Comparative - Typological Investigation of Nouns In
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Transcript of Comparative - Typological Investigation of Nouns In
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Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic
Arabaev Kyrgyz State University
Institute of Lingustics
Abtandil kyzy Samara
Diploma Paper
Theme: Comparative - typological investigation of nouns in
English and Kyrgyz languages
Scientific supervisor: assoc.prof K.A Abysheva
Bishkek 2012
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Content
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………....…3-6
Chapter 1 The place of nouns in the system of parts of speech in English and Kyrgyz languages
1.1 General Characteristics of English Nouns ………………………………..…………………7-11
1.2 Comparative typology………………………………………………………………………11-12
1.3 Kinds of nouns……………………………………………………………………………...12-19
1.4 Function of the noun as a part of speech in English and Kyrgyz languages………………..19-28
Chapter II Morphological peculiarities of noun categories (number, case, gender) in English and
Kyrgyz languages
2.1 The category of number in English and Kyrgyz languages..………………………..……..29-37
2.2 Formation of plural form of nouns…………………………………………………………37-39
2.3 The category of case in English and Kyrgyz languages……………………………………39-45
2.4 The Category of Number of English Nouns ……………………………………………….46-50
2.5 The category of Gender in English and its similarities and differences in
Kyrgyz languages……………………………………………………………………………...50-55
Conclusion…………………...................................................................................................56-57
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………58-59
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Introduction
Language is the most important means of human intercourse, means of exchanging opinions,
it can perform these various and difficult functions, because it represents the very flexible and at
the same time well-organized system. Like an every system language has two hands. It consists of
on the one hand the body of material units-sounds, morphemes, words, wordgroups, on the other
hand it has a structure. Speaking about the structure we should understand its internal organization,
scheme of connections and relationships of its countless elements, enumerated above.
There are a great number of languages in the world, each having both the general traits
inherent to all languages and the traits inherent to separate languages.
Typology is systematic study of the ways in which languages are similar to and differ from
one another. More specifically, the study of language universals concerns those properties that are
common to all languages, whereas typology is concerned with the systematic variation across
languages although in practice both studies must be carried out simultaneously and are often
subsumed under either the term typology or the term language universals research. As such, the
subject matter of the typological approach to language does not differ from that of other
approaches, such as generative grammar. Methodologically, however, the two approaches tend to
differ in the extent to which each is data driven (typology) versus theory driven (generative
grammar), although in recent years the two approaches have tended alternately to approach and
recede from one another.
Typology is one of the oldest and less worked out parts of linguistics. It investigates above
mentioned common properties, common changes and common processes in languages which
belong to different genetic groups.
It should be noted that, in spite of a great variety of scientific investigations brought about by
our times, comparison of different old and modern languages was one vast, rich and generally
useful domain that has been left completely untouched.
For the last years the investigation of languages according to the scientific principles of
comparative typology is being important and it became necessary teaching them in scientific -
theoretical and methodical systematization.
It should be noted that for the common language theories also the linguistic typology plays a
prominent part in the plan of morphological and syntactical classification of languages.
Typological investigation of languages is useful in the learning of foreign languages with the help
of mother tongue.
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The numerous observations and experimental investigations show that the native language of
students always conditions those difficulties and those stable mistakes which students make in the
process of learning foreign languages.
In that way, in the present case we will not deal with the establishment of language typology
in whole, but we will deal with the definition of typological characteristic of learning language,
concerning to native language.
This type of typological investigation we call conditionally as comparative typology of native
and foreign languages, which represents one of the parts of private typology.
The course of comparative typology of different languages aims to teach the students to show up
the most essential typological characteristics of given languages, to show those methods and ways
which help to compare the structure of given languages and to take into account components of the
structure of learning language which are not in the native language as well as the means used for
transferring them in native language of student.
The scientific novelty of the investigation is that the small amount of research is devoted to
the problems of comparative typology - study of noun categories (number, case, gender) in Kyrgyz
and English languages.
Nouns of the languages are compared not only on the level of a category, but as the main part
of speech, all their categories are investigated. It has been revealed that in all the categories of
Kyrgyz and English nouns there are some similarities and differences. The project " Comparative
typological study of English and Kyrgyz nouns" I presented the project at school practice last year,
very interested and led me to study it more deeply.
The acuteness of the work can be explained with the following reasons: the comparative -
typological investigation of these genetically unrelated (English belongs to west German group of
Indo - European languages, Kyrgyz belongs to kyrgyz - kypchak group of Turkic languages) and
morphologically included to different types (English is inflected language, kyrgyz is agglutinative
language) languages are effective in proving the similarities and differences in their categorical
systematization. This process is effective in comparative investigation but not only in linguistic
side of nouns, also useful in working out of the method of teaching unrelated languages.
The main objective of the research is not to compare the only category of definite part of
speech, but to investigate comparatively the common systems of all grammatical categories of
nouns in the materials of these two languages. The noun is completely considered as an object of
investigation in this work. It brings a great advantage in science to compare not only the facts but
also comparing some phenomena of tightly related with each other so called microsystems of the
language (В.Д.Аракин, 1989,5).
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Some nouns in kyrgyz language typologically were investigated in the works of
Chonbashev, 1980; Kasymova, 1981; Karmyshakov, 1992; Sagynaliev, 1993. But no one of these
works is carried out in full grammatical categories of nouns systematically. A special attention is
paid to research work on comparative typology of Kyrgyz, English and Russian nouns by
Chorobaeva A.A. for the first time she tried to investigate all the categories of nouns in the
materials of these three languages in the typological systematical - grammatical plan.
The main aim of my work is to prove the differences and similarities in all categories of
Kyrgyz and English nouns and in achieving this gain we have following duties:
1) To specify the theoretical decisions of typological investigations of Kyrgyz and
English nouns.
2) To prove the linguistic - theoretical meaning of Kyrgyz and English nouns,
considering as an object the typological linguistics of given languages.
3) To analyze typologically the grammatical Kyrgyz Possessive Pronoun and the
category of Predicate and to prove their similarities in English.
In comparing the number, case, gender categories of these two typologically investigating
languages, there are mostly used the materials of the inflected languages. The number and case
categories are in equal level in both these two languages but the gender category wasn't founded as
a grammatical category in agglutinative languages and among them in kyrgyz also.
Kyrgyz language helps in analyzing typologically the Possessive Pronoun and Predicate
categories, because this categories are given in English in syntactical way, but wasn't founded as a
morphological categories.
The theoretical importance and practical value of the investigation is the result of hard
work that combined all facts, materials and analyses (sentences and some words) that taken from
literary books, bilingual dictionaries and text - books for schools and higher educational
establishments can be used easily in the teaching prossess.
Used methods: it is necessary to use some definite methods in typological investigation of
genetically unrelated and morphologically included to different types languages. Here used
following methods of linguistic analysis: inductive (from the single to the common: from some
grammatical phenomena to all systems of grammatical categories of nouns) and deductive (from
the common to the single: from the all grammatical phenomena) methods and other following
methods of linguistic analysis:
Component method: to analyze on the schemes and elements by morphemes and semantic
structure of words according to the morphological structure of words.
Distributive method: to analyze on the grammatical phenomenon of languages according to
the several syntactical positions of sentences.
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The work consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion and bibliography contains 40
items.
The first chapter deals with the theoretical basis of typological research of languages in
general linguistic context and grammatical essence of noun, its state in Kyrgyz and English
languages is given.
In the second chapter morphological, lexico- semantic peculiarities of noun categories
(number, case, gender) in given languages (Kyrgyz and English), their differences and similarities
are proved.
Conclusion is devoted to the main typological results of the work.
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Chapter 1. The place of nouns in the system of parts of speech in English and Kyrgyz
languages
1.1 General Characteristics of English Nouns
The word "noun" comes from the Latin nomen meaning "name." Word classes like nouns
were first described by Sanskrit grammarian Painini and ancient Greeks like Dionysios Thrax, and
defined in terms of their morphological properties. For example, in Ancient Greece, nouns can be
inflected for grammatical case, such as dative or accusative. Verbs, on the other hand, can be
inflected for tenses, such as past, divsent or future, while nouns cannot. Aristotle also had a notion
of onomata (nouns) and rhemata (verbs) which, however, does not exactly correspond our notions
of verbs and nouns. In her dissertation, Vinokurova has a more detailed discussion of the historical
origin of the notion of a noun.
Exdivssions of natural language will have properties at different levels. They have formal
properties, like what kinds of morphological affixes or suffixes they can take, and what kinds of
other exdivssions they can combine with, but they also have semantic properties, i.e. properties
pertaining to their meaning. The definition of nouns on the top of this page is thus a formal
definition. That definition is uncontroversial, and has the advantage that it allows us to effectively
distinguish nouns from non-nouns. However, it has the disadvandage that it does not apply to nouns
in all languages. For example in Russian, there are no definite articles, so one cannot define nouns
by means of those. There are also several attempts of defining nouns in terms of their semantic
properties. Many of these are controversial, but some are discussed below.
In traditional school grammars, one often encounters the definition of nouns that they are all
and only those exdivssions that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance, quality, or idea, etc.
This is a semantic definition. It has been criticized by contemporary linguists as being quite
uninformative. Part of the problem is that the definition makes use of relatively general nouns
("thing," "phenomenon," "event") to define what nouns are. The existence of such general nouns
shows us that nouns are organized in taxonomic hierarchies. But other kinds of exdivssions are also
organized in hierarchies. For example all of the verbs "stroll," "saunter," "stride," and "tread" are
more specific words than the more general "walk." The latter is more specific than the verb "move."
But it is unlikely that such hierarchies can be used to define nouns and verbs. Furthermore, an
influential theory has it that verbs like "kill" or "die" refer to events, and so they fall under the
definition. Similarly, adjectives like "yellow" or "difficult" might be thought to refer to qualities,
and adverbs like "outside" or "upstairs" seem to refer to places. Worse still, a trip into the woods
can be referred to by the verbs "stroll" or "walk." But verbs, adjectives and adverbs are not nouns,
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and nouns aren't verbs. So the definition is not particularly helpful in distinguishing nouns from
other parts of speech.
Another semantic definition of nouns is that they are prototypically referential. That
definition is also not very helpful in distinguishing actual nouns from verbs. But it may still
correctly identify a core property of nounhood. For example, we will tend to use nouns like "fool"
and "car" when we wish to refer to fools and cars, respectively. The notion that this is prototypocal
reflects the fact that such nouns can be used, even though nothing with the corresponding property
is referred to:
John is no fool.
If I had a car, I'd go to Marakech.
The first sentence above doesn't refer to any fools, nor does the second one refer to any particular
car.
In most cases in treating English nouns we shall keep to the conception of scientists that we refer to
post-structural tendency it's because they combine the ideas of traditional and structural
grammarians. The noun is classified into a separate word- group because:
1 .they all have the same lexical - grammatical meaning :
substance / thing
2.according to their form - they've two grammatical categories:
number and case
3.they all have typical stem-building elements :
- er, - ist, - ship, - ment, -hood ....
4. typical combinability with other words:
most often left-hand combinability.
5. function - the most characteristic feature of nouns is - they can be observed in all syntactic
functions but divdicate.
From the grammatical point of view most important is the division of nouns into countables and un-
countables with regard to the category of number and into declinables and indeclinables with regard
to the category of case. So after describing grammatical categories of English nouns we will try to
classify them from different points of view.
There are a lot of works textbooks of English and other authors about the noun. Different
authors gave different opinions, they divided the nouns into different groups, pointed out its
grammatical categories.
"nouns are names of objects, i.e. thing, human beings, animals, materials and abstract notions
(e.g. table, house, man, girl dog, lion, snow, sugar, love, beauty) (E.M.Gordon, I.P.Krylova, 1980).
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Semantically all nouns an be divided into two main groups - proper names (e.g. John, London,
the Thames) and common nouns.
Common nouns, in their turn, are subdivided into countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns denote objects that can be counted. They may be either concrete (e.g. book,
student, cat) or abstract (e.g. idea, word, effort). Uncountable nouns are names of objects that
cannot be counted. They may also be concrete (e.g. water, grass. Wood) and abstract (e.g.
information, amazement, time)".
In the opinions of A. Ganshina and N.M. Vasilevslaya:
The noun is a part of speech which includes words denoting substances (individuals: a
boy, a girl, objects: a book, a tree) or certain facts or phenomena regarded as
substances (qualities: kindness, strength; processes: conversation, writing; abstract
notions: time)".
They showed as well as the main syntactical functions of the noun in the sentence (the
functions of the subject and object).
The child (subject) was silent. (Dickens). The schoolmaster (subject) lighted a candle (object),
fastened the wmdowshutters (object) and clossed the door (object). (Dickens).
Besides a noun also be used: As a
predicative:
He was a very young boy. (Dickens).
As an attribute:
Peter's sister soon heard of all the boy's adventures (Dodge). As an
adverbial modifier:
The child hesitated for a moment. (Dickens). They stopped at a cottage - door. (Dickens).
