This section provides a semantic classification of nouns based on their denotation, but we should also keep in mind that the semantic differences between the various noun classes are typically also reflected in their syntactic and morphological properties. We will adopt the distinctions in (21a-c) found in more traditional grammars (cf. Haeseryn et al. 1997:140ff), to which we will add the distinctions in (21d-e) from more theory-specific approaches such as Dik’s (1997) Functional Grammar. The relations between the various distinctions are not always clear: some are complementary, some overlap, while others operate independently. This section will describe the distinctions in (21) in some detail in an attempt to clarify the relations between them. In addition, we will provide examples of non-prototypical uses of the various noun types, i.e. of ways in which nouns belonging to one category can be used, both semantically and syntactically, as if they belonged to another category.

The classification proposed here includes the five distinctions in (21) but reduces them to three partially overlapping, but independent, main categories: proper nouns, common nouns and relational nouns. Section 15.2.1 begins with a discussion of the differences between proper nouns, such as Jan and De AlpenThe Alps, and common nouns, such as jongenboy and bergmountain. Section 15.2.2 will adopt the usual division of common nouns into concrete and abstract nouns, which will then be divided further as shown in Table 5. Finally, Section 15.2.3 discusses the differences between relational nouns such as vaderfather and non-relational nouns such as man in the sense of “male person”; cf. de vader/*man van JanJans father/*male’.

Chapter 16 will discuss in more detail the differences between the classes distinguished above in terms of complementation within the NP.