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Noun-Adjunct Groups
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English nominals presented by N + N structures are one of the most striking features about the grammatical organisation of English.
Noun-adjunct groups consisting of " nounal modifier" plus " nominal head" result from different kind of transformational shifts. Premodification of nouns by nouns can signal a striking variety of meanings. The grammar of English nominalisations presents here a major point of linguistic interest.
In order to appreciate how very wide the variety of grammatical meaning in nominal compounds may be, consider the following miscellaneous examples:
world peace (= peace all over the world)
table lamp (= a lamp for tables)
sheep dog (= a dog which herds sheep)
prairie dog (= a dog which inhabits the
prairie)
silver box (= a box made of silver)
field worker (= a worker works in the field)
chair legs (= the legs of the chair)
night owl (= an owl which flies at night)
river sand (= sand from the river)
soap salesman (= the salesman sells soap)
school child (= the child goes to school)
Noun-groups of this type are fairly common and new specimens are constantly being formed.
Since nominal compounds usually consist of only two constituents and incorporate the most general grammatical relations in the language, there are unusually great opportunities for grammatical ambiguity in this kind of binary structures.
To make our point clear, we shall give a number of interesting ambiguities and variations in interpreting them.
Thus, for instance, in its ordinary use the noun-phrase snake poison
is interpreted to have the same structure as that of snake oil, snake track,
etc., і. e. it is derived from some expression like poison from a snake, or ultimately perhaps from some kernel-sentence such as: The snake gives poison. However it could also be interpreted to be the same in structure as snake venom, snakehead, snakeblood, etc., i. e. to be more like snake's poison or poison of a snake, say from some sentence as: The snake has the poison. 1
But these do not exhaust the possibilities, though the latter two are probably the way the expression is commonly used, the first when meaning " poisonous substance made from snake venom".
Notice also the possible contrast among snake flesh, snake meat, and snake food: " flesh of a snake", " meat from a snake", and " food for a snake". The formal characteristics within the structure of various noun-adjunct groups provide significant contrast to distinguish certain of the meaning that attach to «modifier» relation.
Noun-adjunct groups are often derived from already generated post-nominal participial or gerundive modifiers, e. g,:
The well yields oil
...well which yields oil...
...well yielding oil...
...oil-yielding well...
...oil well...
Observe the significant contrast in the following pairs of noun-adjunct groups:
a baby sister a mother country
a baby sitter a mother complex
a woman lawyer a toy cupboard
a woman hater a toy cupboard a candy cane a candy store
Each of these units contains a modifying noun and a head noun, and the modifying noun precedes its head. When the modifying noun has the essentially descriptive force of an adjective, the head noun normally has phrase stress. In a baby sister the sister is a baby, in a candy cane the cane is candy. When the modifying noun has relationship to its head, the modifying noun rather than the head normally has phrase stress. Thus in a baby sitter the sitter is not a baby but a sitter with babies, and in a candy store the store is not candy but sells candy. When it is used of a cupboard that is itself a toy, a toy cupboard has phrase stress on cupboard; when it is used of a cupboard which is not itself a toy but is used as a place for toys, the same sequence has phrase stress on toy.
The pattern of stress normally indicates the nature of the " modifier" relationship. Compare also the following:
growing children — growing pains
a living soul — living conditions the waiting mother — the waiting room
1 See: R. B. Lees. The Grammar of English Nominalisations. 5th Ed. the Hague, 1968, p. 122.
Growing children are children that are growing, but growing pains are the pains of growing.
Instances are not few when the nominalised verb appears as head of the structure the transform may be generated directly from the genitive case or the of -phrase periphrasis, e. g.:
The population grows... population's growth... growth of the population... population growth
The deletion of a post-nominal modifier along with the preposition gives such derivations as, for instance:
The owl flies at night... owl which flies at night... owl flying at night... night owl
An attempt to tabulate the underlying grammatical relations observed in noun-adjunct groups will help to distinguish significant contrasts in their meaning:
1) Subject-predicate relations: graduate-student, class struggle, student failure, temperature change, weather change, blood pressure, etc.
