Name
In Grammar, the name is a category of Mot being used to name, i.e. to indicate, the beings, the things and the concepts. Strictly speaking , and to take again the classification of the Littré, it acts of substantive names (in opposition to the adjectival names ) ().
- In the inflected languages, the names can be declined.
General information
Following the example others full words (Adjectival, Verb and Adverb), the produced name of the direction, but it is moreover the only category (except however some Pronom S and certain adverbs) with being able to be associated with a referent (or reference), i.e., with an object of extralinguistic reality.
For this reason the name was formerly called substantive , since it indicate the Substance people, animals, things, but also, ideas, feelings, qualities, actions, etc to which the Discours refers.
Littré class thus names:
- substantive Names : who gives a substance
- substantive Noms appellatives : what is called today common name : encyclopedist, dustbin
- substantive Names collective : a singular indicating a plural: press, troop
- substantive Noms clean : all the names which start with a Majuscule: Encyclopédistes, Eugene Dustbin, Napoleon Bonaparte
- adjectival Names : what is called today adjectival : bold, large
But so that this referential function is effective, is needed that the name is updated by a determinant, or else, it remains virtual . Such is the case, for example, of the names being in the Dictionnaire. The linguists have besides habit to on this subject say “ that there is no referent in the dictionary ”.
Let us analyze for example the statute of the name “ cookie ” in both Syntagme S following, “ a box with cookies ” and “ a box for my cookies ”. This name is virtual in the first syntagm: indeed, the name “ cookie ” not having a determinant, one cannot thus identify it since it does not have a clean referent. On the contrary, this same name is current in the second syntagm: indeed, the name “ cookie ” being then preceded by the determinant “ my ”, one can now identify it since it has its own referent, distinct from that of the name “ box ” (for example, they are perhaps cookies which I bought this morning with the supermarket…).
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Core of the noun phrase, the name normally imposes its kind and its satellite number on its (determining and qualifiers), and more generally, with the words to which it is referred (the attribute, but more especially, the Verbe of which it is the subject).
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Before studying to them morphology and them syntax, it should be noted that the names are traditionally distributed according to a certain number of canonical oppositions: proper names and common nouns , concrete names and abstract names , animated names and inanimate names , etc
Proper names and common nouns
The majority of the Langue S distinguish the common noun and the proper name .
- the stylistic device called Antonomase makes it possible to employ proper names like common nouns, or, contrary, of the common nouns for proper names.
Common noun
A common noun is written with tiny and indicates any of the multiple elements of a whole of beings or things which share the same characteristics:
- a young girl, a horse, a Trojan horse (computer program), the Jupiter moons, a name, a common noun, …
Proper name
A proper name is written with a capital letter and indicates a being or a single thing:
- Brussels, Napoleon i, Ottawa, the Eiffel Tower, Carmen, the Atlantic, Rome, the Trojan horse (that of antiquity), the Moon (that of the Earth) …
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For more details on the proper names, to consult the article Proper name.
Concrete names and abstract names
Concrete name
A concrete name indicates any substance being able to be perceived by one of our five directions (Vue, Ouïe, Odorat, Goût and Toucher):
- the house, a flower, the cat, a friend, odor, a music, savor, cold…
Abstract name
A abstract name indicates any real or appeared substance which does not fall under our directions and that only our cerebral faculties can apprehend:
- the habitat, a flowering, friendship, a courage, wisdom, musical quality, admiration…
Animated names and inanimate names
Animated name
A name animated indicates an living being, imaginary reality or, likely to be driven by itself. Only a concrete name can indicate one animated (nobody, animal, to be supernatural, god…) :
- Charlemagne, a farmer, a fox, an imp, an unicorn, lares, devil, Neptune…
Inanimate name
A inanimate name indicates either a concrete thing, or an abstract idea. Naturally, the abstract names are all of the inanimate ones:- a table, the house, a fruit, a pink, idleness, kindness, courage…
Individual names and collective names
Individual name
A individual name indicates a single referent:
- a person, a ewe, stone, one euro, the star, the customer, an employee, a tool…
Collective name
A collective name , though singular, indicates a whole of referents:
- a crowd, a group, a heap, a million, an infinity, customers, personnel…
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In certain cases, a collective name employed with a possessive phrase, can be used as indefinite determinant, more precisely, of nominal quantifier:
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a herd of ewe.
- In this noun phrase, one can consider that the core is, either the name “
Simple names and made up names
A simple name is a name made up of only one word, while a made up name is made of several elements, joined together or not by hyphens or apostrophes: they are fixed nominal units. One distinguishes the unified made up names, the made up names with hyphen or apostrophizes, finally, the nominal phrases.
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For more details on the compound words, to consult the article made up Word.
Made up name with hyphen or apostrophizes
A made up name can be made up of words joined together by means of hyphen or apostrophe:
- Lamp-shade, rainbow, masterpiece, toothpick, mains drainage, peninsula…
Unified made up name
A made up name unified consists of welded words (or bound), i.e., joined together without space nor hyphen:
- Catch, Sir, passport, wallet, wind-brace, umbrella, good-for-nothing…
Nominal phrase
A nominal phrase (one also speaks about noun phrase fixed , or lexiconized ) consists of words separated by at least a space. The principal word of such a unit is necessarily a name:
- Chemin of iron, café cream, rose pompom, pois scanty, ground pommes…
Initials and acronyms
The initials and the acronyms are reductions of noun phrases affecting the Orthographe as well as the Prononciation.
Initials
With the writing, a Sigle is a noun phrase which one represents only initial each word, or of each principal word. Usually, this initial is a capital letter, followed by a point, symbol of the reduction, but this rule is not always complied with. With the oral examination, initials decide normally letter by letter :
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C.O.D., H.L.M., PC, S.P.A., THE U.S.S.R., W.C.…
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On Wikipédia, in accordance with the current trend, the adopted rule is not to use the points in the initials:
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COD , and not C.O.D. , etc
Acronym
With the writing, a acronym is also a noun phrase which one represents only the initial one or the first letters of each mot. But in this case, one does not employ a point: the letters used (generally of the capitals) are thus bound to form a unit. With the oral examination, an acronym thus decides like a word with whole share:
- the Benelux countries, DEUG (or Deug), SOFRES (or Sofrès), DOMTOM (or Domtom), UFO (or UFO)…
Notice
Even if the initials (or the acronym) represent a noun phrase, nothing nevertheless it is employed like another category (Adjectif, Adverbe…) :
- Of people very B.C.B.G
- to mean: “Of people very Bon Chic Bon Genre” (noun phrase with value of attributive adjective).
Study plan
* Kind of the name
Related articles
- Proper name
- Marks used like names
- List of initials
- List of the first names
External bonds
- Typology of the substantives
Simple: Noun
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