I chapter. Name (the noun) as part of speech

1.2. CATEGORY NUMBER OF NAMES

The category of numbers in the English language expresses quantitative relations existing in reality, reflected in the consciousness of the speakers of a given language and having a morphological expression in the corresponding forms of the language.

The category of numbers in modern English is expressed by singular and plural. The singular form is used to designate one subject, the plural - to indicate two or more objects.
It should be noted that in the nominal declension of the Old English language there were at least 25 plural forms with mutation, of which only seven have survived to this day: feet - legs, geese - geese, teeth - teeth, men - men, women - women, lice - lice and mice - mice. The so-called "weak declension" (with the base plural in -n) was common, like the modern English words brethren - brothers, children - children and oxen - oxen. Such a weak plural became even more widespread in the southern dialect of the Middle English language, where the types ti-pa were treen instead of trees — trees and housen instead of houses — at home. If the basis of literary English were this dialect, and not the east-central (i.e. London), then the forms on -en could today be regular plural forms. However, in reality, the most common forms of strong declination of the male genus in -s of the type stan - stanas - stone - stones (cf. modern English stone - stones) prevailed. The noun was inclined according to the "weak" or "strong" model, depending on the type of its original basis.
Nouns in modern English form a plural by adding the ending –s to the singular form, which is pronounced as [z] after voiced consonants and after vowels and as [s] after voiced consonants:
hand - hand - hands
machine - machine - machines
Nouns ending in the singular in the letters s, ss, x, sh, ch, that is, ending in a whistling or hissing sound, form the plural by adding the ending -es to the singular. The ending -es is pronounced like [iz]:
Class class classes
Box box
Nouns ending in the singular in -y with the preceding consonant form the plural by adding the ending -es, with -y changing to i:
city ​​city cities
army - army - armies
If y is before a vowel, then the plural is formed as a general rule by adding -s. In this case, y does not change to i:
day day days
boy - boy - boys
Some nouns do not form the plural by adding the ending -s, but by changing the root vowels:
man - man - men - men
woman - woman - women - women
The noun people is used with the plural: there were many people there, however, when people means the people, the nation, it is used both in the singular and in the plural: The Rus-sian people is invincible - The Russian people are invincible.
A number of nouns does not have a singular form and is used only in the plural (the verb following such nouns should have the plural form): tidings - news, thanks - thanks.
Only the plural uses the noun police.
Considering the category of numbers, it should be said about the features of the use of special particles - articles: a, an, the.
The indefinite article a (an - is put before words beginning with a vowel) comes from the numeral one and means one of many, some, any.
I am a student. I am a student.
This is an apple. This is an apple (one of many).
If the noun in the singular is an indefinite article, then in the plural it is omitted.
This is a book. There are books.
Thus, the indefinite article a (an) can be used only before singular nouns.
The definitive article comes from the demonstrative pronoun that. Often translated by the words this, this, this, these. It is used before the nouns, both in the singular and in the plural.
The definite article is used:
1) When it comes to a specific person or subject.
Where is the pen? Where is the hand? (known to us)
2) Before a noun, if it is preceded by an adjective in a superlative degree or an ordinal numeral.
What is the longest river in the world? He was the first to come.
3) Before geographical names (names of oceans, seas, rivers, mountain ranges, parts of the world, etc.).
The Indian ocean, the Baltic sea, the North, the Thames, the Alps.
4) Before nouns, one of a kind.
What is the brightest mountain in the world?
5) In a number of expressions, such as: in the morning, in the evening, in the after-noon, etc.
Zero article. Articles are not used:

1. 
   If any noun
   

It is used in the most generalized sense.
Crime is a problem in most big cities. Crime as such, not a specific crime.
Life has changed a lat in the last to year. Life as such, in general.
2) Before proper names: England, Russia, London, Mr. Johnson, Tuscany. However, before the surnames used in the plural to refer to members of the same family, a specific article is used. The Johnsons. Johnson family.
3) Before the names of the seasons, months and days of the week. He always go the South in summer. English classes are on Monday.

The problem of identifying generic markers in modern English has its own quite remarkable and long history. The category of the grammatical gender - male, female, middle - was once inherent in the nouns of the Old English period.

So, M.A. Kolpakchi gives such examples from the Old English language:
mona - moon, steorra - the star was masculine,
bricg - bridge, tigol - brick - feminine,
scip - ship, eage - eye - of the middle kind.
It used to be that the grammatical gender was in conflict with the real gender: wlf - woman and mægden - girl were words of the middle gender.
The category of the gender of nouns has completely disappeared, among many grammatical simplifications in the language of the second half of the 17th century. The masculine gender was preserved only by men, the feminine - by women, and all concepts and objects and even animals began to be considered nouns of the middle gender, which is transmitted by the pronoun it.
Thus, the historical development of the morphological structure of the English language has led to the fact that the category of the grammatical genus is significantly modified.
In the process of linguistic evolution, differences between female and male speech strategies were constantly considered from different perspectives, the conceptual and semantic parameters of generic universals in the language were contrasted, the prospects of linguistic normalization of speech traditions in marking the gender of language units were discussed.
Derived female forms today are marked with a suffix or some other morphological or lexical trait that distinguishes the feminine from the general and in some cases partially duplicates the form of the original masculine. For example, man - woman, author - authoress.
A special place in the creation of the gender module is occupied by the feminine markers of English nouns denoting people in the field of their professional activity. First of all, in this subgroup one should note the traditional suffixes that make up the nouns of the corresponding semantics: -ess, -ette, -ine.
In the British version, normative use allows hostess, wait-ress, governess, stewardess and others.
The need to clarify the gender affiliation in the context of works of art or in oral communication expands the gender range due to the parallel coexistence of the forms of woman doctor, she-doctor, doctress, doctorine.
The expansion of the professional range for women was promoted by the emergence of nouns with the suffix - ette: astronette, cosmonette, aviarette, farmarette, pickette - woman striker (participant in the protest-picketing), copette - woman police officer (female policeman). Similar formations are registered among nominations in the field of show business: usherette, screenette, glamorette.
Summarizing the above, we note that the meaning of the genus in English is transmitted, as a rule:
1. The lexical meaning of the word: masculine - man, boy; female gender - woman, girl; neuter gender - table, house;
2. personal pronouns - he, she, it;
3. suffixes: -ess, -ine, -er, -ette;
4. compound nouns: a woman-doctor, a he-cousin.

An interest in the study of lexical and grammatical categories of nouns both as a whole and of its individual categories arose in ancient times. So, the Stoics in the III century BC. e. distinguished nouns own and common nouns with a further division of the latter into various groups. This traditional division of nouns into lexical and grammatical discharges continues to remain fundamental for all language systems of the world.

It should be noted that in Russian studies, the classification of nouns took shape and settled largely under the influence of V.V. Wine city. In the modern Russian language, nine lexico-grammatical categories are traditionally distinguished, namely: personal and common, animate and inanimate, abstract and concrete, as well as collective, material and single. The classification is given at the language level (i.e. taking into account the essential, always repeating features), and not speech (in the meanings in which words, speaking in different contexts, can acquire new, figurative meanings). The classification is based on both semantic and grammatical features. This classification is presented in the Academic grammar of the Russian language.
English linguistic thought adheres mainly to two classifications of names nouns. The first classification is presented, for example, in the practical grammar of the English language by M.A. Ganshina and N.M. Vasilevsky. The second classification of nouns is given, for example, in the English grammar of J. Nesfield.
But Ganshina and Nesfield distinguish in principle the same lexical and grammatical categories: Proper Nouns “own”, Common Nouns “generic”, Concrete Nouns “concrete”, Abstract Nouns “abstract”, Collective Nouns “collective” and Material Nouns “Material”.
Both researchers hierarchically differently construct the lexico-grammatical categories distinguished by them, and also include in their classifications far from all the categories of English nouns, since they rely on the semantic attribute in the classification.
There are also classifications of nouns in the English scientific literature based on both semantic and partly grammatical features. So, for example, L.J. Alexander distinguishes in his classification, among others, Countable “countable” and Uncountable “uncountable” nouns, and the domestic linguist M.Ya. Fleas - Animate "animated", Inanimate "inanimate" and Human - Non-human category "faces and not faces."
An analysis of the literature shows that in the English language there are twelve lexical and grammatical categories of nouns, namely: proper, common, material, collective, abstract, concrete, countable, uncountable, animated, inanimate and a series of “faces” “Not a face.” The basis for distinguishing lexical and grammatical categories is mainly the semantic attribute, but when classifying them as countable - uncountable, animated - inanimate, the grammatical attribute is also taken into account.
This approach is reflected in most domestic English textbooks, although there are slight differences. So, in its composition, nouns in English can be: simple, derivative and complex.
Simple (Simple Nouns) - these are such nouns in which there is no suffix or prefix, for example: pen pen; rod rod; rock rock, rock, etc.
Derivative Nouns are nouns that contain a suffix or prefix, or both at the same time: worker worker (from the verb to work), freedom freedom (from the adjective free collective), friendship friendship (from the noun friend friend), misprint typo (from the noun print impression, imprint), inflexibility stiffness, incompressibility from the adjective flexible flexible), etc.
“A derivative word is a word in relation to which a word-formation act was made ...”.
According to I.V. Arnold, depending on the morphological structure, the words of the English language can be divided into:
1) affix derivatives - words consisting of one root morpheme and one or more affixes;
2) composites - words in which two, rarely more than two, simple or derivational bases are combined into one lexical unit;
3) derivational composites in which phrase words are combined as a result of word-building and affixing processes.
Compound Nouns are nouns that consist of two or more stems that form a single word with a single meaning, for example: shadowgraph picture (X-ray), penknife penknife, railway railway , bluebell bell, breakstone crap, etc.
By value, nouns are divided into common nouns and proper nouns.
Common Nouns denote entire classes of objects: a book, a house, a day, etc.
Proper Nouns are the names or names of individuals and objects. This includes the names and surnames of people (Mary, Jack London, Peter Norton); geographical names (the Pacific Ocean, Britain, the United States, London, the Great Lakes); names of buildings, streets, enterprises, etc. (the Kremlin, Trafalgar Square, the Economist).
Uppercase names are capitalized. Unlike the Russian language in English, the names of the days of the week, months and nationalities are also capitalized: Sunday, Tuesday, April, November, an American, a Russian, etc.
Common English nouns are divided into countable (Countable Nouns) and uncountable (Uncountable Nouns).
Countable nouns denote objects that can be counted. They have the singular and plural forms, for example: a book - three books, a day-two days. Countable nouns can be used with either an indefinite or a definite article: a book-the book.
In the plural, they can be used with the pronouns many, few, a few and quantitative) numerals:
I haven't many English books. I do not have many books in English.
I have few English books. I have several books in English.
I have a few English books. I have few books onGlossy.
Countable nouns can be concrete (Concrete Nouns) - a cat, a desk, a student - and abstract or abstract (Abstract Nouns), - a month, a night, a song, a talk.
Uncountable nouns denote objects and concepts that cannot be counted. In this regard, they are usually not used in the plural. The uncountable nouns are not used with the indefinite article and with the quantitative numerals and are combined with the pronouns much, little, a little, some, any.
Will you have tea or coffee? What will you be, tea or coffee?
Do you like much sugar in your tea? Do you like to put more sahara in tea?
There Is some milk in the jug. There is milk in the jug.
Uncountable nouns include some abstract ones, for example: freedom, anger, love, as well as those that mean substances or materials (Material Nouns), for example: air, snow, steel, salt, sugar.
Some nouns in one of their meanings are uncountable, in another - countable. For example, the glass noun in the meaning of glass and the noun beauty - beauty are uncountable, and in the meanings respectively the glass, the beauty are countable: a glass - two glasses, a beauty - beauties.
As for the case category (The Case), this question in English is still debatable in nature. Depending on the author’s approach to this problem, English was endowed with a different number of cases. So, M. Deutsch, who allowed the understanding of the case as a combination of the preposition with the noun in the initial form, believed that in the English language there are four cases: nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. However, such an interpretation of the case problem seems incorrect, since case is understood as a word form in which there is a corresponding case morpheme in the case of English.
The point of view is considered almost universally accepted, according to which nouns have a class of words that change according to two cases - the nominative and the possessive, framed by the morpheme 's. This is a class of nouns animated and nouns of the semantic field “time”. Thus, from the point of view of the typological characteristic of the case category in the noun, we can note that in English all nouns are divided into two classes: words denoting inanimate objects that do not have a case category, and words denoting living objects and time, having two cases - common and possessive. The semes of possessive case are as follows: objectivity, animation, possessiveness, subjectivity and objectivity.
Almost all nouns in the English language can be used in the nominative case (The Nominative Case), in this form they are given in dictionaries.
The Possessive Case is used when you need to show that one item belongs to another or to some other person. Nouns in the possessive case are almost always accompanied by either a specific article, or some specific or possessive pronoun:
my son’s birthday my son’s birthday
the book’s name is the name of the book.
The possessive case is formed simply - the apo-stanza 'and the suffix -s are added to the base, if the noun is in the plural case and, therefore, already has the -s suffix, then the apostrophe is put after this suffix.
The form of the possessive case is mainly nouns with an objective meaning, as well as the words the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, a ship, but nouns such as “happiness, music, light” cannot be used in the possessive case.
In addition to the basic properties of meaning and form, the noun is characterized by the ability to function in speech, in a sentence. It is known from the normative course of grammar that the main function of the noun-subject is to control the predicate and the complement, while, for example, the main function of the verb is predication, that is, attributing the content of the statement to reality, expressed in the sentence, and the main function of the adverb characteristics of the predicate or definition.
A noun can perform the following functions in a sentence:
1) Subject:
The night was very dark. The night was very dark.
Heat is the energy of the movement of molecules. Heat is the energy of motion of molecules.
2) The nominal part of the predicate:
His father was a miner. His father was a miner.
Heat is a form of energy. Heat is a form of energy.
3) Additions (direct, indirect and prepositional):
The Soviet industry has given the miner (indirect addition) the coal cormbine (direct addition). Soviet industry gave the miner a coal combine.
Uranium can be produced from thorium (prepositional supplement). Uranium can be obtained from thorium.
4) Definitions:
Have you any laboratory experience? Do you have experience in the laboratory (lit. laboratory experience)?
The atomic reactor is encased in a jacket of steel. Nuclear reactor placesXia in a steel case.
5) Circumstances:
Not walked back slowly into the room. He slowly returned to the room.
Bodies are lighter in water than they are in air. Bodies are lighter in water than in air.
It is interesting to note that many domestic linguists pay attention to the interaction of a noun and a pronoun. This fact was noted at the time of A.A. Potebnya: “The pronouns, in addition to some words, do not mean relations and connections, but phenomena and perceptions, but denote them not by means of a sign taken from the circle of perceptions themselves, but by the relation to the speaker , that is, indicative. ” “In their grammatical form and in substantive correlation, pronouns can be nouns (me, you), adjectives (mine, this), adverbs (here, there, so). In other words, the signs of dividing into names and pronouns, and into nouns, adjectives ... from a logical point of view ... intersect, ”emphasizes V.M. Zhirmunsky.
N.Yu.Shvedova writes about the connection of pronouns with the concepts of being, action, subject, attribute, quantity, place, commenting on this connection as necessary: ​​the language “created a harmonious and very stable organization of words free of both the naming function and on the function of expressing any kind of dependencies or evaluations and specially designed for the meaning of global concepts of the physical and mental world and those meanings that conceptually fasten different levels of the language and thereby give it the quality of natural integrity ”.

The four constructions considered here represent different ways of defining a noun, in addition to the use of determinants, adjectives and equivalents of adjectives. These constructions with nouns have the following form.

Noun + infinitive with a particle to (for example: in his anxiety to help - in his desire to help).
Noun + prepositional phrase, consisting of a preposition and a noun or pronoun (for example: her anxiety for news - her desire to learn the news).
Noun + subordinate clause introduced by that (for example: the fact that you speak French well - that you speak good French).
Noun + preposition + conjunctive (relative) word + add-exact sentence or infinitive (for example, his knowledge of how to do it - his knowledge of how to do this; his knowledge of how Green had done it - his awareness of how Green did it).
Concluding the theoretical review of the position of the noun in the English system, the following significant points should be emphasized.
The most characteristic morphological feature of a noun is the gender category.

“A genus category is a non-translational syntagmatically identifiable morphological category expressed in the singular’s ​​ability of a noun, selectively refers to the generic forms of the word form coordinated (in the predicate - coordinated) with it: writing desk.” [6, P.465]

All nouns, with minor exceptions, belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, and middle.

Among the words on -a (-s) there are nouns with the meaning of a person, which can be attributed depending on gender either to the male or female: This master is a talented self-taught person; This weaver is a talented self-taught person. These words refer to a common gender.

Morphologically, the gender of nouns is determined by the nature of the stem and ending.

Syntactically, the gender of a noun is determined by the form

the adjective name agreed with him: green bush, green grass, green plant.

Masculine nouns include:

all nouns with the basis for -th and strong consonant (in -zh and -sh can also be feminine words) with zero ending in

nominative singular;

nouns with a basis for soft consonant, as well as for -zh and -sh, having in the genitive singular the ending -a (s);

nouns with the suffix -shk -, -ishk -, -isch - and endings -a, -o, -e, formed from masculine nouns: our boy, a little weight, A great writer will leave Gorky (A. P. Chekhov);

to the masculine, include the words apprentice (derived from the word master), the way.

Feminine nouns include:

most of the words with the ending (s) in the nominative case of the singular;

nouns with the basis for the soft consonant and for -h, -sh, in which the genitive singular endings - and (the exception is the word path - masculine).

The middle nouns include:

nouns with the ending -o in the nominative case of the singular;

ten words on-me: name, time, tribe, banner, burden, seed, stirrup, crown, udder and flame; word child.

Generic nouns include nouns (with a face value) on -a (s): bruise, badass, egoza, ignorant, impassable, hunks, messes, etc. The gender of these nouns is determined depending on their particular use in speech. If words of a general kind are used to indicate males, they act as a masculine noun: “He is such a fidget, this boy is restless,” complained

mother. If words of a general gender are used to indicate females, then they act as feminine nouns:

What a fidget you are! Most of these words serve as a means of expressive characterization. They are used mainly in the colloquial style of speech.

Words with formal masculine characteristics should not be confused with general nouns (name of persons by profession,

positions, occupation), which are currently also used for naming women. Grammatically, these words did not become general words, but became masculine words: the new judge Ivanova, the famous sculptor Mukhina, Nikolaev – Tereshkova — a female cosmonaut. Many of these words do not have parallel female forms at all: associate professor, teacher, agronomist, master, candidate of sciences, etc. Some of the words have a parallel female education, but are used to designate the wife of a person of the corresponding profession or rank: director, professor, colonel and etc. The same parallel formations can indicate a female person by profession and occupation (often used with a dismissive shade). They are used only in colloquial speech (doctors, doctors, agronomists, conductors, cashiers, librarians).

A few words denoting a profession have only feminine forms: manicurist, ballerina, typist (typewriter). To these nouns there are no corresponding masculine words. Descriptive phrases are used to designate males: employee, typing; ballet dancer; master, machine milking, etc.

Nouns used only in the plural do not have the gender category:

objects consisting of two or more parts, as well as containing two or more identical parts (complex objects): trousers, scales, pitchforks, swings, scissors, swimming trunks, watches, beads, chess, etc .;

aggregates of something, like sets: alimony, wilds, sprouts, sweets, flakes, enchantments, memoirs, etc .;

substances, materials, foods, as well as residues or refuse of any substances, materials: whitewash, yeast, firewood, perfumes, scum, slops, cleanings, canned goods, pasta, wallpaper, etc .;

compound words containing - materials, - goods, - deliveries, - products, for example: building materials, sports goods, grain deliveries, oil products, etc.

All carried... declined nouns of foreign origin,

denoting inanimate objects, most often belong to the middle family: communique, taxi, metro, cinema, sconce, muffin, cocoa, etc .; to other genera: coffee (masculine), sirocco (masculine), avenue (feminine), kohlrabi (feminine), Gobi (feminine), etc.

Un declined animated nouns are usually related to the masculine gender: chimpanzees, kangaroos, etc. However, if the word is used to denote female animals, then it appears as a female noun: a kangaroo (chimpanzee) fed the cub.

Non-declining nouns denoting men belong to the masculine gender: attache, dandy, rentier; denoting women - to the female gender: lady, madame, miss, etc.

The gender of non-declining nouns, which are foreign geographical names (names of cities, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc.), is determined by its correlation with the gender of the common noun, the name of which is a proper name:

green Batumi (city), stormy Mississippi (river), distant Capri (island), etc.

The gender of nouns, which are the names of newspapers, magazines, collections, etc., is also determined: “Humanite” (newspaper) issued a refutation; Veltbühne (magazine) published an article, etc.

The grammatical gender of the non-reflexive compound words, formed by combining the initial letters or syllables, is determined by the genus of the main leading word of such a name, used in the form

nominative case: FNPR (Federation of Independent

trade unions) appealed to the population; CSB (Central Statistical Office) issued a newsletter; CIS

(The Commonwealth of Independent States) was created on the territory of the disintegrated USSR, etc.

The grammatical gender of the declined compound words is determined by a formal attribute. For example, NEP, university, bunker are inclined as masculine nouns with the ending to a solid consonant:

The pedagogical university announced the admission; Left bunker made a heavy impression, etc.