Lecture 7 The Noun. The Grammatical Category of Case

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. This category is expressed in English by the opposition of the form in - s [z, s, Iz], usually called the possessive case, or more traditionally, the genitive case, to the featured form of the noun, usually called the common case. The apostrophized -s serves to distinguish in writing the singular noun in the genitive case from the plural noun in the common case. E.g.: the man’s duty, the President’s decision, Max’s letter. The genitive of the bulk of plural nouns remains phonetically unexpressed: the few exceptions concern only some of the irregular plurals: men’s duties, women’s dresses.

From the theoretical point of view the grammatical category of case presents some problem in connection with which the following four special views were advanced at various times.

t. The first view may be called the “theory of positional cases”. This theory is directly connected with the old grammatical tradition and its traces can be seen in many contemporary text-books for school in the English-speaking countries. This view was developed in the works of J.C.Nesfield, M.Deutschbein, M.Bryant and other scholar.

In accord with the theory of positional cases,The unchangeable forms of the noun are differentiated as different cases by virtue of the functional positions

occupied by the noun in the sentence. Thus, the English noun, on the analogy of classical Latin grammar, would distinguish, besides the inflexional genitive case, also the non-inflexional, purely positional cases: nominative, vocative, dative, and accusative. For example:

The nominative case (subject to a verb): Rain falls.

The vocative case (address): Are you coming, mv friend?

The dative case (indirect object): / gave John a penny.

The accusative case (direct object, and also prepositional object): The man killed a rat. The earth is moistened by rain.

The drawback of this theory is quite obvious. It substitutes the functional characteristics of the part of the sentence for the morphological features of the word class. iVloreover, the case form, by definition, is the variable morphological form of the noun which is characterized by presence or absence of a particular categorial feature. As for as the functional meanings rendered by cases they can be expressed in language by other grammatical means, in particular, by word- order.

2. The sccond view may be called "the theory of prepositional cases”. Like the theory of positional cases, it is also connected with the old school grammar teaching and was advanced as a logical supplement to the positional view of the case. In accord with the prepositional theory combinations of nouns with prepositions should be understood as morphological case forms. To these belong first of all the dative case (to + Noun, for + Noun) and the genitive case (of + Noun). These prepositions, according to G.Curme, are “inflexional prepositions”, i.e. grammatical elements equivalent to case-forms.

The prepositional theory, though somewhat better grounded, nevertheless was strictly criticized by scholars, for example, professor llish. First of all, the categorial status of the preposition as a structural independent part of speech is completely neglected within this theory. Second, in accord with the cited theory, all the other prepositional phrases must be regarded as “analytical cases”. And as a result of such an illogical redundancy in terminology this approach would be fruitful neither to the linguistic theory nor to the practical usage.

2. The third view of the English noun case recognizes a limited inflexional system of two cases in English, one of them featured and the other one unfeatured. This view may be called the “limited case theory”.

The limited case theory is at present most broadly accepted among linguists both in this country and abroad. It was formulated by such scholars as

8. Sweet, O.Jespersen and has since been radically developed by the Soviet scholars A.I.Smimitsky, L.S.Barkhudarov and others. The limited case theory in its modem representation is based on the oppositional approach. The functional mark -'s differentiates the two case forms: the possessive or genitive form as the strong member of the categorial opposition and the common or “non-genitive” form as the weak member of the categorial opposition.

4. We have considered the three theories which, if at basically different angles, proceed from the assumption that the English noun does distinguish the grammatical category of case. However, there exists another view of the problems of the English noun cases, which states that the English noun has completely lost the category of case in the course of its historical development. The form of the so-called genitive case is treated within this approach as a combination of a noun with a postposition. This view, advanced in an explicit form by G.N.Vorontsova, may be called the “theory of the possessive postposition".

