Lecture 3: The Noun and its Morphological Categories. Outline

1. The Category of Number.

2. The Problem of the Category of Case

The Category of Number.

English nouns distinguish 2 number forms: Singular and Plural if they are countable. The basic categorial meaning of number is expressed in the opposition one/ more than one. The singular form of the noun shows that only one object is meant, and the plural form shows that more than one objects are meant.

The form expressing plurality is the marked member of the opposition. It is marked both on the plane of expression and on the plane of content. On the plane of content it is characterized by the presence of the seme “plurality”, while the unmarked member lacks this seme. On the plane of expression the strong member of the opposition is marked by an inflexion or by some other formal means which can’t be found in the form expressing singularity.

The most typical and productive inflexion of the plural is /s/ or /es/. Alongside with the productive means of forming Plural, there are some unproductive formal means, indicating plurality in English. Most of them are closed groups or models. They are:

• the suffix /en/ as a survival of Old English (oxen, children, brethren);

• suffixes borrowed together with nouns from other languages (phenomena, nuclei, valenki);

• sound-alternation or replace of morphemes as a survival of Old English (teeth, feet, mice).

In some cases the opposition between Singular and Plural is formally reduced as there is no difference on the plane of expression between Singular and Plural forms. Such cases are also rare and can be treated as survivals of Old English (sheep, swine, deer).

In the descriptive linguistics all the inflexions making plurality are treated as allomorphs, or variants of one and the same morpheme. This opinion is based on the identity in the function and meaning of these morphemes. However, allomorphs should possess not only ideal identity in meaning, they should also make it possible to correlate them on the plane of expression (materially).

Thus, inflexions /d/ and /t/ in the verbs “decided”, “asked” can be treated as allomorphs. But the inflexions /s/ (dogs), /i/ (nuclei), /a/ (phenomena) can’t be materially correlated, so it seems better to treat them not as allomorphs but as functional synonyms or as functional-semantic synonyms.

Countable nouns distinguishing the category of number make up the nucleus of the morphological field of the noun. Nouns which do not distinguish the category of number make up the periphery of the morphological field of the noun. They are mostly uncountable nouns.

So all the nouns can be subdivided into 2 major lexico-grammatical classes: countable and uncountable.

However, uncountable nouns can also be subdivided into several subgroups: names of materials, abstract notions etc. But such nouns may also have lexico-semantic variants which recognize the category of number.

For example, names of materials or abstract notions may be treated as a peculiar type of the given one and then they can be used in the plural. It means they become countable.

For ex., the notion “joy”. “She expressed a great joy, but joys of this kind were rare in her life”. So the border between countable and uncountable nouns or between the nucleus and the periphery of the morphological field of the noun, may be traced between lexico-semantic variants of the same noun.

Analyzing the periphery of the morphological field of the noun, we can identify some specific groups of nouns there. First of all we should comment on collective nouns. Such nouns name a multitude of objects. Like countable nouns, they may have the form of the plural when they express discrete multitude (раздельная собирательность): crowd – crowds, army – armies.

But they can also express a collecting multitude (объединительная собирательность), and then they have only the form of the Singular: the poor, the cavalry.

But the predicate verb with them is used in the Plural:

e.g. The poor were victims of the new reform.

But there are also collective nouns, which can express both collecting and discrete multitude, influencing the form of the predicate verb. The predicate verb is used in the plural if each object of the group is meant, and it is used in the singular if the group is treated as one unit.

e.g. The family is in the garden.

The family are farmers.

Besides, the periphery of the morphological field of the nouns includes Singularia Tantum nouns and Pluralia Tantum nouns. These groups of nouns do not recognize the category of number. Singularia Tantum nouns are always used in the Singular and have no form of the Plural (money, advice, information). Pluralia Tantum nouns usually name objects, consisting of at least two similar parts (shorts, spectacles, clothes, scissors).

Care should be taken not to mix up the grammatical suffix /s/ with the lexical suffix /s/. The lexical suffix /s/ is either a form-building morpheme, implying no plurality like in the words “phonetics”, “politics”, “colours” (флаг) or it may denote a great amount of material named by the noun without any idea of discreteness, like in the expression “the waters of the Atlantic”.

Today when speaking about the category of number of nouns, some scholars put forward the idea that the basic meaning of the category of number is not the quantity of objects but their discreteness. First, the noun is treated as naming a discrete or indiscrete object and then if the object is discrete, arises the notion of number. It means that the category of number is a secondary one to the category of discreteness/ indiscreteness.