Noun vocabulary

Noun vocabulary

1. Hyponymy and the has-relation

   • Hyponymy is about categories being grouped under superordinate terms.
     • Bicycles, unicycles and tricycles are kinds of cycle.
       • Hyponyms “inherit” the parts that their superordinates have.
   • The has-relation concerns parts that prototypical members of categories have.
     • A prototype cycle has wheel(s), a frame, handlebars and pedals.
       • If a prototype superordinate has certain parts then prototype members of that superordinate’s hyponyms also have those parts.
   • As a final point about interactions between the has-relation and hyponymy, it must be pointed out that part words can enter directly into superordinate and hyponym relations.

2. Incompatibility

   • Incompatibility is about contrast: breakfast, lunch and dinner are different from each other within the category of meals; they are eaten at different times of day.
     • Incompatibility is not pure unconstrained difference. Incompatibility is difference against a background of similarity

3. Count nouns and mass nouns

   • Mass nouns resist being quantified with numbers and plural suffixes or the word many or the singular indefinite article a
     • Mass nouns are quantified with the word much. They denote undifferentiated substance, like dough or water or lava
   • Count nouns denote distinguishable whole entities, like beans or people or shirts
     • They can be counted

4. Prototypes are clear, central members of the denotation of a word

   • the has-relation makes available entailments.

5. Pragmatic inferences from the has-relation

   • The has-relation is the basis for some of our pragmatic expectations in language use
     • This can be seen in a switch from indefinite to definite articles
       • A noun phrase that first brings something into a conversation is usually indefinite, A noun phrase that first brings something into a conversation is usually indefinite of an indefinite article, a or an.
       • on second and subsequent mention of the same thing in the conversation it will be referred to by means of a definite noun phrase marked by the definite article the.

6. hyponym of a given superordinate entails a sentence that differs from the original one only in that the superordinate has been substituted for its hyponym

   • hyponym is the meaning of its immediate superordinate elaborated by a modifier