The Case of Nouns

1. The Case of Nouns Lecture 7

2. According to the Limited Case Theory, developed by O. Jespersen, English nouns have two case forms – genitive case and common case. • We adopt this theory because it is based on the Structural approach to language description and complies with the principle that • each grammatical form has its own grammatical meaning and • each grammatical meaning is realized through a specific grammatical form.

3. Defining the Category • Case is a grammatical category expressing various relations of the noun to other elements in the sentence structure or in the structure of the phrase. • The languages in the world are classified into synthetical, preserving the inflectional case system, and • analytical, expressing these relationships by prepositions, relative pronouns and word order. • Both English and Bulgarian are analytical languages.

4. The category of case is based on the functional opposition of two sets of forms: common ↔ genitive. • The common case form is unmarked. • It expresses relations between the noun and the verb in syntactic structures of various statuses. • Each specific relation is further distinguished by means of word order:

5. The genitive case form is marked by the –‘s grammatical ending. • This ending is attached • to nouns in the singular form (the teacher’s pencil), • to irregular plural forms (the children’s pencil), • to larger syntactic structures (Jack and Jill’s adventure). • The apostrophe is attached to regular plural nouns (the students’ papers).

6. Proper nouns in –s can be marked in two ways: • either ‘s or apostrophe • Example: Burns’s poems or Burns’ poems • but the ending should be pronounced [iz] in both cases

7. The genitive case forms express relations between two nouns: Jane’s brother; my sister’s house. • The inflected genitive is common with animate nouns: • - personal names –Dr. Brown’s students • - personal nouns –my father’s watch • - collective improper nouns –the party’s political platform • - higher animals –the lion’s cage

8. The inflected genitive is also used with some inanimate nouns: • - geographical names –Bulgaria’s past • - names of institutions –the Chamber of Trade and Industry’s Premises • - temporal nouns –a two months’ holiday • - nouns of distance –a three miles’ walk • - in some set phrases –at a stone’s throw; within arm’s reach

9. The forms of the genitive play basically the role of an attribute. • The attributive relation is a phenomenon of the surface structure. • However, there are different semantic nuances of the genitive case

10. Structural Types of Genitive Phrase • According to the structure of the noun phrase in which the genitive case form is included, we can distinguish the following types of phrase: • the regular genitive phrase – the noun in the genitive case precedes the head noun the Queen’s English

11. the group genitive phrase – the case marking refers to a group of nouns or a noun phrase –the United States’ policy • If it is a group of nouns, the marker is added to the last one –Mary and Paul’s home • It shows certain independence of the marker which can be likened to that of the article.

12. the double genitive phrase – the relation between the two nouns is marked twice – 1. by means of case ending and 2. the preposition of a friend of my brother’s (one of my brother’s friends) • It is used whenever another determiner besides the genitive is needed: a friend of Tom’s, an old song of Greene's, a book of John's

13. the elliptic genitive phrase – the head noun is omitted if the context makes it possible for the addressee to recover the relation Ann’s office is larger than Tom’s My car is faster than John's (=John 's car) • The genitive here is an elliptical variant of the noun phrase. • the elliptic genitive is also called independent

14. the local genitive phrase – this is a variety of the elliptic type • The omitted noun refers to buildings or establishments. at St. Paul’s (Cathedral); at the newsagent’s

15. Semantic Types of Genitive Phrase • Two semantic types of genitive phrase can be distinguished:specifyinganddescriptive.

16. Specifying Genitive • Within this semantic type the noun in the genitive case form is used with specific reference:my neighbour’s son • The relations between the noun in the genitive case form and the head-noun are various.

17. Accordingly, grammarians distinguish between the following semantic varieties: a. possessive Genitive –this man’s car(=this man has a car) • The noun in the genitive case denotes the owner; the head-noun denotes the possession. • The feature /+animate/ is of basic importance. • In the majority of cases the head noun has the feature /-human/.

18. b. subject Genitive my friend’s visit(=My friend visited us.) Tom’s arrival (=Tom arrived.) • The noun in the genitive case denotes the agent; the head-noun denotes the action. • Requirements: • the head-noun must share the same root as the respective verb; • the noun in the genitive must have the feature /+animate/ in its semantic component.

19. c. object Genitive Tom’s trial(=They tried Tom.) Brown’s murder(=They murdered Brown) • The head noun of the phrase becomes a predicate of the underlying sentence; • The noun in the genitive case object of the underlying sentence; • The noun in the genitive case denotes the affected; the head-noun denotes the action.

20. d. Genitive of origin R. Stevenson’s essays • The noun in the genitive case denotes the agent; the head-noun denotes the product. • The specifying genitive may be replaced by a prepositional phrase introduced by the preposition of: my friend’s visit(=the visit of my friend)

21. Prepositional phrases may express several more meanings: a. appositive Genitive –the city of London • the important word isLondonand it iscitythat qualifies it b. partitive Genitive –the leg of the chair c. Genitive of measure –the length of the swimming pool

22. Descriptive Genitive • With this semantic type the noun in the genitive case is used with generic reference. • We can distinguish between two semantic varieties: • classifying Genitive • Genitive of measure

23. a. classifying Genitive • a sailor’s uniform(=uniform worn by sailors) • cow’s milk(=milk from cows) • a doctor’s degree(=a doctoral degree ) • The boys’ own paper (=a British magazine for boys)

24. b. Genitive of measure • an hour’s break(=a break of one hour) • a mile’s walk(=walking a distance of one mile) • The descriptive genitive is not always possible to be replaced by an of-phrase. • Many descriptive genitive phrases have become set phrases: a spider’s web, a bee’s sting • Some phrases have idiomatic meaning: a giant’s task, a child’s play

25. The uses of the ‘s (inflected) genitive and the of- (periphrastic) genitive overlap to a considerable degree. • But the two structures are not always interchangeable. • The inflected form is common in headlines, captions and titles. This is due to its brevity and the prominence it gives to the noun: ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’