1-4.1
From Within to Without: The Perceptual Word Order of English Noun Phrases
Modern grammar is based on the study
done on the classic languages by the scholars of the past. On analysing Latin and
Greek, they determined parts of speech: ‘As these words are used as such, we
classify them as a group under the name of such.’ The work must have been
straightforward because most words in those classic languages inflect in
accordance with the usage. They only had to observe inflections to determine
which word belongs to which part. An adjective inflects in unison with the noun
it accompanies with, while an adverb does not change its form. Those who are
versed in classic languages would point out that adverbs were rather rarity in
those languages and in many cases an adjective in a certain form was used as
an adverb.
The ancients decided parts of speech
in accordance with the usages. The modern scholars try to explain the usages of
words on the part of speech. Generative grammarians are the most enthusiastic
advocate. Is it only I who suspect that the moderns are playing with a jigsaw
puzzle created by the ancients?
We have a big problem now: English
adjectives cannot be distinguished from adverbs on the form because neither of
them inflect in accordance with the usage in a sentence, and both do in the
same way to form a comparative and a superlative. We are facing an embarrassing
situation with some words notably the so-called a-adjectives like alive, awake, asleep, etc. Those
words are used in combination with nouns, yet, when they are directly linked
with the noun, they are put after the noun unlike the majority of adjectives.
On the other hands, those adverbs as here,
there, now, then, etc. can be
put immediately after a noun to be linked to it. Grammar states that a
descriptive word linked with a noun is an adjective. As such, we have a minority
group of adjectives that follows a noun to modify it.
The adjective deep has two associated form for adverbial usage, namely deep and deeply. In cases like ‘deep in the forest’, this adjective is put
after the noun. The adjective fast
can be used as an adverb without ever changing form. With such perplexing
cases, English grammar gets ever more complexities.
Can we have simplicity with the
English grammar? To my eyes, that which makes the situation so complex is all
the established grammatical rules, and not the English language that evolves. I
suppose it is a transgression for a linguist to analyse languages outside the
boundary of the established grammar. I am a layman, or rather a pagan, to the
scholastic society. And I have the brain-body circuit that enables me to
observe each of the human activities in relation to any other of them. The
perceptual word order, that I am offering here, is the fruit of such an
observation.
With the title of this article, I
promise you to talk about the English noun phrases. But before proceeding onto
the explanation, allow me to indulge in speculation upon some perplexing
situations. I would very much like to do so because it will open a way to
consider language use in terms of our mind. Then the perceptual word order will
come quite naturally, I assure you.
An English sentence as simple as ‘I
am a student’ presents a high enough hurdle for Japanese students. Most of them
do not learn to use the indefinite article a.
As we, the Japanese, do not use the equivalent of the article, it is hard for
us to see its necessity. It is also possible that they feel offended with its
use: ‘why do I belong to insignificant things presented with the indefinite
article a?’ They must feel
comfortable with such modern languages as French and German, where no article
is needed in such a case.
French: Je suis [un] étudiant.
German: Ich bin [ein] Student.
Grammarians analyse these usages and
conclude that in such cases student
presents not a concrete object as someone with the studentship but refers to an
attribute as a student: it works rather like an adjective. Does English not
allow such usage of a noun as an adjective? I have to answer yes. In such a
usage as ‘a student entrepreneur’ student
is defined as an adjective and a modifier. A student entrepreneur is an
entrepreneur and a student: the modifier student
classifies a group of entrepreneurs. If not as an adjective, countable nouns
are often used without an article when they immediately follow such
prepositions as for and of.
One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for
mankind.
Capt. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.
Capt. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.
We observe today not a victory of [a] party,
but a celebration of freedom.
JFK in his inaugural address
JFK in his inaugural address
Today we even hear such usages as ‘I
am student’ or ‘he is teacher’.
Although I have stated the
limitation the grammarians impose on themselves, their analysis on the noun
usage without an article presents the possibility to understand language use
with something other than grammatical terms. That something is our perception
which is done by our brain-body circuits.
Now I am proceeding with the
perceptual word order of English noun phrases. But first, I must confess that
it is not quite a novice for English noun phrases. Many textbooks explain the
order of adjectives before a noun. One of them is The Royal Order of Adjectives
presented in The Guide to Grammar and Writing sponsored by the Capital
Community College Foundation. Let us consult the chart to clarify what is
already known.