The noun is associated with the following form - words:
The article (definite or indefinite): the house, a house.
Prepositions: in the house, behind the house, about the house.
Another characteristic feature of the noun is its association with an adjective which
serves as its attribute. This is natural, considering the meaning of these two parts of
speech - the noun expresses substance the adjective expresses the qualities of the
substance:
The plain, frank kindness of the honest schoolmaster, the affectionate earnestness of his
speech and manner, gave the child a confidence in him. (Dickens). The bright, hot morning had
changed slowly to a grey, oppressive afternoon; a heavy bank of clouds, with the yellow tinge of
coming thunder, had risen in the south, and was creeping up. (Galsworthy).
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As to word - building, nouns have some characteristic suffixes such as:
- ing building
- hood motherhood brotherhood childhood
- ship membership friendship neighbourship
- raent establishment government payment -ion
-tion conversation objection collection
-sion expression obsession commission
-ness happiness lightness darkness
-ty quality beauty pity
-ity specialty activity
-a! criminal scandal
-dom freedom kingdom
-er worker teacher driver
Nouns are also formed by means of sound interchange (usually with the addition of a
suffix): mirth (from the adjective merry), length (from the adjective long), strength (from the
adjective strong), wisdom (from the adjective wise), speech (from the verb speak).
There are a great many compound nouns in English such as newspaper, fountain - pen,
forget -me- not, passer - by, postman, Englishman, etc.
Nouns are also often formed from other parts of speech by means of conversion: a run
(from the verb to run), a wash (from the verb to wash), a stop (from the verb to stop), ups and
downs (from the adverbs up and down), a relative (from the adjective relative), etc.
5. The noun has the following morphological characteristics:
It has two numbers: singular and plural.
Singular: boy; plural: boys.
It has two case forms: common and possessive.
Common case: boy; possessive case: boy's.
But not all nouns have these two cases; the possessive case is, as a rule, used only with
nouns denoting living beings.1
1 Blokh M.I, A course in theoretical English Grammar, Moskow,1983. p.383.
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1.2 Comparative typology
The word typology consists of two Greek morphemes: a) typos means type and b) logos
means science or word. Typology is a branch of science which is typical to all sciences without any
exception. In this respect their typological method is not limited with the sphere of one science. It
has a universal rise. So typology may be divided into:
1. Non-linguistic and
2. Linguistic typology
Non-linguistic typology is the subject matter of the sciences except linguistics.
Linguistic typology is a new branch of general linguistic which studies the systems of languages
comparatively, also finds common laws of languages and establishes differences and similarities
between them.
Typological classification of languages.
In linguistics we may come across many terms as to the terminological nature of linguistic
typology.
The are: 1. Comparative methods, 2. Comparative – historical method, 3. Comparative (or
contrastive) linguistics, 4. Comparative typology, 5. Comparative grammar, 6. Connotation
grammar, 7. Descriptive – comparative linguistics and on the terms used in Russian and Kyrgyz are
not exact either. They are: сравнительная грамматика, сопоставительная грамматика,
сравнительно-историческое языкознание, контрастивная лингвистика, сравнительная
типология.
Classification of linguistic typology.
According to the notion of comparison of linguistics phenomenon and the aim directed on we may
classify linguistic typology into the following parts a) genetic of genealogical typology, b)
structural typology, c) areal typology and d) comparative typology.
Genealogical typology is a branch of linguistic typology which studies the similarities and the
relationship between the related languages. It is applicated to the systems of genetically related
languages. Genealogical typology developed from the comparative – historical linguistics
dominated during the 19th century in Europe. It’s origin was stimulated by the discovery of
Sanskrit, the ancient classical language of India. The discovery of Sanskrit disclosed the possibility
of a comparative study of languages. The concept of relative languages was confirmed by the
existence in India of a sister of the familiar languages of Europe e.g. Sanskrit «mata» means
«mother», in the accuse case «matarum»
Dvau-two
Trayah – three
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As ti-he is etc.
Before the discovery of Sanskrit European linguistics possessed very vague similarities for the
current grammars built on the Greek model. They didn’t set clearly the features of each languages.
It is worth to mention that at the same time Sanskrit discovery gave rise to confuse notions of
linguistic relation which lived for a brief time that European languages were derived from Sanskrit.
But this opinion gave way to a correct explanation, namely Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and other were
later forms of one divhistorically language.
Comparatives gave two kinds of classification of languages – genealogical and morphological.
Genealogical classification deals with the family relationship of languages which descend from one
common ancestor. It distributes languages into different families.
Morphological classification deals with the classification of languages according to their structural
features instead of a genealogical origin.
According to the morphological classification the languages are divided into:
Isolating (Chinese; Vietnamese; Japan; etc.)
Analytic (Russian; English; German; etc.)
Agglutinative (Turkish languages) and other.
Genetic Typology compares the systems of languages in two ways: diachronically and
synchronically. But in the second case genetic relationship is not taken into consideration.
Structural linguistic typology can be understood as a systematization of linguistic phenomenon
from different languages according to their specific structural features.
Structural typology research makes it possible to establish some traits are universal, unique, and
special.2
1.3 Kinds of nouns;
In fact, grammarians have developed a whole kinds of noun types, including the proper
noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called
the count noun), the non-countable noun (also called the mass noun), and the collective noun.
You should note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common,
abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.
Common nouns are the names applied to any individual of a class of living beings or things (a
man, a book), materials (snow, iron) or abstract notions (love, friendship).
2 Аракин В.Д. Сравнительная типология английского и русского языков. - Учебное пособие для
студентов педагогических институтов М: Просвещение, 1998-254с.
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Proper nouns are names given to individuals of a class. (John, the Neva, Moscow). Proper
nouns may also include a group of individuals (The Alps, the Balkans, the Urals, the Canaries).
Proper nouns may acquire the meaning of common nouns: a Pullman - a sleeping car named
after its designer: a mackintosh - a cloak or coat made of waterproof material patented by C.
Mackintosh; an ulster - a coat named after the province where such coats were originally made; a
Ford - a car named after the manufacturer. Common nouns may become proper names: the City
(the business quarter of London), the Globe (a theatre at the time of Shakespeare).
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense - usually, you
should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite
of a proper noun.
In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted:
According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
All the gardens in the neighborhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their
cupboards.
The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
Many child-care workers are underpaid.
Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples:
The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their
rent.
The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary
restaurants.
Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times.
The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.
Common nouns are subdivided into: concrete nouns and abstract nouns. A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through
your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of a
abstract noun.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns:
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The judge handed the files to the clerk.
Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles.
As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's
rendition of a minuet.
The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your
five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun. The highlighted words in the following
sentences are all abstract nouns:
Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought.
Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.
Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.
Abstract nouns may turn into concrete nouns when they represent concrete objects; beauty
(сулуулук) - a beauty (сулуу кыз); youth (жаштык) - a youth (жаш жигит, жигит).
To the class of common nouns belong also collective noun, a noun naming a group of
things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you
usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to
recognize collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is
similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.
Ex; The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
The collective noun "flock" takes the singular verb "spends."
Collective nouns fall under the following divisions:
Collective nouns which have both numbers:
singular: a family, a crew; plural: families, crew.
My family is small The two families were close neighbors.
When the subject of a sentence is such a collective noun in the form of the singular, the
predicate verb may be either in the singular or in taken as a whole unit. The verb is singular if
the collective denoted by the noun is taken as a whole unit. The verb is plural if the persons (or
things) that form the collective are considered separately:
My family is small. The crew consists of two hundred sailors. The party was now complete
except for two people. (Mazo de la Roche). My family are early (Jespersen). The party were
expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon... (Bronte). "How are your family?" (Hemingway).
15
Collective nouns (names of multitude) such as cattle, poultry, police, which are
always used as plurals (without the s-inflection):
The poultry are in the yard. "You have cattle?"
"There they are", she said pointing with the switch.
"...they are the best cattle in the fair." (Macken).
Collective nouns, such as foliage, leafage, linen, money, youth (жаштар), etc.,
which are always used in the singular:
Her little bit of crockery was ranged on the mantelpiece. (Gaskell). "Yes, said the child...
"what is money?" (Dickens).
...the undergrowth was thick with flowers...(Cusack). The air here had a sweetish, earthy
odour of too rank foliage... (Galsworthy). .. he saw all the best china and silver on the table at
once. (Mazo de la Roche).
Collective nouns which are used only in the plural such as goods, belongings,
sweeping, tidings, clothes'.
A small closet contained his clothes... (London)... I saw some goods behind the cart, just now.
(Dickens). The good fellow fetched the greens... (Diskens)... a laborer came in a hurry one day to
Nicholas's house and brought strange tidings (Hardy). (A. Ganshina, N.M. Vasilevskaya, 1964).
In the opinion of B. Ilyish the noun has following characteristic features:
1. Meaning: thingness. Thus, nouns include nor only chair and iron, etc. But also beauty,
peace, necessity, journey, and everything else presented as a thing, or object.
2. Form. Nouns have the category of number (singular or a plural), though some individual
nouns may lack either a singular or a plural form. They also, in the accepted view, have the
category of case (common and genitive).
3. Function a) combining with words to form phrases. A noun combines with a preceding
adjective (large room), or occasionally with a following adjective (times immemorial), with
a preceding noun in either the common case (iron bar) or the genitive case (father's room),
with a verb following it (children play) or preceding it (play games). Occasionally a noun
may combine with a following or preceding adverb (the man there; the then president). It
also combines with prepositions (in a house; house of rest). It is typical of a noun to be
preceded by the definite or indefinite article (the room, a room), b) function in the sentence.
A noun may be the subject or the predicative of a sentence, or an object, an attribute, and an
adverbial modifier. It can also make part of each of these when preceded by a preposition.
(B. Ilyish, The structure of modern English, Moskow, 1965;). The noun as a part of speech
has the categorical meaning of "substance" or
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4. "thingness". It follows from this that the noun is the main nominative part of speech,
effecting nomination of the fullest value within the frame work of the notional division of
the lexicon. (M.Y. Blokh, A course in theoretical English gramar)
The noun has the power, by way of nomination, to isolate different properties of substances
(i.e. direct and oblique qualities, and also actions and states as processual characteristics of
substantive phenomena) and present them as corresponding self- dependent substances. Ex: Her
words were unexpectedly bitter. - We were struck by the unexpected bitterness of her words. At
that time he was down in his career, but we knew well that very soon he would be up again. - His
career had its ups and downs. The cable arrived when John was preoccupied with the arrangements
for the party. - The arrival of the cable interrupted his preoccupation with the arrangements for the
party.
This natural and practically unlimited substantivization force establishes the noun as the
central nominative lexemic unit of language. (M.Y. Blokh, A course in theoretical English
grammar, 1983).
The categorical functional properties of the noun are determined by its semantic
properties.
The most characteristic substantive function of the noun is that of the subject in the
sentence, since the referent of the subject is the person or thing immediately named. The function
of the object in the sentence is also typical of the noun as the substance word. Other syntactic
functions, i.e. attributive, adverbial, and even predicative, although performed by the noun with
equal ease, are not immediately characteristic of its substantive quality as such. It should be noted
that, while performing these non - substantive functions, the noun essentially differs from the
other parts of speech used in similar sentence positions. This may be clearly shown by
transformations shifting the noun from various non - subject syntactic positions into subject
syntactic positions of the same general semantic value, which is impossible with other parts of
speech. Ex: Mary is a flower - girl. —The flower girl (you are speaking of) is Mary. He lives in
Glasgow. —>Glasgow is his place of residence. This happened three years ago. ->Threeyears
have elapsed since it happened.
Apart from the cited sentence - part functions, the noun is characterized by some special
types of combinability.
In particular typical of the noun is the prepositional combinability with another noun, a verb,
an adjective, an adverb. E.g.: entrance to the house; to turn round the corner; red in the face; far
from its destination.
17
The causal (possessive) combinability characterizes the noun alongside of its prepositional
combinability with another noun. E.g: the speech of the President - the President's speech; the
cover of the book - the book's cover.
English nouns can also easily combine with one another by sheer contact, unmediated by
any special lexemic or morphemic means. In the contract group the noun in preposition plays the
role of a semantic qualifier to the noun in post - position. E.g.: a cannon ball; a log cabin; a sports
event, film festivals.
The lexico-grammatical status of such combinations has presented a big problem for many
scholars, who were uncertain as to the linguistic heading under which to treat them: either as one
separate word, or a word - group. In the history of linguistics the controversy about the lexico-
grammatical status of the constructions in question gas received the half-facetious name "The
cannon ball problem". (Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1956).
Taking into account the results of the comprehensive analysis undertaken in these field by
Soviet linguists, we may define the combination as a specific word - group with intermediary
features. Crucial for this decision is the insolubility test (separation shift of the qualifying noun)
which is performed for the contact noun combinations by an easy, productive type of
transformation. Cf.: a cannon ball — a ball for cannon; the court regulation -the regulation of the
court; progress report — report about progress; the funds distribution — the distribution of the
funds.
