The Noun

1. The Noun Lecture 4

2. The noun is a class of words denoting entity (a separate unit that is complete and has its own characteristics). • The noun is the central nominative word class. • A typical noun has sense the inherent meaning of the noun. • Ex. the sense of girl'young female human being'

3. Nouns are commonly thought of as "naming" words, and specifically as the names of "people, places, or things". • Nouns such as John, London, and computer certainly fit this description, but the class of nouns is much broader than this. • Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts such as birth, happiness, evolution, technology, management, imagination, revenge, politics, hope, cookery, sport, literacy....   

4. Because of this enormous diversity of reference, it is not very useful to study nouns solely in terms of their meaning. • It is much more fruitful to consider them from the point of view of their formal characteristics. 

5. Characteristics of Nouns

6. The noun class can be subdivided into the following semantic subclasses: Noun Proper Common (Tom) Uncountable Countable Abstract Concrete Abstract Concrete (hate) (thought) Collective Mass Collective Individual proper (milk) improper (crew) Animate Inanimate Animate Inanimate (vermin) (furniture) (toy) Personal Non-personal (child) (dog)

7. Common and Proper Nouns • The basic division of the noun class is into common nouns and PROPER NOUNS. • Nouns which name specific people or places are known as proper nouns.  • They are used to denote individuals, places, oceans, institutions, etc. • For example, John, Mary, London, France.

8. Since proper nouns usually refer to something or someone unique, they do not normally take plurals. • However, they may do so, especially when number is being specifically referred to: • There are three Davids in my class. • We met two Christmases ago.

9. For the same reason, names of people and places are not normally preceded by determiners the or a/an • though they can be in certain circumstances:  • It's nothing like the America. • Remember my brother is an Einstein at maths.

10. Changes in the meaning of the noun along the scale proper → common • + proper • +/- animate • +/- human • +/- female • +/- countable • + concrete • + common • - sex (neuter) • + countable • + concrete

11. Common Nouns • Common nouns denote classes of similar referents or specific representatives of certain classes: • The computer is widely used nowadays. • The computer is on the desk.

12. common nounscountable nouns &uncountable nouns • Some can be either count or non-count, depending on the kind of reference they have. • Ex. I made a cake, cake is a count noun, singular number. • However, in I like cake, the reference is less specific. It refers to "cake in general", and so cake is non-count in this sentence.

13. Count and Non-count Nouns • Common nouns are either count or non-count. • count nouns can be "counted", as follows:  one pen, two pens, three pens, four pens...   • non-count nouns cannot be counted in this way: one software, *two softwares, *three softwares, *four softwares... 

14. non-count nounsdo not takea/an • Countable nouns have two categorical forms of number – singular and plural. • Uncountable nouns have only one form – either singular or plural.

15. Both countable and uncountable nouns fall into two semantic varieties – concrete and abstract. • Concrete nouns denote materialreferents. Abstract - immaterial referents. individual nouns • Countable concrete nouns collective nouns improper

16. animate (beings)Individual nouns - material entitiesinanimate (objects) personal (human beings) • Animate nouns non-personal (other species) singular form • Individual nouns plural form

17. Collective nouns improper are treated grammatically as countable nouns The class is in the room. The classes are in the room. • Plurality can also be marked by a plural pronoun: The senior class, who had a meeting, decided they would have a party.

18. Uncountable concrete nouns mass nouns collective nouns proper • Mass nouns denote substances Example: Honey is good for you.

19. Animate collective nouns proper + plural word forms: Vermin were crawling all over the place. • Inanimate collective nouns proper are treated as singular: Fruit is good for you. • Uncountable abstract nouns are in the singular: Hate is a negative feeling.

