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In linguistics, a collective noun is a word which refers to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are mundane and are not specific to one specific kind, such as the word "group," which may apply to "people" in the phrase "a group of people," but may also correctly refer to "dogs" in the phrase "a group of dogs". Other collective nouns are specific to one kind, especially terms of venery, which are words for specific groups of animals. For example, "pride" as a term of venery will always refer to lions, but never to dogs or cows. Morphological 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. As with all derived words, derivational collectives often differ semantically from the original words, acquiring new connotations and even new denotations. 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 a distinct meaning. German uses the prefix ''ge-'' to create collectives. The root word often undergoes umlaut and suffixation as well as receiving the ''ge-'' prefix. Nearly all nouns created in this way are of neuter gender. Examples include: * ''ドイツ語:das Gebirge'', "group of hills, mountain range" ''ドイツ語:der Berg'', "mountain" or "hill" * ''ドイツ語:das Gepäck'', "luggage, baggage" < ''ドイツ語:der Pack'', "pack, bundle, pile" * ''ドイツ語:das Geflügel'', "poultry, fowl (birds)" < late MHG ', under the influence of ''ドイツ語:der Flügel'', "wing" < MHG ' < OHG ' = collective formation of ', "bird" * ''ドイツ語:das Gefieder'', "plumage" < ''ドイツ語:die Feder'', "feather" Dutch has a similar pattern, but sometimes uses the (unproductive) circumfix ': * ' 'mountain' > ' 'mountain range' * ' 'bone' > ' 'skeleton' * ' 'bird' > ' 'poultry' * ' 'leaf' > ' 'foliage' The following Swedish example has different words in the collective form and in the individual form: * An individual mosquito is a ' (plural: '), but mosquitos as a collective is '. Esperanto uses the collective suffix -''ar'' to produce a large number of derived words, such as * ''monto'' 'mountain' > ''montaro'' 'mountain range' * ''birdo'' 'bird' > ''birdaro'' 'flock' * ''arbo'' 'tree' > ''arbaro'' 'forest' * ''libro'' 'book' > ''libraro'' 'library' * ''manĝilo'' 'utensil' > ''manĝilaro'' 'silverware', 'cutlery' ==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. Both "team" and "government" are count nouns. (Consider: "one team", "two teams", "most teams"; "one government", "two governments", "many governments"). However, confusion often stems from the fact that plural verb forms are often used in British English with the singular forms of these count nouns (for example: "The team have finished the project."). Conversely, in the English language as a whole, 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 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. For example, "the team is in the dressing room" (''formal agreement'') refers to ''the team'' as an ensemble, while "the team are fighting among themselves" (''notional agreement'') refers to ''the team'' as individuals. 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 almost invariably take singular verb forms (formal agreement). 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 simply "The team is fighting.") See Comparison of American and British English - Formal and notional agreement. A good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction (which, generally speaking, only occurs in British English) 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.) Nominally singular pronouns can be collective nouns taking plural verbs, according to the same rules that apply to other collective nouns. For example, it is correct British English or American English usage to say: "None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right." In this case, the plural verb is used because the context for "none" suggests more than one thing or person.〔Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (4th ed., 2000), p. 10.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「collective noun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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