2.3. Notional Parts of Speech: the Noun

Discussion


 * 1) How does the noun differ from other types of units in the wordstock?
 * 2) Animate and inanimate: are these subclasses grammatically relevant in English? In Russian? Give linguistic reasons to support this classification, if any.
 * 3) How are human/non-human groups related to animate/inanimate?
 * 4) Suggest lingustic grounds to classify nouns into abstract and concrete.
 * 5) Describe the semantic component of proper names. Do personal first names influence people?
 * 6) How do they differentiate between countables and uncountables? How are these groups grammatically relevant?
 * 7) Which of the nounal grammatical categories can be said to be word-changing?
 * 8) What can be interpreted as a case form in English?
 * 9) Give reasons to prove that the case category has deteriorated in English?
 * 10) What happens when the number category doesn't work.
 * 11) How is possession interpreted in English.

Meaning of the category of Case. 6. The Category of Number. 7. Typical cases of oppositional reduction of Number category. 8. Article determination: oppositional and situational approaches

Practical Assignments: 1) Find real text examples of different article functions. 2) Compare the English and Russian Nouns (as to the categories). 3) Find examples of semantically different Genitives.