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Rachel Rivera
7 Sep 04
1. a.
b.
c.
d.
D A A
A
N T T
V
The old rusty pot-belly stove has been replaced.
D
A
N
V D A
N
P
D A
A
N
The red-haired assistant put the vital documents through the new efficient shredder.
D A A
A
N
V
P D A
N
P D
A
The large evil leathery alligator complained to his aging keeper about his extremely
A
N
unattractive description.
NV A V D A N P A
N
I’ve just eaten the last piece of chocolate cake.
2. wabe- noun; follows determiner the
were- verb; precedes object, can be negated
outgrabe- adjective; modifies noun raths
Jubjub- adjective; modifes noun bird, follows determiner the
frumious- adjective; modifies noun bandersnatch, follows determiner the, has derivational
ending –ous
bandersnatch- noun; object of sentence, modified by adjective frumious, follows determiner
the
vorpal- adjective; modifies noun sword, follows determiner his
manxone- adjective; modifies noun foe, follows determiner the
tumtun- adjective; modifies noun tree, follows determiner the
and- conjuction; between two verb phrases
in- preposition; follows verb in verb phrase, precedes noun phrase
thought- noun; preceded by preposition
uffish- adjective; modifies noun thought, takes derivational ending –ish
he- noun; subject of sentence
Jabberwock- noun; follows determiner, modified by prepositional phrase
Whiffling- verb; predicate of clause, takes derivational ending –ing, modified by prepositional
phrase
the- determiner; precedes adjective tulgey and noun wood
tulgey- adjective; follows determiner the and precedes noun wood, takes derivational ending -y
burbled- verb; predicate of clause; modified by prepositional phrase, takes derivational
ending –ed
3. 1) noun
2) verb
3) verb
4) noun
5) The primary indicators of what constitutes nouns and verbs were the suffices ‘ma’
(indicating tense, i.e. following a verb) and ‘i’ (indicating definite determiner, i.e.
following a noun).
6) Although the meaning of “man” fits into the category of “person, place, or thing,”
making it traditionally a noun, and “work” is an action, making it traditionally a verb, in
Nootka it is possible for “man” to be a verb and “work” a noun, depending on
distributional criteria (in this case, suffices).
Rachel Rivera
7 Sep 04
I. Does English allow Nouns in prenominal position?
Hypothesis B is correct. Although they are in a prenominal position, the words salt,
cheese, China, etc. are nouns, functioning here in a kind of syntactic reversal of the
structure “NP of X” or “NP with/having to do with X” (with a more specific and less
awkward meaning). Most of the Column A examples can be rephrased in these ways and
retain their original meanings (damage of the brain, a fan of Phish, the counter of tickets,
a study having to do with science), but none of the Column B examples can be rephrased
similarly (*damage of cranial, *a study having to do with scientific, *some pizza with
cheesy). This is not just because the words in Column A can also function as nouns
whereas those in Column B are exclusively adjectives (with derivational endings); if the
proper noun Phish were given an adjectival form (e.g. “Phishesque”), the phrase “a
Phishesque fan” (a fan having the attributes of Phish) would not have the same meaning
as the phrase “a Phish fan” (a fan of Phish). Additionally, none of the “N or A” words in
Column A, while they follow a determiner, can be modified by ‘very’ or any other adverb
(*a very science study, *some extremely cheese pizza, *the mostly brain damage) or by
any other adjective, while the column B adjectives can be modified easily by adverbs (a
very scientific study, some extremely cheesy pizza, the mostly cranial damage).