The Grammatical Category of Number

A grammatical category is a paradigm based on some linguistic meaning that is expressed by the opposition of mutually exclusive forms. The mutually exclusive, or opposed, forms must possess two types of features: common and distinctive. Consider, for example, the nouns a book and books. Both forms denote discrete, or individualized, entities: a book means 'one book' while books mean 'one book + one book + one book...'.They are : differentiated by the number. A book refers to one individual book, while books refers to more than one - 'oneness vs. non-oneness'. The category of number is, then, the opposition of the plural and singular :forms of the noun. The plural form is the marked member of the opposition while the singular form is the unmarked one. The marked member of an opposition must have a marker in the surface structure. The markers of plurality are the:

1) inflections: - (e)s [-z, -s, -iz] - e.g. dog - dogs, clock - clocks, box -boxes. The singular form has no material marker, it has a 'zero'inflection.

The other, non-productive ways of marking plurality are:

2) vowel mutation in some words (man - men, woman - women,

foot -feet, mouse - mice);

3) the use of the archaic inflection: -(e)n (ox - oxen, child - children, brother - brethren).

Some words borrowed from Latin and Greek preserve their classical plural forms (formula - formulae, phenomenon - phenomena, crisis - crises, criterion - criteria, etc.). There is an increasing tendency for regular -s plurals to alternate with the classical plurals, e.g. memorandum - memoranda/ memorandums; vertebra - vertebrae / vertebras; vortex - vortices/vortexes; criterion - criteria/criterions; bureau - bureaux/ bureaus; cactus - cacti/cactuses; index - indices/indexes; formula -formulae formulas, antenna - antennae / antennas, etc.

The tendency to use the classical plural form is still strong in the language of science. The English form is preferred in fiction and spoken English. In some cases the plural form of the noun is homonymous (i.e. identical in form) with the singular form (sheep -sheep; deer - deer; swine - swine; trout - trout; code - code; pike - pike; salmon - salmon; haddock - haddock; mackerel - mackerel; carp - carp; perch - perch; grouse - grouse; wildfowl - wildfowl; species - species; series -series; craft - craft; aircraft - aircraft).

The category of number is based on countable nouns, i.e. nouns having numeric (discrete) structure. Uncountable nouns have no category of number, for they have quantitative (indiscrete) structure. Two classes of uncountables can be distinguished: singularia tantum (only singular) and pluralia tantum (only plural). The singularia tantum is a kind of subclass of the category of number. They are forms of absolute singular comparable to the 'common' singular of countable nouns.

The absolute singular is characteristic of the names of abstract notions (love, courage, beauty, cruelty, etc.), the names of the branches of professional activity (philology, linguistics, mathematics, pragmatics, etc.), the names of materials (steel, iron, water, gas), the names of collective inanimate objects (foliage, fruit, furniture), the names of some diseases (measles, mumps).

Some uncountables can be used in both singular and plural. When used so, they mean either different sorts of materials or a separate aspect, or a manifestation of the properties denoted by the uncountable noun. Consider:

1. She shouted with joy vs. It was a joy to see her again. Who can resist the joys of spring?

2. Georgian tea is of high quality vs. This is a Georgian tea. I am fond of Georgian tea. Our Georgian teas are especially good.

We can actualize, or restrict, uncountable nouns by combining them with words that express discreteness: a bit, a piece, an item, a sort of, etc.

e.g. He took some paper and a few bits of wood and soon made afire.

Are there any interesting items of news in the paper this morning?

It will be noted that the absolute singular can also be used with countable nouns, i.e. countables can be turned into uncountables, e.g.:

The refugees needed shelter. The baby does not like apple.

Man is mortal. We had chicken for lunch.

As for the absolute plural, it is characteristic of uncountable nouns which denote objects consisting of two halves (trousers, jeans, scissors, tongs, spectacles, etc.), nouns expressing some sort of collective meaning (outskirts, clothes, earnings, contents, police, cattle, poultry, etc.). Similar to absolute singulars, they can be actualized (individuated) by using words showing discreteness.

e.g. He bought a pair (two pairs) of trousers.

Several cases of measles were reported.

Special mention should be made of absolute, non-distributive plurals expressed by the so-called collective nouns. Consider:

This family is friendly, vs. This family are early risers.

The common, or correlative, plural of the same noun can be illustrated by the following:

Almost every family in the village has a man in the army. vs. There are twenty families in the village.

The absolute singular and the absolute plural exhibit a linguistic process called oppositional reduction: the absolute singular means that its plural counterpart has been neutralized, and the absolute plural means that its singular counterpart has been neutralized.

Languages may differ with respect to the count/non-count distinction: what is countable in one language may be uncountable in another.