The Case of Nouns Lecture 7 According to

The Case of Nouns Lecture 7

According to the Limited Case Theory, developed by O. Jespersen, English nouns have two case forms – genitive case and common case. Ú We adopt this theory because it is based on the Structural approach to language description and complies with the principle that Ú each grammatical form has its own grammatical meaning and Ú each grammatical meaning is realized through a specific grammatical form.

Defining the Category Ú Case is a grammatical category expressing various relations of the noun to other elements in the sentence structure or in the structure of the phrase. Ú The languages in the world are classified into synthetical, preserving the inflectional case system, and Ú analytical, expressing these relationships by prepositions, relative pronouns and word order. Ú Both English and Bulgarian are analytical languages.

The category of case is based on the functional opposition of two sets of forms: common ↔ genitive. Ú The common case form is unmarked. Ú It expresses relations between the noun and the verb in syntactic structures of various statuses. Ú Each specific relation is further distinguished by means of word order: Tom bought a present S Od for Nelly last week Oprep

The genitive case form is marked by the –‘s grammatical ending. Ú This ending is attached Ú to nouns in the singular form (the teacher’s pencil), Ú to irregular plural forms (the children’s pencil), Ú to larger syntactic structures (Jack and Jill’s adventure). Ú The apostrophe is attached to regular plural nouns (the students’ papers).

Proper nouns in –s can be marked in two ways: Ú either ‘s or apostrophe Ú Example: Burns’s poems or Burns’ poems Ú but the ending should be pronounced [iz] in both cases

The genitive case forms express relations between two nouns: Jane’s brother; my sister’s house. Ú The inflected genitive is common with animate nouns: Ú - personal names – Dr. Brown’s students Ú - personal nouns – my father’s watch Ú - collective improper nouns – the party’s political platform Ú - higher animals – the lion’s cage

The inflected genitive is also used with some inanimate nouns: Ú - geographical names – Bulgaria’s past Ú - names of institutions – the Chamber of Trade and Industry’s Premises Ú - temporal nouns – a two months’ holiday Ú - nouns of distance – a three miles’ walk Ú - in some set phrases – at a stone’s throw; within arm’s reach

Ú The forms of the genitive play basically the role of an attribute. Ú The attributive relation is a phenomenon of the surface structure. Ú However, there are different semantic nuances of the genitive case

Structural Types of Genitive Phrase Ú According to the structure of the noun phrase in which the genitive case form is included, we can distinguish the following types of phrase: Ú the regular genitive phrase – the noun in the genitive case precedes the head noun the Queen’s English

Ú the group genitive phrase – the case marking refers to a group of nouns or a noun phrase – the United States’ policy Ú If it is a group of nouns, the marker is added to the last one – Mary and Paul’s home Ú It shows certain independence of the marker which can be likened to that of the article.

Ú the double genitive phrase – the relation between the two nouns is marked twice – 1. by means of case ending and 2. the preposition of a friend of my brother’s (one of my brother’s friends) Ú It is used whenever another determiner besides the genitive is needed: a friend of Tom’s, an old song of Greene's, a book of John's

Ú the elliptic genitive phrase – the head noun is omitted if the context makes it possible for the addressee to recover the relation Ann’s office is larger than Tom’s My car is faster than John's (=John 's car) Ú The genitive here is an elliptical variant of the noun phrase. Ú the elliptic genitive is also called independent

Ú the local genitive phrase – this is a variety of the elliptic type Ú The omitted noun refers to buildings or establishments. at St. Paul’s (Cathedral); at the newsagent’s

Semantic Types of Genitive Phrase Ú Two semantic types of genitive phrase can be distinguished: specifying and descriptive.

Specifying Genitive Ú Within this semantic type the noun in the genitive case form is used with specific reference: my neighbour’s son Ú The relations between the noun in the genitive case form and the head-noun are various.

Accordingly, grammarians distinguish between the following semantic varieties: a. possessive Genitive – this man’s car (=this man has a car) Ú The noun in the genitive case denotes the owner; the head-noun denotes the possession. Ú The feature /+animate/ is of basic importance. Ú In the majority of cases the head noun has the feature /-human/.

b. subject Genitive my friend’s visit (=My friend visited us. ) Tom’s arrival (=Tom arrived. ) The noun in the genitive case denotes the agent; the head-noun denotes the action. Ú Requirements: Ú 1. the head-noun must share the same root as the respective verb; 2. the noun in the genitive must have the feature /+animate/ in its semantic component.

c. object Genitive Tom’s trial (=They tried Tom. ) Brown’s murder (=They murdered Brown) Ú The head noun of the phrase becomes a predicate of the underlying sentence; Ú The noun in the genitive case object of the underlying sentence; Ú The noun in the genitive case denotes the affected; the head-noun denotes the action.

d. Genitive of origin R. Stevenson’s essays Ú The noun in the genitive case denotes the agent; the head-noun denotes the product. Ú The specifying genitive may be replaced by a prepositional phrase introduced by the preposition of: my friend’s visit (=the visit of my friend)

Prepositional phrases may express several more meanings: a. appositive Genitive – the city of London Ú the important word is London and it is city that qualifies it b. partitive Genitive – the leg of the chair c. Genitive of measure – the length of the swimming pool

Descriptive Genitive Ú With this semantic type the noun in the genitive case is used with generic reference. Ú We can distinguish between two semantic varieties: a. classifying Genitive b. Genitive of measure

a. classifying Genitive Ú a sailor’s uniform (=uniform worn by sailors) Ú cow’s milk (=milk from cows) Ú a doctor’s degree (=a doctoral degree ) Ú The boys’ own paper (=a British magazine for boys)

b. Genitive of measure Ú an hour’s break (=a break of one hour) Ú a mile’s walk (=walking a distance of one mile) Ú The descriptive genitive is not always possible to be replaced by an of-phrase. Ú Many descriptive genitive phrases have become set phrases: a spider’s web, a bee’s sting Ú Some phrases have idiomatic meaning: a giant’s task, a child’s play

The uses of the ‘s (inflected) genitive and the of- (periphrastic) genitive overlap to a considerable degree. Ú But the two structures are not always interchangeable. Ú The inflected form is common in headlines, captions and titles. This is due to its brevity and the prominence it gives to the noun: ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’