20. the semantic and formal feature undergoing change → types of shift: • Proper noun → Common noun • Common noun → Proper noun • Countable noun → Uncountable noun • Uncountable noun → Countable noun • Abstract noun → Concrete noun • Concrete noun → Abstract noun

21. Shifts are discussed by M. Mincoff in his ‘English Grammar’ (1958) • various transformations are leading to the shift • these shifts will be discussed in pairs

22. Proper noun → Common noun • Proper nouns have unique referents • No plural • No article • Certain types of semantic change → the noun in the plural or with some grammatical determiner

23. the + personal name • a. The + name + relative clause: I recognized Brian, the Brian who had been at school with me. • b. The + a famous name: ‘The man’s name was Alfred Hitchcock. Not the Alfred Hitchcock.’

24. the + personal name plural • Ex: She has been lunching with the Wilsons for nearly three months. (=the members of the family of Wilson) • Ex: Two Janes work in this office. < Two Janes work in this office.

25. a + personal name singular • one of the members of a family: Remember you are an Osborn – it’s a name to be proud of. • a/an + the name of a famous persons.o. else with similar abilities, appearance, character: Already he is being hailed as a young Albert Einstein.

26. a + personal name singular • the speaker doesn’t know anything about the referent of the name: There is a Mr. Alex Murrey asking to see you. ‘There is a man called Mr. Alex Murrey.’ • a/an + the name of a famous artist or writer instead of a picture or a book of that person: The gallery has recently acquired a Picasso.

27. another + proper noun • someone or something with similar qualities: Music fans are already calling him another Frank Sinatra. There were fears that the war is Bosnia might become another Vietnam.

28. the + numeral + geographic name • Parallel geographical names exist. • Such names can be used in the plural and also defined by the definite article: the two Americas

29. Common noun → Proper noun • Many proper nouns have originated from common nouns: a daisy → Daisy; brown → Brown; a bush → Bush • Such nouns are included in dictionaries as separate lexemes.

30. Countable noun → Uncountable noun • The shift from countable to uncountable is often accompanied by a shift from individual to generalized or from concrete to abstract(no article): • Her husband has been sent to prison for three years. (The speaker is referring to the institution in general.) • We went by plane. (The speaker is talking about a form of transport.) • The kids are still at school. (The speaker is referring to the period of one’s life when one goes to school.)

31. Uncountable noun → Countable noun • Uncountable nouns do not form a plural. • They do not take the indefinite article. • However, in certain contexts, uncountable nouns acquire semantic connotations converting them into countable nouns. • The semantic shifts of uncountable concrete mass nouns to countable nouns involve shifts from generalized to individualized meanings.

32. An uncountable concrete mass noun→a countable noun (a particular kind of substance): • Cheese is a solid food made from milk. (generalized) • This shop sells a range of French cheeses. (individualized) • He was lying full length on the grass. (a common plant) • I could see various tall flowering grasses. (particular types)

33. A mass noun→a countable noun (a portion - individualized quantity): • Ice cream is frozen sweet food. • Would you like an ice cream? (one portion)

34. A mass word can be used by metonymy to refer to an object made from the substance: • Nickel is a hard silver metal. • A nickel is a coin worth five cents. • She likes cake. (a sweet food) • She was making a cake for his birthday. (a particular product)

35. Uncountable abstract nounscountable nouns, undergoing a parallel shift from abstracttoconcrete: • Beauty is the quality of being very good to look at. (the quality) • She is a beauty. (a beautiful woman) • I like cars and this one is a beauty. (an object characterized by the quality) • The beauty of working at home is that you don’t have to travel. (advantage)

36. Sometimes the use of the shifted noun is metaphorical. • The neighbours said that we were making too much noise. (literal use) • She makes all the right noises about economic reform. (metaphorical use)

37. Not all uncountable nouns can undergo such semantic shifts. • There are other means of individualization and concretization of meaning. • One of them is the partitive phrase.

39. Sometimes individualization is achieved through pairs of nouns • the uncountable noun in the pair denotes the substance • the countable noun denotes the article made from that substance: wood → tree; bread → loaf