Notional Parts of Speech Meet the NOUN Lecture

Notional Parts of Speech: Meet the NOUN Lecture 6

Plan: § 1. General Characteristics of the Noun. § 2. Classification of the Noun. § 3. Morphological Categories of the Noun: § 3. 1. Gender. § 3. 2. Number. § 3. 3. Case. § 3. 4. Article Determination.

General Characteristics of Ns (1) MEANING (semantics): “substance” (“thingness”) – have the strongest nominative value: denote things and objects proper, abstract notions, qualities, actions. Practically every phenomenon can be presented by a noun (substantivized). There are too many ifs and buts in your answer. There are too many might-have-beens. (2) FORM: 1) word-building models with a set of word-building suffixes (not prefixes!): of the doer (worker, naturalist), of abstract notions (laziness, rotation, security, elegance), etc. ; special conversion patterns (to find – a find). SEE MORE Nouns: simple – derived – compound – composite. 2) word-changing (grammatical) categories: number (boy – boys); case (boy – boy’s); article determination (boy – a boy – the boy). GO ON

Noun-Building Suffixes Abstract Nouns: -age (bondage, breakage); -ance/-ence (assistance, reference); -ant/-ent (disinfectant, student); -dom (kingdom, officialdom); -er (writer, type-writer); -ess (actress, lioness); -hood (manhood, likelihood); -ing (building, washing); -(t)ion (rebellion, tension); -ism (heroism, criticism); -ist (novelist, communist); -ment (government, nourishment); -ship (friendship); -th (breadth, width); -ty (safety, property), etc. Emotionally Neutral Personal Nouns: -an (grammarian), -arian (vegetarian), -ее (examinee), -er (porter), -ician (musician), -ist (linguist), -ite (sybarite) Feminine suffixes: -ess (actress), -ine (heroine), -rix (testatrix), -ette

Nounal Conversion Patterns: Deverbal Substantives a) an instance of an action: to move → a move; b) an agent of an action: to bore → a bore; also cheat, flirt, scold (mostly derogatory) c) a place of an action: to walk → a walk; d) the result of the action: to cut → a cut; a burn, a catch. BACK

General Characteristics of Ns (2) (3) FUNCTION + COMBINABILITY: ü goes into right-hand left-hand connections with practically all parts of speech; ü its most common determiners are articles, pronouns, numerals, adjectives and nouns themselves; ü the only part of speech which can be prepositionally combined with other words (to go out of the room); ü occasionally can be combined with an adverb in postposition (the guy outside) or in preposition (the then president). Subject and Object: The teacher took the book. Predicative: He is a teacher. Adverbial modifier: It happened last summer. Attribute: the teacher’s book, the book of the teacher, space exploration, the Bush administration, cannon ball, etc. “THE CANNON BALL PROBLEM”

“The Cannon Ball Problem” QUESTION: Is it a group of 2 Ns or is it an Adj (homonymous) with a N? ANSWER: A group of 2 Ns because ü the first word does not display any qualities of Adj. , except function (no degrees of comparison, not modified by an adverb, etc. ); ü the first word can be used in the plural: translations editor; ü an Adj. describes “what kind of…? ”; a N gives a different description: a dangerous corner – a danger signal. QUESTION: Are the components 2 separate words or 1 compound word? ANSWER: 2 separate words because ü they are formed freely in speech; ü they can be easily transformed: a cannon ball = a ball for cannon, space exploration = exploration of space, etc.

Classification of the Noun The subclass of N is relevant for its syntagmatic relations and the ability to convey grammatical meanings. “type of nomination”: proper nouns & common nouns (article determination and number) You are my Romeo! “form of existence”: animate nouns & inanimate nouns (the category of the case) “personal quality”: human nouns & non-human nouns (the category of the gender) “quantitative structure”: countable & uncountable nouns (the category of the number) + Semantic differences manifested through selectional syntagmatic combinability: The dog is sleeping. *The table is sleeping.

