Seminar 2 Topic 3 Parts of speech Grammatical categories of the noun

Individual tasks: Make reports on the following questions

1. The category of number:

Report 1 Khaimovich, Rogovskaya. 54-59;

Report 2 Ilyish Chapter 3 – p 36-41

2. The category of case:

Report 3: Воронцова Г.Н. с. 168-183 Учебник на кафедре

Report 4: M.Y. Blokh Chapter 8, p62-74 (published in 1983).

3. The category of gender:

Report 5: Blokh, Chapter 6 p. 53-57

4. The category of article determination

Report 6: Blokh Chapter 9 p. 74-85

To be done by all the students

Study the information and do the exercises

1. Noun as part of speech.

The noun as a part of speech has the categorial meaning of "sub­stance". The semantic properties of the noun determine its syn­tactic properties: the primary substantive functions of the noun are those of the subject and the object. Its other functions are predica­tive, attributive and adverbial. The syntactic properties of the noun are also revealed in its spe­cial types of combinability. In particular, the noun is characterized by the prepositional combinability with another noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb; by the casal combinability which co-exists with its prepositional combinability with another noun; by the contact combinability with another noun.

As a part of speech the noun has also a set of formal features. Thus, it is characterized by specific word-building patterns having typical suffixes, compound stem models, conversion patterns. In many languages the noun has four grammatical categories: the catego­ries of gender, number, case, and article determination.

1. Category of Gender

The problem of gender in English is being vigorously disputed. Linguistic scholars as a rule deny the existence of gender in English as a grammatical category and stress its purely semantic character. The actual gender distinctions of nouns are not denied by anyone; what is disputable is the character of the gender classification: whether it is purely semantic or semantico-grammatical.

In fact, the category of gender in English is expressed with the help of the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pro­nouns of the third person. The third person pronouns being specific and obligatory classifiers of nouns, English gender distinctions dis­play their grammatical nature.

The category of gender is based on two hierarchically arranged oppositions: the upper opposition is general, it functions in the whole set of nouns; the lower opposition is partial, it functions in the subset of person nouns only. As a result of the double oppositional correla­tion, in Modern English a specific system of three genders arises: the neuter, the masculine, and the feminine genders.

In English there are many person nouns capable of expressing both feminine and masculine genders by way of the pronominal cor­relation. These nouns comprise a group of the so-called "common gender" nouns, e.g.: "person", "friend", etc.

In the plural all the gender distinctions are neutralized but they are rendered obliquely through the correlation with the singular.

Alongside of the grammatical (or lexico-grammatical) gender dis­tinctions, English nouns can show the sex of their referents also lexi­cally with the help of special lexical markers, e.g.: bull-calf, cow-calf, cock-sparrow - hen-sparrow, he-bear - she-bear, etc. or through suffix-derivation: sultan- sultana, lion- lioness, etc. The category of gender can undergo the process of oppositional reduction. It can be easily neutralized (with the group of "common nouns) and transponized (the process of "personification"). The English gender differs much from the Russian gender: the English gender has a semantic character, while the gender in Russian is partially semantic (Russian animate nouns have semantic gender distinctions), and partially formal.