Chapter Twenty: On Types Of Nouns

Abstract

There are two types of nouns: defective nouns and full nouns. By the term 'defective' they mean that (such a noun) does not convey information as a particle does not convey information. Full nouns are divided into definite and indefinite. There are two types of indefinite nouns, namely, 'rigid' and conjugable. Rigid nouns are nouns from which neither the imperative, nor the past, nor the future can be inferred. They are called 'rigid' (jāmid) because in the same way as nothing can be got from an inanimate object (jamād), neither the imperative, nor the past can be inferred from them. There are five types of definite nouns. These are proper names, nouns made definite by means of heh, demonstratives, pronouns and nouns in construct state. There are two types of nouns of patient: overt nouns and covert nouns.Keywords: covert nouns; defective nouns; full nouns; heh; jāmid; jamād; overt nouns