Noun Vocabulary PDF

‘Nouns typically ‘denote rich, highly interconnected complexes of properties’ (Cruse 2000: 289). In this chapter Griffiths outlines ways of describing the complexity, starting with a sense relation that he calls the has-relation. Prototype The word prototype comes from the Latin words proto, meani...

‘Nouns typically ‘denote rich, highly interconnected complexes of properties’ (Cruse 2000: 289). In this chapter Griffiths outlines ways of describing the complexity, starting with a sense relation that he calls the has-relation. Prototype The word prototype comes from the Latin words proto, meaning original, and typus, meaning form or model. In a non-technical context, a prototype is an especially representative example of a given category. Prototypes are clear, central members of the denotation of a word. Prototypes among the things denoted by the English word face have eyes, a nose and a mouth. A prototype face has two eyes. A prototype face has a nose. A prototype face has a mouth. Pragmatic inferences from the has-relation The has-relation, restricted to prototypes, is the basis for some of our pragmatic expectations in language use. This can be seen in a switch from indefinite to definite articles. Spatial parts A prototype thing, such as a rock, can be said to have a top, a bottom (or base), sides and a front and back. In semantic terms square, circle and triangle are hyponyms of the superordinate word shape. For example: I like fruits. (orange, apple, pear, banana, plum, pineapple) The following are all hyponyms of seat: chair, bench, stool, sofa, settee. The relation of incompatibility holds between most of them: for example, if we know that Hazel is sitting on a chair, then we know that she is not (at that moment) sitting on a bench, stool, sofa or settee. Contrasts between the different kinds under a given superordinate are mainly captured through a sense relation called incompatibility. 3.3 Incompatibility A small hyponym hierarchy is shown in Figure 3.7. There are alternative labels and perhaps even different kinds of meals that could have been included (for example, supper, high tea and brunch), but the ones given will do for present purposes. Figure 3.7 Some hyponyms of meal When adjectives occur in larger sets than pairs – as with {black, purple, blue, brown, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, white, grey} – then the appropriate term for the relation holding within the set is incompatibility. Incompatibility is not pure unconstrained difference. Incompatibility is difference against a background of similarity. A mass noun is a noun (such as advice, bread, knowledge, luck, and work) that names things that in English cannot usually be counted. A mass noun (also known as a noncount noun) is generally used only in the singular. Many abstract nouns are uncountable, but not all uncountable nouns are abstract. 1. A noun denoting something which cannot be counted (e.g. a substance or quality), in English usually a noun which lacks a plural in ordinary usage and is not used with the indefinite article, e.g. china, happiness. Contrasted with count noun 1.1 A noun denoting something which normally cannot be counted but which may be countable when it refers to different units or types, e.g. coffee (drank some coffee, ordered two coffees). (Oxford Dictionaries)  Double Duty: Count Nouns and Mass Nouns "Some nouns can serve as both count and mass nouns. The noun war is an example. In War is ghastly, war is a mass noun, whereas in “The wars between Rome and Carthage were ruinous”, war is used as a count noun." (James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge University Press, 1994) Count noun / countable noun A noun that can form a plural and, in the singular, can be used with the indefinite article (e.g. books, a book). Oxford Dictionaries