1. Noun as a Part of Speech
. The noun as a part of speech has the categorial meaning of “substance”.
The semantic properties of the noun determine its categorial syntactic properties: the primary substantive functions of the noun are
those of the subject and the object. Its other functions are predicative, attributive and adverbial.
The syntactic properties of the noun are also revealed in its special types of combinability. In particular, the noun is characterized
Ɉɬɪɟɞɚɤɬɢɪɨɜɚɥɢɨɩɭɛɥɢɤɨɜɚɥɧɚɫɚɣɬɟ : PRESSI ( HERSON )
____ ^,.6ɩɚɢ orammar
by the prepositional combinability with another noun, a
verb, an adjective, an adverb; by the casal combinability which coexists with its prepositional combinability with another noun; by the
contact combinability with another noun.
As a part of speech the noun has also a set of formal features.
Thus, it is characterized by specific word-building patterns having
typical suffixes, compound stem models, conversion patterns.
The noun discriminates four grammatical categories: the categories of
gender, number, case, and article determination.
2. Category of Gender
The problem of gender in English is being vigorously disputed.
Linguistic scholars as a rule deny the existence of gender in English
as a grammatical category and stress its purely semantic character.
The actual gender distinctions of nouns are not denied by anyone;
what is disputable is the character of the gender classification: whether
it is purely semantic or semantico-grammatical.
In fact, the category of gender in English is expressed with the
help of the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person. The third person pronouns being specific
and obligatory classifiers of nouns, English gender distinctions display their grammatical nature.
The category of gender is based on two hierarchically arranged
oppositions: the upper opposition is general, it functions in the whole
set of nouns; the lower opposition is partial, it functions in the subset
of person nouns only. As a result of the double oppositional correlation, in Modern English a specific system of three genders arises: the
neuter, the masculine, and the feminine genders.
In English there are many person nouns capable of expressing
both feminine and masculine genders by way of the pronominal correlation. These nouns comprise a group of the so-called “common
gender” nouns, e.g.: “person”, “friend”, etc.
In the plural all the gender distinctions are neutralized but they
are rendered obliquely through the correlation with the singular.
Alongside of the grammatical (or lexico-grammatical) gender distinctions, English nouns can show the sex of their referents also lexically with the help of special lexical markers, e.g.: bull-calf I cow-calf,
and Its Categories
i,.sparrow I hen-sparrow, he-bear I she-bear, etc. or through suffixderivation: sultan I sultana, lion I lioness, etc. The category of gender
can undergo the process of oppositional tion. It can be easily
neutralized (with the group of "common nouns) and transponized (the
process of “personification”). The English gender differs much from the
Russian gender: the Eng-fflish gender has a semantic character
(oppositionally, i.e. grammatically ressed), while the gender in Russian
is partially semantic (Russian ate nouns have semantic gender
distinctions), and partially formal.
3. Category of Number
The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the
plural form of the noun to its singular form. The semantic difference of
the Acjpositional members of the category of number in many linguistic
works $ is treated traditionally: the meaning of the singular is interpreted as
“one” * and the meaning of the plural - as “many” (“more than one”). ,
As the traditional interpretation of the singular and the plural members
does not work in many cases, recently the categorial meaning of the plural
has been reconsidered and now it is interpreted as the denotation ®f “the
potentially dismembering reflection of the structure of the referent”
(correspondingly, the categorial meaning of the singular is treated as
“the non-dismembering reflection of the structure of the referent”).
The categorial opposition of number is subjected to the process of
oopositional reduction. Neutralization takes place when countable
aouns begin to function as Singularia Tantum nouns, denoting in such
cases either abstract ideas or some mass material, e.g. On my birthday
we always have goose: or when countable nouns are used in the function of the Absolute Plural: The board are not unanimous on The question. A stylistically marked transposition is achieved by the use of the
descriptive uncountable plural (The fruits of the toil are not always visible) and the “repetition plural” (Car after car rushed past me).
4. Category of Case
The case meanings in English relate to one another in a peculiar,
unknown in other languages, way: the common case is quite indifferent from the semantic point of view, while the genitive case functions
as ȳi subsidiary element in the morphological system of English be111
112 Seminars on Theoretical English Grammar linar 5. Noun and Its Categories 113
cause its semantics is also rendered by the Common Case noun in
prepositional collocations and in contact.
In the discussion of the case problem four main views advanced
by different scholars should be considered: the “theory of positional
cases”, the “theory of prepositional cases”, the “limited case theory”,
and the “postpositional theory”.
According to the “theory of positional cases”, the English noun
distinguishes the inflectional genitive case and four non-inflectional,
purely positional, cases - Nominative, Vocative, Dative, Accusative.
The cardinal weak point of this theory lies in the fact that it mixes up
the functional (syntactic) characteristics of the sentence parts and the
morphological features of the noun.
The “theory of prepositional cases” regards nounal combinations
with the prepositions in certain object and attributive collocations as
morphological case forms: the Dative Case (to + N, for + N), the
Genitive Case (of + N).
The “limited case theory” recognizes the existence in English of a
limited case system whose members are the Genitive Case (a strong
form) and the Common Case (a weak form).
The “postpositional theory” claims that the English noun in the
course of its historical development has completely lost the morphological category of case; that is why the traditional Genitive Case is
treated by its advocates as a combination of a noun with a particle.
Taking into account the advantages of the two theories - the “limited case theory” and the “postpositional theory” opens new perspectives
in the treatment of the category of case. It stands to reason to regard the
element -s I -es as a special case particle. Thus, according to the “particle
case theory” the two-case system of the noun is to be recognized in English: the Common Case is a direct case, the Genitive Case is an oblique
case. As the case opposition does not work with all nouns, from the
functional point of view the Genitive Case is to be regarded as subsidiary to the syntactic system of prepositional phrases.
5. Category of Article Determination
The problem of English articles has been the subject of hot discussions for many years. Today the most disputable questions concerning the system of articles in English are the following: the identition of the article status in the hierarchy of language units, the
Dumber of articles, their categorial and pragmatic functions.
There exist two basic approaches to the problem of the article
fctatus: some scholars consider the article a self-sufficient word which
lorms with the modified noun a syntactic syntagma; others identify
the article with the morpheme-like element which builds up with the
rnpunal stem a specific morph.
In recent works on the problem of article determination of Eng-|
lish nouns, more often than not an opinion is expressed that in the
‘(’'hierarchy of language units the article occupies a peculiar place - the
place intermediary between the word and the morpheme.
In the light of the oppositional theory the category of article determination of the noun is regarded as one which is based on two
binary oppositions: one of them is upper, the other is lower. The opposition of the higher level operates in the whole system of articles
and contrasts the definite article with the noun against the two other
forms of article determination of the noun - the indefinite article and
. the meaningful absence of the article. The opposition of the lower
level operates within the sphere of realizing the categorial meaning of
non-identification (the sphere of the weak member of the upper opposition) and contrasts the two types of generalization - the relative
generalization and the absolute generalization. As a result, the system of articles in English is described as one consisting of three articles - the definite article, the indefinite article, and the zero article,
which, correspondingly, express the categorial functions (meanings)
Of identification, relative generalization, and absolute generalization.
The article paradigm is generalized for the whole system of the
common nouns in English and is transpositionally outstretched into
the subsystems of proper nouns and Unica (unique nouns) as well as
.into the system of pronouns.
Based on this information answer the questions:
1. Define general characteristics of the noun. Provide examples.

2. Specify the category of number. Provide examples to prove your answer.

3. Peculiarities of the category of case. Provide examples.

4. The problem of gender in English.