4. The noun. Its semantic, morphological and syntactical characteristics.

The noun is the central lexical unit of language. It is the main nominative unit of speech. As any other part of speech, the noun can be characterised by three criteria: semantic (the meaning), morphological (the form and grammatical catrgories) and syntactical (functions, distribution).

Semantic features of the noun. The noun possesses the grammatical meaning of thingness, substantiality. Morphological features of the noun. In accordance with the morphological structure of the stems all nouns can be classified into: simple, derived ( stem + affix, affix + stem –thingness); compound ( stem+ stem – armchair ) and composite ( the Hague ).

Nouns have the category of number (singular and plural), though some individual nouns may lack either a singular or a plural form. They also have the category of case (common and possesive). Some scholars admit the existence of the category of gender Syntactic features of the noun. The noun can be used in the sentence in all syntactic functions but predicate. Function in the sentence. A noun may be the subject or or an object, an attribute, and an adverbial modifier. It can also make part of each of these when preceded by a preposition.

A noun combines with a preceding adjective (big house), or occasionally with a following adjective (secrets unrevealed), with a preceding noun in either the common case (chocolate bar) or the genitive case (mother’s face), with a verb following it (children play) or preceding it (play games). Occasionally a noun may combine with a following or a preceding adverb (the guy outside; the then president). It also combines with prepositions (in a house; house of rest). It is typical of a noun to be preceded by the definite or indefinite article (the room, a room).

5. Subclasses.

As a part of speech, the noun is also characterized by a set of formal features determining its specific status in the lexical paradigm of nomination. It has its word-building distinctions, including typical suffixes, compound stem models, conversion patterns. It discriminates the grammatical categories of gender, number, case, article determination, which will be analyzed below. The cited formal features taken together are relevant for the division of nouns into several subclasses, which are identified by means of explicit classification criteria. The most general and rigorously delimited subclasses of nouns are grouped into four oppositional pairs.

The first noun at subclass opposition differentiates proper and common nouns. The foundation of this division is "type of nomination". The second subclass opposition differentiates animate and inanimate nouns on the basis of "form of existence". The third subclass opposition differentiates human and nonhuman nouns on the basis of "personal quality". The fourth subclass opposition differentiates countable and uncountable nouns on the basis of "quantitative structure".

Somewhat less explicitly and rigorously realized is the division of English nouns into concrete and abstract.

The order in which the subclasses are presented is chosen by convention, not by categorially relevant features: each subclass correlation is reflected on the whole of the noun system; this means that the given set of eight subclasses cannot be structured hierarchically in any linguistically consistent sense. Consider the following examples: There were three Marys’ in our company. The cattle have been driven out into the pastures.

The noun Mary used in the first of the above sentences is at one and the same time "proper" (first subclass division), "animate" (second subclass division), "human" (third subclass division), "countable" (fourth subclass division). The noun cattle used in the second sentence is at one and the same time "common" (first subclass division), "animate" (second subclass division), "nonhuman" (third subclass division), "uncountable" (fourth subclass division).

The subclass differentiation of nouns constitutes a foundation for their selectional syntagmatic combinability both among themselves and with other parts of speech. In the selectional aspect of combinability, the subclass features form the corresponding selectional bases.

In particular, the inanimate selectional base of combinability can be pointed out between the noun subject and the verb predicate in the following sentence: The sandstone was crumbling. (Not: *The horse was crumbling.)

The animate selectional base is revealed between the noun subject and the verb in the following sentence: The poor creature was laming. (Not: *The tree was laming.)

The human selectional base underlies the connection between the nouns in the following combination: John's love of music (not: *the cat's love of music).

The phenomenon of subclass selection is intensely analysed as part of current linguistic research work.