Closely related to such nominals are formations like queen bee, mother earth, girl draftsman, lady journalist, man friend, woman author, woman scientist, woman writer, etc. where the relation between the two nouns is essentially different. Viewed in their combination, the two elements in such patterns are syntactically equal, each of the two nouns can function to name a person or thing denoted by a whole pattern. This is made abundantly clear by the simplest transformational analysis: the girl draftsman → the girl is a draftsman; the woman scientist → → the woman is a scientist.
2) Object relations:
a) body nourishment, coal production, chemistry student, carpet sweeper, health service, ink transfer, money economy, package delivery, product control, potato peeler, rug sale, safety feeling, truck driver, war talk, woman hater, etc.;
b) " with" -nominals (the modifying noun denotes instrumental relations), e. g.: acid treatment, eye view, oil painting, etc.;
c) the qualitative genitive or the of-phrase periphrasis, e. g.: child psychology, fellow feeling, mother wit, mother heart, science degree, etc. (Cf. Syn.: child psychology — child's psychology — the psychology of a child — childish psychology);
d) the of-phrase periphrasis (the modifying noun denotes the material of which a thing is made), e. g.:
brick house, gold watch, iron bridge, oak table, paper bag, rubber coat, silver box, stone wall, etc.
3) Adverbial relations of time: day shift, night shift, morning star, morning exercises, spring time, spring term, summer vacation, summer sunshine, September sun, winter vacation, winter afternoon, etc.
4) Adverbial relations of place: world peace, country air, chimney swallows, England tour, nursery door, river house, study window, ground water, etc.
5) Adverbial relations of comparison: button eyes, eagle eye, hawk nose, iron nerves, lost dog look, swallow dive, etc.
6) Adverbial relations of purpose: bath robe, export products, peace movement, resistance fighters, tooth brush, writing table, walking stick, etc.
It is important to remember that the modifying noun is usually marked by a stronger stress than the head.
The semantic relations which underlie such nominals present certain difficulties of analysis.
The meaning of the modifying noun is often signalled by the lexical meaning of the head word. Compare the following: river house, river margin, river sand; cotton dress, cotton production, cotton prices; war production, war talk, war years; oak leaves, oak tables; medicine smell, medicine bottle.
A clue concerning the meaning of the modifier may also be found in the grammatical nature of the noun modified. Thus, for instance, when the second element is a verbal noun made from an intransitive verb, the first element will often denote the doer of the action, e. g.: class struggle, student failure, etc. If the second element is a verbal noun made from a transitive verb (which is fairly common), the first element will generally denote the object of the action, e. g.: product control, production increase, safety feeling, rug sale, coal production, etc.
If the second element denotes a person or an animal, the first element may denote gender, e. g.: woman writer, man servant, bull elephant, cow elephant.
In cases when the lexical meaning of the words admits either interpretation without lexico-grammatical incongruity, ambiguity is prevented in actual speech by contrast in intonation patterns. Thus, for instance, a dancing girl with rise of pitch and primary stress both on the headword girl marks dancing as a present participle: " a girl performing the act of dancing". But a dancing girl, with primary stress and rise in pitch both on the modifier dancing, identifies dancing as a verbal noun and signals the meaning " a dancer" — танцівниця.
The contrast of meaning as tied to a particular intonation pattern is fairly common and is a good example of the role that prosody plays in grammar. Other examples are:
a 'dust 'mop (a mop composed a'dust mop (a mop used for dust-
of dust) ing)
a 'mad 'doctor (a doctor who a 'mad doctor (a psychiatrist) is mad)
a 'French 'teacher (a teacher a 'French teacher (a teacher of
French by nationality) the French language).
