Morphology 11. 2 NOUNS Morphology 13 Nouns are designators used to refer to objects (referents) of extralinguistic reality.

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NOUNS

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Nouns are designators used to refer to objects (referents) of extralinguistic reality.

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English nouns exhibit categories of countability

number determination gender case

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NOUN CATEGORIES:

DETERMINATION

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There is no option in the English language for a NP without a determiner.

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Determiners are obligatory elements of an English NP.

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There are two groups of determiners. One group with items like your, the, this etc. is called definite determiners, the other group, with the items like some, a, etc. is called indefinite determiners.

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The purpose of category of determination is to specify the range of reference of the noun used as the head of a NP.

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Among determiners, of special importance is the class of articles which, along with other means, esp. pronouns, form the foundation of the system of definiteness.

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DEFINITE ARTICLE The definite article has one graphological

and three phonological realizations for both singular and plural nouns : [ðə] – before pronounced consonants, [ði] – before pronounced vowels (the hours), end emphatic [ði:] (meaning the best, the famous, the right one)

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INDEFINITE ARTICLE The indefinite article has the following

graphological and phonological realizations : a [ə] before pronounced consonants (note: a

union) an [ən] before pronounced vowels (note mute h

in an hour [ən auə] but a history [ə histəry] We use it for singular nouns only, in plural the

zero article or the unstressed some are used instead.

The stressed forms [eɪ] [æn] may be used for emphasis

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The two articles evolved from the OE forms, demonstrative and numeral respectively, which is still documented in some of their uses (for the moment, one at a time)

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Articles may sometimes be postponed, place between a premodifier and a head, esp. when the adjectival premodifier is itself modified by so, as, too, however (so brave a proposal but such a brave proposal).

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Then after any(no) worse, no less (he is no less of an expert than you) and many (many a day has passed)

Postposition is optional after rather and quite (quite a long way/ a quite long way)

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The following table represents the types of reference expressed by the articles:

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Generic

Non-genericspecific

- sg. the house ø mud a house

- pl. Ø houses

-definite - sg. the house the mud

- pl. the houses-Indefinite - sg. a house ø mud - pl. ø houses some mud some houses

REFERENCE COUNT UNCOUNT

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GENERIC REFERENCE Is used to refer to the whole

class of referents (in case of countable nouns – we are not interested in any division) or to the entire (uncountable) entity.

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Of the three means of its realization the most natural is zero article.

Buildings for people to live in are called houses.

Mud is very wet earth in a sticky mass.

Ostriches cannot fly.

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Some count nouns can be used in this way, film, dance (forms of art), man (biological species)

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While the definite article tends to have a formal flavour in that it points to a typical representative of the class (The cobra is dangerous), the indefinite article is more colloquial – it refers to any member of the class. (A cobra is a very poisonous snake.)

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NON-GENERIC REFERENCE Points at a particular occurrence of

an entity whose identity has (hence definite reference) or has not (hence indefinite reference) been established in the context of the speech event.

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Definite reference the use of definite article

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Indefinite reference employs IA, ZA or unstressed some

The indefinite article classifies an entity into a class and establishes it on the “scene” of a discourse as new without further specification (Subsequent references are then made with the definite article).

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Zero article should be differentiated from the absence of article.

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The correlation zero article vs. article is applied to nouns which normally admit article determination (e.g. plural count nouns).

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The correlation absence of the article vs. article occurrence applies to the groups of nouns singled out on the grounds of a variety of factors like meaning, usage, etymology, with a multitude exceptions, in which the absence of the article determination is common, and unmarked. (proper nouns, some time expressions)

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The absence of an article is typical of:

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a/ proper personal nouns (the uniqueness of their referents is signalled by capitalization) : Ernest Hemingway, Mr. Brown, Admiral Nelson, young Wright, but a new Hemingway the Wrights, a Mr. Brown

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b/ proper geographical nouns – names of continents (Central Europe but the Antarctic), countries, states, regions, towns (but the United States, the Ukraine, the Hague, the town of Prešov), mountains (but mountain ranges : the Alps), lakes (Lake Ontario), islands (in plural: the Philippines, the Isle of Wight), streets, parks, public buildings, institutions, universities (Ružomberok Universtity, but the University of Ružomberok)

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Compare the names of oceans ( the Pacific), seas (the Mediterranean), straits (the English Channel), rivers( the Danube) and lakes (the Aral)

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c/ names of days, months, festivals (Boxing Day), meals (for tea), illnesses (catch cold but a cold), magazines (Language in Society)

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d/ institutionalized expressions -quasi-locatives (in bed but on the

bed) -time expressions – parts of a day

(before dawn but stay for the night) -transportation (by bus but be on

the bus)

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e/ fixed expressions binomial phrases (face to face,

right or wrong) prepositional phrases (from time

to time) phrases of the pattern verb +

noun (to declare war) complex prepositions (for fear

of )

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Most frequently, the zero article is to be found before:

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a/ uncount nouns (learn language but speak a language)

b/ count nouns in generic reference (Snakes are dangerous but the snakes in my backyard are not)

c/ most (majority – Most people spend their money on food)

last and next ( temporal meanings – He arrived last, I´ll tell you when we next meet)

d/ superlative in the subject complement (Our house is largest)

e/ enumerated members in the subject complement (He is linguist, cultural anthropologist and musician.)

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Besides, particular cases of article use may be influenced by personal taste and style.