Nouns

Parents tend to overtly teach nouns to children

"It's a doggie! A doggie! Pretty doggie. Hi, doggie. Say hi to doggie. Doggie!"

Free morpheme

"book" is a free morpheme—it can occur in isolation and make sense

-s morpheme is distributed across the following three allomorph variants

(regular plural = /s/, /z/, /əz/)

Common nouns

-A "catch-all" category for any other type of noun that isn't a proper noun -Nouns that belong to general classes or groups (any old cat that you see, vs. Grumpy Cat, whose name is a proper noun)

What nouns are more difficult for children to learn?

Abstract nouns

Adolescents have new language demands. They must learn to understand and express __________ terms, whereas prior to this, school vocabulary used concrete nouns.

Abstract terms

Morpheme

Recall that a morpheme is the smallest unit of semantic meaning -free morpheme -bound morpheme

It is possible to mark plurals on nouns in an_____

irregular fashion

Adolescents must acquire increased knowledge about the multiple and sometimes ambiguous meanings of some nouns, which provides ripe opportunities for playing with nouns on a _________ and ___________ level.

literal and figurative level

When children have low vocabularies, parents and teachers may instinctively focus on....

noun instruction -Consider: usefulness -Consider: developmentally-appropriate

Non-count nouns

nouns that cannot be counted -Ex: Anger, (as in, My anger, *My angers), Math (*Maths) -Note: Dialects can have variation here. In British English, it is common to say "I did well in maths." (as in, math class)

What are often concrete nouns

person, place, or thing

Concrete nouns

refer to something tangible and (often) physically present Ex: lemon, jacket, Marilyn, liquid, cafeteria, school

Abstract nouns

refer to something that cannot be manipulated, seen, heard, or touched Ex: epiphany, danger, hope, attitude

Happiness is an abstract noun When you observe happiness, what are you observing?

-A smile -Voice quality -Relaxed shoulders -→All of these phrases contain concrete nouns -You are observing concrete nouns. -You are not observing "happiness" -...but rather the concrete (noun) signs of happiness.

Grammatical function of nouns

-Can be nominative, possessive, or objective -Can be subject or part of the predicate -Are often found inside a larger phrase

Noun modifiers

-Determiners/articles -The dogs. A dog. -Demonstratives -These dogs. Those dogs. That dog. This dog. (Them dogs!) -Adjectives -Big dogs. Friendly dogs. -Prepositional phrases -The dogs in the basket... -Relative clauses -Dogs that I love.

"Unproductive" vs. "productive" inflection

-Example pretend word: "bov" (not an English noun)→ bovs, not beev.

Irregular plurals derive from three sources

-Foreign word borrowing -Singular word: Datum →Plural word: Data -Old English plural marking -ox→oxen -Child→children -Old English/Old Germanic plural marking -/gos/ →addition of plural suffix /i/ /gos-i/ → assimilation /gisi/ → final syllable deletion /gis/ "geese" -/fot/ → addition of plural suffix /i/ /fot-i/ → assimilation /fiti/ → final syllable deletion /fit/ "feet"

Form of nouns

-May be pluralized regularly or irregularly -Cup→Cups (regular plural = /s/, /əz/, /z/) -Goose→Geese -Nouns not carry any other grammatical inflections in English

NOT in English

-No special inflections (ie. Adding suffixes, changing spelling, etc.) for a noun in subject vs. object position -Dogs love to run. (dog=subject) -I love dogs. (dogs=object) -Book discusses gender and nouns, but this is misleading -Other languages have actual masculine, feminine, and neutral gender categories for nouns, but English does not mark gender (or "inflect" for gender) on nouns -German: der/die/das (masc., fem., neuter classification affixes) -Some feminine suffixes exist: -ess (actress, waitress)

Other Grammatical function of nouns

-Nouns can be in subject -[Dogs] love to run. -Nouns can be in object -Casey loves [dogs]! -Nouns can be inside larger phrases (here, inside a prepositional phrase) -Jack ran [with [the dogs]]. -Nouns are sometimes not specified in special cases (here the case is the Imperative Mood—we will discuss more about this later in "verbs.") -Run fast! (no subject)

Developmental notes

-There has been a spirited debate about whether nouns or verbs are learned first by children. -In English, nouns predominate in a child's vocabulary from 1- 2 years of age. Early nouns (nominals, in book) are found in the environment of the child. -60% nominals -Acquisition patterns: Common nouns predominate, and are acquired before proper nouns. Proper nouns tend to be in the environment of the child. Concrete nouns are acquired before abstract nouns.

Bound morpheme

-s is a bound morpheme—it can't occur in isolation and make sense

Basic, superordinate, subordinate

-superordinate: mammals, animals -basic: dog -subordinate: poodle, labrador, collie

By 4 years of age, nouns comprise ____% of word use and tend to stay stable throughout the lifespan.

20%

Proper nouns

A person's name, a business's name, or a formal title (for a person or place) -Usually capitalized

Pluralization

Nouns can undergo regular plural marking to indicate the status of "more than one." -Morpheme used: /s/ -Allomorph: (regular plural = /s/, /əz/, /z/)

Count nouns

Nouns that can be counted Ex: geese/goose, trouble/troubles, book/books, face/faces

Semantic definition of nouns

Person, place, thing, abstraction Ex: Jacob, New York, cup, freedom

/əz/

Used when the preceding segment is a fricative or affricate (voiced or voiceless) -Ex: Faces, Catches, Badges, Phases, Places, Mazes, Latches

/s/

Used when the preceding segment is a voiceless stop -Ex: Cats, Books, Maps, Cups, Shorts

/z/

Used when the preceding segment is voiced (stop, liquid, nasal, vowel, glide) -Ex: Lads, Bags, Bibs, Fobs, Lords, Falls, Tars, Dodos

Abstraction =

Usually abstract nouns