The corresponding compound nouns (formed from substantive stems), as a rule, cannot
undergo the insolubility test with an equal ease. The transformations with the nounal compounds
are in fact reduced to sheer explanations of their etymological motivation. The comparatively
closer connection between the stems in compound nouns is reflected by the spelling (contact or
hyphenated presentation). E.g.: fireplace -> place where fire is made; starlight —> light coming
from stars; story - teller -►teller (writer, composer) of stories; theatre - goes —> a person who
goes to (frequents) theatres.
Contact noun attributes forming a string of several words are very characteristic of
professional language. Ex: A number of Space Shuttle trajectory optimization problems were
simulated in the development of the algorithm, including three ascent problems and a re - entry
problem (From a scientific paper on spacecraft). The accuracy of offshore tanker unloading
operations is becoming more important as the cost of petroleum products increases (From a
scientific paper on control systems).
As a part of speech, the noun is also characterized by a set of formal features determining its
specific status in the lexical paradigm of nomination. It gas its word - building distinctions,
including typical suffixes, compound stem models, conversion patterns. It discriminates the
18
grammatical categories of gender, number, case, article determination, which will be analyzed
bellow.
The cited formal features taken together are relevant for the division of noun into several
subclasses, which are identified by means of explicit classificational criteria. The most general and
rigorously delimited subclasses of nouns are grouped into four oppositional pairs.
The first nounal subclass opposition differentiates proper and common nouns. The
foundation of this division is "type of nomination". The second subclass opposition differentiates
animate and inanimate nouns on the basis of "form of existence". The third subclass opposition
differentiates human and non - human nouns on the basis of "personal quality". The fourth subclass
opposition differentiates countable and uncountable nouns on the basis of "quantitative structure".
Some what less explicitly and rigorously realized is the division of English nouns into
concrete and abstract.
The order in which the subclasses are presented is chosen by convention, not by
categorically relevant features: each subclass correlation is reflected on the whole of the noun
system; this means that the given set of eight subclasses cannot be structured hierarchically in any
linguistically consistent sense (some sort of hierarchical relations can be observed only between
animate - inanimate and human - non - human groupings). Consider the following examples: There
were three Marys in our company. The cattle have been driven out into the pastures.
The noun Mary used in the first of the above sentences is at one and the same time "proper"
(furzy subclass division), "animate" (second subclass division), "non- human" (third subclass
division), "uncountable" (fourth subclass division).
The subclass differentiation of nouns constitutes a foundation for their selectional
systematic combinability both among themselves and with other parts of speech. In the selectional
aspect of combinability , the subclass features form the corresponding selectional bases.
In particular the inanimate selectional base of combinability can be pointed out between the
noun subject and the verb predicate in the following sentence: The sand stone was crumbing. (Not:
The horse was crumbling).
The animate selectional base is revealed between the noun subject and the verb in the
following sentence: The poor creature was laming (Not: The tree was laming).
The human selectional base underlies the connection between the nouns in the following
combination: John's love of music (not: the cat's love of music).
The phenomenon of subclass selection is intensely analyzed as part of current linguistic
research work..
It was paid a big attention in Kyrgyz language to the division of words into the parts of
speech. The problem of parts of speech is one of the most difficult problems in linguistics.
19
Therefore, in considering this problem it is very necessary deep and history of language. The
correct division of words into parts of speech and investigation of peculiarities of each part of
speech are very important in science and in teaching practice at school.(Sartbaev, 1985,95)
There are a lot of works which are investigated deeply and in many sides in Kyrgyz philology.
(Батманов, 1936; 1955; Дыйканов 1955; Садыков 1987; Орузбаева, 1964; 1994; Ахматов,
1975; Кыргыз адабий тилинин грамматикасы, 1980; Грамматика кыргызского литературного
языка, 1987).
Noun is a part of speech which denotes the names of the objects (киши, ат, жылан, ъй, чака,
китеп, дептер), the natural phenomenon, the events, accidents (шамал, жамгыр, кар, орт, сел,
кочку) or some abstract notions (жакшылык, күрөш, кыял, убакыт).
Before speaking about the noun in Kyrgyz language, we should consider it's state in ancient
Kyrgyz language. According to the writing of speech in the language and it had the some
grammatical categories as in modern Kyrgyz language and the same were their functions in the
speech. For example, the noun in ancient Turkish languages also was a part of speech which
included words denoting substances or certain facts or phenomena regarded as substances,
processes, abstract notions.
Ех.(кар, эр, быйылкы, жел, аныз, бука, идиш, келип, суб, йый, ашу, жолчу, кадаш, йорчу,
кытан, кыш, күз, огүз, кыз etc). (Ж.Сыдыков, Байыркы кыргыз эли, кыргыз тили, 2002;).3
1.3 Function of the noun as a part of speech in English and Kyrgyz languages
By the definition of D.Isajev, noun is a part of speech which denotes the names of objects,
events and natural phenomenon of nature (Заттардын, буюмдардын, окуялардын,
жаратылыштын кубулуштарынын аттарын билдирген саз туркуму зат атооч деп аталат). (Д.
Исаев. Кыргыз тилинин грамматикасы).
We divide nouns into the following main groups by meaning: I. Nouns
- names of people.
5. Surnames: Asanov, Asanaliev, Nigmatulin, Abdykalykova
6. Names and middle names: Керим, Бекболот, Азиз, Чолпон, Ракыя, Софья, Зина,
Айша Сатаровна, Замира Уметовна, Тенти Токтосунович и др.
7. Nicknames: Тоголок Молдо, Бучук Молдо и т. д.
31. Смирницский А.И. Лексикология английского языка М: 1956
2. Gordon Е.М. Krylova I.P, A grammar of present day English, Moskov, 1980. p. 335.
20
Names, Surnames express the concrete notions and question for these nouns always "is ким?-
who?"
a. Nouns which denote the animate objects, except people, and question for these
nouns is "эмне? - what?".
i. Names of domestic animals. Some of them have proper names. Ex.: a) names
of dogs: (Байдөлөт, Короочу, Жолборс, Мойнок, Шарик,
Балтек, Ирлан и т.д.)
b) names of horses: Аккула, Телтору, Тайтору, Гүлсарат.
ii. Names of other animals
Түлку - fox, TOOK - chicken,
Cyyp - squirrel, көгүчкөн - dove,
Коен - rabbit, чабалекей - swallow,
Мышык - cat, курт-кумурска - insect etc.
Пил - elephant,
b. Nouns which denote body parts of people, animals, insect Кол -hand, канат -
wing,
Бут - foot, тумшук - beak.
Баш - head, туяк -hoof,
Куйрук - tail, мээ -brain,
Тери - skin, кулак - ear,
Чач - hair, мүйүз - horn
c. We include to the noun. The names of any plants: Буудай - wheat, таруу - millet,
Apna - barley, жүгөрү - maize, corn
V. Nouns denoting things, instruments of labor, buildings, undertaking, dwelling.
Мүлк - property, банке - brief - case,
Кийим - clothes, соко - ploug,
Жип - thread, мекеме - establishment,
Ийне - needle, кудук - welt,
Балта - axe, ашкана - kitchen,
Баш кийим - headgear, headdress, чач тарач -hairdressers. Китеп - book
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8. Nouns which express the names of substances: Май - butter, күмүш - silver,
Лампа май - paraffin, айнек - glass, pane, Сут - milk, тыбыт - down, fluff.
Кум - sand,
Substantial nouns may be used for denoting the parts of things as well materials from what things
are made Cyy тегирмен - water mill, жыгач кашык - wooden sopen, Темир жол - railway,
9. Nouns denoting seasons, months, days in a week, кыш - winter, кун - day,
жай - summer, тан - dawn,
жаз - spring, түш - (dinner) midday,
куз - autumn, жума - week,
Апрель - april, дүйшөмбү - Monday,
Июнь - june, жекшемби - Sunday. From these nouns may be formed adverbs
of times:
Кышында - in winter, жайында - in summer, Түндө - at night, күндө - every day.
Түштө - at noon
VIII.There are nouns in Kyrgyz language place and several spatial attitudes:
каршы - opposite, баш - beginning, ара - interval, space, орун - place, туш -
direction, кыр - brink, аяк - end.
a. To nouns belong astronomical and geographical names astronomical proper
names.
i. astronomical proper names:
Кун - Sun, Жер - the Earth, Ай - Moon, Чолпон - Venus, Жетиген - the
Great Bear.
There are common nouns also among astronomical names:
Жылдыз - star, meteorit etc.
ii. Geographical common nouns:
Too - mountain , деңиз - sea, кел - lake, арал - island, дөнсөө - height, ой - lowland, etc.
iii. Proper Geographical names
Москва, Амур, Чүй etc.
b. Nouns denoting natural phenomenon: чагылган - lightning, бороон - snowstorm,
шамал - wind, жаан - rain, кыш - winter, жер титирөө - earthquake;
22
c. Nouns denoting general phenomenon, establishments and events: колхоз, совхоз -
demonstration, парад - revolution, пединститут - мекеме - establishment etc.
XII. Names of genera! - politic studies, science and measures: Marxism - Марксизм,,
chemistry - химия, physics - физика, history - история, mathematics - математика, conference -
конференция, meeting - чогулуш, building -курулуш . (Ex.:, маданий курулуш - cultural
building).
XIILNames of feelings and sufferings: сүйүнуч - gladness, күйүнүч - anger, ашыгуу -
haste, ойлонуу - thought, ой - thought etc.
10. Nouns denoting abstract sings and quality: сулуулук - beauty, тазалык - cleanness,
жалкоолук - laziness.
11. Names of actions, states: жүрүш - walking, басым - pressure, күрөш
- fight, уйку - dream, oopy - illness etc.
Nouns may not denote objects of reality, but just fantastic presentation: кудай
- god, шайтан -, периште - angel etc.
Like in other languages, there are such groups of nouns in Kyrgyz language which are not
characterized by particular grammatical sings in meanings.
- Substantial or material nouns:
Кум - sand, cyy - water etc.
Темир - iron,
- Objective nouns:
Балка - hammer, чака, челек - bucket
- Азап - torment, жакшылык - kindness etc.
Тереңдик - depth,
- Collective nouns:
Кол - army, эл - people,
Токой - forest, бала-бакыра - children
Адамзат - mankind,
In comparative meaning may be used nouns with the affix «-лар»: студенттер - students, 2)
чиновниктер - civil servants. (К.Дыйканов, Имя существительное в киргизском языке,
Фрунзе;).
There was paid a big attention to the lexical meaning and origin of words in the book of
Dyikanov. He outlined also all the categories of nouns in Kyrgyz language. (number, case, gender,
23
possessive.) He considered the predicate, category, also but some authors included to these four
categories. The animated and unanimated category.
There were given four noun categories (number, case, gender predicate ) in the academic grammar
which was published in Russian. In this grammar was not considered the animated and unanimated
category of nouns.
1. About the word -building of nouns we can find in the work of B.O (Oruzbaeva, 1964; 1994;
1994;) the modeling problem of noun-forming affixes were investigated separately.
(Bodykov,1981, 93-95;) There are more than 20 noun-forming affixes in Kyrgyz language and
it is known that from 4 to 12 of them are used in phonetically variants.
Root nouns.
Root nouns like other parts of speech in Kyrgyz language may be monosyllabic and
dissyllabic. Most of them originated from the ancient time and serve for forming the new words.
Example : cyy, кыз, баш, иш, кой, тын, жок, жып
There are number of derivative words in different meanings from one root word "баш-head"
by the dictionary of Yuahin
The word "баш" has 10 meanings, and there are more than to derivative word formed from this
word leaving out of account the compound combinations. Examples for bisyllabic root nouns:
бука=бу+ка, күмүш кү+мүш, киши=ки+ши, бору=бо+ру, алтын=ал+тын, булуң=бу+луң.
Except such words. There are words borrowed from other language borrowed words are realized in
Kyrgyz language as root nouns, they are not dived into parts (stem, suffix), thought some of them
are compound words. For example : the word 'Сымап', borrowed from the Persian language and
Tajic language. In Persian "сымаб-silver"+ "аб +water"= сымаб- quicksilver" (silver water); in
tajic 'ду-
wo+' корд - knife =kyrg. "Дүкөрт- ножницы - scissors" (two knife) etc. most part of bisyllable
and polysyllable nouns are derivative words. Derivative nouns.
Derivative nouns belong the nouns which consist of the stem and word forming affixes (suffixes).
There are two groups of word-forming affixes. Of nouns:
i. The affixes forming nouns from the names.
ii. The affixes forming nouns from the verbs.
