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_{Syntactic Theory}

The Noun: Problems with the Tests

• semantic test:
  • Nouns name persons, things or places
    Problems:
    • Abstract nouns (often properties): honesty, happiness
    • Nouns denoting events or activities: party, rodeo, development

• morphological test:
  • Nouns can combine with a plural morpheme (-(e)s)
    Problems:
    • not all nouns form plural in -s: children
    • not all nouns have singular/plural distinction: milk (no plural); scissors, cattle (no singular); sheep (identical form in sg. and pl.)
• syntactic test
  • Nouns can occur with the possessive 's, i.e. in the environment:
    __ 's
    Problem:
    • The possessive 's is a phrasal affix, i.e. it attaches to the right edge of a noun phrase, independent of the part of speech of the word at the right edge. We can construct examples where this word is NOT a noun: [a colleague of mine]'s car got stolen.
  • Nouns can occur between a determiner and a verb, i.e. in the environment:
    Det __ V
    Problem:
    • not all nouns can combine with a determiner, in particular proper names cannot: (*The) Pat walked.

Back to the page on nouns, major parts of speech, or parts of speech