10.4. MAT

Definition of the functor MAT

The functor MAT (material, partitive) is a functor for an adnominal argument denoting the content (people, things, substance etc.) of a container expressed by the governing noun.

The MAT modifications is an adnominal modification, defined semantically: it expresses the content of a container. Nouns with the container meaning are (semantic) nouns expressing the degree, amount, number or volume of the thing in the container (people, things, materials etc.). These are especially:

Valency. The modification with the functor MAT is an adnominal argument, either optional or obligatory. For more on this see Section 2.3.2.4.8, "Valency frames of nouns with the "container" meaning".

Forms. The basic form of modifications with the functor MAT is a noun in the genitive:

NB! With some numeral expressions, the form of the modification can be the same as the case of the numeral (e.g.: k prvním dvěma stům došlým vozům.MAT (=to the first two hundred of received cars.DAT), na tisíci stránkách.MAT (=on the thousand of pages.LOC), po půl roce.MAT (=after half a year.LOC)).

Figure 7.58. The MAT functor

The MAT functor

sklenice piva (=lit. glass (of) bier)

10.4.1. Borderline cases with the functor MAT

Border with the functor PAT. The functor MAT borders on the Patient. For more on this see Section 2.3.2.3.3, "Borderline between the Patient and the MAT and APP functors".

Border with the functor APP. The functor MAT can border on the functor APP with certain nouns. For more on this see Section 10.1.1, "Borderline cases with the functor APP".