>>> The link to the original page is here: grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm
The Royal Order of Adjectives is
quite informative about the order among many kinds of attribute. It is worth
noting that we put adjectives before a noun to identify the object without
ambiguity rather than to describe it. The order of adjectives before a noun
follows the ascending order of the degree how well it defines the object: the
more determining, the nearer to the noun. Those adjectives grouped under Origin,
Material and Qualifier are indeed the most defining of all. Non-adjectives can
be used here and such words become inseparable from the noun; the combination
can be interpreted as a compound noun. So we have ‘a red London bus’ and
‘Boston Red Sox’. The position of red
is determined with the criteria: if the object can stand without the colour
red.
-- another noun before a noun:
a baby boy, a mother hen, a silk scarf, time travel
a baby boy, a mother hen, a silk scarf, time travel
-- an adverb before a noun:
a dangerous away mission, the home front
a dangerous away mission, the home front
-- a verb before a noun:
a return ticket (<-> a returning soldier),
a mock battle (<-> a mockingbird),
roast beef (<-> roasted beef)
a return ticket (<-> a returning soldier),
a mock battle (<-> a mockingbird),
roast beef (<-> roasted beef)
The column under Determiner can
still be divided into two groups: the first the distinction, the second the
quantity. A noun phrase can extend from the noun to the aft. With such
consideration, I present here the perceptual word order of English noun
phrases.
We have a noun at the centre of a
noun phrase. First we state the identity of the group the object belongs: to
which group the object belongs and how big is the group. We proceed to define
the inherent attribute of the object and then we name the object itself by a
noun. Following the noun we state the relation to clarify where in the world
the object stands. The relation includes the whereabouts in time and in space,
its purpose, things or people it is with, for or against, etc. In other words,
we put the inherent condition of the object before the noun, then after the
noun its position relative to the world around.
Everything, every living being,
exists in the world and occupies its own position in space as well as in time.
And each stands in a certain relation to others. Relations extend through time
and space, and our mind perceives various kinds of relations, such as accompaniment
or lack thereof, cause and effect, reason and purpose, and so forth.
[Space] the rain in Spain, the enemy within,
[Time] Darwin in his thirties, the great depression in 1930s,
To show various kinds
of relation:
- government of the people, by the people, for the people
Particles, present and past, are put
either before or after a noun. Technically speaking, the rule here is rather
simple: if a particle is accompanied with other words from behind to make a
phrase, that particle should be put after a noun.
Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president.
Lincoln is a president revered by many.
In view of the perception, such a
particle phrase describes more of a relation than of an attribute. The same
goes with adjectives. Some adjectival phrases below describe the quality
realised only under a specific condition.
- good
for your health
- radiant
in her wedding dress
Some adjectives can be used as an
adverb without changing its form. The word deep
is one among such.
A. a castle in the deep forest
B. a castle deep
in the forest
Both of the two phrases above show
the position of the castle. What I want you to focus here is the difference
between two usages of deep. In the phrase
A, deep is put before the noun forest and refers to the attribute of
the forest. In the phrase B, deep is
put just after the noun castle and
separated from the noun forest by the
preposition in. Here deep does not refer to the attribute of
the forest but defines the position of the castle
relative to the forest.
Some words are always put after a
noun to modify it, even when they are not accompanied with other words. I
recognise two major groups of words with such a usage: one group consists of
adverbs to identify time or place, namely now,
then, here, there and the like,
the other consists of the so-called a-adjectives. With the perceptual word
order in mind, the first group looks quite natural with their position. But the
second group requires some thinking. One of the a-adjectives, namely alive, may give us a clue. When do we
use alive? What makes us utter ‘He is
alive’? What matters here is time: the state alive belongs only to the specific time. That goes with other
a-adjectives: the state defined by them is realised only at a certain point in
time. This is quite a different trait from other ordinary adjectives that describes inherent, or permanent,
attribute. It is high time I compare a-adjectives with the corresponding ordinary adjectives
The sentence ‘He is alive’ not only
claims the state affirmed at the point in time, it also exclaims the burst of
emotion that culminates only then. On the other hand, the sentence ‘I am a
living, breathing human being’ claims that living
refer to the nature of the object and not the state in which the object exists.
