The noun as a part of speech has the categorial meaning of "substance" or "thingness". It follows from this that the noun is the main nominative part of speech. Usually we speak of 4 Noun categories:
n Number
n Case (??? Declension)
n Gender (???)
n Article Determination
1) The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to the singular form of the noun. The strong (marked) member of this binary opposition is the plural.
There are also non-productive ways of expressing the number opposition: vowel interchange in several relict forms (man - men, woman-women, tooth-teeth, etc.), the archaic suffix -(e)n supported by phonemic interchange in a couple of other relict forms (ox-oxen, child-children), the correlation of individual singular and plural suffixes in a limited number of borrowed nouns (formula - formulae, phenomenon - phenomena, alumnus-alumni, etc.). In some cases the plural form of the noun is homonymous with the singular form (sheep, deer, fish, etc.).
Singularia tantum (only singular) and pluralia tantum (only plural)
In terms of oppositions we may say that in the formation of the two subclasses of uncountable nouns the number opposition is "constantly" (lexically) reduced either to the weak member (singularia tantum) or to the strong member (pluralia tantum).
The absolute singular excludes the use of the modifying numeral one, as well as the indefinite article.
The absolute singular is characteristic of the names of abstract notions (peace, love, joy, courage, friendship, etc.), the names of the branches of professional activity (chemistry, architecture, mathematics, linguistics, etc.), the names of mass materials (water, snow, steel, hair, etc.), the names of collective inanimate objects (fruit, furniture, machinery, etc.).
The absolute plural, as different from the common plural, cannot directly combine with numerals, and only occasionally does it combine with discrete quantifiers (many, few, etc.): trousers, scissors, spectacles. Here we also observe the nouns expressing some sort of collective meaning, both concrete and abstract (supplies, outskirts, clothes, contents, politics; police, cattle, poultry, etc.), the nouns denoting some diseases as well as some abnormal states of the body and mind (measles, mumps, creeps, hysterics, etc.).
2) Case is the morphological category of the noun manifested in the forms of noun declension and showing the relations of the nounal referent to other objects and phenomena. This category is expressed in English by the opposition of the form in -'s, usually called the "possessive" case, or more traditionally, the "genitive" case (the man's duty, the President's decision) to the unfeatured form of the noun, usually called the "common" case.
3) The category of gender is strictly oppositional. It is formed by two oppositions related to each other on a hierarchical basis.
|
|
|
One opposition functions in the whole set of nouns, dividing them into person (human) nouns and non-person (non-human) nouns. The other opposition functions in the subset of person nouns only, dividing them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns. Thus, the first, general opposition can be referred to as the upper opposition in the category of gender, while the second, partial opposition can be referred to as the lower opposition in this category.
The strong member of the upper opposition is the human subclass of nouns. The weak member of the opposition comprises both inanimate and animate non-person nouns. Here belong such nouns as tree, mountain, love, etc.; cat, swallow, ant, etc.; society, crowd, association, etc.; bull and cow, cock and hen, horse and mare, etc.
A great many person nouns in English are capable of expressing both feminine and masculine person genders. These are referred to as nouns of the "common gender". Here belong such words as person, parent, friend, cousin, president, etc.
As for the Rus. Lang., Gender is a morphological category. In the Eng. Lang. the only way Gender is expressed is through the correlation of personal pronouns she, he, it. English nouns can show the sex of their referents lexically, either by means of being combined with certain notional words or by suffixal derivation: boy-friend, girl-friend; man-producer, woman-producer; landlord, landlady, master, mistress; actor, actress; lion, lioness; etc.
As we see, the category of gender in English is inherently semantic, i.e. meaningful because it reflects the actual features of the named objects. But the semantic nature of the category does not make it "non-grammatical". In Russian the gender has purely formal features that may even "run contrary" to semantics, Ex. - , - , . Besides,the Russian gender differs from the English gender in so far as it divides the nouns by the higher opposition not into "person-non-person" ("human-non-human"), but into "animate - inanimate", discriminating within the former (the animate nounal set) between masculine, feminine, and a limited number of neuter nouns. Thus, the Russian category of gender divides the nouns into the inanimate set having no meaningful gender, and the animate set having a meaningful gender. In distinction to this, the English category of gender is only meaningful, and it is represented in the nounal system as a whole.
4) Article is a determining unit of specific nature used with the noun in communicative collocation. The semantic purpose of the article is to specify the nounal referent, to define it in the most general way, without any explicitly expressed contrasts. Ex. -Will you give me the pen, please? (I.e. simply the pen from the desk, you understand which.) A woman called while you were out. (I.e. simply a woman, without a further connotation).
There is a theory that Article in English is a morpheme, not a word. But it is still a point to decide whether the article is a purely auxiliary element of the noun which functions as a component of a definite morphological category, or it is a separate word, i.e. a lexical unit.
One peculiarity of the article, as different from the determiners in question, is that, in the absence of a determiner, the use of the article with the noun is quite obligatory.
|
|
|
There are 2 articles in English (the, a\an), and there is also zero article. The definite article expresses the identification or individualization of the referent of the noun: the use of this article shows that the object denoted is taken in its concrete, individual quality. This meaning can be brought to explicit exposition by a substitution test. The test consists in replacing the article used in a construction by a demonstrative word, e.g. a demonstrative determiner: But look at the apple-tree! → But look at this apple-tree!
The indefinite article expresses a classifying generalization of the nounal referent: We passed a water-mill. → We passed a certain water-mill. What an arrangement! → What sort of arrangement!
As for the various uses of nouns without an article, from the semantic point of view they all should be divided into two types. In the first place, there are uses where the articles are deliberately omitted out of stylistical considerations. We see such uses, for instance, in telegraphic speech, in titles and headlines, in various notices: Conference adjourned until further notice. (The text of an announcement).
There are cases of non-use of the article in various combinations of fixed type, such as prepositional phrases (on fire, at hand, in debt, etc.), fixed verbal collocations (take place, make use, cast anchor, etc.), descriptive coordinative groups and repetition groups (man and wife, dog and gun, day by day, etc.), and the like. These cases of traditionally fixed absence of the article are quite similar to the cases of traditionally fixed uses of both indefinite and definite articles (in a hurry, at a loss, have a look, give a start, etc.; in the main, out of the question, on the look-out, etc.).