The affixes forming nouns from the names. The affix "-лык" in Kyrgyz language has
following phonetic variants: - лык, лик, лук, дык, дик, дүк, дук,
Тык, тик, тук, тук. This affix is added to both common proper nouns, as wellas to adjective,
numerals, pronouns, adverbs, participles. The affix "-лык" combining with nouns, forms
following categories:
1. Noun of material notion.
24
Күз - autumn күздүк - winter crops
ай - month айлык -salary
ыш - swoo ыштык - smoking shed
өсүм - growth есүмдүк-plant
2. Nouns expressing abstract notions.
Эне - mother Энелик -motherhood
Бала - child балалык - childhood
Жолдош - friend жолдоштук - frendship
Азат-free азаттык- freedom
By means of affix "- лык" from the names of cities, states, places from the adjectives, but in some
case they are taken in the meaning of nouns: "Москвалык - Muscovite inhabitant of Moscow,
Moscow (adj.)", "Тоолук - Mountain- dweller ; mountaineer; mountain(adj.) " but "айылдык -
rular", "деңиздик - sea" etc.are used only in the meaning of adjectives.
By mean of affix "-лык" Nouns can not be formed from proper nouns except from some
geographical names. Example : Таластык, Оштук, Көлдүк.
The affix "-лык" can be combined with the adjectives and give the meanings of abstract nouns.
жакшы - good, жакшылык -kindness
узун-long, узундук- length
жаман - bad, жамандык- harm,
арзан - cheap арзандык - cheapness, etc
This affix also is combined with the derivatives:
Адепсиз - Undisciplined, Адепсиздик - undiscipline (адеп+сиз+дик)
Активдүү- active Активдүүлук- activity
The affix "-" adding to numerals, just sometimes form nouns:
Эки - two, Экилик - two
Беш - five, Бештик - five,
Тогуз -nine Тогуздук-nine
Бир - one Бирдик -unity
Жүз-a hundred Жүздүк- a hundred
Just in some cases this affix is combined with pronoun and from nouns denoting names of
supporters of these or those people :
Мен -1, мендик- my supporte, ким - who, кимдик - whose supporter, сен -
you, сендик - your supporter etc.
This affix should not be mixed with - ды+к in verbs.
25
Compare : кал - stay, калдык - rest,
Kec- cut кестик - small knife. Here the affix "-дык" is formally coincided with the
affix of verb in past tens, "- ды " + affix of plural from, 1 person, "-k". Compare: биз калдык -
we stayed, биз кестик - we cut.
The affix "- чылык (- чилик, -чүлүк,- чу лук)" is combined with some nouns and adjectives. In
the opinion of L.A Baskakova, this from consists, of two affixes: "- шы"
(kyrgyz -"чы") and "- лык" But this variant is not always dismembered into two independent
morphemes. For example, there is a word "кыргызчылык" but there is no word "кыргызчы"; there
is a word " жашчылык" but there is word
"жашчы".
Example: көп- көпчүлүк, аз-азчылык, тең-теңчилик, ак-акчылык, жумшак - жумшакчылык.
The affix "-чылык", combining with nouns, forms new derivative nouns:
КИШИ-КИШИЧИЛИК,
бала - балачалык чал - чалчылык Кой -койчу- койчулук etc. The affix "-лаш(леш, -
лош,леш,-даш-деш, -дош,-деш, -таш, теш, - тош,-теш)" froms nouns from nouns in meaning of
the names of participator of person. For example : карын -карындаш жол - жолдош жер -
жердеш, кур - курдаш, эмгек - эмгектеш
The affix - лак( -лек,- лок,- лек, - дак, -дек,- док,- дек, - так, -тек,- ток,- тек) differs from
compound "-na"and "-ык" and froms nouns from nouns and sometimes from verbs.
From nouns: , Саз-саздак, кум - кумдак, таш -таштак etc. From verbs :
Куруу - Куурдак, жат -жаталак, кекир - кекиртек. ect.
The affix forming "- стан"(ыстан) is not so efficient, it from the nouns in meaning of names of
countries. Ex.: Кыргызстан, Узбекистан, Туркистан, Таджикистан, Пакистан, etc.
The affix "-кана" from nouns is meaning of dwellings, or some buildings, places for keeping
something.
Examples: ашкана - kitchen(from ani-meal), аткана - stable (аткана-horse),
китепкана - Liberary (китеп-book), ишкана - enterise (иш -work) (the affix) In the
number of active affixes there is the affix "-чы" (-чи,-чу,чъ)"Affix "-чы" from
nouns from the names of inanimate
боек - боекчу, балка -балкачы,
эм - эмчи, адабият - адабиятчы,
эсеп -эсепчи, сын - сынчы,
жардам- жардамчы ect.
26
This affix froms nouns from the names of animated objects also. For example : аш - ашчы,
музоо-музоочу, мал - малчы, кой -койчу etc.
This affix can be combined with the derivative nouns. For example : жүргүн жүргүнчу,
айыптоо- айыптоочу, Шайлоо- шайлоочу, жазуучу ect.
The affix "-гер;-кер" from the names of professions : This affix was borrowed from Iranian
language.
For example : in Tajic language " Гунахор-culprit", in Kyrgyz language "кунөөкөр -culprit".
соода - соодагер иле - илгер,
айла - айлагер милдет - милдеткер,
жооп-жооопкер
Кызмат - кызматкер эсеп-эсепкер ect. The affix "-
Kop,Kep"froms nouns and adjectives. Example: мал -
малкор, кам -камкор, жем - жемкор, үмүт-үмүткөр.
Sometimes the affixes "-кор,кер" are replaced with the affixes
кеч,кёй i эсепкор - эсепкей, үмүткөр - үмүткөй etc.
The affix "-поз" from nouns from root, as well as derivative stems : илимпоз (илим- science),
Билимпоз (билим - knowledge), Оюнпоз (Оюн-game). The affix "-кеч(-кеш)"
fropm the name of a character : Арабакеш /арабакеч (from the word "араба").
Асылкеч (from the word "асыл") Мээнеткеч (from the word "мээнет") е1с. All these
affixes :- чы, -чыр, -кер, кёр, -кеч, -кей and -мер, Are close in meaning and they can
be included to one structure of synonyms: For example : кызмакер, кызматчы,
Эсепкер, эсепкей Ишмер, Ишкер ect.
Diminutive -hypocoristic affixes. The affix "-чык(-чик, чук,-чук)" from nouns from nouns with
diminutive shade. For example : капчык (Kan-bag),
Көлчүк(кел-1аке), Оюнчук
-(оюн-game) Айчык - (ай-
moon)
The affix "-чак (-чек, - чок, -чок)" has the same origin as the affix "-чык" and forms nouns from
nouns with diminutive shade.
Ex.: иничек (ини), келинчек (келин),коночок (конок), түйүнчөк (түйүн), куурчак;
которунчок, боторунчок, танылчак ect.
The affix "-ча(-че,-чо,-че)" also froms diminutive nouns:
Ex.; текече(теке), кудача(куда),корпочо(корпо),китепче(китеп), аянтча(аянт).
The affixes forming nouns from verbs. The affix "-ак,(-ок, -ек,-к)" froms objective nouns: Бычак-
knife (быч-cut), Жүрөк - heart (жүр-go), Турак - stand (тур -stand), Конок - guest(KOH -stay)
27
Коркок- Coward (корк - to be afraid), Тентек -playful (тенти) The affix "-ык,(-ик,-ук,-ук,-к)"
from nouns and adjectives : This affix in Kyrgyz language expresses material and abstract names :
тырмак(тырма).
The affix "-гыч,(-гич,-чуг,-гуч,) -кыч,-кич,-күч,-күч," from animated and unanimated nouns
from verbs :
12. unanimated nouns : кыргыч(кыр)
кескич(кес)
тепкич(кес)
13. animated nouns : учкуч(уч)
ичкич(ич) жырткыч
(жырт).
The affix " - ма,(-мо,-ме,-ме)" from nouns from verbs and express or the result of the action, as
well as the names of institutions : a) process result of actions: котормо (котор), кесме (кес)
чыгарма (чыгар), сайма (сай) тизме (тиз) ect.
b) names of institutions: кергезме (
кергез ), башкарма (башкар)
The affix "- ыш(-ши,-уш,-уш, -ш)" from the nouns from verbs. Журуш (жур), ичиш (ич),
учуш (уч),айтыш (айт),жеңиш (жен), согуш (сок), өндүруш (өндөр),чабыш (чап),
чыгыш(чык),батыш(бат), кириш(кир) ect. The affix "-гы(-ги,-гу,-гу, - кы,-ки,-ку,-ку)"
froms:
a. names of instruments:
сургу(сур), чалгы(чал), керки (керт),сузгу(суз).
b. names of food or process:
кечку (кеч), уютку(уют), ачыткы (ачыт).
The affix "- гын(-гин,-гун,-гун,-кын, -кин,- кун, -кун)" forms animated and unanimated
nouns: a) names of people :
качкын(кач), туткун(тут),келгин(кел). И) unanimated objects: өткүн (өт), учкун (уч)
The affix "-гак, - гек, - гок,-гек,-как,-кек,- кек,-кок" forms nouns in different meanings:
Сайгак(сай), тайгак(тай), туткак(тут), тоскок(тос),капкан(кап). The affix "-мыш(-миш,-
муш,-муш)" турмуш(тур) тарамыш жемиш(жем).
The affix "-ым(-им,-ум,-м)" from nouns, from verbs : кийим(кий), олум(ол),билим (бил),
чечим (чеч), жутум(жут), кесим (кес), согуш (сок), келишим (келиш), тыным(тын),
суйлем(суйле), чыгым(чык), чакырым(чакыр), жыйым(жый), жем(же),жарым (жар) etc.
28
Noun in Kyrgyz language are divided into two groups:
Simple noun and derivative nouns
To the simple nouns we can include the nouns which haven't suffixes in the stem:ТОО, таш,
cyy, сөз, ат, таш, кум, балык, киши, кол, коз, чака.
То the derivative nouns we can include the nouns which formed by the means of suffixes and
formed from the simple nouns by syntactical ways: тракторчу, кызматкер, кескич, чалгы, басма,
чыгым, эгин, куурдак, жакшылык, ат кулак, өнөр жай, тоо тикен. The division of nouns is the
same in English also.
Compound nouns - a compound noun in both languages contains two or more words. Some
compound nouns need to be hyphenate, such as mother -in-low (English) or идиш-аяк (kyrgyz).
Some compound nouns are not hyphenate, such real estate (English) or кириш соз (kyrgyz).
Compound nouns are usually common nouns and are therefore lowercase. However, some
compound nouns are proper nouns because the name a spesific person or thing.
Collective nouns - a collective nouns named a grop made up of persons, places or things. The
group of persons, places, or things is counted as a single unit. Collective nouns are usually common
nouns and are therefore generally lowercase. For example: class, family, cattle (English)
Мал, класс, үй-булөө (Kyrgyz) Common nouns - common nouns in both languages are
the most general form of nouns. Common nouns refer to general and non-specific persons, animals,
places, things, ideas, qualibes, and activates are called persons, animals, things, places, with
a specific name is called a person noun. Proper noun are allot always capitalized. Proper nouns used
without an article because they are unique names. For example: Shakespeare, London, Bishkek,
(English). Шекспир, Лондон, Бишкек (Kygyz).specific dates are also considered to be proper
nouns.
The Modern English noun certainly has not got the category of grammatical gender, which is
to be found, for example, in Russian, French, German and Latin. Not a single noun in Modern
English shows any peculiarities in its morphology due to its denoting a male or a female being.
Thus, the words husband and wife do not show any difference in their forms due to the
peculiarities of their lexical meanings. Kyrgyz noun as distinct from English has four grammatical
categories: number, case, possessive pronoun and the category of Predicate.
As to word - building both Kyrgyz and English nouns have three types: of word - building:
morphological, syntactical and semantical and simultaneously these types are divided into small
groups.4
4 Батманов И.А. Части речи в киргизском языке.- Казань-Фрунзе: Киргосиздат, 1955, №2,
2. Буранов Д. Сравнительная типология английского и тюркских языков. - Учебное пособие для
студентов педагогических институтов М: Высшая школа, 1983, - 267с.
29
Chapter II. Morphological peculiarities of noun categories (number, case, gender) in English
and Kyrgyz languages
2.1 The category of number in English and Kyrgyz languages
Number is the grammatical category of the noun which shows whether we speak of the thing or of
more than one. Accordingly, there are two numbers: the singular and plural.
The singular is that form of the noun which denotes either one object (a book, a boy) or an
indivisible whole (snow, friendship, foliage).
The plural is that form of the noun which indicates more than one object (books, boys).
When nouns are used only in the plural, the form of the plural gas collective meaning (sweepings,
belongings, tidings) or indicates composite objects (scissors, eye-glasses, trousers). (A. Ganshina,
V.M.Vasilevskaya, English grammar, 1964). Modern English, as most other languages,
distinguishes between two numbers, singular and plural.
