E.A. Dolgina English Articles and their Role in the Cognitive Process of Categorization

The present paper deals with the English articles in relation to categorization understood as the interaction of a specific cognitive process and its linguistic representation in the category of noun. Its aim and purpose is to prove that within this grammatical division the system of English articles is used for the sake of a furher categorization and should be considered a manifestation of a specific logical-grammatical category of noun.

The task poses most challenging questions, such as the status of the article as well as the status of the “article + noun” complex. As is well-known, the subject provoked not a little controversy and there is ongoing debate about whether an article is a morpheme or a word in its own right. Besides, there is a third view, which shows a possibility of reconciliation and finding a solution between the two extremes.

The first theory is traceable to early English grammars in which the articles were described as a sort of pronoun or adjective with a lexical meaning of its own. While it does not seem popular with modern English and American linguists, it is being advanced in this country. In support of this theory, its proponents refer mainly to Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky whose views about the semantics of the English articles are the classics of Soviet and Russian linguistics. In particular, the meaning of the definite article is said to be individualization: it shows an object denoted by a noun as a familiar, concrete one which has already been singled out from a set of similar objects. On the contrary, the indefinite article classifies an object, i.e., points to one or any member of the class it belongs to. Finally, the zero article or the meaningful absence of the article is taken into consideration because of its functional correlation with the other two forms, its meaning being generalization or abstraction. [1]

However, even most ardent followers of this theory admit that the zero article in the system is an apparent inconsistency and, therefore, a weak point, for in the absence of a word there can be no lexical meaning.

Some scholars refuse to accept the meanings of classification and individualization traditionally ascribed to the forms of the indefinite and the definite articles respectively as well as the fact that an article determines a noun and suggest an alternative interpretation. In the investigation carried out by N.L. Ogurechnikova, the articles are defined as syncategorematic words meant to convey information about the quantity of the thing-meant, namely about the content of words and word-combinations that make up a syntagm (sense group). The lexical meaning of the definite article is singularity in the sense that the information offered in a syntagm cannot be otherwise interpreted, whereas the indefinite article renders the idea of multiplicity. This means that the information presented in a syntagm allows various interpretations and gives the listener a choice. In other words, the article is viewed as a marker of a syntagm rather than a separate noun. [2]

The very idea suggested in the research under discussion seems worthwhile, as the articles can be viewed as a manifestation of the conceptual category of quantity. Moreover, had the semiotic nature of the article been accepted, it would be relevant to take into account the zero-form as the expression of maximum amount. On the contrary, any categorial approach is rejected, as it is believed that both articles should be taken as “a semantic contrast in speech”. [3]

From what has been said one may conclude that when pointing to or indicating a way of interpretation of a given text, the articles should have a grammatical meaning and perform purely semiotic functions. Yet the author insists on the lexical meaning, which is internally inconsistent.

As has already been mentioned, the second theory on the article suggests its morphemic status. On the one hand, it is a feasible approach, for the “article + noun” complex is regarded as a grammatical form of a noun and allows the zero-form into the system. [4] On the other hand, in view of the structural separability of both a and the, it can hardly be considered relevant. However popular in modern Anglo-American linguistics this view might be, it is not to be found in comprehensive and most authoritative grammar books.

It should be pointed out that Russian linguists who share the view are generally not so categorical. In particular, B.A. Ilyish places the article between a word and a morpheme [5], while M.Y. Blokh defines its position between a morpheme and a component of an analytical form. [6]

This observation actually introduces a third view suggesting that the article is a word whose lexical meaning is significantly weakened. It is used in the language specifically as a determiner of a noun to indicate its meaning. In this respect it is most inconsistent to disregard the role of the zero article, as it reveals a special content in a noun. [7] In other words, the nature of the articles proves to be semiotic.

It has become popular, therefore, in recent years to discuss the English articles as part of deixis, which can be traced to O.Jespersen and R.Jacobson. [8] The articles are said to grammatically express the conceptual category of definiteness-indefiniteness. In particular, according to S.G. Akhmetova and E.V.Tymchuk who have worked out the theory, the article is a deictic word or a sign-index (shifter) which relates an utterance with reality, namely the speaker, the listener as well as time and place. [9] It is suggested, however, that the semiotic functions of the articles can only be revealed in the so called free deictic variation which is entirely determined by the speaker’s/writer’s intention, i.e. when he/she feels free to individualize, classify, or generalize about the thing-meant denoted by a noun. On the contrary, as part of morpho-syntactically and lexical-phraseologically bound uses, the articles are said to be signs-symbols which appear to have lexical meanings of their own, such as definiteness or indefiniteness. [10] This is rather contradictory, to say nothing of the fact that the articles appear to be losing the most significant properties of signs, such as disembodiment, arbitrariness and singularity. [11]

It is much more common, however, to regard the articles as a manifestation of a grammatical category of noun, on a par with the categories of case and number. Apart from the opposition of definiteness and indefiniteness, quite a number of terms have been suggested to refer to it: a category of the general and the particular [12], a category of representation [13], a category of determination [14].