This theory also has some grounds. First, the postpositional element - s is but loosely connected with the noun, which finds the clearest expression in its use not only with single nouns, but also with whole word-groups of various status. For example, somebody else’s daughter, the man who addressed to me a minute ago’s head. Second, there is an indisputable parallelism of functions between the possessive postpositional constructions and the prepositional constructions. For example, ... —> the daughter of somebody else, ......-Ht the head of the man who

addressed to me a minute ago. The cited reasonings are by all means of a rational character being based on a careful observation of the lingual data. But we can't but admit the systematic character of - 's which is in favor of the limited case theory. On the other hand, the broader phrasal uses of the postpositional -'s (that amount to not more than only 4% of its total textual occurrences) display a clearly expressed stylistic coloring which proves their transpositional nature. That's why it is logical to recognize two structural variants of the genitive: the word-genitive and the phrase-genitive.

The -'s sign from the point of view of its segmental status differs from ordinary functional words. It is morpheme-like by its phonetical properties; it is strictly postpositional unlike the prepositions; it is semantically by far a more bound element than a preposition.

Within the genera) functional semantics, the English genitive expresses a wide range of relational meanings which may be summarize into the following basic semantic types of the genitive:

L The “genitive of possessor” denotes an “inorganic” possession:

Christine’s living-room; the assistant manager’s desk. The diagnostic test for the genitive of possessor is its transformation into a construction that explicitly expresses the idea of belonging. E.g.: Christine’s living-room —*■ the living-room belongs to Christin.

2. The “genitive of integer” denotes an “organic” possession: Jane’s

busy hands, Patrick’s voice. The diagnostic test for the genitive of integer exposes the relations of a whole to a part. E.g.: ... —> the busy hands as part of Jane.

A subtype of the integer genitive expresses a particular qualification received by the referent: Mr. Dodson’s vanity, the computer’s reliability. This subtype may be called the “genitive of received qualification”.

2. The "genitive of agent” renders an activity or some broader processual relation: the man’s arrival, Peter's insistence, Campbell’s gaze. Diagnostic test for the genitive of agent is a sentence with the referent of the genitive as its subject. E.g.: ... —* the man arrives, ... -^ Peter insists, Campbell gazes.

A subtype of the agent genitive expresses the author, or the producer of the referent of the head-noun. It receives the name of the ‘‘genitive of author”: John Galsworthy’s “A Man of Property”.

2. The “genitive of patient” expresses the recipient of the action denoted by the head-noun: the champion’s sensational defeat, Erick’s final expulsion, the Titanic’s tragedy. Diagnostic test for the genitive of patient is a passive construction with the referent of the genitive as its subject. E.g.: ... —> the champion is defeated; ... —> Erick is expelled.

3. The “genitive of destination” denotes the destination or function of the referent of the head-noun: women’s footwear, children’s verses, a fishers' tent. Diagnostic test provides for destination. E.g.: ... —» footwear for women, ... -** verses for children.

4. The “genitive of adverbial” denotes adverbial factors relating to the referent of the head-noun: the evening’s newspaper, yesterday’s encounter, Moscow’s talks. Diagnostic test is a transformation with a referent of the genitive in the function of adverbial. E.g.: ... —* the newspaper issued in the evening, ... —* talks that were held in Moscow.

5. The “genitive of quantity ” denotes the measure or quantity relating

to the referent of the head-noun: three miles’ distance, an hour’s delay, a hundred tons’ load. Diagnostic test is a transformation with such key-words as distance, time, weight. E.g.: » a distance the measure of which is three miles, ... - * a

time lasting for an hour.

The given survey of the semantic types of the genitive is by no means exhaustive and is open both to subtype specifications and intertype generalizations.

Lecture 8

The Noun. The Grammatical 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 suffixal 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 gender” nouns) and transponized (the process of “personification”).

The English gender differs much from the Russian gender: the English gender has a semantic character (oppositionally, i.e. grammatically expressed), while the gender in Russian is partially semantic (Russian animate nouns have semantic gender distinctions), and partially formal.