The essential meaning of singular and plural seems clear enough: the singular number shows that
one is meant. Thus, the opposition is "one - more than one". This holds good for many nouns:
table - tables, pupil - pupils, dog - dogs, etc. However, language facts are not always so simple as
that. The category of number in English nouns gives rise to several problems which claim special
attention. (B. Ilyish, the Structure of Modern English, 1965).
First of all, it is to be noted that there is some difference between, say, three houses and three
hours. Where as three houses are three separate objects existing side by side, three hours are a
continuous period of time measured by a certain agreed unit of duration. The same, of course,
would apply to such expressions as three miles, three acres, etc.
If we now turn to such plurals as waters (e.g. "A Daughter of the snows", the title of ; a story by
Jack London), we shall see that we are drifting further away from the original meaning of the
plural number. In the first place, no numeral could be used with nouns of this kind. We cannot
say how many waters we mean when we use this | noun in the plural number. What, then, is the
real difference in meaning between } water and waters, snow and snows, etc.? It of fairly
obvious that the plural form in ; every case serves to denote a vast stretch of water (e. g. An
ocean), or of snow, or rather or ground covered by snow (e. G. In the arctic regions of Canada)
etc. In the case of water and waters we can press the point still further and state that the water of
the Atlantic refers to its physical or chemical properties (e. g. The water of the Atlantic contains
a considerable portion of salt), where as the waters of the Atlantic 1 refers to a geographical
idea: it denotes a seascape and gas, as such, a peculiar I stylistic value which the water of the
30
Atlantic certainly lacks. So we see that between I the singular and the plural an additional
difference of meaning has developed.
Now, the difference between the two numbers may increase to such a degree that the plural form
develops a completely new meaning which the singular has not got at f all. Thus, for example,
the plural form colors has the meaning "banner" which is I restricted to the plural (e.g. to serve
under the colures of liberty). In a similar manner, the plural attentions has acquired the meaning
"wooing" (pay attentions to a young lady). A considerable amount of examples in point have
been collected by O.Jespersen.
Number is the form of the noun which shows whether one or more than one object is meant. (E.
Gordon, I.P. Krylova, A Grammar of present - day english, 1980). Some nouns in English may
have the singular and the plural forms (e.g. room - rooms, work - workers, lesson - lessons).
Other nouns are nouns are used either only en the singular (e.g. freedom, progress, machinery,
steel, milk) or only in the plural (e.g. spectacles, goods, billiards).
The plural of most nouns is most nouns is built up by means of the s u f f i x - s o r es. It is
pronounces [z] after vowels and voiced consonants (e.g. books, coats) and [iz] after sibilants (e.g.
horses, roses, judges, brushes).
It should be noted that some nouns in the plural change the pronunciation of their final consonants:
[s] —> [ziz] (e.g. house - houses) and [9]—> [3z] (e.g. bath - baths, mouth - mouths, pat - paths,
truth - truths, youth - youths).
In writing the following spelling rules should be observed.
The suffix - es is added to nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x and z (e.g. glass - glasses, brush - brushes,
watch - watches, box - boxes).
It is also added to nouns ending in о preceded by a consonant (e.g. tomato - tomatoes, potato -
potatoes, hero - heroes). But if a noun ends in о preceded by a vowel or it happens to be a noun of
foreign origin, only - s is added (e.g. cuckoo - cuckoos, radio - radios, piano - pianos, kilo - kilos,
photo - photos).
Nouns ending in preceded by a consonant change the у into ies (e.g. story - stories, fly-flies,
country - countries).
But if a noun ends in у preceded by a vowel, only - s is added (e.g. key - keys, boy -boys, day -
days).
The following nouns ending in f or fe have the ending - ves in the plural: wife - wives, life - lives,
thief -thieves, half - halves.
But other nouns ending if f or fe take only - s in the plural (e.g. roof - roofs, cliff— cliffs, gulf -
gulfs, proof - proofs, safe - safes, grief - griefs, cuff - cuffs, belief - beliefs).
31
The following nouns gave both forms in the plural: scarf - scafs (scarfes, wharf- wharfs) wharves,
hoof - hoofs (hooves, handkerchief- handkerchiefs) handkerchiefs.
There a number of nouns in English which form their plural in an irregular way.
A few nouns form their plural by a change of vowel. They are: man - men, woman -women, tooth -
teeth, foot - feet, mouse - mice, goose - geese, louse - lice.
Notice also the peculiar plural form in the nouns: ox - oxen, child - children, brother - brethren (=
not blood relations, but members of the same society).
A few nouns gave the same form for the singular and the plural: a sheep - sheep, a swine - swine, a
deer - deer, a fish - fish, a craft - craft, a counsel - counsel (= legal adviser, barrister).
The following nouns ending in s in the singular remain unchanged in the plural: a means - means, a
works - works, a barracks - barracks, a headquarters - headquarters, a series - series, a species -
species.
Some nouns borrowed from other languages, especially from Greek and Latin, keep their foreign
plural forms. These nouns are mostly found in scientific prose. They are: agendum - agenda,
analysis - analyses, bacterium - bacteria, basis - bases, crisis - crises, criterion - criteria, datum -
data, hypothesis - hypotheses, phenomenon - phenomena, stratum - strata, thesis - theses.
Some other nouns have the new English plural alongside of the original foreign one: curriculum -
curriculums / curriala, formula - formulas/ formulae, memorandum - memorandum/ memoranda.
With compound nouns it is usually the final component that is made plural (e.g. bookcase -
bookcases, writing table - writing tables, tooth brush - tooth brushes, handful - handfuls, drawback
- drawbacks, forget-me - forget-me-nots, postman - postmen, Englishman - Englishmen).
In a few nouns the first component is made plural (e.g. father-in-law - fathers-in- law, commander-
in-chief - commanders-in-chief, passer-by - passers-by, court martial - courts-martial).
When the first component is man or woman, the plural is expressed twice (e.g. man servant-men
servants, woman doctor-women doctors). 5
Pluralia Tantum and Singularia Tantum We must also consider here two
types of nouns differing from all others in the way of number: they have not got the usual two
number forms, but only one form, the nouns which have only a plural and no singular are usually
termed "pluralia tantum" (which is the Latin for "plural only").
Among the pluralia tantum are the nouns trousers, scissors, tongs, pincers, breeches, environs,
outskirts, dregs. As is obvious from these examples, they include nouns of two types. On the one
hand there are the nouns which denote material objects consisting of two halves (trousers, scissors,
etc); on the other, there are those which denote a more or less indefinite plurality (e.g. environs
5 E.M.Gordon, I.P.Krylova, A Grammar of present - day English, 1980
4. Ганшина М., Васильевская Н, Грамматика английского языка М: 1947.
32
'areas surrounding someplace on all sides'; dregs 'various small things remaining at the bottom of a
vessel after the liquid has been poured out of it' etc.).
Close to this group of pluralia tantum nouns are also some names of sciences, e.g. mathematics,
phonetics, also politics, and some names of diseases, e.g. measles, mumps, rickets. The reason
forthis seems to be that, for example, mathematics embrace a whole series of various scientific
disciplines, and measles are accompanied by the appearance of a number of separate inflamed spots
on the skin (rash). However, the reasons are less obvious in the case of phonetics, for instance.
Now, it is typical of English that some of these pluralia tantum may, as it were, cease to be plural.
They may occasionally, or even regularly, be accompanied by the indefinite article, and if they are
the subject of a sentence the predicate verb may stand in the singular.
The possibility of treating a plural form as if it were singular is also seen in the use of the phrase
the United Nations, which may, when it is the subject of a sentence, gave the predicate verb in the
singular, e.g. the United Nations is a world organization.
Examples of a phrase including a noun is the plural being modified by a pronoun is the singular and
thus shown to be apprehended as a singular are by no means rare. Here are a few typical examples. I
myself still wonder at that six weeks of calm madness... the unity of the period of time, measured in
the usual units of months, weeks, and days, is thus brought out very clearly. Bessie, during that
twenty-four hours, had spent a night with Alice and a day with Muriel... The unity of the space of
time referred to is even more obvious in this example than in the preceding one; twenty-four hours
is a commonly received unit of measurement of time. The variant
those twenty-four hours would be inappropriate here, as it would imply that the statement was
referring to every single hour of the twenty-four taken separately. This way of showing the unity of
a certain quantity of space or time by modifying the phrase question by a pronoun in the singular,
and also (if the phrase be the subject of the sentence) by using the predicate verb in the singular,
appears to be a very common thing in present day English.
The direct opposite of pluralia tantum are the singularia tantum, i.e. the nouns which have no plural
form. Among these we must first note some nouns denoting material substance, such as milk.
Butter, quicksilver, etc., and also names of abstract notions, such as peace, usefulness, incongruity,
etc. Nouns of these kind express notions which are, strictly speaking, outside the sphere of number;
e.g. milk, or fluency. But in the morphological and syntactical system of the English language a
noun cannot stand outside the category of number. If the noun is the subject of a sentence, the
predicate verb (if it is in the present tense) will have to be either singular or plural. With the nouns
just mentioned the predicate verb is always singular. This is practically the only external sing
(alongside of the absence of a plural inflection in the noun itself) which definitely shows the noun
to be singular. Some nouns denoting substance, or material, nay have a plural form, if they are used
33
to denote either an object made of the material or a special kind of substance, or an object
exhibiting the quality denoted by the noun. Thus, the noun wine, as well as the noun milk, denotes a
certain substance, but it has a plural form wines used to denote several special kinds of wine. The
noun iron, as well as the noun quicksilver, denotes a metal, but it may be used in the plural if it
denotes several objects made of that metal (үтүктөр). The noun beauty, as well as the noun
ugliness, denotes a certain quality presented as an object, but it may be used in the plural to denote
objects exhibiting that quality, e.g. the beauties of nature; His daughters were all beauties. Many
more examples of a similar kind might be found. Accordingly, the nouns wine, iron and beauty
cannot be called singularia tantum, athough in their chief application
they no more admit of a plural form than milk, quicksilver, or ugliness.6
Collective Nouns and Nouns of Multitude Certain nouns denoting group of
human beings (family, government, party, clergy, etc.) and also of animals (cattle, poultry, etc.)
can be used in two different ways: either they are taken to denote the group as a whole, and in that
case they are treated as singulars, and usually termed "collective nouns" (in a restricted sence of
the term); or else they are taken to denote the group as consisting of a certain number of individual
human beings (or animals) and in that case they are usually termed "nouns of multitude".
The difference between the two applications of such nouns may be briefly exemplified by a pair of
examples: My family is small, and My family are good speakers. It is quite obvious here that in the
one sentence the characteristic "small" applies to the family as a whole, in the other sentence the
characteristic "good speakers" applies to every single member of the family ("everyone of them is
a good speaker" is what is meant, but certainly not "everyone of them is small"). The some
consideration would also apply to such sentences as. The cattle were grazing en the field. It is also
quite possible to say, Many cattle were grazing in the field, where the use of many (not much)
clearly shows that cattle is apprehended as-a plural. The following bit of dialogue is curious, as the
noun board, which is the subject of the first sentence, is here connected with a predicate verb in the
singular, but is replaced by a plural pronoun in the second sentence: "Does the Board know of
this?" "Yes", said John, "they fully approve the scheme". (A.Wilson). With the noun people,
singular, with its plural peoples (meaning 'nation') and there is, on the other hand, the noun people
apprehended as a plural (There were fifty people in the hall) and serving as a king of plural to the
noun person (There was only one person in the hall). People can of course be modified by the
words many and few and by cardinal numerals (twenty people).
In the following sentence the word people is even modified by the phrase attribute one or two,
although the numeral one in itself could not possibly by an attribute to the noun people in this
6 11yish В. A. The structure of modern English Moscow: 1965 Leningrad p. 378.
34
sense: One or two people looked at him curiously, but no one said anything. (A.Wilson). Strictly
speaking we might expect the phrase one man or two people; however, this variant does not appear
to be used anywhere. The perfect possibility of the phrase two people appears to be sufficient
ground for making the phrase one or two people possible as well.
Recently a peculiar view of the category of number was put forward by A. Isachenko. According to
this view, the essential meaning of the category (in nouns) is not that of quantity, but of
discreteness. The plural, in this view, expresses fundamentally the notion of something consisting
of distinguishable parts, and the meaning of quantity in the usual sense would then appear to be
result of combining the fundamental meaning of the category such with the lexical meaning of the
noun used in the plural. Thus, in scissors the category of plural number, which, in Isachenko's view,
expresses discreteness, combines with the lexical meaning of the noun, which denotes an object
consisting of two halves, where as in houses the same meaning of the grammatical category
combines with the lexical meaning of the noun, which denotes separate objects, i.e. the plural
number in the usual sense of the term. These views put forward by A.Isachenko throw a new light
on the problem of number in nouns and certainly deserve close attention. It is yet too early to say
whether they can provide a final solution to the complex problem of number in nouns. Except the
traditional using forms of singular and plural nouns in Kyrgyz language. There are other
peculiarities, which belong just to the number category of nouns:
Nouns used only in singular.
