THE GENITIVE CASE CASE FORMS OF NOUNS IN

THE GENITIVE CASE

CASE FORMS OF NOUNS IN ENGLISH The genitive inflection is phonologically identical with the regular plural inflection, so the case distinction is neutralized in the plural of the vast majority of nouns in English.

CASE FORMS IN ENGLISH Orthographically, i. e. in writing, there is a distinction in the place of the apostrophe: A cow’s tail. All the cows’ tails. With irregular nouns, the distinction is both in WRITING and in SPEECH.

THE GENITIVE INFLECTION

GROUP GENITIVE However, the genitive inflection is unique in one particular aspect. • [Morten]’s microphone • [the King]’s microphone (King = Elvis) • [the late King of pop music]’s microphone NOTE: * the late King’s of pop music microphone The genitive morpheme CAN BE ADDED TO NOUN PHRASES.

When the genitive inflection is added to a noun phrase with postmodification, it is called GROUP GENITIVE. • [the chief of staff]’s office • [the chiefs of staff]’s debriefing • [the teacher of music]’s room • [somebody else]’s fault

NOTE THAT THE GENITIVE IS ADDED TO THE LEFTMOST PART OF THE PHRASE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT ENDS IN A NOUN OR SOME OTHER PART OF SPEECH. ◦ ◦ ◦ [the man opposite me]’s facial expression [PRON. ] [the man in black]’s face [ADJ] [a man I know]’s coat [V] [the man I talked about]’s book [P] [the man I saw yesterday]’s hat [ADV] However, the group genitive is avoided WHEN THE POSTMODIFICATION IS LESS INSTITUTIONALIZED, especially in FORMAL CONTEXTS. ◦ ? ? ? [the man in the dark suit]’s name ◦ OK: the name of [the man in the dark suit] ◦ [the King of pop music]’s microphone

The ’S-genitive and the OF-genitive are USUALLY INTERCHANGEABLE, BUT THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. • • • [the yacht]’s name the name of [the yacht] [John]’s house * the house of [John] the front of [the car] * [the car]’s front THE CHOICE OF USING EITHER OF-GENITIVE, ‘S GENITIVE OR BOTH DEPENDS ON THE MEANING OF THE HEAD NOUN (I. E. SEMANTIC PROPERTIES/CLASS OF THE HEAD)

GENITIVE MARKERS: ‘S vs. OF

GENITIVE FUNCTIONS IN NPs The Syntactic Point of View A NOUN PHRASE IN THE GENITIVE CASE PRECEDES THE HEAD NOUN OF A NP AND IS THEREFORE PART OF THE PREMODIFICATION OF THE HEAD NOUN. THERE ARE TWO MAIN FUNCTIONS THAT THE PREMODIFYING GENITIVE CASE NOUN CAN PERFORM: DETERMINER: Tom’s car (compare: *the Tom’s car) In this function, the genitive functions just like POSSESIVE DETERMINERS (my, your, her, etc. ) MODIFIER: a girl’s car (compare: * girl’s car) In this function, the genitive functions just like ADJECTIVAL MODIFIERS.

The Semantic Point of View THE DETERMINER GENITIVE CAN EXPRESS THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS: Possessive Genitive: Mr Johnson’s passport → Mr Johnson has a passport the earth’s gravity → the earth has a certain gravity Subjective Genitive: the boy’s application → the boy applied for (…) her parents’ consent → the parents consented Objective Genitive: the family’s support → (…) supports the family the boy’s release → released the boy Genitive of Origin: the girl’s story → the girl told a story the general’s letter → the general wrote a letter Genitive of Attribute: the victim’s courage → the victim had courage/was courageous Partitive Genitive: the baby’s eyes → the baby has (blue) eyes the earth’s surface → the earth has a (rough) surface

The Semantic Point of View THE MODIFIER GENITIVE CAN EXPRESS THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS: Descriptive Genitive: a women’s college → a college for women a summer’s day → a summer day, a day in the summer Genitive of Measure: ten day’s absence → the absence lasted ten days

INDEPENDENT GENITIVE

determiner gen. / possessive gen. determiner gen. / subjective or objective gen. determiner gen. / gen. of attribute modifier gen. / descriptive gen. determiner gen. / possessive modifiergen. / descriptive gen. determiner gen. / possessive gen. modifier gen. / gen. of measure 1: determiner gen. /gen. of orig 2: modifier gen. /descriptive ge 1: determiner gen. / possessive gen. 2: modifier gen. / descriptive gen. determiner gen. / objective gen. modifier gen. / gen. of measure 1: determiner gen. / partitive gen. 2: modifier gen. / descriptive gen. determiner gen. / objective gen modifier gen. / descriptive gen. 1: determiner gen. / possessive gen. 2: modifier gen. / descriptive gen.

my sisters-in-law’s house (possessive gen. a women’s club (descriptive gen. ) a stewardess’s job (descriptive gen. ) a girls’ school (descriptive gen. ) Doris’s hat (possessive gen. ) a three hours’ delay (gen. of measure) the tree’s shade (possessive gen. ) / the shade of the tree the earth’s surface (partitive gen. ) / the surface of the earth Keats’ (or Keats’s) poetry (gen. of origin) the world’s problems (possessive gen. ) / the problems of the world The name of the woman wearing the silly hat Europe’s art treasures (possessive gen. ) / art treasures of Europe Socrates’ student (descriptive gen. ) one of my aunt’s many paintings (possessive gen. )