proper (adj.)

A term used primarily in the GRAMMATICAL classification of NOUNS, opposed traditionally to a set of terms including COMMON, abstract, etc., but in LINGUISTIC analysis usually contrasting with ‘common’ alone. The alternative term, proper name, reflects its traditional SEMANTIC definition: the name of an individual person, place, etc. Modern grammars aim to provide a FORMAL treatment of these distinctions: proper nouns, for example, cannot be used with DETERMINERS in the way common nouns can, cf. the/a boy with *the/a London, etc. In GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY, proper government is government by a LEXICAL CATEGORY.