Nouns used only in plural form.
Nouns used only in singular and plural forms.
1. Nouns used only in singular.
Some nouns cannot join with the numerals. Therefore they haven't plural form, they are expressed
only in singular.
Nouns used just in singular are divided into two groups: 1 To first group belong
nouns which are used just in singular and denote:
1. names of places, space or intervals of something: уст - up, аст - down, ич - inside, арт - back,
жак - side, орто - middle, каршы - opposite, баш - beginning, аяк - end.
2. names of general - politic students, science, processes: марксизм, социализм,
индустриализация, химия, физика, астрономия, логика, педагогика и т. д.
3. names of internal feelings: сүйүнчү - gladness, таарыныч - offence, ачышуу-haste,
кыялдануу-thinking.
4. names of sings, actions and states: сулуулук - beaty, тазалык - cleanness, жалкоолук -
laziness, жарыш - walking, келим - coming, жутум - sip, уйку - dream, акыл - mind etc.
35
5. Proper names. They are not used in plural form, though sometimes, names of the people and
places have the affix of plural form when they are in the similar members.
Compare: « Бизге Акмат, Айша, Эсенкулдар келишти - Akmat, Aisha and Esenkul came to
us. Here the from of plural number expresses the notion of similarity and totality, but not plurality.
2. To second group belong nouns, which are used in singular form, but combine with the affix of
plurality - « лар». They express not plurality of objects, but their several types or sorts. They are:
a) Words denoting (part of) body parts of people, animals, insects: кол - hand, hands; колдор -
hands (but different in hands), бут - foot, feet; буттар - feet (different), көз - eye, eyes; көздөр -
eyes (the same), канат - wing, wings; канаттар - wings (the same), баш - head, heads; баштар -
heads (the same) etc.
b) Words denoting names of plants, foods, fruits, meals: чеп - hay, grass; чөптөр -
grasses (different kinds of grasses), терек - poplar, poplars; теректер - poplars
(different kinds), буудай - wheat, wheats; буудайлар - wheats (different sorts),
таруу - millet, sort of millet; таруулар - millet (different sorts), алма - apple,
apples; алмалар - apples (different sorts), нан - bread, breads; нандар - breads
(different types) etc.
c) names of substances: май - oil, майлар - oils (different sorts), кант - sugar,
канттар - sugars (different sorts), ун - flour, ундар - flours (different sorts), cyy -
water, суулар - waters (different: mineral, ordinary) etc.
Nouns used only in plural
Some nouns, even they don't take affix of plurality, but express the totality of some persons or
objects and phenomenona. To this group belong the nouns, formed by means of addiugs of word
bases. They called compound or couple words: келин кесек - daughters-in-law, кыз-кыркын -
girls,
айыл-апа - village and all the places and people who belong to this village. Чай-пай -
tea and all the necessary thiugs for tea etc.
But these nouns may be combined with the affix of plural form «-лар», when underlined their
plurality. Melioranskiy wrote about this: " For expressing plurality of this kyrgyz people
sometimes (specialty in conversation) put one and the same word two times, changing in the
second word first sound to "m", for example, тоо-моо, жылкы-мылкы, карышкыр-марышкыр,
кайчы-майчы, тарак-марак, кашык- машык, киши миши, түлкү-мүлкү, карагай-марагай.
Sometimes the first sound of the second word is changed to "n" and "с", чай-пай, койнок-сойнок,
кумурска-сумурска, коен-соен, кепич-сепич, балта-салта, казан- пазан, тай-пай, кой-сой,
машина-сашина.
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Nouns used in both. Singular and plural.
To the nouns which are used in both singular and plural forms belong
countable nouns, L e„ nouns which we can count:
1) Names of people, their posts, ranks, professions, associations, establishments:
агроном - agriculturist or agronomist, агрономдор - agronomists,
киши - man, кишилер - people,
окуучу - pupil, окуучулар - pupils,
бала - child, балдар - children,
мектеп - school, мектептер - schools,
артель - artel, артельдер - artels,
мекеме - establishment, мекемелер - establishments,
сержант - sergeant, сержанттар - sergeants,
эне - mother, энелер - mothers,
жолдош - comrade, жолдоштор - comrades,
душман - enemy, душмандар - enemies,
2) Names of animals and other living beings: ат - horse, аттар - horses,
айгыр - stallion, айгырлар - stallions,
уй - cow, уйлар - cows,
ит - dog, иттер - dogs,
балык - fish, балыктар - fishes,
кумурска - ant, кумурскалар - ants,
коен - rabbit, коендор - rabbits,
чымын - fly, чымындар - flies
арыстан - lion, арыстандар - lions, etc.
1. Common names of separate count objects, instruments, buildings, rivers, lakes and stars:
стол-table, столдор - tables,
китеп - book, китептер - books,
балта - axe, балталар - axes,
үй - house, үйлөр - houses,
завод-plant, заводдор - plants,
колхоз - collective farm, колхоздор - collective farms,
кыр- mountain range, кырлар - mountain ranges,
TOO-mountain, тоолор - mountains,
river, өзөндөр - rivers,
37
көл-өкө, көлдөр - lakes, etc.
2. Names of natural phenomena: түн -
night, түндөр - nights,
күн - day, күндөр - days,
чагылган - lightning, чагылгандар- lightnings,
жертитирөө - earthquake, жер титирөөлөр - earthquakes, etc.
In short, all the nouns which can be counted are used in plural and ( at the same) in
singular also.
2.2 Formation of plural form of nouns.
The plural form of nouns in Kyrgyz language forms by means of the affix of plural number"-лар" (-лер, -лор, -лер, -дар, -дер, -дор, -дер, -тыр, -тер, -тор, - тер). The affix "-лар" exists from the ancient times and we can meet this affix in all turkie languages.
In memorandum - books of ancient Turkie writings we can meet two kinds of affixes of plural
number (-лар, -лер). For example: кунчуйларым - my princesses, беглерим - my chiels.
The affix " -лар" in Kyrgyz language has following variants, which are conditioned by
phonetic peculiarities of Kyrgyz language.
If the stem end in following sounds:
Vowel in the last
sullable of the stem: vowel, й, p voiced consonants, voiceless
except й, p
а, ы, у, и, э, e, о, -
- лар
-тар
-дар
-дер
-тер
-лер
о, У,
-дор
-тор
-лор
-дер
38
-тер
-лер
The affix plural form, joining with the stem, derivative and compound basis of words, gives
them following meaniugs:
a. From the singular nouns forms plural: бала -
child, балдар - children,
колхозчу - farmer, колхозчулар - farmers,
мектеп - school, мектептер - schools,
таш бака - tortoise, таш бакалар - tortoises,
мекеме - establishment, мекемелер - establishments.
i. To the nouns, which express plurality, totality of objects gives the meaning of reinforcement
and denote their different kinds, sorts types.
кийим-кечек - cloth, кийим-кечектер - clothes (different kinds), ата-эне - parents, ата-
энелер - parents (parents of different persons), кемпир-чал - old man and old woman,
кемпир-чалдар - old men and old women,
казан аяк - set of dishes, казан аяктар - sets of dishes,
бала-бакыра - children, бала-бакыралар - kiddies (reinforcement of plural forms)
кыз-кыркын - girls, кыз-кыркындар - girls, unmarried women etc.
3, Some uncountable nouns in plural form express the objects of generic notions and their
different classes or kinds: жемиш - fruit, жемиштер - different sorts of fruits, мал - cattle,
малдар - different kinds of catties, ун- flour, ундар - different sorts flours, эт-meat, эттер - meats
(different sorts of meats), жун - wool, жүндөр - wools (different kinds sorts of wools), темир -
iron, темирлер - iron (in different quality),
кант - sugar, канттар - sugar (different types), май - oil, майлар - oils (different types).
1.The names of tribes, people, nationalities, show members of society: opyc - russian, орустар -
russians,
казак - kazahk, казактар - kazahks, дунган - dungan, дунгандар - dungans, тажик - tajic,
тажиктер - tajics etc.
2.From the names of families or tribes forms the names of people who belong
to this tribe: Солто - the name of the tribe (from the name Солто), солтолор -
soltos. Солтолор Чүйдө жашашат. Solts live in Chuy. Ысык-Көлдө бугулар да бар - There are
Bugus also in Isyk-Kul (from the name Bugu - name of the tribe) etc.
3. From the proper names of people form the nouns showing their I adherents:
39
I Асандар келди - All Asans relatives, friends came.
4. Sometimes from the proper names of places forms names of inhabitants: москвалыктар -
inhabitants of Moscow, урпактар - inhabitants of Osh etc.
The agreement of numbers is not necessary in Kyrgyz language. Subject and predicate of the
sentence make agree in numbers in following cases.
a. If the subject is in singular, so the predicate is also in singular. Асан келди -
Asan came.
If the subject is expressed by the word which denotes the generic notion, so in this case the
predicate may not be agreed. Өгүздөр келди -Oguzes came (came together)
If the subject expresses the plural form, without affixes, so the predicate may be agreed
morphologicaly or not agreed with the subject. Бала-бакыра келди - Children came (came
together), Бала-бакыра келишти - children came (came separately)
b. if the subject is expressed in plural form, so the predicate also may be agreed or not agreed
with it in number.
Окуучулар келди - students came (came together) Окуучулар келишти
- students came (came separately) etc.
c. if the subject expresses the name of an animal and given in plural form, the predicate is not
agreed in number:
Жайлоодон аттар келди - Horses came from pasture
Жайлоодон аттар келишти - is wrong.7
2.3 The category of case in English and Kyrgyz languages
The category of case of nouns is the system of opposites (such as girl–girl's in English, дом – дома
– дому – дом – домом – (о) доме in Russian) showing the relations of the noun to other words in
speech. Case relations reflect the relations of the substances the nouns name to other substances,
actions, states, etc. in the world of reality. In the sentence ‘I took John's hat by mistake’ the case of
the noun ‘John's’ shows its relation to the noun hat, which is some reflection of the relations
between John and his hat in reality.
Case is one of those categories which show the close connection:
(a) between language and speech,
(b) between morphology and syntax.
7 Берман И.М. Грамматика английского языка. М: 1994;
2. Джапаров А. Главные члены предложения в современном киргизском языке, Фрунзе: Мектеп, 1964-
272с„
40
(a) A case opposite is, like any other opposite, a unit of the language system, but the essential
difference between the members of a case opposite is in their combinability in speech. This is
particularly clear in a language like Russian with a developed case system. Compare, for instance,
the combinability of the nominative case and that of the oblique cases. See also the difference in the
combinability of each oblique case: одобрять поступок, не одобрять поступка, удивляться
поступку, восхищаться поступком, etc.
We can see here that the difference between the cases is not so much a matter of meaning as a
matter of combinability. It can be said that поступок – поступка – поступку, etc. are united
paradigmatically in the Russian language on the basis of their syntagmatic differences in speech.
Similarly, the members of the case opposite John – John's are united paradigmatically on the basis
of their syntagmatic differences.
Naturally, both members of an English noun case opposite have the features of English nouns,
including their combinability. Thus, they may be divceded by an article, an adjective, a numeral, a
pronoun, etc.
a student…. a student's…
the student…, the student's…
a good student…, a good student's…
his brother…, his brother's…
the two brothers…, the two brothers'…
Yet, the common case grammemes are used in a variety of combinations where the possessive case
grammemes do not, as a rule, occur. In the following examples, for instance, John's or boys' can
hardly be substituted for John or boys: John saw the boys, The boys were seen by John, It was
owing to the boys that…, The boys and he…, etc.
(b) Though case is a morphological category it has a distinct syntactical significance. The common
case grammemes fulfil a number of syntactical functions not typical of possessive case grammemes,
among them the functions of subject and object. The possessive case noun is for the most part
employed as an attribute.
All case opposites are identical in content: they contain two particular meanings, of 'common' case
and 'possessive' case, united by the general meaning of the category, that of 'case'. There is not
much variety in the form of case opposites either, which distinguishes English from Russian.
An English noun lexeme may contain two case opposites at most (man – man's, men – men's).
Some lexemes have but one opposite (England – England's, cattle – cattle's). Many lexemes have no
case opposites at all (book, news, foliage),
In the opposite dog – dog's, men – men's, the 'common' case is not marked, i.e. dog and men have
zero morphemes of 'common case'. The 'possessive' case is marked by the suffix -'s /-s, – z, – iz/. In
41
the opposite dogs – dogs.' the difference between the opposites is marked only in writing. Otherwise
the two opposites do not differ in form. So with regard to each other they are-not marked.
Thus, -'s is the only positive case morpheme of English nouns. It would be no exaggeration to say
that the whole category' depends on this morpheme.
As already mentioned, with regard to the category of case English nouns fall under two lexicon-
grammatical subclasses: declinable, having case opposites, and indeclinable, having no case
opposites.
