From Within to Without: The Perceptual Word Order of English Noun Phrases [The Brain-Body Circuit 1-4.1]

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.

We observe today not a victory of [a] party, but a celebration of freedom.
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

-- an adverb before a noun:
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)

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.

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.

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.

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.’