The Category of Gender (1) meaningful (natural) formal (arbitrary) Russian: meaningful for human nouns (старик, девочка), but formal for non-human nouns (рука, палец, тело). English: gender is a meaningful category for the whole class of the nouns. A woman was standing on the platform. She was wearing a hat. It was decorated with ribbons and flowers… Personal pronouns are grammatical gender classifiers. Gender in English – a unity of two oppositions organized hierarchically. 1) human nouns (+) 2) males (-) vs. (masculine: man – he) vs. non-human nouns (-) (neuter: tree, dog – it) females (+) (feminine: woman – she)

The Category of Gender (2) Today the overwhelming majority of linguists reject the grammatical relevance of gender in modern English: • nouns do not agree in gender with adjectives or verbs; • some nouns denote either a female or a male: president, professor, friend, etc. – the common gender nouns. Lexical and semantic devices in English to express gender: • compositional models: a he-cat, a she-cat, a tom-cat, a man -servant, a lady-driver, etc. ; • derivative model with the productive suffix -ess: poetess, huntress, empress, etc. ; • semantic oppositions: king : : queen, nephew: : niece, husband: : wife, stallion: : mare, etc. ; • gender-sensitive pronouns he, she, it: Love is mightier than Philosophy, though He is might. (O. Wilde)

The Category of Gender (3) Gender Transposition: the use of the masculine/feminine instead of the neuter gender (stylistic personification) San Francisco was lying on her seven hills. The soul selects her own society and shuts the door. The sun is a huntress young. Gender Neutralization: the use of the weak member (neuter/masculine) instead of the strong (masculine/feminine) What is it over there: a man or just a tree? Every student must do his best. Conclusion: the category of gender in ME is grammatical of referential (semantic) type (a lexico-grammatical category) as it reflects the actual features of the objects. Gender tends to be grammaticalized. Some linguists predict, bravely enough, that with the course of time the English gender can acquire a new life as a grammatical category.

The Category of Number (1) – the linguistic representation of the objective category of quantity. Binary privative grammatical opposition: the singular (-) vs. the plural (+) meaning: the nondismembering reflection of the referent – сountable objects (a cup), substances (water), abstract notions (love), units of measure (hour) form: a “zero suffix” meaning: potentially dismembering reflection of the referent form: -(e)s – [s], [z], [iz]: cats, boys, roses + vowel interchange (goose – geese, man – men) + borrowed means (antenna – antennae, stratum – strata, nucleus – nuclei)

The Category of Number (2) The singular form may denote: a) oneness (individual separate object): a cat, a dog; b) generalization (the whole class): The cat is a domestic animal; c) indiscreteness (uncountableness): money, milk. The plural form may denote: a) the existence of several objects: cats, dogs; b) the inner discreteness (pluralia tantum): jeans, scissors. 3 groups of Nouns: 1. The nouns in which the opposition of discreteness / indiscreteness is expressed explicitly; 2. The nouns in which this opposition is revealed by syntactical and lexical correlation in the context: A. Singularia tantum. B. Pluralia tantum. 3. The nouns with homogenous number forms: Look! A sheep is eating grass. // Look! The sheep are eating grass.

The Category of Number (3) The Absolute Singular – the use of the singular (the weak member) instead of the plural (the strong member): 1) with uncountable nouns (Singularia tantum) • are modified with ‘much’, ‘little’; • take the verb in singular; • can’t combine with ‘one’ and the indefinite article; • when used in plural or in combinations with words showing discreteness (bit, piece, item) mean different sorts or manifestations of qualities. • often denote: abstract notions (peace, love, joy); branches of professional activity (chemistry, architecture, linguistics); mass materials (water, snow, steel); collective inanimate objects (foliage, fruit, furniture). 2) with countable nouns the Absolute Singular expresses corresponding abstract ideas or mass material: Wild elephants in the Jungle can be very dangerous. The refugees needed shelter. They burst into song.

