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§ 135. As to their stem structure English numerals fall into

  1. simple or root numerals, such as one, two, three (up to twelve),

  2. derivative numerals formed with the help of the suf­ fixes -teen (from thirteen to nineteen), -ty (from twenty to ninety),

  3. compound numerals (from twenty-one to ninety-nine) and

d) composite numerals, such as nine hundred and three. It is owing to the remarkable way of forming composite

numerals that an unlimited multitude of numbers can be named with the help of a limited number of words.

It has been pointed out J that numerals have a peculiar manner of building up compound and composite stems not observed in any other part of speech.

When a numeral of a lower rank follows a higher numeral their numbers are added, as in eighty-one - eighty -f one.

1 See А. И. С м и р н и ц к и и, op. cit., p. 165.

94

If the order is reverse, the numbers are multiplied E. g. five hundred ~ jive X hundred. In two hundred and nine mul­tiplication and addition are combined.

§ 136. Numerals are easily substantivized, acquiring noun features.

Let us by way of illustration take the following sentence from a school text-book in arithmetic: "In order to add two numbers add the units of one number to the units of the other, the tens to the tens, the hundreds to the hundreds, etc." Here the numerals tens, hundreds have many features in common , with the noun units. They have the lexico-grammatical meaning of 'substance', the 'plural', suffix -s; they have left-hand connections with articles, prepositions; they are used in the functions of objects. Other instances of the substanti­vization of numerals are: Arrival of Moscow eleven. (The Worker). Two can play at that game. We are seven. Form fours!

§ 137. The analysis of numeral grammemes in speech presents a picture largely similar to that displayed by adjec­tival grammemes. The frequency of their occurrence in the analyzed modern literary texts is as follows:

cardinal grammemes — 84 per cent

ordinal grammemes — 16 per cent,

the unmarked members of the opposeme as less specific (here as elsewhere) constituting the bulk of numerals used in speech flow.

Below are combinability patterns of numeral grammemes arranged in tabular form.

Pattern

Cardinal gram me me

Ordinal gram me me

(per cent)

(per cent)

art. + num. -f- noun

80

98

noun -f- prepos. -f num. link-verb + num.

8

other models (page ten, one of them, etc.)

4

1

95

§ 138. English and Russian numerals are similar as to their lexico-grammatical meanings, ways of stem-building, combinability and syntactical functions, but they differ greatly as regards their grammatical categories.

  1. Unlike their English counterparts, Russian numerals possess the categories of gender (пятый пятая пяп ое) case (четыре четырех четырем, etc.) and number (пер­ вый первые).

  2. There is a great difference between ordinal and cardi­ nal numerals in Russian as far as their categories are con­ cerned. Ordinal numerals resemble adjectives not only in having the categories of number, gender and case, but in the forms of the grammatical morphemes as well.

Cf. пятый красный пятого — красного пятому пятая красная пятые красные красному

Cardinal numerals do not possess the categories of number and gender (with the exception of один, два). The case inflec­tions are also different.

Cf. десять десяти десятью знать знати знатью

It is no wonder, therefore, that some linguists separate cardinal and ordinal numerals in Russian and regard the latter as adjectives. But this is certainly no reason why the same should be done in English (§ 132) where conditions are quite different.