The sentence claims the state living
as the inherent trait of the object. The same is observed with the pair: sleeping and asleep. The Sleeping Beauty
will not wake unless a handsome prince kisses her. A beautiful baby asleep will wake any moment on its own.
The same goes with other ordinary adjectives: a green apple most often refers to the
kind that is green even when it is ripe, while an apple still green is before its time. A good book must be beneficial for everyone, but a book good for students might not be beneficial
to other people at all.
In sum, what comes after a noun
describes the relation itself or a certain state realised only within a certain
relation. Relations and such states can be observed only with the reference to
other objects or to the environment. In simpler words, we have to look outside
the group of objects to see them. It is opposite to the attributes described by
words before a noun: we only have to look within the group of objects. Thus I summarise
the perceptual word order with Attribute, Self, Relation in this order. But
perhaps I’d better rephrase the order with simpler terms as ‘from within to
without’.
From those observations, the perceptual
word order offers some hypotheses concerning English grammar. They are about
the distinction between English adjectives and adverbs.
1. a word from any parts can be used
immediately before a noun to redefine the object
= You do not have to define baby in a baby girl as an adjective.
= You do not have to define baby in a baby girl as an adjective.
2. an adverb can be put immediately after a
noun to describe the whereabouts or the temporal state of the object
= You do not have to define now, then, here, there, etc. after a noun
as adjectives: they can remain as adverbs.
= You do not have to define now, then, here, there, etc. after a noun
as adjectives: they can remain as adverbs.
3. an adjective refers to the inherent
attribute while an adverb refers to the state realised only under a certain
condition
= You can classify a-adjectives as adverbs.
= You can classify a-adjectives as adverbs.
I am aware that I offer these
hypotheses only to open a vexing debate upon the SVC syntax. Does a sentence
‘he is alive’ belongs to the SVC syntax? Can an adverb after a verb be be identified as a complement? If so,
might the sentence ‘He runs fast’ belong to the SVC? Your answer to these
questions will reflect your standing. You cannot answer with perfect
objectivity. You have always believed in the textbooks and you always have to
start from there. You cannot be free from the authority you put your faith on.
I am saying that you cannot always expect objectivity even in the academic
debate.
Is the perceptual word order not a
fantasy only in my head, not a heresy devised by a pagan only to attack
authority? Does it really possess some truth worth considering? I hope this
article enables you to see some possibility in the idea presented by the
brain-body circuit.
The perceptual word order has one
definite advantage over the order defined by parts of speech: no time-lag. You
perceive a certain aspect of an object or an event, your brain-body circuit
finds you a word to represent the aspect. Then you perceive another aspect, and
get a word for it. Then the third aspect and the third word, the fourth aspect
and the fourth word, and so forth. You only have to put the words as you get
them, and you get an orderly phrase and another, then an orderly sentence. Your
perception coincides with the word order prescribed for the language. When the order
of perception agrees with the acceptable word order of the language, words are
processed without any time-lag.
If we perceive aspects of the world
around quite at random, and we have to sort them out to confirm with the word
order defined by parts of speech, we must be tasked with highly intellectual
analysis every time we speak even to ourselves. Unfortunately we tend to
experience such burden when we are to report something especially when
officially. Here the time-lag complicates the matter. We are not putting words
as we perceive; the time-lag between the perception and the putting words
affects the word order with other criteria. You reflect the event and you put
different priority to each aspect. You consider those to whom you report, and
ponder how you should put words in order that the others see more clearly. So
the confusion occurs.
They say that, when you are raised
among people who speak certain language, you get to speak the language quite
naturally. But you need a lot of conscious training in observation and
communication to use the language effectively. The training enables you to sort
the orders among your perception, the priorities and the understanding of
others. The language education cannot stand incommunicado with other subjects.
Each subject helps becoming a better observer who observes clearly and is
capable of sorting what he or she has perceived and conceived. And the language
education should help better absorbing all the other subjects.
I would like to conclude this
article with ‘And yet the earth moves.’
