Grammatical Features of Definiteness - Essay Example

Grammatical features of definiteness This essay looks at grammatical features of definiteness .It brings out why the makeup of the determiner phrase couldn’t be the sole factor that shows definiteness. Nevertheless It goes ahead to portray how important it is. It shows how quantification and determiners exemplify in grammar. It goes further to show how they can be actualized lexically. Features in grammar are also called grammatical categories; these are items within the grammar of a language and in this case the English language. They include tense which are grouped into; present and past. Secondly, numbers which occur in plural and singular. Lastly, the gender Category, They usually take values such as the masculine, feminine and the neuter (Smith, Teschner and Evans, 1994). Frequently grammatical categories are usually misunderstood with lexical categories. This Are nearly the same as parts of speech like the nouns, verbs and the adjectives. Categories may be brought about and referred to according to meanings they portray. For example the category of tense(s) usually show time in which activities took place for example, did a certain action occur in the present (now), past (a time before) or future (a time to come).They may be structured in words by use of inflection (a change in the number of words a word that reflects a change in grammatical function, Oxford Dictionary.) In the English grammar, the number noun is always leaving the noun without inflicting it, this is if it’s singular. For words which are in plural, the suffix-s is added. This not the case with all plurals, because some nouns have irregular plurals. On the other hand, a category may not be marked on the item to which it pertains. They are shown only through other features in grammar of a sentence. Always they are shown through agreements in grammar. A good example to illustrate the above point would be: a) The boy can run.(singular) b) The boys can run. (plural) In the above sentences, number of nouns is shown openly without adding the ending of a suffix-s. The number of nouns may not be marked on the noun itself if the noun does not inflect as in the regular pattern. Instead they are shown in the agreement between the noun and the verb. Singular nouns usually use ‘is’ while plural nouns take are. For example: a) The sheep is injured. (Singular) b) The sheep are injured. (Plural) In this case the noun sheep does not inflect according to regular patterns. In other cases the number can be reflected both in the noun and also by the agreement of the verb (Smith, Teschner and Evans, 1994). For example; a) The boy is running. (singular) b) The boys are running. (plural) c) The ball is torn. (singular) d) The balls are torn. (plural) However, where a number of nouns or verbs are not manifested anywhere in the surface form of a sentence. Therefore ambiguity is introduced only if the sentence is in isolation, for example; the sheep can jump. Categories also occur in sentence divisions that are bigger than one word for example phrases or at times clauses. A phrase always takes category values from the word that is its head. For example in the above sentences, the noun phrase the boy takes its plural number from the noun boy. In other instances, those values are related to the way in which the phrase is formed (Smith, Teschner and Evans, 1994). An example is in the coordinated noun phrase Clinton and Sarah. The phrase has a plural number and will as well take a plural verb. This is always the case even if both the nouns from which the sentences are constructed from are singular and does not have plurals. In grammar, what represent more definiteness are things like determiners and quantifications. Determiners are a class of words, phrase or affix that is used to give more details of a noun. They function in a noun or noun phrase to identify or distinguish a reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context without modifying it (Teschner and Evans, 2000). They may signal whether the noun is referring to a definite or indefinite element of a class, to a near or more nearer object, to an element which belongs to a particular individual or thing to a specific number or quantity. Usually they are a dependent function in a noun phrase marking the determiner phrase as definite or indefinite depending with the given sentence. This function often comes into play with a lot of filled by words in the determinative class but, in other cases it may contain other elements genitive pronoun. Examples of determiners include articles, demonstratives, cardinal numbers and indefinite numerals. 1. Articles are grouped into two: definite articles and indefinite article. There's only one definite article ’The’. A case scenario in a sentence case: The sun always rises from the east. Indefinite articles are ‘a’ and ‘an’. For example a) A boy goes to school. b) An umbrella is useful during a rainy season. 2. Demonstratives (this, those) 3. Cardinal numbers (two, five) 4. Indefinite numerals (most, any, each) Therefore, definiteness in determiner refers to the ability of a determiner phrase to be identified by the addressed individual. Definite DPs are direct to certain entities which the addressed individual(s) is in a state to point out/identify (Teschner and Evans, 2000). For example, a) The girl took her book. b) The mechanic found his spanner. DPs introduce new entities into the discourse which the addressed individual(s)is not in a position of identifying. a) A girl took a book b) A mechanic found a spanner In grammar determiners are divided into three types. These are pre-determiners; all, half, both, and multipliers like double, thrice, once and twice. The second division are the central determiners which are articles; a, an, and the, denominative determiners for example this, that, these, and those and possessive determiners which include his, her, whom and whose. The last division is post-determiners, these are grouped into two: The ordinal numeral and semi determiners which comprise of these, are, later, some, next, other and last. The second group comprises of Cardinal Numeral and quantifying determiners which include; some, a