A noun can co-occur with
anarticle or an attributive
adjective. Verbs and
adjectives can't. In the
following, an asterisk (*) in
front of an example
means that this example is
ungrammatical.
1. the name (name is a
noun: can co-occur with a
definite article the.)
2. *the baptize (baptize is a
verb: cannot co-occur
with a definite article.)
3. constant circulation
(circulation is a noun: can
co-occur with the
attributive adjective
constant.)
4. *constant circulate
(circulate is a verb: cannot
co-occur with the
attributive adjective
constant.)
5. a fright (fright is a noun:
can co-occur with the
indefinite article a.)
6. *an afraid (afraid is an
adjective: cannot co-occur
with the article a.)
7. terrible fright (The noun
fright can co-occur with
the adjective terrible.)
8. *terrible afraid (The
adjective afraid cannot co-
occur with the adjective
terrible.)
In linguistics, a noun is a
member of a large, open
lexical category whose
members can occur as
the main word in the
subject of a clause, the
object of a verb, or the
object of a preposition (or
put more simply, a noun
is a word used to name a
person, animal, place,
thing or abstract idea).[1]
Lexical categories are
defined in terms of how
their members combine
with other kinds of
expressions. Thesyntactic
rules for nouns differ
from language to
language. InEnglish,
nouns may be defined as
those words which can
occur with articles and
attributive adjectives and
can function as the head
of a noun phrase.
In traditional English
grammar, the noun is one
of the eightparts of
speech.
History
Noun comes from the
Latin nōmen "name",[2] a
translation of Ancient
Greek ónoma.[3] Word
classes like nouns were
first described byPāṇini in
the Sanskrit language and
by Ancient Greek
grammarians, and were
defined by the
grammaticalforms that
they take. In Greek and
Sanskrit, for example,
nouns are categorized by
gender and inflected for
case and number.
Because nouns and
adjectives share these
three categories,
Dionysius Thrax does not
clearly distinguish
between the two, and
uses the term ónoma
"name" for both, although
some of the words that
he describes as
paragōgón (pl. paragōgá)
"derived"[4] are
adjectives.[5]
Different
definitions of
nouns
Expressions of natural
language have properties
at different levels. They
have formal properties,
like what kinds of
morphological prefixes or
suffixes they take and
what kinds of other
expressions they combine
with; but they also have
semantic properties, i.e.
properties pertaining to
their meaning. The
definition of a noun at the
outset of this article is thus
a formal, traditional
grammatical definition.
That definition, for the
most part, is considered
uncontroversial and
furnishes the means for
users of certain languages
to effectively distinguish
most nouns from non-
nouns. However, it has
the disadvantage that it
does not apply to nouns
in all languages. For
example inRussian, there
are no definite articles, so
one cannot define nouns
as words that are
modified by definite
articles. There have also
been several attempts to
define nouns in terms of
theirsemantic properties.
Many of these are
controversial, but some
are discussed below.
Names for things
In traditional school
grammars, one often
encounters the definition
of nouns that they are all
and only those
expressions that refer to a
person, place, thing,
event, substance, quality,
quantity, or idea, etc. This
is a semantic definition. It
has been criticized by
contemporary linguists as
being uninformative.[6]
Contemporary linguists
generally agree that one
cannot successfully define
nouns (or other
grammatical categories) in
terms of what sort of
object in the world they
refer to or signify. Part of
the conundrum is that the
definition makes use of
relatively general nouns
(thing, phenomenon,
event) to define what
nouns are.
The existence of such
general nouns
demonstrates that nouns
refer to entities that are
organized intaxonomic
hierarchies. But other
kinds of expressions are
also organized into such
structured taxonomic
relationships. For example
the verbs stroll, saunter,
stride, and tread are more
specific words than the
more general walk – see
Troponymy. Moreover,
walk is more specific than
the verb move, which, in
turn, is less general than
change. But it is unlikely
that such taxonomic
relationships can be used
to define nouns and
verbs. We cannot define
verbs as those words that
refer to changes or states,
for example, because the
nouns change and state
probably refer to such
things, but, of course, are
not verbs. Similarly,
nouns like invasion,
meeting, or collapse refer
to things that are done or
happen. In fact, an
influentialtheory has it
that verbs like kill or die
refer to events,[7][8] one
of the categories of things
that nouns are supposed
to refer to.