The subclass of declinable is comparatively limited, including mostly nouns denoting living beings,
also time and distance.
Indeclinable like book, iron, care have, as a norm, only the potential (or oblique, or lexicon-
grammatical) meaning of the common case. But it is sometimes actualized when a case opposite of
these words is formed in speech, as in ‘The book's philosophy is old-fashioned’. (The Tribune,
Canada).
As usual, variants of one lexeme may belong to different subclasses. Youth meaning 'the state of
being young' belongs to the indeclinable. Its variant youth meaning 'a young man' has a case
opposite (The youth's candid smile disarmed her. Black and belongs to the declinable.
Since both cases and divpositions show 'relations of substances', some linguists speak of
analytical cases in Modern English. To the student is said to be an analytical dative case
(equivalent, for instance, to the Russian студенту), of the student is understood as an analytical
genitive case (equivalent to студента), by the student as an analytical instrumental case (cf.
студентом), etc.
The theory of analytical cases seems to be unconvincing for a number of reasons.
1. In order to treat the combinations of the student, to the student, by the student as analytical words
(like shall come or has come) we must regard of, to, with as grammatical word-morphemes. But
then they are to be devoid of lexical meaning, which they are not. Like most words a divposition is
usually polysynaptic and each meaning is singled out in speech, in a sentence or a word-
combination. Cf. to speak of the student, the speech of the student, news of the student, it was kind
of the student, what became of the student, etc.
In each case of shows one of its lexical meanings. Therefore it cannot be regarded as a grammatical
word-morpheme and the combination of the student cannot be treated as an analytical word.
2. A grammatical category, as known, is redivsented in opposites comprising a definite number of
members. Combinations with different divpositions are too numerous to be interdivted as opposites
redivsenting the category of case.
The number of cases in English becomes practically unlimited.
3. Analytical words usually form opposites with synthetic ones (comes – came – will come). With
42
divpositional constructions it is different. They are often synonymous with synthetic words.
E. g. the son of my friend = my friend's son; the wall of the garden = the. garden wall.
On the other hand, divpositional constructions can be used side by side with synthetic cases, as in
that doll of Mary's, a friend of John's. If we accepted the theory of analytical cases, we should see in
of John's a double-case word, which would be some rarity in English, there being 'no double-tense
words nor double-aspect words and the like.
4. There is much subjectivity in the choice of divpositions supposed to form analytical cases.
Grammarians usually point out those divpositions whose meanings approximate to the meanings of
some cases in other languages or in Old English. But the analogy with other languages or with an
older stage of the same language does not prove the existence of a given category in a modern
language.
Therefore we think it unjustified to speak of units like to the student, of the student, etc. as of
analytical cases. They are combinations of nouns in the common case with divpositions.
The morpheme -'s, on which the category of case of English nouns depends, differs in some
respects from other grammatical morphemes of the English language and from the case morphemes
of other languages.
As emphasized by B.A. Ilyish , -'s is no longer a case inflexion in the classical sense of the word.
Unlike such classical inflexions, -'s may be attached
a) to adverbs (of substantial origin), as in yesterday's events,
b) to word-groups, as in Mary and John's apartment, our professor of literature's unexpected
departure,
c) even to whole clauses, as in the well-worn example the man I saw yesterday's son.
В. A. Ilyish comes to-the conclusion that the -'s morpheme gradually develops into a «form-word»,
a kind of particle serving to convey the meaning of belonging, possession.
G.N. Vorontsova does not recognize –‘s as a case morpheme at all. The reasons she puts forward to
substantiate her point of view are as follows:
1) The use of -'s is optional (her brother's, of her brother).
2) It is used with a limited group of nouns outside which it occurs very seldom.
3) -'s is used both in the singular and in the plural (child's, children's), which is not incident – to
case morphemes (cf. мальчик-а, мальчик-ов).
4) It occurs in very few plurals, only those with the irregular formation of the plural member
(oxen's but cows').
5) -'s does not make an inseparable part of the structure of the word. It may be placed at some
distance from the head-noun of an attributive group.
«Been reading that fellow what's his name's attacks in the 'Sunday Times'?» (Bennett).
43
Proceeding from these facts G.N. Vorontsova treats -'s as a 'postposition', a 'purely syntactical form-
word resembling a divposition', used as a sign of syntactical dependence.
In keeping with this interdivtation of the -'s morpheme the author denies the existence of cases in
Modern English.
At divsent, however, this extreme point of view can hardly be accepted. The following arguments
tend to show that -'s does function as a case morpheme.
1. The -'s morpheme is mostly attached to individual nouns e, not noun groups. According to our
statistics this is observed in 96 per cent of examples with this morpheme. Instances like The man I
saw yesterday's son are very rare and may be interdivted in more ways than one. As already
mentioned, the demarcation line between words and combinations of words is very vague in
English. A word-combination can easily be made to function as one word.
Cf. a hats-cleaned-by-electricity-while-you-wait establishment (O. Henry), the eighty-year-olds
(D.W.).
In the last example the plural morpheme – s is in fact attached to an adjective word-combination,
turning it into a noun. It can be maintained that the same morpheme –‘s likewise substantives the
group of words to which it is attached, and we get something like the man-1-saw-yesterday's son.
2. Its general meaning – «the relation of a noun to an other word» – is a typical case meaning.
3. The fact that -'s occurs, as a rule, with a more or less limited group of words bears testimony
to its not being a «divposition-like form word». The use of the divposition is determined, chiefly, by
the meaning of the divposition itself and not by the meaning of the noun it introduces (Cf. оn the
table, in the table, under the table, over the table etc.)
4. The fact that the possessive case is exdivssed in oxen – oxen's by -'s and in cows – cows' by
zero cannot serve as an argument against the existence of cases in English nouns because -'s and
zero are here forms of the same morpheme
a) Their meanings are identical.
b) Their distribution is complementary.
5. As a minor argument against the view that -'s is «a divposition-like word», it is pointed out
that -'s differs phonetically from all English divpositions in not having a vowel, a circumstance
limiting its independence.
Yet, it cannot be denied that the peculiarities of the -'s morpheme are such as to admit no doubt of
its being essentially different from the case morphemes of other languages. It is evident that the
case system of Modern English is undergoing serious changes.
There are six cases in Kyrgyz language.
They are following:
44
1. атооч.There are no affixes. Answers questions: ким? Who? What?
2. илик. Aff:-нын, -нин, -нун, -нун, -дын, -дин, -дун, -дун, -тын,
Answers questions:кимдин? Whom? Whose? эмненин? what?
3. табыш Aff: -ны,, ни, ну, -н, -ды -ди -ду, -ду, ты, -ти, -ту, -ту. Answers question (кимди?
Whom? эмени? What?)
4. барыш. Aff: -га. -ге, -го, -ге, -ке, -ка, -ке, ко, -ке, Answers questions: кимге? whom?
эмнеге? - what? кайда where?
5. жатыш. Aff.r-да, -де, до, -де, - та, -те, -то. Answers questions: кайда?
where? кимде? - at whom? эмнеде? - at what? Where?
6. чыгыш. Aff: дан, -ден, -дон, - -дон, -тан. -тен, тон, -тен, -нан, -нен, - Л. Answers
questions:кимден? - from whom? эмнеден? - from what? кайдан? - from where?
l)Words ending with vowels. Examples with wide vowels
Бала Эне Too Оро
баланын эненин тоонун оронун
балага энеге тоого орого
баланы н энени тоону орону
балада
энеден тоодо ородо
баладан энеде тоодон ородон
Examples with
narrow
vowels
Чыны Ини Суу
чынынын ининин суунун
чыныны инини сууну
чыныга иниге сууга
1 : чыныда иниде сууда
чыныдан иниден суудан
5) Words ending with voice consonants
мал Кен тон кол
45
В малдын кендин тондун колдун
малды кенди тонду колду
I? малга кенге тонго колго
I, малда кенде тондо колдо
Ч. малдан кенден тондон колдон
Examples with narrow consonants
А Ным тир Ун Тун
нымдын тирдин ундун тундун
E. нымды тирди унду тунду
IT. нымга .тирге унга тунго
I. нымда тирде унда тундо
Ч. нымдан тирден ундан тундон
в ) Words ending with voiceless consonants :
A AT Эт Ок Орок
И. аттын эттин октун ороктун
Б, атка этке окко орокко
Т. атты этти окту орокту
I. . атта этте окто орокто
Н. аттан эттен октон ороктон
examples with narrow consonants:
l Чыт Ит Куш Кыш
чыттын иттин куштун кыштын
чытты итти кушту кышты
чытка . итке кушка кышка
чытта итте кушта кышта
чыттан иттен куштан кыштан
2.4 The Category of Number of English Nouns
The category of number of English nouns is the system of opposites (such as girl – girls,
foot – feet, etc.) showing whether the noun stands for one object or more than one, in other words,
46
whether its grammatical meaning is '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 opposites 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 opposites, though it is not so great as in the Russian language.
An English noun lexeme can contain two number opposites at most (toy – boys, boy's – boys').
Many lexemes have but one oppose me (table – tables) and many others have no opposites at all
(ink, news).
In the opposite boy – boys 'singularity' is exdivssed by a zero morpheme and 'plurality' is marked by
the positive morpheme /-z/, in spelling – .s. In other words, the 'singular' member of the opposite is
not marked, and the 'plural' member is marked.
In the opposite 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 (cf. a boy's head, boys' heads).
In a few noun lexemes of foreign origin both members of a number opposite are marked, e.g.
symposium – symposia, genus – genera, phenomenon–phenomena, etc. But in the process of
assimilation this peculiarity of foreign nouns gets gradually lost, and instead of medium – media a
new opposite develops, medium – mediums; instead of formula – formulae, the usual form now is
formula – formulas. In this process, as we see, the foreign grammatical morphemes are neglected as
such. The ‘plural’ morpheme is dropped altogether. The 'singular' morpheme becomes part of the
stem. Finally, the regular – s ending is added to form the 'plural' opposite. As a result the 'singular'
becomes unmarked, as typical of English, and the 'plural' gets its usual mark, the suffix – s.
Since the 'singular' member of a number opposite is not marked, the form of the opposite is, as a
rule, determined by the form of the 'plural' morpheme, which, in its turn, depends upon the stem of
the lexeme.
In the overwhelming majority of cases the form of the 'plural' morpheme is /-s/, /-z/, or /-z/, in
spelling – (e) s, e. g, books, boys, matches.
With the stem ox – the form of the 'plural' morpheme is – en /-n/.
In the opposite man–men the form of the 'plural' morpheme is the vowel change /æ > e/. In woman
– women ii is /u > i/, in foot – feet it is /u – i:/, etc.
In child – children the form of the 'plural' morpheme is complicated. It consists of the vowel change
/ai > i/ and the suffix – ren.
47
In sheep – sheep the 'plural' is not marked, thus coinciding in form with the 'singular'. They can be
distinguished only by their combinability: ‘one sheep’, ‘five sheep’, ‘a sheep was…’, ‘sheep
were…’, ‘this sheep’, ‘these sheep’. The 'plural' coincides in form with the 'singular' also in ‘deer,
fish, carp, perch, trout, cod, salmon’, etc.
All the 'plural' forms enumerated here are forms of the same morpheme. This can be proved, as we
know, by the identity of the 'plural' meaning, and the complementary distribution of these forms, i.e.
the fact that different forms are used with different stems.
As already mentioned, with regard to the category of number English nouns fall into two
subclasses: countable and uncountable. 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.
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.
As a matter of fact, those nouns which have no number opposites are outside the grammatical
category of number. But on the analogy of the bulk of English nouns they acquire oblique (or
lexicon-grammatical) meanings of number. Therefore singularia tantum are often treated as
singulars and pluralia tantum as plurals.
This is justified both by their forms and by their combinability.
Cf. This (table, book, milk, love) is…
These (tables, books, clothes, goods) are…
When combinability and form contradict each other, combinability is decisive, which accounts for
the fact that ‘police’ or ‘cattle’ are regarded as plurals, and ‘measles’, ‘mathematics as singulars.
The lexicon-grammatical meaning of a class (or of a subclass) of words is, as we know, an
abstraction from the lexical meanings of the words of the class, and depends to a certain extent on
those lexical meanings. Therefore singularia tantum usually include nouns of certain lexical
meanings. They are mostly material, abstract and collective nouns, such as sugar, gold, butter,
brilliance, constancy, selfishness, humanity, soldiery, peasantry.
Yet it is not every material, abstract or collective noun that belongs to the group of singularia
tantum (e. g. a plastic, a feeling, a crowd) and, what is more important, not in all of its meanings
does a noun belong to this group.
As we have already seen, variants of the same lexeme may belong to different subclasses of a part
of speech. In most of their meanings the words joy and sorrow as abstract nouns are singularia
tantum.
E.g. He has been a good friend both in joy and in sоrгоw. (Horney).
