3. Number

The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to the singular form of the noun. The marked, i.e. strong member of the opposition is the plural one, having the formal marker – the suffix –(e)s.

The category of number of English nouns is restricted in its realisation by the implicit meaning of Countableness/Uncountableness, which is realised only in the subclass of countable nouns, whereas the uncountable nouns do not have categorial number forms.

The other non-productive way of expressing the number opposition are

• vowel interchange

e.g. man-men, woman-women, tooth-teeth, goose-geese,etc.

• the archaic suffix –en

e.g. ox-oxen, child-children

• individual suffixes used for borrowed nouns

e.g. formula-formulae, phenomenon-phenomena

• synonymous sing/pl forms

e.g. sheep, deer, fish

The most general quantitative characteristics of in­dividual words constitute the lexico-grammatical base for dividing the nounal vocabulary as a whole into countable nouns and uncountable nouns. The un­countable nouns are treated grammatically as either singular or plural. Namely, the singular uncountable nouns are modified by the non-discrete quantifiers much or little, and they take the finite verb in the singular, while the plural uncountable nouns take the finite verb in the plural.

The two subclasses of uncountable nouns are usually re­ferred to, respectively, as singularia tantum (only singular) and pluralia tantum (only plural). In terms of oppositions we may say that in the formation of the two subclasses of uncountable nouns the number opposition is "constantly" (lexically) reduced either to the weak member (singularia tantum) or to the strong member (pluralia tantum).

If we compare many and much we may notice that they differ in the aspects of Quantitiveness with which these elements correlate: many — Numerosity, much — Muchness. There should be certain regularities in the use of many and much in actual speech conditions because the actualialisation of their meanings is predetermined by the appropriate contextual conditions.

The grammatical number is a linguistic representation of the conceptual category of Quantitiveness which reflects, in its turn, the objective category of Quantity. The realisation of the Number category is regulated by the correlation of the grammatical number-forms with the semantic aspects of the conceptual category of Quantitiveness. Quantitiveness comprises different notions of quantity.

Quantitiveness

Quantity

Alongside the number-forms there are in English va­rious lexical, lexico-morphological and lexico-syntactical de­vices expressing Quantitiveness. English being analytical in structure, lexico-syntactical devices of rendering quantitive notions prevail over morphological ones. The class of quan­tifiers is composed of various notional and semi-notional elements which represent lingually different aspects of Quantitiveness.

4. Gender

The category of gender is expressed in English by the correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person, which serve as specific gender classifiers.

The category of gender is strictly oppositional. It is formed by two oppositions related to each other on a hierarchical basis.

One opposition functions in the whole set of nouns, divid­ing them into person (human) nouns and non-person (non-human) nouns. The other opposition functions in the subset of person nouns only, dividing them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns. Thus, the first, general opposition can be referred to as the upper opposition in the category of gen­der, while the second, partial opposition can be referred to as the lower opposition in this category.

As a result of the double oppositional correlation, a spe­cific system of three genders arises, which is somewhat misleadingly represented by the traditional terminology: the neuter (i.e. non-person) gender, the masculine (i.e. masculine person) gender, the feminine (i.e. feminine person) gen­der.

The oppositional structure of the category of gender can be shown schematically.

GENDER

Person Nouns Non-person Nouns

Feminine Nouns Masculine Nouns

A great many person nouns in English are capable of ex­pressing both feminine and masculine person genders by way of the pronominal correlation in question. These are referred to as nouns of the "common gender". Here belong such words as person, parent, friend, cousin, doctor, president, etc.

E.g.: The President of our Medical Society isn't going to be happy about the suggested way of cure. In general she in­sists on quite another kind of treatment in cases like that.

The capability of expressing both genders makes the gen­der distinctions in the nouns of the common gender into a variable category. On the other hand, when there is no special need to indicate the sex of the person referents of these nouns, they are used neutrally as masculine, i.e. they corre­late with the masculine third person pronoun.

In the plural, all the gender distinctions are neutralized in the immediate explicit expression. Alongside of the grammatical (or lexico-grammatical, for that matter) gender distinctions, Eng­lish nouns can show the sex of their referents lexically, either by means of being combined with certain notional words used as sex indicators, or else by suffixal derivation.

Cf.: boy-friend, girl-friend; man-producer, woman-producer; washer-man, washer-woman; landlord, landlady; bull-calf, cow-calf; cock-sparrow, hen-sparrow; he-bear, she-bear; master, mistress; actor, actress; executor, executrix; lion, lioness; sultan, sultana; etc.

Thus, the category of gender in English is inherently semantic, i.e. meaningful as it reflects the actual features of the named objects, besides it is represented in the nounal system as a whole.