Prop-word


A prop-word is a word with little or no semantic content used where grammar dictates a certain sentence member, e.g., to provide a "support" on which to hang a modifier. The word most commonly considered as a prop-word in English is one.

Function

The prop-word one takes the place of a countable noun in a noun phrase, normally in a context where it is clear which noun it is replacing. For example, in a context in which hats are being talked about, the red one means "the red hat", and the ones we bought means "the hats we bought". The prop-word thus functions somewhat similarly to a pronoun, except that a pronoun usually takes the place of a whole noun phrase.
The prop-word can generally be used with any of the modifiers that can typically accompany nouns. These include articles and other determiners, attributive adjectives, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, and certain others. Some examples of its use are given below:
In standard English, the prop-word one cannot appear immediately after the indefinite article: a one would be replaced by simply one . However, a one is possible in some dialects.
Other words with limited semantic content that may sometimes be classed as prop-words include person and thing. In English, certain combinations of determiner and prop-word have developed into indefinite pronouns: somebody, anyone, nothing, etc.

Origin of "one"

This relatively minor topic of English syntax was a matter of a rather significant and prolonged discussion about the origin of the phrase "a good one", which involved such experts as Eugen Einenkel, Karl Luick, Otto Jespersen, Matti Rissanen, among others, until the consensus of the authorities was established by Bruce Mitchell in his Old English Syntax. Tauno Mustanoja gives a detailed overview of the opinions on the subject.

In other languages

Most other languages lack a prop-word used equivalently to English one. Instead, they may make more use of demonstrative pronouns. Phrases like "the red one" may be translated simply as "the red", i.e. using a nominalized adjective, as in the German der Rote.