Talk:proper noun

Language names

Are the names of languages, e.g. English, Chinese, Spanish, proper nouns? —This unsigned comment was added by 69.181.82.58 (talk • contribs) 2006-05-08 04:03:05.

Yes. In English, the names of languages are proper nouns. Rod (☎ Smith) 20:15, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Proper names of countries...

Hi! I was wondering why lately (In the past few years) it seems that in news articles the media uses the name of the country in this fashion: "France celebrities strike for better wages" or "Iran president needs a lobotomy" -The examples are endless...

Why not say "French" or "Iranian", which looks and sounds so much better?

-Sean Smith "America citizen" :) — This unsigned comment was added by 64.195.88.246 (talk) at 23 January 2007.

I have never seen that before, Sean.Alekjs 04:57, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

As to "Iran" for "Iranian", in print media, short allows bigger type or less ink. "France" might use slightly less ink than "French". DCDuring TALK 18:17, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, that kind of style is usually used in headlines only. Although you do get exceptions, like Taiwan which is often used interchangably for Taiwanese. ---> Tooironic 03:16, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Synonyms

There might be the rare synonym proper substantive noun:

• D. Fenning, A New Grammar of the English Language; or, an Easy Introduction to the Art of Speaking and Writing English, With Property and Correctness. A New Edition, Carefully Corrected., p.125 (at books.google):

  Persia, a proper substantive noun, or the proper name of a country, singular number, oblique case, governed by the preposition of

• 2012. Daniel Whistler, Improper Names for God: Religious Language and the "Spinoza-Effect" (quoting Spinoza, Hebrew Grammar in Complete Works, 600). In: Michael Austin, Paul J. Ennis, Fabio Gironi, Thomas Gokey, Robert Jackson (eds.), Speculations, vol. 3, punctum books, p.106 (→ISBN):

  Spinoza defines a proper name as follows: “By means of a proper substantive noun it is possible to indicate only a single individual, for each and every individual has a proper noun for himself only.”

-eXplodit (talk) 23:35, 9 August 2015 (UTC)