Re: substantive and noun

En réponse à Pavel Adamek <pavel.adamek@...>:

> > Other possible archaisms -
> > he uses "substantive" than "noun" whenever possible.
>
> When the new term for "substantive" is "noun",
> what is the new term for "noun"?
>
>       P.A.
>
Actually, "substantive" is a newer term compared to "noun", and those are not
synonymous :)) . "Noun" is actually a subset of "substantive", as "substantive"
refers to anything that can be the head of a "noun phrase" (yes, the
terminology is unclear :)) ). So "substantive" includes the pronouns, as well
as adjectives used nominally in languages where this is possible (like in
French for instance. In English it's normally not possible, you have to
add "one").

So actually, instead of being an archaism, the use of "substantive" instead
of "noun" is rather a modernism, or at least an nice attempt at precision.
Unfortunately, the rest doesn't quite follow :(( . I especially like the
difficulty the man had to explain ergative grammar in terms which fit only for
accusative systems ;))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

Reply