5. Noun, its categories

1. N – substance or thingness. The main nom-ve part ofsp & the central n-ve lexemic unit.

2. 5 Functions: subject, object, pred-ve, attr, adv mod. V-cy: N, V, adj, adv, numeral.

Con-ted with articles – ‘cause of the compare-ve scarcity of morph dist-ns, only art..

3. Accto the morphological composition:

1. Simple (suf,pref: table, room) 2.Derivative Ns(prd-ve:er,ness,ist;un:hood dom

3. Compound (2 or > stems: appletree, snowball, dining-room)

4. The most general subclasses of Ns are grouped into 4 oppositional pairs:

1) Proper – common Ns. PrN – capital letter, name of a specific pers/place/thing, f.e.,

days of the week, months, religions, organs-ns. CN – p/p/t in general.

2) Animate – inanimate Ns (basis – form of existence);

3) Human – non-human Ns (basis – personal quality);

4) Countable – uncountable – collective Ns (non-c=mass;coll-can count indiv,but whole

+ 5) Concrete – abstract Ns (C – can perceive thru your senses; abs – can’t perceive ~)

5. The category of Number. sg (weak) – pl. N-propositional content. Problems:

1. 3 houses (3 separate objs) = 3 hours (period of time, measured by a certain unit)

2. waters of the Atlantic; a daughter of snows. Usually pl. Still, we can’t say 3~s.

3. pl can develop a completely new mng: colours (=banner); customs

Number in Eng – simple. Out of 5 OE ways only 1 survived (-as); only few Ns are diff

2 specific types: pluralia tantum (plural only):

• Ns which dnt material objs consisting of 2 halves (scissors, trousers)

• Ns … a more or less indef plurality (environs, dregs)

close to this group – names of sciences (maths, phon, phys); names of diseases

(mumps, rickets) the reason.. V-sg (which is unthinkable in Russia – the UN is..)

singularia tantum (sg only)

1) Ns dnting the mat-l sub-ce (milk, butter) 2) some abstract notions (peace, usefulness)

Some Ns 1) can be pl: wine – wines (several kinds)

Collective: 1) sg, things coll-d together & reg-d as 1 notion: foliage, machinery.

2) sg in form, pl in mng: police, people, gentry. 3) can B pl&sg:family, fleet, crowd

6. The category of Case. (forms of declension; shows the relations in sce).Nom(w)-Pos

1. The theory of positional cases (Nesf, Deutschbein, Bryant) funct-l position of

the N in the sce. 1)Nom (subj);2) Gen (the only inflex-l; 3) Vocative (address)

4) Dat (indir obj); 5) Accus (direct obj)

2. T-ry of prepositional cases (Curme) 2 cases: Dat (to+N,for+N) & Gen (of+N)

BUT: 1) many pr-ns =>cases?? 2) no weak member!!

3. Limited case t-ry. (Sw,Jesp,Smirn,Barkh)–Nom (w) – Poss.most broadly accepted

4. T-ry of the poss-ve postpos-n (Vor-va)–no cases!’s–postp-l el-nt, cB trfmd (’s..of

7. The category of Gender (sex or lack of it) 2 opp-ns:human+(m&fem+) : non-human

James Fernald – 3 Gs: m (all Ns dnting being of male sx); f (~fem s); n (of no sex)

Leech–non-human(non-pers-l)&h(p):masc;fem;dual(profssr);common(bby,chd),coll(pol

Eng wds can be: > morphologically marked for G (actress);

> semantically ~ (boy-girl, king-queen)

> lexically ~ (boyfriend-girlfriend)