5.4. The category of number of the noun

In modern English there are 2 numbers: singular (sg) and plural 9pl). This category of the noun is based on the opposition of 2 form-classes: the sg form of the noun and the pl form of the noun. The difference in meaning. The pl. form has a mean of plurality, the sg. form has a meaning of singularity. Grammatical mean. The pl. form always conveys the idea of quantitative meaning of oneness and it can be outside the sphere of number in the case of uncountable nouns. The difference in form. The pl form is the marked member. The ending –s or –es is the productive marker which has allomorphs: [s], [z] and [iz]. The sg form is the unmarked member of the opposition. Some grammarians speak of the zero-suffix of the sg form. There are also non-productive markers of the pl form: 1. Vowel interchange in some relict forms. 2. The archaic suffix –en, -n. E.g. child-children (+sound interchange). 3. In the words of Latin origin: nucleus-nuclei, focus-foci, stratum-strata. In most of these cases suffixes –s, -es can be used. 4. In some nouns the pl form is homonymous with the sg form: sheep-sheep, fish-fish. With regard of the category of number nouns fall into countable and uncountable. Countable nouns name objects that can be counted. Uncountable nouns name objects that exist as a kind of unity. The latter class comprises 2 subclasses: nouns, denoting material substances (air, water) and names of abstract notions (peace, wisdom). The 2 subclasses are outside the sphere of number from the point of view of their semantics. They have no quantitative characteristics. But from the grammatical point of view they cannot be outside the sphere of number because they agree with the verb in the sg. These 2 subclasses are sometimes referred to as Singularia tantum. The direct opposite of this group is the group called Pluralia tantum. These nouns have only the pl form (trousers, scissors, tongs, outskirts). There are nouns denoting objects that consist of 2 halves and nouns of indefinite plurality. These nouns should not be confused with the names of sciences (mathematics, phonetics, politics) which can agree with the verb in the sg and they should not be confused with the names of diseases either (measles, mumps) which agree with the verb in the sg. The group of collective nouns that denote a group of objects as a whole. We can distinguish 3 subgroups: 1. nouns like crowd and army which agree with the verb in the sg. They are collective nouns proper (сущ-ые с объединительной собирательностью). 2. words like the police and the gentry. They agree with the verb in the pl. They are called nouns of multitude (сущ-ые с разделительной собирательностью). 3. nouns like family, herd, flock which agree with the verb either in the sg or in the pl. They can denote a group of objects as a whole and discreetly.

5.5. Article determination of the noun.

Article is a determining unit of a specific nature accompanying the noun in communicative collocation. The semantic purpose of the article is to specify the nounal referent, to define it in the most general way, without any explicitly expressed contrasts. In the absence of a determiner, the use of the article with the noun is quite obligatory, in so far as the cases of non-use of the article are subject to no less definite rules than the use of it.

The meanings of the indefinite and definite articles.

Most linguists agree that the meaning of the article should be described in terms of definiteness and indefiniteness. These terms are accepted by most grammarians because they found them convenient, because of they are broad notions. More specifically the indefinite article refers the object denoted by the noun to a certain class of nouns. So we can speak of the classifying (the nominative) function of the indefinite article. The definite article expresses the identification or individualization of the referent of the noun. So we can speak of the individualizing function of the definite article. The zero article has the nominating or classifying function when it is used with plural nouns. Zero article is also used with abstract nouns and names of materials. However they can be used with the indefinite article (some aspect or properties are emphasized if it is a descriptive attribute). This function of the indefinite article is called the aspective function. Abstract nouns and names of materials can be used with the definite article. This function is called restrictive (if this is a limiting attribute). With nouns in the sg both the definite and indefinite articles can have the generic function. E.g.: The nightingale is a singing bird (A nightingale is a singing bird – less common). The indefinite article is preferable if a special situation is meant. E.g.: An elephant is dangerous when wounded. With nouns in the pl only the absence of the article (zero article) can have the generic meaning. E.g.: Dogs are domestic animals.

Bloch’s view on the generic mean of the zero article. He considers 3 cases: 1. The absence of the article before a countable noun in the sg conveys the mean of absolute generalization. E.g.: Language is a means of communication. 2. The absence of the article before an uncountable noun conveys either relative or absolute generalization. E.g.: Coffee stimulates the function of the heart. (It is a case of absolute generalization, because coffee is not contrasted to anything). Coffee or tea, please? (It is a case of relative generalization, coffee is compared with tea in this case). 3. The absence of the article before a countable noun in the pl can convey 2 types of generalization: relative and absolute. E.g.: Wars should be eliminated (absolute generalization). Stars, planets and comets are different celestial bodies (relative generalization). The meaning of the article can be also analyzed in terms of the theory of actual division of the sentence, which emphasizes the fact that the article can convey different informational characteristics of the noun. The use of the definite article indicates that the noun denotes the facts already known to the speaker. On the other hand the use of the indefinite article or the zero article indicates that smth new is introduced. The noun with the indefinite or zero article represents the central communicative part of the sentence. "The facts already known" are considered to be the starting point of communication for which we use the term "theme". The central part, which contains something new, is called "rheme". This theory of the actual division of the sent was advanced by Матезиус (Prague Linguistic School). From the point of view of this theory the noun modified by the definite article takes the typical syntactical position of the thematic subject. While the noun modified by the indefinite article takes the typical syntactical position of the rhematic predicative. E.g.: The tiger (the thematic subject) was a man-eater (the rhematic predicative).

The problem of the number of articles in Modern Eng.

There are 2 major theories on the status of article. The 1^st considers the combination of the article with the noun to be an analytical form of the noun, the article being an auxiliary element; the second theory treats the article as a separate word, a functional part of speech, namely a noun-determiner, and the combination of the article with the noun is considered to be a phrase, not an analytical form. There is no unanimity of views on this problem. There are only 2 material articles: the definite and the indefinite articles. Yet, the distinction between, for instance, "a speech" and "the speech" is incomplete. It must be complimented by one more member: "speech" without any article: The divine gift of speech. The 3^rd member of this opposition is treated differently. In traditional grammars the absence of the article was sometimes described as the omission of the article. It is wrong to use the word "omission" because the article is omitted only in certain styles (in telegrams, announcements and newspaper headlines). Sometimes the phenomenon is described as the meaningful absence of the article. According to another point of view, there exist a special kind of article called the zero article. This notion can be traced to the notion of the zero morpheme. The idea of the zero article is not shared by all. Иванова, Почепцова find this idea shaky on the following grounds. They say that existence of a zero article can be recognized only if we interpret the article as a morpheme. Yet we cannot do so because the article can be separated from the noun (a question, an urgent question) and because articles can be replaced by pronouns. They go on to say that if we admit that the article is a word then a notion of a zero word should be considered. This notion, however, is unacceptable. So according to Иванова, Почепцова, there is no such thing as a zero article. This statement is not very convincing because there are various kinds of words. In Russian there is a zero copula: Он здоров and it is contrasted Он был здоров, будет здоров. The copula быть has 3 forms: был, будет, zero form for the Present. So there is every reason to believe that the zero-form of the copula and the zero article are similar phenomena. Ильиш is also very cautious. He does not recognize the zero article, he recognizes the zero form of the article. As to Блох, he does not recognize the existence of the zero article and defines it as a special kind of grammatical auxiliary. He treats the combination of an article with a noun as an analytical form and, remaining true to himself, he sets up a separate grammatical category, the category of determination of the noun. It is based on a 3-member opposition, where the definite article is opposed to the indefinite article and to the zero article. The noun, then, has 3 gram categories: number, case, determination.