The Category of Number (4) The Absolute Plural – the use of the plural (the strong member) instead of the singular (the weak member): 1) with uncountable nouns (Pluralia tantum) • cannot combine directly with numerals; • only occasionally combine with ‘many’, ‘few’; • a number of objects is expressed through combinations with ‘pair’, ‘set’, ‘group’, ‘bunch’, etc. • often denote: objects consisting of several parts (shorts, trousers, scissors), names of diseases as a number of symptoms (blues, measles, hysterics), games (billiards, darts), abstract nouns (the beginnings of the world), financial terms (belongings, savings), some proper and geographical names (the Browns, the Urals, the Caymans). 2) with countable nouns (both in Sg. and in Pl. ): The jury were unanimous in their verdict. (multitude) There were trees and trees around us. the sands of the desert (descriptive uncountable plural)

The Category of Number (5) !!! In English logical agreement prevails over formal agreement, while in Russian it is quite the opposite. Some Facts to Know (from Вейхман Г. А. Новое в английской грамматике (http: //www. homeenglish. ru/Textveihman. htm)): v Правило гласит, что при персонификации кораблей и других транспортных средств вместо существительного употребляется личное местоимение she. НО: если транспортное средство принадлежит женщине, она говорит о нем he. v Существительные, заимствованные из латинского языка и образующие множественное число при помощи суффикса -а, продолжают переосмысляться как стоящие в единственном числе. Например: The biased programmes and press reports that the media has produced. v Существительное money может использоваться во множественном числе в значении "суммы денег". Например: Reporting of monies in by every Scottish, Welsh and district committee member, . . v Существительные understanding и knowledge могут принимать форму множественного числа, когда они выступают в качестве членов предложения, однородных с существительными во множественном числе. Например: Her techniques of encouraging wholesome motivation for mastery of critical skills, habits, understandings, knowledges, and attitudes, . . . are. . . rather eccentric. v Субстантивированные причастия-неологизмы: retireds, old-fashioneds, illustrateds, unwanteds, coloureds, young marrieds. Например: It's a comedy by a new playwright, about young marrieds in Greenwich Village.

The Category of Case (1) – expresses the relation of a word to another word in the wordgroup or sentence & correlates with the objective category of possession. Binary privative grammatical opposition: Common Case vs. Possessive / Genitive Case (no definite semantics) 1) Possessive Genitive: a) inorganic possession: Mary’s room – The room belongs to Mary; b) organic possession (a part of a whole): Mary’s busy hands – busy hands are part of Mary; 2) Subjective Genitive: The doctor’s arrival – The doctor has arrived; 3) Objective Genitive: The champion’s defeat – The champion was defeated; 4) Adverbial Genitive: two hours’ work – X worked for two hours; yesterday’s paper – the paper published yesterday; 5) Equation Genitive: a mile’s distance – the distance is a mile; 6) Genitive of destination: children’s books – books for children; 7) Genitive of dispensed qualification: some characteristic is given by the genitive noun to the head-noun: a girl's voice – a voice characteristic of a girl.

The Category of Case (2) “The theory of positional cases” (J. Nesfield, M. Deutchbein, M. Bryant) – based on the patterns of classical Latin grammar IDEA: the unchangeable forms of the noun are differentiated as different cases by the functional positions occupied by the noun in the sentence: Nominative case (subject): Rain falls. Inflexional genitive case (attribute): London’s population grew twice. Dative case (indirect object): I gave John a penny. Accusative case (direct object): I gave John a penny. Vocative case (address): Are you coming, my friend? CRITICISM: theory presents an obvious confusion of the morphological characteristics of the noun and its functional (syntactic) features. The grammatical meanings of the case forms in inflectional languages in English are expressed by other means – syntactic positions, or word-order.

The Category of Case (3) “The theory of prepositional cases” (G. Curme ) – also follows Latin-oriented, prescriptive grammar traditions. IDEA: combinations of nouns with prepositions in certain collocations should be understood as morphological caseforms. The system of cases in English comprises the regular inflectional case (the genitive), “positional cases”, and “prepositional cases”: Common case: ? ? ? : Rain falls. Genitive case: of + N: The population of London grew twice. + Inflexional genitive case: London’s population grew twice. Dative case: to + N; for + N: I gave my papers to John. Instrumental case: with + N: I opened the door with a key. CRITICISM: Syntactical and morphological characteristics of the noun are confused. If we are consistent, each prepositional phrase should be considered as a separate case form and their number will be almost infinite (B. Ilyish).

