Understanding Noun, Adjective, and Determiner Morphology
Nouns: A Grammatical Overview
The noun is a grammatical category used to describe substantive entities. The morpheme ‘gender’ is a constituent morpheme along with ‘number’. Every noun belongs to a specific gender. From a morphological perspective, some nouns are invariable, meaning they do not change form (e.g., ‘male,’ ‘female’). Others are variable, changing form by adding suffixes like ‘-o’ or ‘-a’.
Types of Nouns
From a semantic perspective, there are two types of nouns:
- Arbitrary and Unmotivated: There is no inherent reason for their gender assignment.
- Motivated: Gender assignment relates to sex, size, or shape.
Number in Nouns
The ‘number’ morpheme, along with ‘gender’, is a constituent morpheme. Every noun has a number. Plurality is indicated by adding ‘-s’ to unstressed vowels or ‘-es’ to other forms. Singular indicates unity, and plural indicates plurality. A special case is the noun ‘[…]’, which can denote uniqueness in many respects.
Syntactic Role of Nouns
Syntactically, the noun is the core of a noun phrase. It can perform all functions except being the kernel of the predicate. Examples include:
- Subject: Matching the viewpoint.
- Direct Object (CD): Replaceable by ‘the’.
- Circumstantial Complement (CC): Adding circumstance to the verb.
- Adjective Complement: Supplementing the nucleus of the phrase.
Adjectives: Describing Qualities
The adjective is a word used to describe qualities. Semantically, a predicative adjective is meaningful, saying something about something. Adjectives can be divided into:
- Specified: Delimiting the noun’s extension, usually placed after the noun (e.g., […]).
- Explanatory: Highlighting a quality, not essential for message compression.
Syntactic Functions of Adjectives
From a syntactic point of view, adjectives can play three functions:
- Attribute: Accompanying a copula and replaceable by ‘what’.
- Adjective Complement: Completing the core of the noun phrase.
- Predicative Complement: Accompanied by a subject and a verb.
Determiners: Specifying Nouns
Determiners are a morphological category that generally precedes the noun, updating it and placing it in a concrete context. Possessive determiners refer to the holder(s) (e.g., […]). They belong to the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person and vary or remain invariant with respect to gender and number. Functionally, they serve as determiners.
Types of Determiners
- Deictic: Anaphoric if the referent is known, cataphoric if not.
- Indefinite: Indicate imprecise quantity, identity, or existence (e.g., […]).
- Demonstrative: Indicate closeness or distance in space or time relative to the speaker.