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In linguistics, a collective noun is a word used to define a group of objects, where "objects" can be people, animals, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. English grammar is a body of rules ( Grammar) specifying how phrases and sentences are constructed in the English language. In Traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new Word from one or more individual words Disputed English grammar denotes disagreement about whether given constructions constitute correct English. A compound is a word composed of more than one Free morpheme. In the English language an English Honorific is something that is attached to but not usually part of a name e The personal pronouns of English can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case. In the English Language, Nouns are inflected for Grammatical number —that is singular or Plural. This article is focused mainly on usage of English relative clauses Principal parts A regular English verb has only one principal part, the infinitive or dictionary form (which is identical to the simple present tense for all persons and This is a paradigm of English verbs that is a set of conjugation tables for the model regular verbs and for some of the most common irregular verbs The English language has a large number of Irregular verbs. In the great majority of these the Past participle and/or Past tense is In the English language, a modal auxiliary verb is an Auxiliary verb (or helping verb) that can modify the Grammatical mood (or mode Gender in the English language has been the focus of two distinct debates Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields An English Noun The English noun people has two distinct fields of application as a countable noun, a group of Humans For example, in the phrase "a pride of lions," pride is a collective noun. The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera.
Most collective nouns encountered in everyday speech, such as "group," are mundane and are not specific to one kind of constituent object. For example, the terms "group of people," "group of dogs," and "group of ideas" are all correct uses. Others, especially words belonging to the large subset of collective nouns known as terms of venery (words for groups of animals), are specific to one kind of constituent object. For example, "pride" as a term of venery refers to lions— but not to dogs or llamas. The dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated Subspecies of the gray wolf, a Mammal of the Canidae family of the order The llama ( Lama glama) is a South American Camelid, widely used as a Pack animal by the Incas and other natives of the Andes (Terms of venery are further discussed below. )
Collective nouns should not be confused with mass nouns, or with the collective grammatical number. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass In Linguistics, singulative number and collective number are terms used when the Grammatical number for multiple items is the unmarked form
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Derivational collectives
Derivation accounts for many collective words. Because derivation is a slower and less productive word formation process than the more overtly syntactical morphological methods, there are fewer collectives formed this way. In Linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new Word. In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the As with all derived words, derivational collectives often differ semantically from the original words, acquiring new connotations and even new denotations. Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from This word has distinct meanings in other fields see Connotation (semiotics and Connotation and denotation. This word has distinct meanings in other fields see Denotation (semiotics and Connotation and denotation.
The English endings -age and -ade often signify a collective. Sometimes the relationship is easily recognizable: baggage, drainage, blockade. However, even though the etymology is plain to see, the derived words take on quite a special meaning.
German uses the prefix Ge- to create collectives. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. A prefix is a type of Affix attached to a stem which modifies the meaning of that stem The root word often undergoes umlaut and suffixation as well as receiving the Ge- prefix. I-mutation (also known as umlaut, front mutation, i-umlaut, i/j-mutation or i/j-umlaut) is an important type of Sound change In Grammar, a suffix (also postfix, ending) is an Affix which is placed at the end of a word Nearly all nouns created in this way are of neuter gender. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong Examples include:
- das Gebirge, "group of mountains," from der Berg, "mountain"
- das Gepäck, "luggage, baggage" from der Pack, "pack, bundle, pile"
- das Geflügel, "poultry, fowl (birds)" from late MHG gevlügel(e), under the influence of der Flügel, "wing," from MHG gevügel, from OHG gifugili = collective formation, from fogal, "bird"
- das Gefieder, "plumage" from die Feder, "feather"
Metonymic merging of grammatical number
Two good examples of collective nouns are "team" and "government," which are both words referring to groups of (usually) people. Middle High German (MHG German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350 Synesis (from Greek) means unification meeting sense conscience insight realization mind reason A plurale tantum (plural pluralia tantum) is a noun that appears only in the Plural form and does not have a singular variant though it may still refer Both "team" and "government" are count nouns. In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural (Consider: "one team," "two teams," "most teams"; "one government," "two governments," "many governments"). However, confusion often stems from the fact that plural verb forms can often be used with the singular forms of these count nouns (for example: "The team have finished the project"). Conversely, singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in "-s" that were once considered plural (for example: "Physics is my favorite academic subject"). This apparent "number mismatch" is actually a quite natural and logical feature of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle metonymic shift in the thoughts underlying the words. In Rhetoric, metonymy (mɨˈtɒnɨmi is the use of a word for a concept or object associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word
