THE NOUN PHRASE
The function of noun phrases
Noun phrases can serve various functions in the clause. The head noun of the NP can be preceded or
followed by other elements to build an NP.
A) Subject – definite article and relative clause
B) Subject – definite article and non-finite clause
C) direct object – definite article and appositive clause
D) direct object – indefinite article and quantifier little
E) direct object – possessive determiner and non-finite clause
F) indirect object – quantifier a few and adjective motivated
G) subject complement – indefinite article and prepositional phrase
H) object complement – indefinite article and adjective likeable
I) adjunct – demonstrative determiner that
J) following a preposition in a prepositional phrase – possessive determiner their
K) following a preposition in a prepositional phrase – demonstrative determiner those and non-finite
clause
NP: to talk about things/people/places (entities)= referring expression.
Eg. NP ‘a cat’ refers to an entity in the world
“a cat” refers/ establishes a reference (picture of a cat)
=referring expression =referent
Function of the noun phrase:
Refer to things (vs verbs: refer to processes)
Concrete or abstract (eg a cat vs boredom)
Singular or plural (eg a cat vs one million cats)
Animate or inanimate (eg my sister vs a card game)
Count or mass (eg a pencil vs milk)
Communicative purpose: bring the hearer into contact with the same ‘thing’ which the
speaker has in mind
a referent is a concept in the mind of the speaker, rather than an object in the world
Establishing reference = bringing the hearer into mental contact with a referent
Categorization (what type of thing?)
Indicates a general type of thing
Typically expressed by the head of the noun phrase (‘cat’)
Modifiers can be added to make more specific (eg ‘dark-haired fluffy cat’)
Instantiation (what particular instance of that thing?)
The general type of thing is narrowed down to the instance talked about
Typically expressed by determiners (eg articles, demonstratives) (a/the..)
Categorization, instantiation and word order:
, The functional division between categorization and instantiation is also reflected in word
order: categorization on right-hand side, instantiation on the left.
Eg. He watched his daughter playing in the small inflatable blue plastic pool.
underlined: detailed type description (categorization)
determiner in bold: link up type to the speech event (instantiation), indicating whether or
not the hearer should know which instance is talked about (definite vs indefinite).
Note: not all noun phrases have separate categorization and instantiation parts!!
Eg: I adopted a grumpy cat: hearer doesn’t know which cat (indefinite article)
I adopted Grumpy Cat : specific cat, so no separate determiner needed (is a proper name)
I adopted him. : pronoun, doesn’t need explicit determiners.
Proper names and pronouns typically inherently designate a unique, individual ‘thing’ (eg
Grumpy Cat, John, him, she, etc.): they incorporate, in a single form, the functions of
categorization and instantiation.
However, in special cases, they may code instantiation separately:
Which pet will become the next Grumpy Cat?
Is their new baby a he or a she?
Exercise on the function of NP: describe the similarities and differences between the following three
noun phrases in terms of how they establish reference. Use the terms ‘instantiation’ and
‘categorization’: She / Kamala Harris / A woman will become the next vice-president.
– All 3 noun phrases establish reference to a particular person, but they do so in different ways
– In the NP ‘a woman’, the head ‘woman’ has the function of categorization (the type of
person referred to), while the indefinite article ‘a’ instantiates the noun phrase.
– The NPs ‘she’ and ‘Kamala Harris’ do not have separate instantiation and categorization
parts: they inherently designate a unique, individual thing. This means they do not need
determiners to instantiate the NP.
Difference between proper names and pronouns (she/Kamala Harris):
– Pronouns do not rigidly designate one unique individual
– They draw their reference from the co-text (=previously mentioned entities) or context
(=entities present in the speech situation).
The head noun
1. Common nouns, proper names and pronouns (3 types of head nouns)
Three main types of head nouns:
Common noun
Proper name
Pronoun
The category of common nouns can be further classified into
Count vs uncount
Count: singular vs plural nouns
Uncount: mass nouns vs abstract nouns
Collective nouns
Other types of nouns:
Deadjectival and deverbal nouns
Compound nouns
1) Proper name vs. common noun
, o Proper name (or proper noun): designates a unique individual (=an instance)
We assume that there is only 1 individual with that name in the relevant discourse
context (‘uniqueness presupposition’)
Are automatically instances, so no determiner is needed (*the Maya): proper names
can identify an instance in and of themselves
o Common noun: designates a type of entity (e.g. cat)
Designates what a class of entities has in common (‘categorization’)
Needs to be preceded by determiners to establish reference to an instance
(‘instantiation) (e.g. a cat, the cat, those cats, your cat)
The meaning of common nouns:
o Common nouns: certain defining features can be listed which determine wheter some
referent can be rightfully called, e.g. a cat, a chair, love.
o That is difference with proper names.
The meaning of proper names:
o Eg. Proper name ‘Billy’: there are no features/definition that define ‘Billyness’ or ‘Billyhood’.
The only reason why people share that name is because they have been given the name at
birth.
o In this sense, proper names carry no lexical meaning.
o However, proper names do carry grammatical meaning: they are singular, definite, concrete
and non-generic.
o In addition, they imply higher-order type specifications:
The Thames: is a ‘river’
London is a ‘city’
John is a ‘male person with the name John’ or even ‘a person with the characteristics
of John’
that is why proper names sometimes can be used as common nouns
= with explicitely coded instantiation
E.g. through the use of determiners (eg. ‘this is the John is studied with’)
Proper names used as common nouns:
2 productive mechanisms:
o ‘person with name X’ :
‘this is the John is used to study with and this is the John I married’
‘there were two Davids in the office’
or ‘person with characteristics of X’:
‘she is going to be the next Margaret Thatcher’
‘she is such a Karen’
o ‘maker for product’:
‘I’m reading an Agatha Christie at the moment’
‘I bought a Picasso’
Vs. true proper names
sometimes an explicitly instantiated proper name retains their unique reference, and hence still
functions as a proper name:
o Effect: to indicate interpersonal closeness
‘I’ve told our Jethro to keep away from her’
The best singer is this Olaf Bergh that I’ve seen’
o Or distance:
