Theoretical grammar of english

7. The category of number of nouns. The meaning of the singular and the plural number in Modern English.
The category of number is represented by the opposition of 2 forms: Sq vs PI.
They show whether the noun denotes one object or more. Formally the category of number is expressed by the opposition of 2 morphemes:
1) The morpheme of singularity = the zero morpheme
2) The morpheme of plurality => there are variants:
a) productive morphemes: the phonologically conditioned allomorphs
b) non-productive: oxen, children
THE MEANING OF Sg AND PI
The meaning of the category of number is often described as "oneness or
more than oneness". BUT:
Grammarians agree that the grammatical meaning of a plural form is more than oneness: boys, boys, boys.
But a singular form doesn't always denote oneness: Silence fell. He doesn 't like tea. The telephone was invented by me. -> Though the nouns are used in the Sg they don't denote one object. They denote abstract notions/ materials which cannot be counted (= uncountable).
=> It is more logical to say that the gr. meaning of a noun in the Sg is not oneness, but it is opposite to plurality. => Бархударов suggested
the term "non-plurality". Good for him.
So the meaning of non-plurality includes the following meanings:
1.oneness proper a boy, a man, a club
2.uncountability love, sex, profit
3.generalization The lion roars and eats lazy girls.
=> The meaning of the unmarked form in the category of number (Sg) is very broad and less definite than the meaning of the marked form (Pl).


7.The category of number of nouns. The meaning of the singular and the plural number in Modern English.
The cat of № is presented by the opposition sing (grammatically unmarked) & pl (grammatically marked by the morphemes of plurality). The 2 opposed forms denote whether the n denotes one object or more than 1 object. The forms show whether we deal with the grammatical meaning of oneness or more than oneness.Formally, the category of number is expressed by 2 morphemes:
1) the zero morpheme (=the morpheme of singularity)
2) the morpheme of plurality
is represented by a number of variants. The preoductive allomorph here is the morpheme “-s” in its variants:[s], [z], [iz] and the non-productive morphemes “-en” (oxen) and some other variants.
Regular formation of PL: base+-s [s], [z], [iz] (boy-s). irregular.form-n: -en (oxen); zero (deer, fish); alternates of the base (man-men); phonemic alteration of the bs (wife-wives); borrowd alteratons: a/ae, on/a.
!!the variant [z] of the morpheme “-s” has the highest frequency of occurrence, as it is found after all phonemes except sibilants (свистящие) and voiceless consonants.