In some instances it is possible to carry the variation in stress patterns through a series of three, all correlated with differences in meaning:
a 'blackbird's nest (= nest of a blackbird)
a black 'bird's nest (= bird's nest which is black)
a black bird's 'nest (= nest of a black-coloured bird)
Premodification is widely current in present-day scientific usage where, we can say with little fear of exaggeration, such patterns have not got their equals.
The multifarious use of nominals in scientific English presents special difficulties. It is in this area of English grammar that the student's linguistic knowledge is often severely put to the test.
Different correlations of nouns and arrangements of their order present special interest in cases where such nominals consist not of two but three, four and even five elements.
Examine the following:
hydraulic work carriage traverse speed regulating valve — клапан, що регулює швидкість гідравлічного переміщення робочої каретки;
a high grade paraffin base straight mineral lubricating oil — високосортне прямої конки мінеральне мастило на парафіновій основі;
room temperature neutron bombardment effects — явища, викликані бомбардуванням нейтронами при кімнатній температурі;
long-playing microgroove full frequency range recording — мікрозапис довгограючих пластинок з повним діапазоном частот;
cabin-pressure regulator air valve lever — важіль пневматичного клапана регулятора тиску (повітря) в кабіні.
The high frequency value of such nominals in the language of science is clear without special frequency counts.
When a head noun includes several modifiers of different sorts, the result is often rather a complex thing. But in point of fact, it is always organised along strict and precise lines. The most important thing about such an adjunct-group is that unless it contains structures of coordination, it consists not of a series of parallel modifiers but of a series of structures of modification one within the other, e. g.:
hydraulic work carriage traverse speed regulating valve — клапан що регулює швидкість гідравлічного переміщення робочої каретки.
English nominalisation has given large numbers of such formations as approach compounding when the two nouns express a single idea, making up a special term in terminology or a stock-phrase in professional vocabulary: The United Nations Organisation, Security Council, Labour party, labour movement, face value, horse power, coal mine, mother oil, Trade Union, trade balance, etc.
In phraseology: mother earth, swan song, Vanity Fair, vanity bag, brain storm, brain wave, chair days (" old age"), tragedy king (" an actor playing the part of the king in a tragedy"), toy dog('la little dog", болонка).
Some nominals fluctuate in spelling and may be written solid, hyphened or separate, e. g.:
apple tree — apple-tree — appletree brain storm — brain-storm — brainstorm brain wave — brain-wave
The direction of modification structures can have a special stylistic value. Involving different classes of nouns into modification structures of that type has long become effective for stylistic purposes. It is fairly common in Shakespearean language where numerous word-groups of this kind furnish vivid examples of the metaphoric use of the premodifying noun, as in: From Fortune with her Juory hand to her (" Timon of Athen");... two siluer currents when they joyne (" King John")1.
In Modern English unusual premodification structures are often created by the author anew to achieve humorous effect, e. g.: The umbrella owner slowed his steps. Soapy did likewise, with a presentiment that luck would again run against him. The policeman looked at the two curiously. " Of course", said the umbrella man " that is — well, you know how these mistakes occur — I — if it's your umbrella I hope you'll excuse me — I picked it up this morning in a restaurant — if you recognise it as yours, why — I hope you'll — "." Of course, it's mine", said Soapy, viciously. The ex-umbrella man retreated. (Henry)
Nominal groups incorporate, in fact, the most general grammatical relations in the language, such as subject-predicate, verb-object and verb-prepositional object, etc. This makes great opportunities for grammatical ambiguities in this kind of phrase-structure.
Transformation as a means to formalise the implicit structural meanings of the phrase is always helpful.
To make our point clear let us take a few examples of interesting ambiguities and variant interpretations of nominals in cases like the following:
pontoon bridge, judged by the context can mean:
(a) bridge supported by pontoons;
(b) bridge floating on pontoons;
(c) bridge made of pontoons;
(d) pontoons in the form of a bridge 2.
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