The novice academic writers are mostly unaware of how clauses or text stretches are linked through certain nouns, i.e., shell nouns. Owing to this lack, their texts remain devoid of cohesiveness and information flow. For addressing this lack, this post has been composed. The information in this post will help the learning writers understand what shell nouns are. Further, they will know how these nouns can be incorporated in the academic texts for impact.
1. Shell Nouns
Shell nouns are the nouns which encapsulate or shell the content of adjacent clauses or larger chunks of information. These clauses or text chunks may be present in the form of phrases or clauses that precede the shell nouns. These may also be in the form of clauses or text stretches that follow them. Simply put, these nouns indicate a complex idea or concept extracted from the adjacent clauses with a general label. Further, the meaningfulness of these nouns is there on account of their textual context. On the whole, they link as well as indicate complex information that is present in sentences and text stretches close to them. In this way, they make the information easier to understand linguistically as well as communicatively (See 26. Anaphoric and Cataphoric Shell Nouns). For example:
- The evidence that the proposed political candidate can arouse the masses to violent protests is provided by the intensity of protests led by him yesterday.
In this example, evidence is a shell noun. This noun semantically encapsulates the proposition encoded in the clause: that the proposed candidate can violently arouse the masses to violent protests.
1.1 Syntactic Categories of Shell Nouns
Shell nouns basically belong to two categories. The nouns of the first category are mostly derived from verbs and adjectives, e.g. possibility, assumption, conclusion, belief, etc. These nouns are known as derived shell nouns. The second category include certain abstract nouns such as problem, fact, idea, result, phenomenon, trend, purpose, reason, process, factor, challenge, approach, issue, etc. These nouns stay grammatically unmarked, i.e., they are not shown as plural or singular nouns. These nouns are considered shell nouns because they possess clause like semantics, i.e., they may stay as an alternative to a clause. For example:
- This could be due to the fact that, as the wind passes through the two tall houses, it scratches the outer layer of the walls.
The noun fact, in example (a), is identified as a shell noun because it takes the complement that-clause after it. Further, it acts as a part of attribute (i.e., circumstantial attribute) in a clause of attributive relational process.
The shell nouns, whether derived or grammatically unmarked, have tendency to occur in definite noun phrases. These are the phrases in which determiners (the, this, that, other, same, and such) precede the shell nouns. The pre-posed determiners are required so that inter-clause demonstrative or comparative anaphoric references can be indicated through encapsulating a preceding stretch of discourse. Further, the shell nouns present in noun phrases may also stay with pre-modifying elements, e.g., the significant result, another factor, the current issue, etc.
An elaborated example:
A data collection challenge is to have access to measuring instruments and facilities; if available using them productively; and in case some information is gathered, utilizing it to reach some reliable results. This challenging problem is there because common researchers are either not facilitated or not accomplished in using technology in the area of data collection.
In the example given above, shell noun problem encapsulates the essence of the preceding stretch of discourse which is in italics and this noun is preceded by the determinative this and pre-modifying element, challenging for the purpose of anaphoric reference.
1.2 Semantic Classification of Shell Nouns
The researchers place shell nouns into a number of semantic classes. These classes of shell nouns are considered representative ones. First, factual shell nouns (e.g. fact, reason) present states of affair. Second, linguistic shell nouns (e.g., question) present linguistic acts. Third, mental shell nouns (issue, decision) present ideas. Fourth, modal shell nouns (possibility) present judgements. Fifth, eventive shell nouns (act, reaction) present events. Sixth, circumstantial shell nouns (situation, way) present situation.
1.3 The Function of Shell Nouns
The function of these nouns is to shell or encapsulate the propositional content of a speech act (e.g. assertion, promise, or request). This content is commonly expressed in a complement clause (i.e., following that clause) or a separate clause or sentence. Shell nouns usually stay associated to a sentence or clause (e.g., nominal that clause). However, they can also refer to non-nominal antecedents which are there in the form of an abstract (essence) of a clause or text stretch. In other words, a shell noun can be understood on the basis of its behavior in an individual sentence or clause. Contrarily, they cannot be understood on the basis of their inherent lexical meaning. Thus it can be said that they are metalinguistic in nature, i.e. they refer to the meanings of clauses or text stretches (See 27. Illocutionary Shell Nouns). For example:
- Karim’s assertion that the manager’s attitude is mechanical…
- Naila’s promise to extend her moral support …
- The request for an academic support …
The nouns (assertion, promise, request) involve the speaker’s illocution (i.e., aimed at meaning, purpose or intention) in an utterance.