The point being made
here is not that this view
of verbs is wrong, but
rather that this property of
verbs is a poor basis for a
definition of this category,
just like the property of
having wheels is a poor
basis for a definition of
cars (some things that
have wheels, such as
most suitcases or a
jumbo jet, aren't cars).
Similarly, adjectives like
yellow or difficult might
be thought to refer to
qualities, and adverbs like
outside or upstairs seem
to refer to places, which
are also among the sorts
of things nouns can refer
to. But verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs are not
nouns, and nouns are not
verbs, adjectives, or
adverbs. One might argue
that definitions of this sort
really rely on speakers'
prior intuitive knowledge
of what nouns, verbs,
and adjectives are, and so
do not really add
anything. Speakers'
intuitive knowledge of
such things might
plausibly be based on
formal criteria, such as the
traditional grammatical
definition of English nouns
aforementioned.
Predicates with
identity criteria
The British logician Peter
Thomas Geach proposed
a more subtle semantic
definition of nouns.[9] He
noticed that adjectives like
"same" can modify
nouns, but no other kinds
of parts of speech, like
verbs or adjectives. Not
only that, but there also
do not seem to be any
other expressions with
similar meaning that can
modify verbs and
adjectives. Consider the
following examples.
grammatical: John and Bill
participated in thesame
fight.
ungrammatical: *John and
Billsamely fought.
There is no English adverb
samely. In some other
languages, like Czech,
however there are
adverbs corresponding to
samely. Hence, in Czech,
the translation of the last
sentence would be fine;
however, it would mean
that John and Bill fought in
the same way: not that
they participated in the
same fight. Geach
proposed that we could
explain this, if nouns
denote logicalpredicates
with identity criteria. An
identity criterion would
allow us to conclude, for
example, that person x at
time 1 is the same person
as person y at time 2.
Different nouns can have
different identity criteria. A
well known example of
this is due to Gupta:[10]
National Airlines
transported 2 million
passengers in 1979.
National Airlines
transported (at least) 2
millionpersons in 1979.
Given that, in general, all
passengers are persons,
the last sentence above
ought to follow logically
from the first one. But it
doesn't. It is easy to
imagine, for example, that
on average, every person
who travelled with
National Airlines in 1979,
travelled with them twice.
In that case, one would
say that the airline
transported 2 million
passengers but only 1
million persons. Thus, the
way that we count
passengers isn't
necessarily the same as
the way that we count
persons. Put somewhat
differently: At two different
times, you may
correspond to two distinct
passengers, even though
you are one and the same
person. For a precise
definition of identity
criteria, see Gupta.[10]
Prototypically
referential
expressions
Another semantic
definition of nouns is that
they are prototypically
referential.[11]
Recently, Mark Baker[12]
has proposed that Geach's
definition of nouns in
terms of identity criteria
allows us to explain the
characteristic properties of
nouns. He argues that
nouns can co-occur with
(in-)definite articles and
numerals, and are
prototypically referential
because they are all and
only thoseparts of speech
that provide identity
criteria. Baker's proposals
are quite new, and
linguists are still evaluating
them.
Classification of
nouns in English
Proper nouns and
common nouns
Main article: Proper noun
A proper noun or proper
name is a noun
representing unique
entities (such asLondon,
Jupiter, Larry, or Toyota),
as distinguished from
common nouns which
describe a class of entities
(such as city, planet,
person or car).[13]
Countable and
uncountable nouns
Main articles: Count noun
and Mass noun
Count nouns are
common nouns that can
take aplural, can combine
with numerals or
quantifiers (e.g., one, two,
several, every, most), and
can take an indefinite
article (a or an). Examples
of count nouns are chair,
nose, and occasion.
Mass nouns (or non-
count nouns) differ from
count nouns in precisely
that respect: they can't
take plural or combine
with number words or
quantifiers. Examples
from English include
laughter, cutlery, helium,
and furniture. For
example, it is not possible
to refer to a furniture or
three furnitures. This is
true even though the
pieces of furniture
comprising furniture
could be counted. Thus
the distinction between
mass and count nouns
should not be made in
terms of what sorts of
things the nouns refer to,
but rather in terms of
how the nouns present
these entities.[14][15]
Collective nouns
Main article: Collective
noun
Collective nouns are
nouns that refer to groups
consisting of more than
one individual or entity,
even when they are
inflected for thesingular.
