PREFACE
First of
all, I would like tosay a lot of thanks to the Allah SWT, who has given us
healthy until finish a paper under the title “Noun”. Wich in content has a
history, definitions, classification of noun.
We can hope this paper have a function for us specially for a
reader to add this knowledge about how to uses noun in life every day.
I expect tips of reader, that I can perfect this paper. The end word, we pass on gratitude to all
party already get role in this
Paper collation from start to finish. Hopefully
Allah SWT everlastingly meridhai all our effort. Amin.
Kendari, 11 January 2012
Table of content
Preface
Table of content
Unit I
A. Background
B. Formula of content
C. Porpuse
Unit II
A. History
B. Different definitions of nouns
·
Names for things
·
Predicates
with identity criteria
C. Classification of nouns in English
·
noun
gender
·
noun
plurals
·
possessive
noun
·
types of
nouns
·
proper
nouns
·
common
nouns
·
Concrete Nouns
·
Abstract Nouns
·
Countable Nouns
·
Non-Countable Nouns
·
Collective Nouns.
Unit III
Closing
Reference
UNIT I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background
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).
Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members
combine with other kinds of expressions. The syntactic rules for nouns differ
from language to language. In English, 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.
B. Formula of problem
1. What the history of
noun ?
2. What the different
definitions of noun ?
3. How much classification
of noun in English ?
C. Purpose
1. In order to tell the
history of noun.
2. In order to know about
definitions and classifications of noun.
UNIT II
Content
A. History
Noun
comes from the Latin nōmen "name", a translation of
Ancient Greek ónoma. Word classes like
nouns were first described by Pāṇini in
the Sanskrit language and by Ancient Greek grammarians, and were defined by the
grammatical forms 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" are adjectives.
B. 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 in Russian, 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 their semantic 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 in taxonomic 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 influential
theory 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 a forementioned.
·
Predicates
with identity criteria
The British logician Peter Thomas Geach proposed a more
subtle semantic definition of nouns. He noticed that adverbs 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 the same
fight.
ungrammatical: *John and Bill samely 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 logical predicates 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:
National Airlines transported 2 million passengers in
1979.
National Airlines transported (at least) 2 million
persons 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.
C. Classification of nouns in English
Many common nouns, like "engineer" or
"teacher," can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would
change form depending on their gender -- for example, a man was called an "author"
while a woman was called an "authoress" -- but this use of gender-specific nouns is very rare
today. Those that are still used occasionally tend to refer to occupational
categories, as in the following sentences.
David Garrick was a very
prominent eighteenth-century actor.
Sarah Siddons was at the
height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
The manager was trying to
write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a
"waiter" or a "waitress"
Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es", as
illustrated in the following pairs of sentences:
When Matthew was small he
rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.
Many people do not believe
that truths are self-evident.
As they walked through the
silent house, they were startled by an unexpected echo.
I like to shout into the
quarry and listen to the echoes that return.
He tripped over a box
left carelessly in the hallway.
Since we are moving, we
will need many boxes.
There are other nouns which form the plural by changing the last letter before adding "s".
Some words ending in "f" form the plural by deleting "f"
and adding "ves," and words ending in "y" form the plural
by deleting the "y" and adding "ies," as in the following
pairs of sentences:
The harbour at Marble
Mountain has one wharf.
There are several wharves
in Halifax Harbour.
Warsaw is their favourite city
because it reminds them of their courtship.
The vacation my
grandparents won includes trips to twelve European cities.
The children circled
around the headmaster and shouted, "Are you a mouse or a man?"
The audience was shocked
when all five men admitted that they were afraid of mice.
Other nouns form the plural irregularly. If English is
your first language, you probably know most of these already: when in doubt,
consult a good dictionary.
In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related
to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of
an apostrophe and the letter "s."
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an
apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences:
The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
The only luggage that was
lost was the prime minister's.
The exhausted recruits
were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams.
The miner's face
was covered in coal dust.
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that
ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe
and "s," as in the following examples:
The bus's seats are
very uncomfortable.
The bus' seats are
very uncomfortable.
The film crew accidentally
crushed the platypus's eggs.
The film crew accidentally
crushed the platypus' eggs.
Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that
does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as
in the following examples:
The children's
mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
The sheep's pen was
mucked out every day.
Since we have a complex
appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.
The men's hockey
team will be playing as soon as the women's team is finished.
The hunter followed the moose's
trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does
end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:
The concert was
interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies'
squalling.
The janitors' room
is downstairs and to the left.
My uncle spent many hours
trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
The archivist quickly
finished repairing the diaries' bindings.
Religion is usually the
subject of the roommates' many late night debates.
When you read the following sentences, you will notice
that a noun in the possessive case frequently functions as an adjective
modifying another noun:
The miner's face
was covered in coal dust.
Here the possessive noun "miner's" is used to
modify the noun "face" and together with the article "the," they make up the noun phrase that is the sentence's subject.
