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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 : [đə] – before

pronounced consonants, [đi] – before

pronounced vowels (the hours), end

emphatic [đi:] (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] [ćn] 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-generic

specific

- sg. the house

ř mud

a house

- pl. Ř houses

-definite - sg.

the house the mud

- pl.

the houses

- Indefinite - sg. a house ř mud

- pl. ř 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)

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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.