The Category of Case (4) “The theory of limited case” (H. Sweet, O. Jespersen, A. Smirnitsky, L. Barchudarov) – the most widely accepted theory. IDEA: The category of case is expressed by the opposition of two forms: “the genitive case” (the strong, featured member marked by the postpositional element ‘-s’ in Sg. and an apostrophe in Pl. ) + “the common case” (the weak, unfeatured member of the opposition). The category of case is limited lexically, as it is restricted mostly to the use with animate nouns. The category of case is limited syntactically, as the genitive case form of the noun is used only as an attribute. The category of case is limited positionally, as it is used predominantly in preposition to the word it modifies (except for “double genitive”: this idea of Tom’s).

The Category of Case (5) “The theory of the possessive postposition” (G. N. Vorontsova, A. M. Mukhin) IDEA: the category of case is completely lost by the noun in the course of its historical development. The inflectional genitive case form is a combination of the noun with a postposition denoting possession. REASONING: ü the postpositional element -‘s is used not only with words, but also with word-combinations and even sentences: his daughter Mary’s arrival, the man I saw yesterday’s face; ü it may be used with no noun at all, but with a pronoun: somebody else’s car; ü the meaning of possession is rendered by prepositional ofphrases: this man’s daughter – the daughter of this man. CRITICISM: the -`s form is systemically contrasted against the unmarked form of N– we can’t ignore the totality of opposition!!

The Category of Article Determination (1) – determines the relations of the referent of the noun to the other referents of the same class. The article is a determiner of such a general nature, that it has become a grammatical means of determination in ME. Problematic issues: I. Grammatical status of article 1) Article is a separate part of speech – a pronoun (indefinite, demonstrative) or a pronominal adjective. 2)Article is a functional word, an auxiliary element within analytical forms of nouns (B. A. Ilyish) the morphological category of definiteness / indefiniteness. 3)Article is a half-notional, determining word (M. Y. Blokh). II. The number of articles in ME 1) 2 articles: the definite and the indefinite article 2) 3 articles: the definite and the indefinite article + the zero article (denotes extreme generalization)

The Category of Article Determination (2) M. Y. Blokh: Article determination in English is formed by two oppositions organized hierarchically: 1) Identification (+) THE 2) vs. Relative vs. generalization (+) (classification) A(N) / Ø 1 Non-identification (-) (generalization) Absolute generalization (-) (abstraction) Ø 2

The Category of Article Determination (3) THE expresses the identification or individualization of the referent of the noun. Functions: v individualizing (limiting): The poetry of earth is never dead; v generic: The beautiful always moved him; v thematic anaphorical: A lady in a velvet jacket was sitting on the bench. He recognized the lady; v correlative: The more we study the more we know. A(N) expresses classifying generalization of the referent. Functions: v classifying: It is a table; v descriptive: He saw an Italy of romantic ruins; v generalizing: A young and presentable female always attracted him; v rhematic cataphorical: A lady in a velvet jacket was sitting on the bench.

The Category of Article Determination (4) Ø expresses absolute generalization, abstraction of the referent denoted by the noun: v before a countable N in Sg. – the meaning of absolute generalization: Language is a means of communication; v before an uncountable N – the meaning of relative or absolute generalization: 1) Coffee stimulates the function of the heart; 2) Coffee or tea, please; v before a countable N in Pl. – relative generalization: Stars, planets and comets are different celestial bodies; + absolute generalization: Wars should be eliminated. The meaningful absence of the article (Ø) should be distinguished from such contexts as telegrams, titles and headlines, various notices; also from fixed expressions: to be in debt, at first sight, to be at a loss, on the whole, to take the trouble, etc.

The Category of Article Determination (5) Oppositional Reduction of Article Determination: 1) with abstract nouns and names of materials all THREE articles can be used: Last night I heard Carmen and enjoyed the music (restricting function). The critic who has not a practical knowledge of technique is seldom able to say anything on the subject (aspective function). The last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face (classifying function). 2) with countable nouns in Sg. all THREE articles can have the generic function: The nightingale is a singing bird (the whole class of objects). A nightingale is a singing bird (is preferable if a special situation is meant – An elephant is dangerous when wounded). But when ambiguity arises: Man is now conquering outer space. Nightingale is a singing bird.

KEY TERMS ü ü ü Nomination Gender Upper & lower opposition Stylistic gender transposition Number Absolute Singular & Absolute Plural Case Functional types of the genitive Article Zero article Absolute and relative generalization The cannon ball problem