lot of and enough. Quantifiers Quantifiers are a class of words which can be used in place of determiners. We use quantifiers when we are required to give someone information about the number of people, animals or something: how much or how many. Examples: most children start school at the age of five We ate some bread and butter We saw lots of birds. Some quantifiers can be used with both count and uncounted nouns. This includes all, any, enough, more, and most, less, a lot of, lots of and some. And some more colloquial forms e.g. plenty of, heaps of, a load of, loads of some quantifiers may be used only with count nouns e.g., each, either, several, a few, fewer and neither and some more colloquial forms e.g. a couple of, hundreds of, and thousands of other quantifiers may be used only with uncounted nouns. This includes a little, not much, a bit of many a times they are known to be used with abstract nouns such as time, money, clock etc. We often use a great deal of, a good deal of. You can only put a noun after a quantifier when you are talking about members of a group in general (Mallén, 1992). For example – Few snakes are dangerous. Both the cousins works with their mother-in-law. James never have enough money on weekends. But if you are talking about a specific group of people or things uses. ‘Of the’ For example few of the snakes are dangerous All of the children live at home He has spent all of the money. It’s critical for one to understand that when we referring to two people or things, then we are obliged to use either and neither quantifiers Lexical Lexical are categories of words in a phrase that carry meaning (have synonyms and antonyms) and they are the heads of phrases. The main lexical categories are the Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition (Willis and Willis, 2002). Syntactically the categories can be defined according to what they combine with as in the examples below. A Plate is a noun at it can combine well with the article “the”. For instance, plate, Kitchen table and a book are nouns since they refer to things. However, there times when certain nouns such as action can be used as verbs in a sentence Here are some of the examples: i) The actions by the leaders improved their lives.(action noun) ii) The war resulted in the destruction of the house.(destruction noun) iii) The action portrayed a positive side of him.(action noun) iv) The use of hard drugs led to his destruction.(destruction noun) These elements are never the less seen as nouns. Thus, in (i) and (ii) action and destruction are preceded by the article 'The' and at the same followed by a sentence phrase starting with a preposition (Mallén, 1992). Lexical categories Grammatical categories Have semantic content Provide functional content Can undergo derivation Do not typically undergo derivation Are ‘open’ class Are ‘closed’ class Are typically heads Are introducers of heads The Syntax of Definite and Indefinite Determiner Phrases (Dps) These are the set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences. First, in a determiner phrase, at least one determiner functions as the head of the phrase. For example: i) The plate is broken ii) The cloth is torn. iii) The milk is spilled. iv) The house is good. v) The ball is new. In the above examples, 'the' is the definite article; it serves as the head of the phrase. i) A fruit sweet is healthy. ii) An airplane crashed. iii) A dozen is enough. iv) An elephant is big. In this example, 'an' is the indefinite determiner, and its main work is to function as the head of the phrase. Secondly, some determiner phrase may consist of two determiners. For example: i) All seven doctors. (Quantifier+ Numeral) ii) All the boys.(Quantifier+ Article) iii) The four brothers.(Article+ Numeral) iv) Those eight glasses.(Demonstrative determiner+ numeral) v) The most expensive.(Article+ Quantifier) vi) Her many clothes. (Possessive determiner+ Numeral) vii) Whose two shoes.(Possessive interrogative+ determiner+ Numeral) The third form of determiner phrases are those consisting of two determiners and a p-word (MacLaughlin, 1997). Examples: of such sentences are: i) most of the scholars.(Quantifier+ p-word+ article) ii) Most of his friends.(Quantifier+ p-word+ possessive determiner) iii) One of the following.(Numeral+ P-word+ article) iv) Two of her daughters.(Numeral +P-word-possessive determiner) Fourthly, they are formed by three determiners. Its examples include: i) All his few neighbors. (Quantifier+ Possessive determiner+ Quantifier.) ii) All those many problems.(Quantifier+ demonstrative determiner+ Quantifier) The last form of the determiner phrase is those determiners consisting of three determiners and a p-word.) i) All of her many accessories(Quantifier+ p-word+ possessive determiner+ quantifier) ii) few of those 100 students (Quantifier+ p-word+ demonstrative+ numeral) The Structure of the Determiner Phrase (Dp) The structure of a determiner phrase is how a DP is constructed. They are formed by joining a quantifier phrase, an article (a, an, the) and a numeral. The quantifier phrase contains a quantifier (all) and a p-word (of). Determiner Phrase Quantifier phrase article Numeral Quantifier p-word all of the forty They can also be formed by a demonstrative determiner, a numeral determiner and a noun Determiner Phrase Demonstrative determiner Numeral Noun Those three books Tense Phrases (Tp) A tense phrase is a phrase that containing an abstract to be its head. The tense head bears tense properties such as tense and person, and this may or may not be realized as separate words in the surface of the phrase that is being represented (MacLaughlin, 1997). Usually, components of the TP are a verb phrase (VP), which is the complement of the phrase, and a specifier of the phrase which according to their structure they are always a noun phrase, and serves as the subject of the phrase. There are usually a functional phrase that have a tense phrases such as tense and agreement. They are necessarily the same as a sentence, but reflect an analysis whereby a sentence could be taken as having a head, complement and a specifier (Li, 1998). They are formed by tense elements which include, Will, can, may, might