<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Hi Christian,<div>Could the fact that days of the week and months can be used deictically be one of those properties?</div><div><br></div><div>All the best,</div><div>Randy<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jun 25, 2024, at 15:13, Christian Lehmann via Lingtyp <lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">
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If one searches the web with the question "Are nouns denoting days
of the week proper names?", some pages know that the answer is
'yes'. However, their argument is circular: Since English
orthography requires the capitalization of such nouns, they are
categorized as proper names; and since they are proper names, they
are to be capitalized.<br>
<br>
I use the following definitions: A common noun is a noun which
designates an entity by subsuming it under a notion. A proper noun
or name is a noun that refers to an entity without subsuming it
under a notion. Consequently, a common noun can be defined; a proper
noun cannot (over and beyond the onomastic category that it belongs
to, like anthroponym or toponym).<br>
<br>
Now an entity like Tuesday can easily be defined as the second day
of the week; and likewise an entity like February. By this
criterion, such entities appear to be notions, and the nouns
designating them consequently common nouns.<br>
<br>
If such nouns are proper nouns, then why are nouns like <i>midnight</i>
and <i>morning</i> not?<br>
<br>
What do the semanticists say? And are there
structural/distributional properties distinguishing proper and
common nouns which decide the alternative for designations of months
and days? Are there nouns taking an intermediate position between
common and proper?<br>
-- <br>
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<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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