chapter 4 - The Noun
What is noun and by which criteria it is characterised?
The noun is the central lexical unite of language and it is characterised by three criteria: semantic (the meaning), morphological (the form and grammatical categories) and syntactical (functions, distributions)
speak about the semantic features of the noun
The noun posssesses the grammatical meaning of thingness, substantiallity. According to different principles of classifiaction nouns fall into several subclasses: 1.proper and common (according to the type of nomination) 2.animate and innanimate (according to the form of existance) 3.countable and uncountable (according to their quantitive structure
speak about the morphological features of the noun
In accordance with the morphological structure of the stems all nouns can be classified into: simple, dervided, compound and composition (the Hague). The noun has morphological categories of number and case
speak about the syntacitc features of the noun
The noun can be used in the sentence in all syntactic functions but predicate. Noun can go into right-hand and left-hand connections with practically all parts of speech. That's why practically all parts of speech but the verb can act as noun determiners. However, the most common noun determiners are considered to be articles, pronouns, numerals, adjectives and noun themselves in the common case and genative case.
speak about the grammatical category of number of noun
Noun has two number: singular and plural.
Singular number is conveyed by the basic form i.e. by the form which has no endings and which coincides with the stem.
The plural number is graphycally conveyed by the -s formant that materializes itself as a number of allomorphs /s/ /z/ /iz/ depending on the character of the final sound of the stem: dog-dogs, book-books, class - classes.
However, there are other, unprodactive means of forming the plural form - children, feet, mice, phenomena.
and there are some nouns that don't possess the formal features of either plural or singular number (sheep, deer, news, swine)
the singular number is compulsory for all nouns, except pluralia tantum. The reason for this fact is that the singular number is capable of conveying not only the availability of quantity but also the absence of quantitive measurements for uncountables.
The category of number in English is restricted in its realization because of the dependent implicit grammatical meaning of countableness and uncountableness. The number category is realized only within subclass of countable nouns.
The grammaticall meaning of number may not coincide with the notional quantity: the noun in the singular doesn't necessarily denote one object while the plural form may be used to denote one object consisting of several parts.
the singular form may denote: oneness (cat), generalization (the cat is a domestic animal), uncountabliness (milk)
the plural form may denote: the existance of several objects (cats), the inner discreteness (pluralia tantum- jeans)
so noun may subdivided into three groups: discreteness/indiscreteness - cat-cats pluralia tantum and singularia tantum (abstract noun, material, collective)
speak about the grammatical category of case of noun
Case is the immanent 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. In modern English, there are, two case -Genetive (possessive) case and common case.
Most scholars usually point to the fact that genetive case is mainly used with the nouns of person, but it may be occasionally used with the nouns denoting lifeless things, namely: periods of time, distance, price. It may also occur, though seldom, with the nouns which are situationally definite. (The car's front door was open)
speak about the grammatical category of gender of noun
It is doubtful whether grammatical category of gender exists in MnE or not. According to some language analysts, nouns have no category of gender. The words husband and wife don't show any difference in their forms due to peculiarities of their lexical meaning. The difference such noun as actor - actrees is a purely lexical one and at the same time gender-forming suffix -ess isn't widely used. However, The existence of the category of gender in MnE csn be proved by the correlation of nouns with personal pronouns of the third person. Accordingly, there are three genders in English: the neuter, masculine and feminine.