns denote entities (cat, dog, bank, hill)
• Verbs denote actions (read, study, listen,
  destroy)
• Adjectives denote properties (ill, rich,
  stupid, slow)
• Adverbs denote manner (painfully, slowly,
  badly, cynically)
• Prepositions denote location (in, at, under,
  on)
• Discuss the following words assassination, fast
  food, Münster, through
• Abstract / concrete nouns

7
HS Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Semantic properties for determining PoSmembership
• Referencedef The phenomenon by which some noun
  phrase in a
• particular utterance or sentence is associated
  with some entity in the real or conceptual world.
  
• Trask 1993, A Dictionary of grammatical terms
  in Linguistics. London p. 232
• Referencedef 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.

8
HS Nouns and Noun Phrases

• In uttering Napoleon is a Corsican the speaker
  refers to a certain
• Individual by means of a referring expression.
• What is the speaker referring to by means of the
  expression x?
• Expressions e.g. definite NP proper name, or
  personal pronouns
• Singular definite reference referring to a
  specific individual or class of individual
• Singular indefinite Reference
• Every evening, a heron flies over the chalet.
  It nests in the grounds of the chateau.

9

• Distributive and collective general reference
• Those books cost 15 dollars.
• Non-referring definite NPs
• Smiths murderer is insane
• Generic reference
• A lion / the lion is a friendly beast.
• Lions are friendly beasts

10

• Sense Bedeutung
• John referring expression is a fool
  functions predicatively
• The criterion for substitutability in subject
  position in this construction is referential
  identity.
• The criterion for substitutability in predicate
  position is identity of sense .
• Lyons 1977 Vol I , p. 201
• The victor of Jena and the loser of Waterloo

11
Nouns and Nounphrases

• Open class forms are free to express any kind of
  meaning / any kind of conceptual content
• Closed class forms are restricted in the kinds of
  concepts they communicate in many languages
• inflection may indicate number(s) sg, pl, dual,
  paucal
• lexical items can indicate any number
• word formation may indicate large quantity or
  size, as in Gr.
• big (bad) Wolf - (nice) little Wolf Wolfara
  Wolfaki
• - no language inflects for colour, for
  countable, even, odd, dozen

12
Nouns and the Nounphrase

• - morphological criteria concern the
  inflectional and derivational properties
• inflectional
• marking nouns for NUMBER SINGULAR or PLURAL
• marking nouns for CASE GENITIVE
• derivational
• properties of the wordform, affixes -ness,
  -ion, -er
• Discuss happier, lion, Loch Ness, sheep,
  geese, cats, h
• Singularia tantum, gold, Henry
• Pluralia tantum binoculars, trousers,
  scales, shorts

13
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• - distributional / syntactic properties
  occurrence in specific contexts
• the _______
• a_________
• two, three _________
• _______ N Npl
• some______
• every________

14
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Subclasses of N
• Proper Nouns
• Common Nouns
• Count Nouns (Individuativa, Gattungsnamen,
  Appellativa
• Noncount Nouns (Kontinuativa, Stoff- ,
  Substanz- bezeichnungen)
• Count and non-count (mixed class)
• Test 1 for Count Nouns SG _______
• The ______ A _______
• Every_______
• Test 2 for Count Nouns PL All (the)______
• Some _______
• _________ / N NPL

15
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Testframe group1 group 2 group3
  group 2 3
• I saw ____ John car furniture
  brick
• I saw the__ car furniture
  brick
• I saw a___ car
  brick
• I saw some__ furniture
  brick
• I saw ______ cars
  brick
• proper nouns, common nouns, count nouns,
  (individual countable entities), noncount nouns
  (undifferentiated mass or continuum)
• Spree, Beethoven, cake, Puccini, Jerry,
  table,stone, bread, grass, lawn, bottle, chair,
  idea, paper, dog, music, warmth, stone

16
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Behaviour under determination (German nouns)
• Common Nouns / Individuativa
• Test countability
• Number
• in Sing obligatory article
• Pl optional article word
• Hybrids
• Test frames
• 1. ein ___ eine____ irgendein ____
• jeder, jedes, jede_____ Kardinalzahl _______
• 2. einige, etliche, wenige, manche keine, viele,
  alle ___
• 3. test for hybrids

17
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Note some common nouns occurring only as
  Pluraliatantum take an obligatory article
• Die Annalen / die Altforderen
• some pluralia tantum cannot be quantified
  (uniqueness constraint)
• Er schrieb zwei Memoiren
• A mentioned common noun may occur without an
  article word
• Gänsegeier ist ein Wort, das man häufig benutzt
• A common noun occuring with separable particles
  of German verbs needs an article word
• Ich freue mich über das Buch.
• Wir ärgern uns über jeden Fehler.

