Теоретическая грамматика (803499), страница 6
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they all have the same lexical - grammatical meaning :substance / thing2. according to their form - they've two grammatical categories:number and case3. they all have typical stem-building elements:- er, - ist, - ship, - merit, -hood ...4. typical combinability with other words:most often left-hand combinability5. function - the most characteristic feature of nouns is - they can be observed in all syntactic functionsbut predicate.Some words about the distribution of nouns.
Because of the fact that nouns express ordenote substance / thing, their distribution is bound with the words which express the quality ofsubstance, their number, their actions and their relation to the other words /nouns/ in English.When the quality of nouns are described we make use of adjectives:big, red appleenergetic crisisa long, dusty track and others.When the quantity and order of nouns are described the numerals are to be used:the six continents25th anniversary12 students....When we denote the action of substances we make use of the verbs:An apple-tree grows in the gardenRussia assisted India in Mounting Bokaro Steal PlantWhen the relation of nouns to other words are described we make wide use of prepositionsa window of the schoolto the parkat the construction of the bridgeIn all these cases with the exception of verbs the noun is characterized with left-handcombinability / in overwhelming majority/.
So far as to the verbs are concerned they may bothprecede and follow them.The Number and Case in ModernEnglish NounsNumber is a grammatical category of nouns which denotes the number of objects,expressed by a word.In English there are two numbers: singular and plural. The formal signal of the singularnumber is a zero morpheme, while the usual signal of plurality -/e/s. The formation of plural by19means -/e/s is considered to be productive, but in Modern English there are some non-productivetypes of plural number, as for instance:a) suffix - en : ox - oxenb) variation of vowels in the root of a word:tooth-teeth; goose-geese; mouse-mice; man-men,c) variation of vowels of the root + suffix- "ren" children;d) homonymous forms for both sing and plural:sheep – sheepdeer – deerswine – swineThis type of formation of plurality was a norm for the whole group of words in OldEnglish, but in Modern English only some words have been preserved.Non-productive type of number we find in some borrowed words from Latin and Greek, such as:datum – databasis – bases /si:z/memorandum – memorandacrisis – crises /si:z/formula – formulae /i: /analysis – analyses /si:z/These words form their plural as per the norms of Latin and Greek languages, though someof them form their plural according to English: formulas, memorandums.With regard to the category of number English nouns fall under two subclasses: countableand uncountable.
The latter is again subdivided into those having no plural form and those havingno singular. The former type is called Pluralia tantum: clothes, goods, the latter - singularia tantum:milk, water.The lexical and grammatical morphemes of a word linked together so closely that sometimes it seemsimpossible to separate them. The relation between foot and feet, goose and geese, man and men is similar to therelation between.bag – bags; desk – desksThe examples above remind us the facts of the Arabic language.
In this language lexicalmorphemes are usually consist of consonants. They are united with vocalic morphemesgrammatical in character and occurring between consonants, e.g.,Ktbktaab - a bookkutub - bookskatab - he wrotekaatib - clerkkattab - he dictated.In these examples consonants Ktb are lexical morphemes as well as English f...t, g...s, m...n and so on. Butthere are two different things here to be distinguished. Arabic is a Semitic synthetic language while English is anIndo-European analytical one.
If a discontinuous lexical morpheme is characteristic to the system of Arabic, forEnglish it is an exception. English forms its plural forms by - /e/ s.Some linguists consider the case as above as internal inflection inserted into a lexical one / -u- / and / - i : - // as it is in Arabic / and others think of vowel change / u > i: /.To be consistent we'll regard nouns above as follows:sing. Man - pl /man + s/ = menThe group of pluralia tantum is mostly composed on nouns which express things as objectsconsisting of two or more parts, e.g. trousers, scissors.
Nouns like clothes, sweets must also bereferred to pluralia tantum since they denote collective meaning. The - s, here is lexicalized anddeveloped into an inseparable part of the stem. The suffix here is no longer a grammaticalmorpheme.In compound nouns both the 1st and 2nd components may be pluralized:father-in-law / 1st /, suitcase / 2nd /, Manservant—menservants etc.The Category of Case in NounsThe problem of the number of cases in English has given rise to different theories whichwere based on the different ways of approaching the description of English grammatical structure.Case is an indication of a relation in which the noun stands to some other word.H.
Sweet's (42) conception of the number of cases in English doubtful. He is not surewhether in English there are five or two cases. He writes: “English has only one inflected case, thegenitive /man’s, men’s/, the uninflected base constituting the common case / man, men /, which isequivalent to the nominative, vocative, accusative and dative of such a language as Latin”.20As we see he is under a certain influence of the Latin grammar.
If we treat the Englishlanguage out of the facts of Latin, then we'll really have to acknowledge the existence of fivecases. But the facts of English made Sweet identify only two.O. Curme (26) considers that of many case endings once used English has preserved only one, - 1st of thegenitive. Apart from the genitive relation, these grammatical relations are now indicated by the position of the nounwith regard to the verb or prepositions which have taken the place of the old inflectional endings / He distinguishesfour cases:1.
Nominative-performs 3 functions:subject, predicate and direct object2. Accusative - performs 3 functions: object, adverbial modifier, predicate.The dog bit my brother /obj./He stayed an hour /adverbial acc/I believed to be him /predicate/3. Dative: When an action directed toward smb:He makes coat for John.4. Genitive: girl's ...O. Jespersen (33), (34) distinguishes two cases: common and genitive.M. Bryant (24) is of the same opinion:H.
Whitehall (43) distinguishes two cases in nouns on analogy with the pronouns which can substitute forthem: nominative and objective.He says: "The so-called possessive case is best thought of as a method of transforming a noun into amodifier" ...Among the Russian grammarians we find different views on the problem of case system in Modern Englishnouns.B.A. Ilyish (15) considers that – ‘s is no longer a case inflexion in the classical sense of a word. Unlikesuch classical inflections, -‘s may be attached:a) to adverbs: yesterday's eventsb) to a word group: Mary and John's apartmentc) to a whole clause: the man I saw yesterday’s son.Ilyish concludes that the – ‘s morpheme gradually develops into a "form-word", a kind ofparticle serving to convey the meanings of belonging, possession”.G.U.
Vorontsova (11) does not recognize -'s as case morpheme. She treats it as a"postposition", "a purely syntactical form - word resembling a preposition", used as a sign ofsyntactical dependence". Her arguments are as follows:1. The use of-'s is optional /her brother's, of her brother/.2. It is used with a limited group of nouns outside which it occurs very seldom.3. -'s is used both in the singular and in the plural which is not incident to case morphemes.e.g. мальчик – а – мальчиков4.
It occurs in very few plurals, only those with the irregular formation of the pluralmember: oxen's, but cows5. -'s does not make an inseparable part of the structure of word. It may be placed at somedistance from the head-word of an attributive group.To Khaimovich and Rogovskaya (22) -' s still function as a case morpheme, because:1. The-'s morpheme is mostly attached to individual nouns, not noun groups /in 96 %/.2.
It's general meaning – “the relation of a noun to another word” - is a typical casemeaning.3. The fact that -‘s occurs, as a rule, with a more or less limited group of words bearstestimony to its not being a "preposition like form word". The use of the preposition is determined,chiefly by the noun it introduces: on /in/ under the table ...4. oxen’s - cows' /z/, /θ/ and /of/ alternants: identical meanings and in complementary distribution.5. –‘s not a “preposition like word” since it has no vowel as it is found in other prepositions in English.Gender in Modern EnglishThe term “gender” is opposed to the term “sex” (пол).
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