grammar 2

Introduction to Nouns

• Definition of Nouns: Words representing a person, place, thing, or idea.

• Categories of Nouns:

  • Proper Nouns: Specific entities (e.g., Paul, April).

  • Common Nouns: General groups or classes (e.g., bread, teacher).

  • Count Nouns: Refer to items that can be counted (e.g., book, cup, boy).

  • Non-count Nouns: Refer to items that cannot be counted (e.g., mail, dirt, happiness).

  • Concrete Nouns: Tangible physical entities (e.g., eraser, Eiffel Tower).

  • Abstract Nouns: Intangible concepts (e.g., love, bravery, trust).

Plural Forms of Nouns

• Regular Nouns: Pluralized by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’.

  • Example: bat ➔ bats, bench ➔ benches.

• Irregular Nouns: Unique plural forms.

  • Example: mouse ➔ mice, goose ➔ geese.

• Possessive Forms: Indicating ownership using possessive ‘s’.

  • Example: children ➔ children’s, Billy ➔ Billy’s.

Inflectional Morphemes

• Standard American English: Compound elements in pluralization and possession.

• African American English (AAE): Non-obligatory plural ‘s’ with quantifiers (e.g.,"he ate three apple" is grammatically correct).

• Spanish Influenced English: Omission of plural ‘s’ and use of prepositional phrases for possession (e.g., "the house of my sister").

• Chinese Influenced English: Regularization of plurals (e.g., "three dears").

Identifying Processes in Language Variation

• Example: Mike House ➔ Omission of possessive s.

• Example: two sheeps ➔ Regularization of irregular plural.

• Example: three cup ➔ Deletion of plural s.

• Example: bigs dogs ➔ Double marking of plural.

• Example: the car of my father ➔ Use of prepositional phrase instead of possessive s.

Differentiating Dialectal Features

• Identify dialectal expressions without indicating a disorder.

• Omission of possessive s ➔ AAE.

• Regularization ➔ Chinese influenced English.

• Double marking ➔ Spanish influenced English.

Determiners

• Definition: Indicate reference of a noun; examples include articles and possessive determiners.

  • Definite Article: "the" refers to something specific.

  • Indefinite Articles: "a" or "an" refers to non-specific entities.

  • Demonstrative Determiners: This, that, these, those indicate proximity.

  • Possessive Determiners: Indicate ownership (e.g., my, your).

  • Quantifiers: Indicate amounts (e.g., some, many).

Variations in Determiners Across Dialects

• In AAE, forms of possessive can differ (e.g., using "their").

• Omission of articles in Spanish and Chinese influenced English (e.g., "I went to restaurant").

• Use of the definite article in place of possession (e.g., "I broke the alarm") in Spanish influenced English.

Pronouns

• Definition: Replace nouns; must have clear antecedents.

• Types of Pronouns:

  • Subjective Pronouns: Used as the subject (e.g., I, he, she).

  • Objective Pronouns: Used as the object (e.g., me, him).

  • Possessive Pronouns: Show ownership (e.g., mine, yours).

  • Reflexive Pronouns: Subjects reflecting action to themselves (e.g., himself).

  • Demonstrative Pronouns: Identify specific people or things (e.g., this, those).

  • Indefinite Pronouns: Vague references (e.g., anybody).

  • Interrogative Pronouns: For questions (e.g., who, what).

  • Relative Pronouns: Link clauses (e.g., who in "the boy who was talking").

Pronoun Variations in Dialects

• AAE features include pronominal apposition (e.g., "My brother, he said") and omission of relative pronouns (e.g., "He the one called your mom").

• In AAE, reflexive pronouns are regularized (e.g., "He hit his self").

• Omission of subjective pronouns from previous sentences in Spanish influenced English.

• No distinction in pronouns in Chinese influenced English (e.g., "him go to store").

Summary and Assessment

• Quiz Yourself: Practice identifying processes in language variations mentioned.

• Importance of understanding linguistic backgrounds to differentiate between disorders and dialectal variations.