Although the categorial approach is undoubtedly useful, so far, the results have not been proved encouraging. In fact, most theories suffer the disadvantage that they provide no marked semantic contrast among the categorial forms of the articles as well as no exact and convincing description of their categorial meaning. In addition, the article system is often incomplete, for the zero article is missing. Therefore, this calls for a thorough investigation to be conducted along the same lines, which, however, would overcome the disadvantages and give the learners of English a clue to the understanding of the linguistic phenomenon under consideration.

This is where a cognitive approach comes in, for it is indispensable to take into consideration the process of categorization which is determined by human capacity for abstraction and specification resulting in the formation of nouns, thus, in the long run regulating the process of cognizance. [15] It is the opposition and correlation of abstraction and specification that constitutes a specific category of article within this part of speech. As has already been shown, it is represented by the 3 categorial forms, such as the definite, the indefinite and the zero article (the meaningful absence of the article). It is their categorial meanings that should be specified, though they are based on individualization, classification, and abstraction. These three are viewed as thought processes resulting in a specific meaning of a noun to be expressed by a grammatical form indicated by an article. To define the categorial meaning of each article form one has to reveal the underlying thought mechanisms of individualization, classification and abstraсtion.

Abstraction is a cognitive operation wherein the human mind takes some part of a perception (of an object, event, etc.) in order to use it later in its activity. [16] In interaction with generalization, another cognitive operation which keeps ideas distant from objects, abstraction is invariably based on opposition or contrast and expressed by nouns with the zero article, e.g.:

Distance is less an affair of space than time. (S.Maugham)

He was never tormented by doubt of his own motives. Right and wrong stood for him as immutable as the two poles. He had never wandered in that twilight country where the nuances of evil and good cast their perplexing shadows. He had great determination and infinite patience. He was kind without being sentimental and meticulous for detail without losing sight of the whole. Looking at his career, no one could have called him brilliant. But if he was incapable of high intelligence he was equally incapable of stupidity. (P.D. James)

The above examples demonstrate the process of abstraction resulted in permanently abstract nouns. However, it can be observed in nouns which are most commonly used to refer to people or things:

Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live. (The Bible)

‘Bless you, George,’ said Miss Brimly, woman enough to believe him. (J. Le Carre)

The woman in love attracts: lovers come in shoals or not at all. Eleonor Darcy is intelligent, of course, and intelligence in a woman does turn some men on, though not many. She thought that Hugo was no beauty, woman agreed, but he had charm. (F. Weldon)

In the first case attention is drawn not to gender opposition but to the implicit opposition of the immortal God as supernatural power and mortal human beings. It is the quality of mortality shared by men and women that is being abstracted and generalized and, as result, is to be found as an abstract meaning in the nouns man and woman. So they take the zero articles.

The second use of the word woman comes from a dialogue between a man and a woman. Although gender opposition is retained, this time the category of woman is represented by a specific feminine quality, such as intuition or shrewdness which may be so much surprising to men.

The third illustration seems to support a similar idea, as it is women’s intuition, i.e. their trust in feeling rather than cool reasoning that is given in opposition to intelligence, a quality which is believed to be typical of men.

The adduced examples demonstrate the process of transformation of a concrete name into an abstract one: some quality of a category denoted by a noun is singled out in the mind of the speaker and is placed in opposition to some quality of a different category, expressed by a different name. Other qualities of the category are not taken into account or “suppressed”. [17] For example, such feminine features as appearance, beauty, tenderness, weakness, etc., which may be opposed to men’s strength and brutality have not been pronounced.

Not infrequently, therefore, the results of abstraction based on opposition are to be observed in parallel structures:

Every morning of her life, rain or shine, Violet Aird walked to the village to collect, from Mrs Ishak’s supermarket, two pints of milk, The Times, and any other small groceries and supplies needed for the sustenance of one elderly lady living on her own. (R. Pilcher)

‘I can’t ‘elp that. I been at sea, man and boy, for more than thirty years, and when a chap dies on a British ship he must ‘ave a British funeral. (S. Maugham)

She ordered her fish unfilleted. Delicately and discreetly she parted flesh from bone. (F. Weldon)

The concrete nouns rain/shine stand for the opposition of more abstract categories, such as bad weather and fine weather, the nouns man/boy represent maturity and youth, and, finally, flesh/ bone indicate the opposition of the edible and the inedible.