18
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Common nouns denoting professions, titles,
  functions, status, nationality or origin etc.
  occur as subject complements without an article
• Professor Unheimlich re-surfaced recently.
• Er ist Bäcker / Lehrer / Student/Aktionär,
  Anfänger
• ? Professorin Heimlich hält gerade ihre
  Vorlesung.
• Frau Professor .
• ? Sie ist Tasse.
• Er ist Berliner.
• Er ist Angehöriger / Christ / Muslim /
  Flüchtling.
• Test for other copula / AUX verbs (seem.)

19
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• German Kontinuativa Plural
• without plural, a determiner may occur
• the denotatum cannot be counted denote
  quantities of
• substances if divided into smaller
  quantities,
• may be quantified using alle, ein bißchen,
  mancherlei, wenig,
• Test frames
• ein bißchen ______ Anglistik / Fleiß / Gold
  Stroh
• viel ______ Suppe Fisch
• etwas ______ Humor
• allow plural Sortenplural Öle, Stähle,
  Zemente Fische
• Fisch (SING) Kontinuativum Nullartikel
  definiter und indefiniter Artikel
• (PL) Fischarten or countable number (3
  Fische)

20
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Derived nouns (German), deverbal and deadjectival
• semantic criterion these nouns denote some
  state of affairs, i.e. a predicate plus 1 to n
  argument positions
• Ich beobachte seine Änderung der Meinung.
• Ich beobachte sein Ändern der Meinung.
• Ich beobachte, dass er seinen Meinung ändert.
• Ich beobachte die Änderungen der Meinung.
• State of affairs as a dass-clause, infinitival
  clause, präpositional attribute, genitive
  attribute, or part of a compound
• Test for Anwendung Beendigung Abschürfung

21
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• With respect to determination, the derived nouns
  of
• German fall into two classes
• sg kontinuativa, plural Individuativa
  definite, indefinite and null article
• Test frame
• Ich bin gegen _______ Abrüstung, Abstinenz,
  Ausbeutung, Überdüngung, Übermüdung
• Sg definite or indefinite determiner / article
• Test frame
• Ich bin gegen die / eine _______ Abfassung,
  Alarmierung, Anwendung, Auslagerung, Bedrohung,
  Überspielung
• Er beobachtet Äußerung
• Ich bin gegen Abfassung der Resolution.

22
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Proper nouns (Eigennamen propria)
• - person, brand, product, location, nation etc.
  names
• - semantic function denote and identify unique
  entities
• (note vague meaning of unique)
• - proper nouns occur with and without DET /
  article
• - genitive sg without article, word final affix
  remains
• Proper names with article some mountain, lake,
  river region, building etc. names need an
  article
• die Türkei, die USA, die Schweiz, die Alhambra,
  die Bretagne, die Balearen.

23
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Nouns with null-article
• Übersee, Aids, Glasnost, Jahresfrist
• Nouns plus attributive adjective, null-article
• Schöne Pfingsten, fröhliche Weinachten, gutes
  Neues Jahr
• Nominalised infinitives, null-article is
  possible no plural
• Das Wandern ist ätzend. Ich genieße das Laufen
  das Üben macht den Meister

24
Nouns and Noun Phrases

• Determination behaviour of nouns null article
  individuative vs. kontinuativa in German
• Ich zahle per Scheck. Ich kaufe per Scheck.
• Erarbeitet nur noch per Anweisung.
• Er kommt als Seemann verkleidet zur Fete.
• Sie erhielten viel als Entschädigung
• Ich verstehe unter Berg etwas Anderes.
• Ich leide unter dem Trainer. ___ unter
  Überarbeitung durch (die)
  Abschnürung der Bißwunde
• Er kauft den Tisch. Ohne Tisch sieht das kahl
  aus.

25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)