The category of number

At present almost the only grammatical category of a noun, which is undisputable in English and Ukrainian, is the category of number (категорія числа). Both languages have two numbers: the singular number and the plural number.

The category of number of English nouns is the system of opposemes (such as girl – girls, foot – feet, etc.) showing whether the noun stands for one object or more than one, in other words, whether its grammatical meaning is of “oneness” or “more than oneness” of objects.

The connection of the category with the world of material reality, though indirect, is quite transparent. Its meanings reflect the existence of individual objects and groups of objects in the material world.

All number opposemes are identical in content: they contain two particular meanings of “singular” and “plural” united by the general meaning of the category, that of “number”. But there is a considerable variety of form in number opposemes, though it is not so great as in the Ukrainian language.

With regard to the category of number both English and Ukrainian nouns fall into two subclasses: countables (злічувані іменники) and uncountables (незлічувані іменники). The former have number opposites, the latter have not. Uncountable nouns are again subdivided into those having no plural opposites and those having no singular opposites.

The grammatical phenomenon of opposition forming the basis of the category of number is easier to present on the example of the English language. Thus, an English noun lexeme can contain two number opposemes at most (boy – boys, boy’s – boys’). Many lexemes have but one opposeme (table – tables) and many other have no opposemes at all (ink, news). In the opposeme boy – boys “singu­larity” is expressed by a zero morpheme and “plurality” is marked by the positive morpheme [-z], in spelling -s. In other words, the “singular” member of the opposeme is not marked, and the “plural” member is marked. In the opposeme boy’s – boys’ both members have positive morphemes –’s, -s’, but these morphemes can be distin­guished only in writing. In the spoken language their forms do not differ, so with regard to each other they are unmarked. They can be distinguished only by their combinability (boy’s head – boys’ heads).

In a few noun lexemes of a foreign origin both members of a number opposition are marked, e.g.: phenomenon – phenomena. But in the process of assimilation this peculiarity of foreign nouns gets gradually lost, and instead of formula – formulae, the usual form now is formula – formulas.

Concluding from the mentioned above, the English language has quite a simple way of the plural form building: it has only one ending of the plural form –(e)s (with its three phonetic variants [s], [z], [iz]), which is added to the noun base. The exceptions of this rule are not numerous: this is the weak form of the plural of the type: children, oxen, the change of the root vowel (the inner flexion) in words of the type man-men, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, as well as retained by some nouns, borrowed from Latin, old Greek and other languages, the forms of plural, which they had in their own languages till borrowing (this witnesses about the fact that their assimilation by the English language was not complete), e.g.: radius – radii (про­мінь), nucleus – nuclei (ядро), phenomenon- phenomena (явище) etc.

The Ukrainian language has a more complicated way of plural form building. Each declension of nouns (відміна іменників) has another ending, e.g.: nouns of the first declension have in the nominative case plural the ending -и (машина – машини), -і (межа – межі), -ї (надія – надії); the second declension possesses accordingly the endings: -и (робітник – робітники). –і (коваль – ковалі), -а (місто – міста), -я (море – моря); nouns of the third declension have the endings: -і (відповідь – відповіді, ніч –ночі); of the fourth declension – ята (гусеня – гусенята), – ата (курча – курчата), -ена (ім’я – імена).

The plural form of English nouns is almost unchangeable. In Ukrainian the plural of noun is opposed to the singular not only by the form of nominative case, but by the whole system of six cases (compare, e.g.: машина, машини, машині... – машини, машин, машинам...).

In both languages only those nouns that can be counted and can be combined with cardinal numerals (кількісні) can have the plural form. Those nouns that cannot be counted have as a rule the singular form, and, in fact, are altogether deprived of the category of number. In both languages these are the following groups of nouns:

a) collective nouns (збірні) – (cavalry, humanity, кіннота, людство);

b) nouns determining the substance or the mass (які позначають речовину або масу) (copper, glass, мідь, скло);

c) abstract nouns (абстрактні) – (knowledge, health, знання, здоров’я).

Both in English and in Ukrainian some nouns are used only in plural. These are, first of all, the names of objects, the structure of which causes the image of plurality or a pair of something (множинність, парність), or the symmetry, e.g: scissors, spectacles, trousers, tongs (кліщі) etc. The notion concerning the structure of such things is though not the same by the speakers of two languages under analysis. Thus, for example in Ukrainian вила, ворота, граблі, сани are used only in plural, whereas the corresponding English names: pitchfork, gate, rake, sledge are used in both numbers.