The thought process of classification is fundamental in all kinds of interaction with the environment, i.e. cognizance as it implies that ideas and objects are recognized and understood. In interaction with generalization it is based on comparison and generally indicated by nouns with the indefinite articles, e.g.:

I have never begun a novel with more misgiving. If I call it a novel it is only because I don’t know what else to call it. I have little story to tell and I end neither with a death nor a marriage. Death ends all things and so is the comprehensive conclusion of a story, but marriage finishes it very properly too and the sophisticated are ill-advised to sneer at what is by convention termed a happy ending. (S. Maugham)

Interestingly, the categories death and marriage are both opposed (generalized) and compared (classified). These two result in the different meanings the nouns acquire in the context, and in the different forms of article. To begin with, the opposition is far from being traditional: normally death is opposed to life, while marriage – to divorce, loneliness, or even to the so called “single blessedness”. Here the abstraction in interation with generalization reveals itself in polarizing the most typical features of the categories, such as grief, sorrow, on the one hand, and joy, happiness, on the other. The opposite feelings are to be experienced by the reader, if at the end of a novel the hero/heroine either dies or marries. When the same categories are compared, the nouns appear to narrow down their meaning to events, i.e. instances of death and marriage and denote two types of an ending to a story – happy and unhappy. Thus, as a result of the cognitive process of classification, a category narrows down to a class within which a comparison is allowed, showing transition from abstraction to specification. Hence the indefinite articles to indicate it.

Like opposition, comparison can also be implicit:

Sorrow came - a gentle sorrow - but not at all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness. Miss Taylor married. It was Miss Taylor's loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding-day of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any continuance. The wedding over, and the bride-people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together, with no prospect of a third to cheer a long evening. Her father composed himself to sleep after dinner, as usual, and she had then only to sit and think of what she had lost. (J. Austen)

The difference in the article determination demonstrates that the category of sorrow narrows down to its variety, which is implicitly compared with a deep sorrow.

As a result of the process of classification, proper names, normally used for individualization, are reclassified into common names, e.g.:

How was she to bear the change? - It was true that her friend was going only half a mile from them; but Emma was aware that great must be the difference between a Mrs. Weston, only half a mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house; and with all her advantages, natural and domestic, she was now in great danger of suffering from intellectual solitude. She dearly loved her father, but he was no companion for her. He could not meet her in conversation, rational or playful. (J. Austen)

In the above extract both names refer to one person - the heroine’s former governess and close friend who got married and moved to her husband’s place. By using the indefinite articles the author seeks to emphasize the difference in the marital status of this character, i.e. her transition from an unmarried woman to a married one.

Individualization or specification is a thought process which manifests itself neither through opposition nor comparison: it involves the thought operation of singling out, its formal sign being the definite article. The operation of singling out can be supported by juxtaposition, which is revealed in the following examples:

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

He spent his life in pursuit of the pleasures of the flesh.

In the first case the categories of spirit and flesh are not opposed, but singled out and juxtaposed as parts which constitute an inseparable whole, a human being, the speaker. In the second sentence the juxtaposition is implied.

When individualization interacts with generalization, it results in generic reference, i.e. the specification of the whole class of people, objects, ideas, etc. It is represented by nouns in the singular:

But Venice, like Oxford, kept the background for romance, and to the true romantic, background was everything, or almost everything. (O.Wilde)

However, much more often individualization is not related to generalization and takes the form of specific reference which can be expressed by both plural and singular nouns with the definite article:

She went down to the old man, still hugging his empty glass, and leaning over him, tenderly cajoled him to come with her. (W.S. Maugham)

To conclude, the “article + noun” complex is a grammatical form of a noun which signals the result of a specific thought operation in the native speaker’s mind and a certain meaning of a noun which, depending on the article form can be abstract, classified, or individualized. The articles, then, are means of expressing the logical-grammatical category of nouns, namely the category of abstraction-specification, their functions being purely semiotic. The zero article (the meaningful absence of the article) indicates the categorial meaning of opposition, the categorial meaning of the indefinite article is comparison, and finally, the categorial meaning of the definite article is singling out (juxtaposition)

The complex should be considered analytical, for it allows insertion of other words between its components, such as adjectives. Besides, an article may be used only once before the first noun in a set and be omitted before the others. [18]