In British English, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the metonymic shift that it implies. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the For example, "the team is in the dressing room" (formal agreement) refers to the team as an ensemble, whilst "the team are fighting among themselves" (notional agreement) refers to the team as individuals. More strikingly, this is also British English practice with names of countries and cities in sports contexts; for example, "Germany have won the competition," "Madrid have lost three consecutive matches," etc. In American English, collective nouns usually take singular verb forms (formal agreement). Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. In cases where a metonymic shift would be otherwise revealed nearby, the whole sentence may be recast to avoid the metonymy. (For example, "the team are fighting among themselves" may become "the team members are fighting among themselves" or "the team is fighting [period]. ") See American and British English differences - Formal and notional agreement. This is one of a series of articles about the differences between American English and
A good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction (designated by the Latin term plurale tantum) is the following sentence: "The team have finished the project. " In that sentence, the underlying thought is of the individual members of the team working together to finish the project. Their accomplishment is collective, and the emphasis is not on their individual identities, yet they are at the same time still discrete individuals; the word choice "team have" manages to convey both their collective and discrete identities simultaneously. A good example of such a metonymic shift in the plural-to-singular direction is the following sentence: "Mathematics is my favorite academic subject. " The word "mathematics" may have originally been plural in concept, referring to mathematic endeavors, but metonymic shift—that is, the shift in concept from "the endeavors" to "the whole set of endeavors"—produced the usage of "mathematics" as a singular entity taking singular verb forms. (A true mass-noun sense of "mathematics" followed naturally. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass )
Confounding of collective noun and mass noun
There is often confusion about, and confounding of, the two different concepts of collective noun and mass noun. In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass Generally, collective nouns are not mass (non-count) nouns, but rather are a special subset of count nouns. In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural However, the term "collective noun" is often used to mean "mass noun" (even in some dictionaries), because users confound two different kinds of verb number invariability: (a) that seen with mass nouns such as "water" or "furniture," with which only singular verb forms are used because the constituent matter is grammatically nondiscrete (although it may ["water"] or may not ["furniture"] be etically nondiscrete); and (b) that seen with collective nouns, which is the result of the metonymical shift, discussed earlier, between the group and its (both grammatically and etically) discrete constituents. Emic and etic are terms used by some in the Social sciences and the Behavioral sciences to refer to two different kinds of Data concerning human
Some words, including "mathematics" and "physics," have developed true mass-noun senses despite having grown from count-noun roots.
Terms of venery (words for groups of animals)
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The tradition of using collective nouns that are specific to certain kinds of animals stems from an English hunting tradition, dating back to at least the fifteenth century. A group of birds of any type is generically known collectively as a flock. Fish invertebrate or plant Collective noun Source Ants This lists names of animals used depending on the context Many Species of Animals particularly those domesticated have been given specific names for the Male Reptile or amphibian Collective noun Source Alligators These are lists of collective nouns: List of collective nouns by subject List of collective nouns by subject A-H Hunting is the practice of pursuing Animals for Food, Recreation, or Trade. Terms of venery were used by gentlemen to distinguish themselves from yeomen and others and formed part of their education. Only a few of the terms were for groups of animals; others, such as "singular" for boars, described their characteristics or habits of life. Misunderstandings over the centuries led to all the terms being regarded as collective nouns and some became unrecognisable through changes to the language and transcription errors: "besynys" (for ferrets) became "fesynes" instead of "busy-ness. "
Sometimes a term of venery will apply to a group only in a certain context. "Herd" can properly refer to a group of wild horses, but not to a group of domestic horses. A "paddling of ducks" only refers to ducks on water. A group of geese on the ground are referred to as a "gaggle of geese" while a "skein of geese" would refer to them in flight.
Interest in constituent-object-specific collective nouns has always remained high, and the coining of candidate collective nouns has been a pastime (usually humorous) of many writers ever since, including for non-animal nouns, such as professions, e. A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been g. , a "sequitur of logicians. "
See also
Linguistics
English language
References
- Hodgkin, John. In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass In Linguistics, measure words, known more formally as numeral classifiers and also called counters, count words, counter words, or Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world A plurale tantum (plural pluralia tantum) is a noun that appears only in the Plural form and does not have a singular variant though it may still refer Synesis (from Greek) means unification meeting sense conscience insight realization mind reason Proper Terms: An attempt at a rational explanation of the meanings of the Collection of Phrases in "The Book of St Albans," 1486, entitled "The Compaynys of beestys and fowlys" and similar lists. , Transactions of the Philological Society 1907-1910 Part III, pp 1 - 187, Kegan, Paul, Trench & Trübner & Co, Ltd, London, 1909.
- Lipton, James. An Exaltation of Larks, or The Venereal Game. Penguin. (First published Grossman Publishers 1968. ) (Penguin first reprint 1977 ISBN 0140045368); in 1993 it was republished in Penguin with The Ultimate Edition as part of the title with the ISBN 0140170960 Hardcover Paperback
External links
The collection of genuine and spurious English collective nouns has proved an interesting diversion for many website writers:
- The Collective Noun Page
- Collection of Collective Nouns
- Fun With Words: Collective Nouns
- Collective Nouns List
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