The nouns of other meanings express the category of number in both languages also differently. For example, Ukrainian дріжджі, гроші, канікули are used only in plural, and the corresponding English nouns yeast, money, vacation – only in singular, and vice versa: English nouns clothes, sweepings, contents, potatoes, carrots, onions are used only in plural, whereas the corresponding Ukrainian – oдяг, зелень, сміття, зміст, картопля, морква, цибуля – only in singular. Very often the noun can have only one number form in one of compared languages, whereas in the other language it has two numbers (e.g., English versus Ukrainian: fruit – фрукт, фрукти, advice – порада, поради, strength – сила, сили).

Summing up the mentioned inadequacies in the expression either of singular or of plural number, there can be stated that nouns like milk, geometry, self-possession having no plural opposites are usually called by a Latin name – singularia tantum; nouns like outskirts, clothes, goods having no singular opposites are known as pluralia tantum.

Singularia tantum usually include nouns of certain lexical meanings. They are mostly material, abstract and collective nouns, such as sugar, gold, butter, brilliance, selfishness, soldiery. Yet it is not every material, abstract and collective noun that belongs to the group singularia tantum (a feeling, a crowd) and, what is more important, not in all of its meanings does a noun belong to this group.

The group of pluralia tantum is mostly composed of nouns denoting objects consisting of two or more parts, complex phenomena or ceremonies, e.g. tongs, pincers (щіпці, кліщі), trousers, nuptials (весілля, весільна церемонія). Here also belong some nouns with a distinct collective or material meaning, e.g. clothes, sweets, eaves (повіки, вії (поет.)).

Since in these words the -s suffix does not function as a grammatical morpheme, it gets lexicalized and develops into an inseparable part of the stem. This probably underlies the fact that such nouns as mathematics, optics, linguistics, mumps, measles are treated as singularia tantum [24; 54–58].

Similarly in Ukrainian: those nouns that cannot be counted have either a singular or a plural number. Ukrainian singularia tantum (однинні іменники) include the following groups of nouns:

– abstract nouns (мудрість, щастя, журба);

– collective nouns (начальство, лицарство, ганчір’я);

– material nouns (сметана, вугілля, кисень, сатин);

– proper names (Полтава, Михайло, “Літературна Україна”).

Ukrainian pluralia tantum (множинні іменники) include such groups of nouns as:

– names of objects which have a pair of parts in their structure (ножиці, сани, окуляри, штани);

– some collective nouns (надра, копалини, гроші);

– names of certain materials (речовинні назви – збоїни, вершки, консерви);

– names of some time and weather notions (приморозки, сутінки, обжинки, роковини);

– names of some actions and processes (пустощі, походеньки, заробітки, дебати);

– names of games (шахи, шашки, піжмурки);

– names of abstract notions (ресурси, хвастощі, ревнощі);

– some geographical proper names (Чернівці, Суми, Піренеї) [15; 120–121].

Apart from some similarities there can also be found distinctive differences. Thus, the characteristic peculiarities in the number form usage in English as compared to Ukrainian are the following:

1) The usage of the similar form of a singular and a plural number for such words as:

a) some names of animals, birds, fishes, e.g: sheep, deer, snipe (бекас), pike etc;

b) some nouns denoting quantity of smth, e.g.: stone (the measure of weight= 6,35 kg), score (twenty pieces), dozen, pair etc, when there is a numeral before them: two stone, four score, three dozen, five pair;

c) some nouns denoting measure or the currency unit, when further there goes the denoting of the smaller unit, e.g: two pound ten (два фунти десять шилінгів), five foot eight (п’ять футів вісім дюймів);

2) Different meanings of some nouns in the singular and the plural form, e.g.: advice – advices (порада – відомості), manner – manners (спосіб – поведінка, манери), work – works (праця, робота – завод) etc.

3) Some cases when there are two plural forms, having a different meaning, e.g; brothers (сини однієї матері) – brethren (члени однієї громади) etc.

4) The usage of some forms of nouns in the singular meaning (with the verb form also in singular), e.g.: news, gallows (шибениця), summons (виклик), wages, goods (товар), works (завод); some names of sciences, illnesses, games: linguistics, physics, mathematics, measles, billiards etc.

The absence of such phenomena in Ukrainian witnesses that in this language the forms of singular and plural are opposed more distinctly: the category of number is expressed more consistently (категорія числа в іменниках виражена більш послідовно).