Morphological characteristics

§ 170. Morphologically nouns are characterized by the grammatical categories of number and case.

Gender does not find regular morphological expression. The distinction of male, female, and neuter may correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun:

masculine (names of male beings)	- boy, man, husband, bachelor, ox, cock;
feminine (names of female beings)	- girl, woman, wife, maid, cow, hen;
neuter (names of inanimate objects)	- table, house.

The distinction may be also expressed by word-formation of different types:

a) feminine suffixes

-ess (actress, hostess, poetess, tigress),

-ine (heroine),

-ette (usherette);

b) compounds of different patterns:

noun + noun stem	pronoun + noun stem
Tom-cat doctor dog-otter male-frog cock-pheasant	- Tabby-cat - woman-doctor - bitch-otter - female-frog - hen-pheasant	he-wolf he-cousin	- she-wolf - she-cousin

There are also some traditional associations of certain nouns with gender. These are apparent in the use of personal or possessive pronouns:

a) moon and earth are referred to asfeminine, sun asmasculine:

It is pleasant to watch the sun in his chariot of gold and the moon in her chariot of pearl.

At first the earth was large, but every moment she grew smaller.

b) the names of vessels (ship, boat, steamer, ice-breaker, cruiser, etc.) are referred to asfeminine:

The new ice-breaker has started on her maiden voyage.

She is equipped with up-to-date machinery.

c) the names of vehicles (car, carriage, coach) may also be referred to asfeminine, especially by their

owners, to express their affectionate attitude to these objects:

She is a fine car.

d) the names of countries, if the country is not considered as a mere geographical territory, are referred to as

feminine:

England is proud of her poets.

But: If the name of the country is meant as a geographical one the pronoun it is used. Iceland is an island, it is washed on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean.

The category of number

§ 171. English nouns that are inflected for number (count nouns) have singular and plural forms.

Singular denotes one,plural denotes more than one. Most count nouns are variable and can occur with either singular or plural number. In Modern English the singular form of a noun is unmarked (zero). The plural form is marked by the inflexion -(e)s. The spelling and the pronunciation of the plural morpheme vary.

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