The concert was
interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies'
squalling.
In this sentence, each possessive noun modifies a gerund. The possessive noun "dogs"' modifies
"barking," "ducks"' modifies "quacking," and
"babies"' modifies "squalling."
The film crew accidentally
crushed the platypus's eggs.
In this example the possessive noun
"platypus's" modifies the noun "eggs" and the noun phrase
"the platypus's eggs" is the direct object of the verb "crushed."
My uncle spent many hours
trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
In this sentence the possessive noun
"squirrels"' is used to modify the noun "nest" and the noun
phrase "the squirrels' nest" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to locate."
There are many different types of nouns. As you know, you
capitalise some nouns, such as "Canada" or "Louise," and do
not capitalise others, such as "badger" or "tree" (unless
they appear at the beginning of a sentence). In fact, grammarians have
developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun, the common
noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called the
count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the
collective noun. You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type:
it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or
non-countable or collective.
If you are interested in the details of these different
types, you can read about them in the following sections.
You always write a proper noun
with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person,
place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents,
institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents
are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun
In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted:
The Marroons were
transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax.
Many people dread Monday
mornings.
Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran.
Last year, I had a Baptist,
a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.
A common noun is a noun
referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you
should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common
noun is the opposite of a proper noun.
In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted:
According to the sign,
the nearest town is 60 miles away.
All the gardens in
the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
I don't understand why
some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard
in their cupboards.
The road crew was
startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
Many child-care workers
are underpaid.
Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns,
as in the following examples:
The tenants in the Garnet
Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent.
The meals in the Bouncing Bean
Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants.
Many witches refer to the
Renaissance as the Burning Times.
The Diary of Anne Frank
is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.
A concrete noun is a
noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your
physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the
opposite of a abstract noun.
The highlighted words in the following sentences
are all concrete nouns:
The judge handed
the files to the clerk.
Whenever they take the dog
to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
The real estate agent
urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles.
As the car drove
past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the
string quartet's rendition of a minuet.
The book binder
replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
An abstract noun is a
noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five
physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun. The highlighted
words in the following sentences are all abstract nouns:
Buying the fire extinguisher
was an afterthought.
Tillie is amused by people
who are nostalgic about childhood.
Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
Some scientists believe
that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.
A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a
plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You
can make a countable noun plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence.
Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns.
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted
words are countable nouns:
We painted the table
red and the chairs blue.
Since he inherited his aunt's
library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books.
Miriam found six silver dollars
in the toe of a sock.
The oak tree lost
three branches in the hurricane.
Over the course of
twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.
A non-countable noun
(or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a
plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not
usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence.
Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of
countable nouns.
The highlighted words in the following sentences
are non-countable nouns:
Joseph Priestly discovered
oxygen.
The word "oxygen" cannot normally be made
plural.
Oxygen is essential to human life.
Since "oxygen" is a non-countable noun, it
takes the singular verb "is" rather than the plural verb
"are."
We decided to sell the furniture
rather than take it with us when we moved.
You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural.
The furniture is
heaped in the middle of the room.
Since "furniture" is a non-countable noun, it takes
a singular verb, "is heaped."
The crew spread the gravel
over the roadbed.
You cannot make the non-countable noun "gravel"
plural.
Gravel is more expensive than I thought.
Since "gravel" is a non-countable noun, it
takes the singular verb form "is."
A collective noun is
a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the
individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole
is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in
order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a
non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted
word is a collective noun:
The flock of geese
spends most of its time in the pasture.
The collective noun "flock" takes the singular
verb "spends."
The jury is dining
on take-out chicken tonight.
In this example the collective noun "jury" is
the subject of the singular compound verb "is dining."
The steering committee
meets every Wednesday afternoon.
Here the collective noun "committee" takes a
singular verb, "meets."
The class was
startled by the bursting light bulb.
In this sentence the word "class" is a
collective noun and takes the singular compound verb "was startled."
UNIT III
Closing
Conclution
Definitions of noun has a different. 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 in Russian, 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 their semantic
properties. Many of these are controversial, but some are discussed below.
Classification of nouns
are noun gender, noun plurals, possessive nouns, types of nouns, proper nouns,
common nouns, Concrete
Nouns, Abstract Nouns, Countable Nouns, Non-Countable Nouns, Collective Nouns.
Reference
Loos, Eugene E., et al. 2003. Glossary of
linguistic terms: What is a noun?
nōmen.
Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus
Project.
Jackendoff, Ray. 2002.
Foundations of language: brain, meaning, grammar,
evolution. Oxford University Press. Page
124.
Gupta, Anil. 1980, The
logic of common nouns. New Haven and London: Yale
University Press.
Baker, Mark. 2003, Lexical
Categories: verbs, nouns, and adjectives.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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.
