Nouns

Linguistics II
 ¿What is the
definition of a noun?
Let's analyze the definition of a noun
 Definition:
goodness, home-run,
person, places or things
fatherhood

Characterized by their
subject or object of a
ability to take inflexional
verb or preposition
suffixes
 Before verbs and
Preceded by
after transitive verbs
Identification determiners
A cat eats a slice of meat
Possessive adjective of He wrote a letter
of a noun personal pronouns and
others determiners

After a preposition
He is under the tree
The birds are flying in the sky
 Noun formation
An English word can be changed into nouns through two ways.

By adding inflecctional By adding derivational

1. suffixes 2. suffixes
 Plural inflectional
form
Suffixes are used to change the form of a word to show
the grammatical function in a sentence without changing
the part of speech.
 /S/ 1. After bases ending in
voiceless sounds
The plural
morpheme
Books Hats Roofs
(S1) is After bases ending in
regularly /Z/ 2. voiced sounds
realized in
three ways Dogs Beds Days

except sibilants
 /IZ/ 3. After bases ending in a sibilant

The plural /S/ Horses, nurses, kisses

morpheme /Z/ Noises, sizes, noses
(S1) is
/ʃ/ Brushes, dishes, clashes
regularly
/ʒ/ Mirages
realized in
three ways /ʧ/ Churches, torches, witches
/ʤ/ pledges, bridges, languages
There are four exceptions
to the pluralization rule
formulated before
 Inflectional without
changing of form
zero plural
1. The plural has the same form as the singular

(Sheep - Sheep) (Deer - Deer)

2. The singular has the same form as the plural

(Series - Series) (Means - Means)

3. No plural is used for uncountable words

(Information) (Advice)
Inflectional with
changing of form
 Foot - feet Tooth - teeth
An internal
change
mouse - mice
Change in the base
Goose - geese
without a suffix
(=mutation)

man - men
woman -women
An en ending
-en plural
child - children
(with mutation)

Ox - oxen
Change in the base + regular suffix, eg:

/θ/ /ð/ + /z/ /f/ /v/ + /z/

baths, mouths, paths halves, Knives, thieves

/s/ /z/ + /IZ/

houses
 The spelling of the regular
plural of English -es
1. Words ending in -s, -z, -ch, -sh and -x
gases, dresses, wishes, boxes
2. Many words ending in a consonant symbol + -o
echoes, potatoes, tomatoes
(but note: Kilo, photos, pianos)
3. In words ending a consonant symbol + -y, where y
changes into i
bodies, countries, fries
4. Words where the ʃ of the base is change into v
calves, haives, lives, wives, leaves
Many foreign words
retain their foreign
plurals in English
 Foreign words in English form their
plural in three different ways:

a. Take regular b. Take both a native c. Take a foreign

native plural and foreign plural plural only

(dilemma - dilemmas) formula (formulas) (formulas) (basis - bases)

(virus - viruses) index (indexes) (indices) (thesis - theses)
(prospectus - prospectuses) cactus ( cactuses) (cacti) (criterion - criteria)
 Possessive
inflectional form
 /S/ 1. After bases ending in
voiceless sounds
The ship's The dentist's
The singular
crew drill
the genitive
morpheme After bases ending in
(S2) is /Z/ 2. voiced sounds
regularly My brother's The firm's
realized in cottage losses
three ways

except sibilants
 /IZ/ 3. After bases ending in a sibilant

The singular A horse's Keats's

tail poetry
the genitive
morpheme The Church's
(S2) is teachings
regularly
realized in George's The village's
children population
three ways
The genitive singular suffix is
realized by /o/ in two ways

In a number of fixed With Greek names of

expressions more than one syllable

For goodness' sake Sophocles' plays

For Jesus' sake Xerxes' strategy
 /Z/ 1. With irregular plurals not
ending in -S

Men's Children's
clothes books
In the plural
the genetive
morpheme /o/ 2. In all other cases
is realized in
two ways The students' The oficcers'
union mess
 Derivational
Suffixes
Suffixes are used to change the form of a word to show the
grammatical function in a sentence by changing a part of speech.
 Suffixes changing concrete nouns to
The following 1. abtract nouns
suffixes are a. noun root + -hood = brotherhood childhood
added to noun b. noun root + -ism = heroism despotism
routs,
c. noun root + -ship = fellowship friendship
adjective, or
verb to form
2. Suffixes changing nouns to other nouns
nouns
(capitalism - capitalist, comunism - comunis)
 3. Suffixes changing adjectives to nouns
The following a. adjective + -th = warmth strength

suffixes are b. adjective + -ness = hapiness usefulness

added to noun c. adjective + -ant or -ent become -ance or ence
(intelligent- intelligence) (distantt- distance)
routs,
adjective, or
verb to form
nouns
The following
4. Suffixes changing verbs to nouns
suffixes are
a. verb + -al = survival arrival
added to noun
b. verb + -ance or -ence = assitance confidence
routs,
c. verb + -ment = development employmnet
adjective, or
d. verb + -ing = fishing danching
verb to form
e. verb + -or or -eer= governor elevator acutioneer
nouns