Examples include
committee, herd, and
school (of fish). These
nouns have slightly
different grammatical
properties than other
nouns. For example, the
noun phrases that they
head can serve as the
subject of a collective
predicate, even when they
are inflected for the
singular.
Concrete nouns and
abstract nouns
Further information:
physical
bodyand abstract object
Concrete nouns refer to
physical entities that can,
in principle at least, be
observed by at least one
of thesenses (for
instance, chair, apple,
Janet or atom). Abstract
nouns, on the other hand,
refer toabstract objects;
that is, ideas or concepts
(such as justice or hatred).
While this distinction is
sometimes exclusive,
some nouns have
multiple senses, including
both concrete and
abstract ones; consider,
for example, the noun art,
which usually refers to a
concept (e.g., Art is an
important element of
human culture) but which
can refer to a specific
artwork in certain contexts
(e.g., I put my daughter's
art up on the fridge).
Some abstract nouns
developed etymologically
by figurative extension
from literal roots. These
include drawback,
fraction, holdout, and
uptake. Similarly, some
nouns have both abstract
and concrete senses, with
the latter having
developed by figurative
extension from the
former. These include
view, filter, structure, and
key.
In English, many abstract
nouns are formed by
adding noun-forming
suffixes (-ness, -ity, -ion)
to adjectives or verbs.
Examples are happiness
(from the adjective
happy), circulation (from
the verb circulate) and
serenity (from the
adjective serene).
Nouns and
pronouns
Nouns and noun phrases
can typically be replaced
bypronouns, such as he,
it, which, and those, in
order to avoid repetition
or explicit identification, or
for other reasons. For
example, in the sentence
Janet thought that he was
weird, the word he is a
pronoun standing in place
of the name of the person
in question. The English
word one can replace
parts ofnoun phrases,
and it sometimes stands
in for a noun. An example
is given below:
John's car is newer than
the one that Bill has.
But one can also stand in
for bigger subparts of a
noun phrase. For
example, in the following
example, one can stand in
for new car.
This new car is cheaper
than that one.
Substantive as a
word for noun
"Substantive" redirects
here. For other uses, see
Substance
(disambiguation).
Starting with old Latin
grammars, many
European languages use
some form of the word
substantive as the basic
term for noun (for
example, Spanish
sustantivo, "noun").
Nouns in the dictionaries
of such languages are
demarked by the
abbreviation s. or sb.
instead of n, which may
be used for proper nouns
instead. This corresponds
to those grammars in
which nouns and
adjectives phase into each
other in more areas than,
for example, the English
term predicate adjective
entails. In French and
Spanish, for example,
adjectives frequently act
as nouns referring to
people who have the
characteristics of the
adjective. The most
common metalanguage
to name this concept is
nominalization. An
example in English is:
This legislation will have
the most impact on the
poor.
Similarly, an adjective can
also be used for a whole
group or organization of
people:
The Socialist International.
Hence, these words are
substantives that are
usually adjectives in
English.
The word nominal also
overlaps in meaning and
usage with noun and
adjective.