1.4 Linkage between Shell Nouns and Shell Content
For assuring the communicative success of shell-content relations, the writers require to establish a link between shell noun and the shell content. Here shell content means the semantics of the clause or some other piece of information referred to. This link can be established by using various types of linguistic signals and construction. These links and constructions can help the audience to interpret the different sections of a text together. There may be different ways of showing link between shell nouns and shell contents. These ways include anaphora, structural means (NPs with clausal post-modifiers expressing the shell contents), subject and subject complement.
2. Shell Nouns as Meta-Discursive Devices
Shell nouns at discourse level are the indicators of interesting phenomena and researchers refer to them as ‘meta-discursive devices’. A shell noun may precede a complement construction (e.g., that clause) in discourse. In this case, the lexical meaning of the foregoing shell noun is contextually modulated (modified) under the influence of the ensuing complement clause. In other words, the following expansion clause nourishes its antecedent noun that is with an underdetermined meaning. Such meta-discursive use also appears in other parallel terms like anaphoric nouns, retrospective and advance labels, signaling nouns, and cohesive nouns. Besides, shell nouns serve to indicate the writer’s stance to neighbouring discourse and do the function of signposting in the text. These nouns are also used to turn their antecedents (i.e., proposition or even more extensive chunks of information) into temporary nominal concepts with distinct boundaries. For example:
- This intensity of breakage supports the idea that the window glass broker is wind.
In the above example, the proposition is the window glass broker is wind and has been encapsulated by the shell noun idea. The other alternatives could be belief, notion, view, etc. The writer chooses from these alternatives to characterize the proposition as idea. Thus, with the help of this, the writer foregrounds the assessment of the proposition as less subjective and less argumentative. This example makes it clear that shell nouns have characterizing function regarding their associated propositions.
3. Shell Nouns and Demarcation of Discourse Types
Shell nouns are the chief characteristic of various discourse types. For example, the use of different shell noun complement constructions is frequent in academic prose. The construction SN + that-cl is used to characterize a variety of experience. The shell nouns as effect, result, problem, and progress in SN+of+-ing-cl construction help realize the cognitive function of concept formation. The writers make use of SN+be+that-cl construction in their research articles to characterize empirical experience, objectivity, and scientific rationality contrary to popular science articles. For example:
- SN + that-clause: The view that cloud burst occurred in the upper valley seems convincing.
- SN + of +-ing-cl: The result of sleeping till late in the morning is the loss of health.
c. SN+be+that-cl: The conclusion is that the language teachers need to enhance their teaching skills.
4. The Use of Shell Nouns in Various Disciplines
The use of shell nouns is more common in social sciences than in natural sciences. For example, text-based argument and idea nouns like assumption are preferred in politics (social science). Contrarily, the choice of evidence nouns like implication receive priority in material sciences. Further, there is a predominant use of fact shell noun (e.g. fact) in hard sciences, i.e. physics. This is so because arguments in engineering research articles are particularly based on findings in visual and numeric representations patterned in formulaic ways. Here the referential bundles (e.g., in the case of, the main point is, at the beginning of, etc.) come to serve the writers. These are used to make direct reference to entities (physical or abstract) or the textual context itself. Further, these bundles can be used for various other purposes, such as identifying a specific entity, highlighting a particular attribute, or providing context. Contrarily, pure sciences like biology make heavier use of resultative bundles (e.g., on account of, as a consequence, due to, in order to, etc.).
In sum, this post first presents the concept of shell nouns, categories of shell nouns, semantic classification of shell nouns, and the function of shell nouns. Next, it discusses the meta-discursive role of shell nouns and how they help demarcate discourse types. Finally, the use of shell nouns in various academic disciplines has been indicated. In essence, shell nouns encapsulate the meaning of clauses or text stretches which stay before or after them. It means, they link the information present in the adjacent clauses or text stretches and thus help make texts cohesive as well as meaningful.
Sources Consulted
- Dong, Chengyu, & Qiu (2020)
- Francis (1994)
- Kolhatkar, Zinsmeister, & Hirst (2013)
- Schmid, (2000)