and must. Examples of tense phrases include. a) Mary can go to school. b) You must see the doctor. c) He might win the race. d) John may come. e) Suzan will write the essay. The Quality of Bare Plurals As Opposed To Singular Definite Dps Bare plurals are those plurals that refer to a plural noun phrase without having the aid of an overt determiner. Some of the examples of bare plurals are: a) Cats, or pretty girls with blond hair. Bare plurals can have a general interpretation while this is not the case that occurs to singular definite determiner phrases (DPs). Below are examples of bare plurals with a generic elaboration. a) Dogs are disturbing. b) Human beings exist by birth. c) Plants breathe d) The Cheetah is fast. They can also have an existential interpretation as showcased in these examples. a) Dogs chased the thief. b) The plant is poisonous c) The cheetah is lame d) The child is playing. Singular definite DPs don’t occur existentially and from the above we can conclude that bare plurals are less definiteness compared to singular definite DPs. The Use of Indefinite Pronouns Pronouns stand for a noun, an individual or individuals, thing or things whose identity is made clear in the texts. They cannot ordinarily be preceded by a determiner and rarely takes an attributive adjective (Li, 1998). Their examples include you, him, who, me, my, each and other. The fact that pronouns don’t admit determiners is the core feature that differentiates them from nouns. What comes in to differentiate a pronoun and a determiner is because a determiner always limits the meaning of the noun in a number of ways (Li, 1998) .While a determiner does this, a pronoun takes the place of the noun phrase. This can be shown in the following four examples. i) He wants some (determiner), and I (pronoun) want some too. ii) Few students like her (determinant) lecture but I hate hers (pronoun). iii) Japheth bought more (determinant) books than him (pronoun). iv) He fell in love with his (determinant) friend but I (pronoun) didn’t see why. Pronouns are grouped into seven categories: personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, intensive pronouns, reflexive pronouns and interrogative pronouns. In this case we will look at indefinite pronouns. The indefinite pronouns do not come in place of specific nouns but function themselves as nouns. This is the main reason behind why they are known to play a great role when dealing with definiteness in determiner. Examples of indefinite pronouns in English grammar include everybody, anybody, somebody, all, each, every, and some, none and one. One of the main difficulties we have when it comes to the indefinite pronouns arises in the fact that ‘many people’ always feels as though it is referring to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. Indefinite pronoun can be either singular or plural. This depends on the situation that it comes with at the time. None is nearly always plural (‘not any’) except when something else makes us regard it as singular (meaning ’not one’) as in ‘none of the food is fresh’ (Dykstra, 2005). Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or non-countable. In features of grammar, there are some other indefinite pronouns, words that occur twice as determiners; for example: enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, each, every, any, either, neither, none and some. For example: 1) Few will be chosen; fewer will finish. 2) Little is expected. 3) More parents have come; S many are yet to come. 4) All guests arrived. Comparison between General and Particular Qualities In Determiner Phrases (Dps) General qualities in determiner phrases are those things which are generalized due to stereotyping, culture or nature while particular qualities in determiner phrases are those things which are specific to that particular time and can’t occur in a whole group (Bridel, 1797). In this case, general qualities in determiner phrases are indefinite while particular qualities in determiner phrases are definite. The following are examples of generic and particular sentences: 1) ‘The leopard has four legs.’ In this case we are not referring to a particular but all leopards. In the above example it is generalized. But when you say ‘the leopard has killed an antelope,’ you are referring to a particular antelope which has been killed by a specific leopard. 2) ‘The vehicle has an engine.’ In this case we are not referring to a particular vehicle but all vehicles. In the above example it is generalized. But when you say ‘The vehicle has been involved in an accident’ you are referring to a particular vehicle which has had an accident. 3) ‘The tree has roots.’ In this case we are not referring to a particular tree but all trees. In the above example it is generalized. But when we say ‘the tree has been cut down’ you are referring to a particular tree that has been cut down. Particular qualities therefore play a major role in definiteness of a determiner as compared to Generic qualities. References Bridel, E. (1797). An introduction to English grammer. London: Printed and sold by James Phillips & Son, George yard, Lombard street, for Ed. P. Bridel, master of an academy at stoke Newington, Middlesex; and may be had of all the Booksellers. Dykstra, L. (2005). NOUN COMBINATION IN INTERLANGUAGE: TYPOLOGY EFFECTS IN COMPLEX DETERMINER PHRASES. Stud. Sec. Lang. Acq., 27(03). Li, Y. (1998). Argument Determiner Phrases and Number Phrases. Linguistic Inquiry, 29(4), pp.693-702. Mallén, E. (1992). The internal structure of determiner phrases. Ithaca: Cornell University, Dept. of Modern Languages and Linguistics. MacLaughlin, D. (1997). The structure of determiner phrases. Schwarz, F. (2012). Situation pronouns in determiner phrases. Nat Lang Semantics, 20(4), pp.431-475. Smith, R., Teschner, R. and Evans, E. (1994). Analyzing the Grammar of English: A Brief Undergraduate Textbook. The Modern Language Journal, 78(4), p.548. Teschner, R. and Evans, E. (2000). Analyzing the grammar of English. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Willis, D. and Willis, J. (2002). Pattern Grammar: A Corpus-driven Approach to the Lexical Grammar of English. System, 30(3), pp.409-412. Read More