See also
Description
Grammatical case
Phi features
Reference
Lexical categories and
their features
Noun
Abstract/Concrete ·
Adjectival · Agent ·
Animate/Inanimate ·
Attributive · Collective ·
Common/Proper ·
Countable · Deverbal ·
Initial-stress-derived ·
Mass · Relational ·
Strong · Verbal · Weak
Verb
Verb
forms
Finite · Non-
finite —
Attributive ·
Converb ·
Gerund ·
Gerundive ·
Infinitive ·
Participle
(adjectival ·
adverbial) ·
Supine · Verbal
noun
Verb
types
Accusative ·
Ambitransitive ·
Andative/
Venitive·
Anticausative ·
Autocausative ·
Auxiliary ·
Captative ·
Catenative ·
Compound ·
Copular ·
Defective ·
Denominal ·
Deponent ·
Ditransitive ·
Dynamic ·
ECM · Ergative ·
Frequentative ·
Impersonal ·
Inchoative ·
Intransitive ·
Irregular ·
Lexical · Light ·
Modal ·
Monotransitive ·
Negative ·
Performative ·
Phrasal ·
Predicative ·
Preterite-
present·
Reflexive ·
Regular ·
Separable ·
Stative ·
Stretched ·
Strong ·
Transitive ·
Unaccusative ·
Unergative ·
Weak
Adjective
Collateral ·
Demonstrative ·
Possessive · Post-
positive
Adverb
Genitive ·
Conjunctive · Flat ·
Prepositional ·
Pronomial
Pronoun
Demonstrative ·
Disjunctive ·
Distributive · Donkey ·
Dummy · Formal/
Informal · Gender-
neutral · Gender-
specific · Inclusive/
Exclusive · Indefinite ·
Intensive ·
Interrogative ·
Objective · Personal ·
Possessive ·
Prepositional ·
Reciprocal · Reflexive ·
Relative · Resumptive ·
Subjective · Weak
Preposition Inflected · Casally
modulated
Conjunction
Determiner
Article ·
Demonstrative ·
Interrogative ·
Possessive · Quantifier
Classifier
Particle Discourse · Modal ·
Noun
Complementizer
Other
Copula · Coverb ·
Expletive · Interjection
(verbal) · Measure
word · Preverb · Pro-
form · Pro-sentence ·
Pro-verb · Procedure
word
References
1. ^ Loos, Eugene E., et al.
2003. Glossary of
linguistic terms: What is a
noun?
2. ^ nōmen. Charlton T.
Lewis and Charles Short.
A Latin Dictionary on
Perseus Project.
3. ^ ὄνομα. Liddell, Henry
George; Scott, Robert; A
Greek-English Lexicon at
Perseus Project
4. ^ παραγωγός in Liddell
and Scott
5. ^ Dionysius Thrax. τέχνη
γραμματική (Art of
Grammar), section ιβ´
(10b): περὶ ὀνόματος
(On the noun). Bibliotheca
Augustana.
εἴδη δὲ παραγώνων
ἐστὶν ἑπτά·
πατρωνυμικόν,
κτητικόν,
συγκριτικόν,
ὑπερθετικόν,
ὑποκοριστικόν,
παρώνυμον, ῥηματικόν.
There are seven types of
derived [nouns]:
patronymic, possessive,
comparative, superlative,
diminutive, derived from
a noun, [and] verbal.
6. ^ Jackendoff, Ray. 2002.
Foundations of language:
brain, meaning,
grammar, evolution.
Oxford University Press.
Page 124.
7. ^ Davidson, Donald. 1967.
The logical form of action
sentences. In Nicholas
Rescher, ed., The Logic of
Decision and Action,
Pittsburgh, Pa: University
of Pittsburgh Press.
8. ^ Parsons, Terence. 1990.
Events in the semantics of
English: a study in
subatomic semantics.
Cambridge, Mass.:MIT
Press
9. ^ Geach, Peter. 1962.
Reference and Generality.
Cornell University Press.
10. ^ a b Gupta, Anil. 1980,
The logic of common
nouns. New Haven and
London: Yale University
Press.
11. ^ Croft, William. 1993. "A
noun is a noun is a noun -
or is it? Some reflections
on the universality of
semantics". Proceedings
of the Nineteenth Annual
Meeting of the Berkeley
Linguistics Society, ed.
Joshua S. Guenter,
Barbara A. Kaiser and
Cheryl C. Zoll, 369-80.
Berkeley: Berkeley
Linguistics Society.
12. ^ Baker, Mark. 2003,
Lexical Categories: verbs,
nouns, and adjectives.
Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
13. ^ Lester, Mark; Larry
Beason (2005). The
McGraw-Hill Handbook of
English Grammar and
Usage. McGraw-Hill. p. 4.
ISBN 0-07-144133-6.
14. ^ Krifka, Manfred. 1989.
"Nominal Reference,
Temporal Constitution and
Quantification in Event
Semantics". In R. Bartsch,
J. van Benthem, P. von
Emde Boas (eds.),
Semantics and Contextual
Expression, Dordrecht:
Foris Publication.
15. ^ Borer, Hagit. 2005. In
Name Only. Structuring
Sense, Volume I. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Bibliography
Laycock, Henry, 2005
'Mass nouns, Count
nouns and Non-count
nouns', Draft version of
entry in Encyclopedia of
Language and Linguistics
Oxford: Elsevier (pdf)
10:50 AM
Ravi mishra
Posted in: STUDENT ZONE