48
But when concrete manifestations are meant, these nouns are countable and have plural opposites,
e. g. the joys and sorrows of life.
Likewise, the words copper, tin, hair as material nouns are usually singularia tantum, but when they
denote concrete objects, they become countable and get plural opposites: a copper – coppers, a tin –
tins, a hair – hairs.
Similarly, when the nouns wine, steel, salt denote some sort or variety of the substance, they
become countable.
E.g. an expensive wine – expensive wines.
All such cases are not a peculiarity of the English language alone. They are found in other
languages as well. Cf. дерево – деревья and дерево.is a material noun, платье – платья and
платье as a collective noun.
‘Joy’ and ‘a joy’, ‘beauty’ and ‘a beauty’, ‘copper’ and ‘a copper’, ‘hair’ and ‘a hair’ and many
other pairs of this kind are not homonyms, as suggested by some grammarians, but variants of
lexemes related by internal conversion.
If all such cases were regarded as homonyms, the number of homonyms in the English language
would be practically limitless. If only some of them were treated as homonyms, that would give rise
to uncontrolled subjectivity.
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, trousers, nuptials, obsequies.
Here also belong some nouns with a distinct collective or material meaning, e.g. clothes, eaves,
sweets.
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.
Nouns like police, militia, cattle, poultry are pluralia tantum, judging by their combinability, though
not by form.
People in the meaning of «народ» is a countable noun. In the meaning of «люди» it belongs to the
pluralia tantum. Family in the sense of «a group of people who are related» is a countable noun. In
the meaning of «individual members of this group» it belongs to the pluralia tantum. Thus, the
lexeme family has two variants:
Sg. PL
1) family families
2) – family
E. g. Almost every family in the village has sent a man to the army. (Horney).
49
Those were the oldest families in Jorkshire. (Black).
Her family were of a delicate constitution. (Bronte).
Similar variants are observed in the lexemes committee, government, board, crew, etc.
Colour in the meaning «red, green, blue, etc». is a countable noun. In the meaning «appearance of
reality or truth» (e. g. His torn clothes gave colour to his story that lie had been attacked by robbers.
A. Horney.) it has no plural opposite and belongs to the singularia tantum. Colours in the sense of
«materials used by painters and artists» has no singular opposite and belongs to the pluralia tantum.
Thus, the lexeme has three variants:
Sg. Pl.
1) colour colours
2) colour –
3) – colours.
When grammarians write that the lexical meanings of some plurals differ from those of their
singular opposites, they simply compare different variants of a lexeme.
Sometimes variants of a lexeme may belong to the same lexico-grammatical subclass and yet have
different forms of number opposemes.
Cf. brother (son of same parents) – brothers
brother (fellow member) – brethren
fish – fish (e.g. I caught five fish yesterday.)
fish – fishes ('different species', e. g. ocean fishes).
A collective noun is a word that designates a group of objects or beings regarded as a whole, such
as «flock», «team», or «corporation». Although many languages treat collective nouns as singular,
in others they may be interdivted as plural. In British English, phrases such as the committee are
meeting are common (the so-called agreement in sensu «in meaning», that is, with the meaning of a
noun, rather than with its form). The use of this type of construction varies with dialect and level of
formality.
All languages are able to specify the quantity of referents. They may do so by lexical means with
words such as English a few, some, one, two, five hundred. However, not every language has a
grammatical category of number. Grammatical number is exdivssed by morphological and/or
syntactic means. That is, it is indicated by certain grammatical elements, such as through affixes or
number words. Grammatical number may be thought of as the indication of semantic number
through grammar.
Languages that exdivss quantity only by lexical means lack a grammatical category of number. For
instance, in Khmer, neither nouns nor verbs carry any grammatical information concerning number:
such information can only be conveyed by lexical items such as 'some', pii-bey 'a few', and so on.
50
Most languages of the world have formal means to exdivss differences of number. The most
widesdivad distinction, as found in English and many other languages, involves a simple two-way
number contrast between singular and plural (car / cars; child / children, etc.). Other more elaborate
systems of number are described below.8
2.5 The category of Gender in English and its similarities and differences in Kyrgyz languages
In Russian the category of gender is a grammatical division of nouns into three classes:
masculine, feminine and neuter shown by the form of the noun itself: стол (masculine), доска
(feminine), окно (neuter). Adjectives do not form any gender classes by themselves, they agree in
gender with the noun which they modify: большой стол, большая доска, большое окно. The
same concerns pronouns: мой стол, моя дочка, мое окно.
Nouns denoting living beings refer to the masculine or feminine gender according to the natural sex
distinctions- Names of things and abstract notions may refer to all the three genders: neuter,
masculine or feminine. When they belong to the masculine or famine gender, the indication of
gender is merely formal (grammatical) without any reference to actual sex distinctions.
In Modern English there is no grammatical gender. The noun does not possess any special
gender forms, neither does the accompanying adjective, pronoun or article indicate any gender
agreement with the head-noun: a little boy a little girl, a little room. . '
What is still traditionally called gender in English is a division of nouns into three classes according
to their lexical meaning: masculine (referred to as he) — names of male beings; feminine (referred
to as she) — names of female beings; neuter (referred to as //) — names of lifeless things and
abstract notions:
Masculine: father, boy, brother. Feminine: mother, girl, sister. Neuter: table, lamp, Mness,
friendship.
The only exceptions are the nouns child and baby which are sometimes referred to as
The child has broken its toy.
...she took the baby out of its cradle, and nursed it. (Dickens.)
Thus we see that gender in English is expressed lexically by means of different
words: father, mother, book.
There is practically only one gender-forming suffix in English the suffixes expressing feminine
gender. Its chief use is to distinguish persons (host — hostess, heir — heiressj and a few animals
(lion — lioness, tiger — tigress}.
8 Close R.A. Reference Grammar for student of English; London, 1977.
51
3. There are nouns which may be applied to both males and females:
1)human beings: teacher, doctor, friend, servant, parent neighbor, stranger, student, clerk,
novelist, etc.;
2) animals: wolf elephant, bear, sparrow, eagle, etc.;
When it is desirable to restrict those nouns to one sex, a word; is added denoting the sex and thus
forming a compound:
3) girl-friend, boy-friend; man-servant, maid-servant; girl-student; woman (or female)-
novelist, women-voters, woman-clerk;
4) he-wolf she-wolf; male-elephant, female-elephant; cock-sparrow, ; hen-sparram-
Sometimes proper nouns are used with the names of animals to
the sex: jack-ass, jenny-ass; billy-goat, nanny-goat; tom-cat. In this case the proper name is not
capitalized.
Ruth's two girl-cousins were visiting her... (London.) A large she-Bear, with a couple of cubs
appeared... (Seton-Thompson.)
Words indicating professions which formerly were used with Reference only to male beings are
now used as well when speaking of women owing to the extension of the activities of women in all
fields: doctor, engineer, journalist, foreman, director, tractor-driver, mechanic: My daughter is a
mechanic. Ann is a pilot.
Gender of Nouns Denoting Animals
1. All nouns denoting animals may be considered neuter (referred to as it): The horse stood where
it was stopped, without movement... (Galsworthy.) ...a large old pointer dog rested its massive head
on the knee of one girl... (Bronte.) In its toral state the hedgehog ;is nocturnal. (Chambers.) He
pushed the dog aside, but it ame leaping back. (Lawrence.)
Unspoken language there is a tendency to associate the names of animals with the feminine or
masculine gender:
When the noun indicates the sex of the animal it is generally spoken of as he or к
fasculine: lion, tiger, bull; also with proper names of animals: Rover, Jack. !eminine:
lioness, tigress, cow; Jenny.
„.the lion roared again and Francis thought he was just at the edge of camp, pemingway.) On the
window-sill, ...the little dog Carmen was rolling her eyes. Galsworthy.) The bull lowered his head
and made rumbling noises in his throat. D'Flaherty.) Pilot pricked up his ears when I came in...
(Bronte.) Old Tom went to is mare, took up her hoofs one at a time and examined each shoe.
(Seton- lompson.)
52
When the sex of the animal is not indicated by the noun, nouns denoting the rger and stronger
animals are generally associated with the masculine gender, nouns noting the smaller and weaker
with the feminine: asculine: elephant, horse, dog, eagle. Feminine: cat, hare, parrot. it: canary —
he, fly — he.
The elephant lifted his mighty trunk. The cat has upset her milk, e eagle left his rocky nest.
(Byron.) "Try to get hold of my horse's bridle and lead n to me," (Bronte.) The air was so clear and
pleasant, and the horse seemed to like idea of the ride so much himself, as he stood snorting and
pawing at the garden e, that I had a great desire to go. (Dickens.)
ties of animals are associated with feminine gender when their maternal instinct is irred to:
The mother Bear, still on her hind legs, came slowly towards me... (Seton- Thompson.) ...her [the
duck's] attention was wholly taken up by her nest and her brood. (Seton-Thompson.) ...a bird
Betrays her nest by trying to conceal it. (Byron.) c) In fairy tales and fables the gender of nouns
denoting animals depends on the general characteristics ascribed to the animals:
"Wait a minute", said the monkey proudly, "I can climb." He ran quickly up the tree and threw the
rich ripe fruit to the ground. There was once a fat old cricket, who thought a good deal of himself.
He had such a big, shining body, and a way'of chirping so loud, that no one could ever forget
where he lived. Next day the Rabbit went to see his friend the Sable (соболь): she had many
daughters and forest people always came to see her.
Gender of Nouns Denoting Inanimate Things and Abstract Notions (Personification)
1. Sometimes inanimate things and abstract notions are personified and the nouns denoting them
are referred to as belonging to the masculine or feminine gender. Here are some traditional
associations:
2. The nouns moon and earth are referred to as feminine, sun as masculine:
It is pleasant to watch the sun in his chariot of gold, and the moon in her chariot of pearl. (Wilde.)
At first the earth was large and shone in the heavens filling a great part of them, but every moment
she grew smaller and more distant. (Wells.) People need to rise early to see the sun in all his
splendor, for his brightness seldom lasts the day through. (Irving.) The earth awoke from her
winter sleep.
3. The names of vessels ship, boat, steamer, etc.) are feminine:
...I walked to the boat, which waited with her nose on the beach. (Conrad.) The ship moved so
smoothly that her onward motion was imperceptible to the senses of men ... (Conrad.) As I saw the
ship staggering among these roaring caverns, it seemed miraculous that she retained her balance.
(Irving.)
4. The names of other vehicles (carriage, coach, car) are also sometimes made feminine by those
who work on them:
53
Off she [a carriage] goes! (Dickens.) "Young gentleman — goes up by her [a coach]". (Hughes.)
5. The names of countries are usually referred to as feminine, especially when the untry is not
considered as a geographical territory: As a fruit-growing country, the Crimea is especially
distinguished for her grapes; she can also grow peaches, pears, and plums. France sent her
representative to the conference.
But: Ireland is an island; on three sides it is washed by the-Atlantic Ocean, e) When abstract
notions are personified, the masculine gender is, given to nouns suggesting such ideas as strength,
fierceness, etc.. while the feminine is associated with the idea of gentleness, beauty, etc.:
Masculine: anger, death, fear, war. Feminine: spring, peace, kindness, dawn. As I heard the waves
rushing along the sides of the ship, and roaring in my very ear, it seemed as if death were raging
round this floating prison seeking for his prey. (Irving.) So the Hail (град) came... He was dressed
in gray and his breath was like ice. (Wilde.) The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to
the Giant's garden she gave none. (Wild e.) Remembrance wakes with all her busy train.
(Goldsmith.) 2. Where there are no traditional associations English poets are free to refer nouns of
lifeless things and abstract notions to any gender (masculine or feminine) in case of
personification. For instance O. Wilde in The Happy Prince makes the swallow (ласточка) of
masculine gender and the reed (тростник) of feminine: One night there flew over the city a little
Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he
was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down
the river after a big yellow moth... (Wilde.) Once there grew a beautiful toadstool (мухомор). He
grew in the wood under a large tree.
The category of a grammatical gender in Kyrgyz language is not exist like in other Turkic
languages. But absence of a grammatical gender does not mean that in Kyrgyz language there are
no means for expression of a belonging animated subjects toman or woman.
Animated subjects have « a category of a biological gender important only concerning the
persons and some animals » and inanimate subjects have no such distinctions.
The gender of a noun is expressed by semantics of the given word or his(its) combination in
the certain position with in other words, which designate male or female.
Compare: аял - woman, кыз - girl, келин - young woman, молодушка. Same about an
animal: ургаачы - самка, бээ - кабыла, мекиян - самка of birds from breed chicken etc. express a
female, (including бостек - самка of a pheasant).
Наборот: эркек - husband, man,
айгыр - stalion кочкор - ram
короз - cock буура - camel
теке - goat
54
бука - bull (manufacturer) etc. designates a male.
The name of degrees of relationship: эне - mother, эже - senior sister, сиңди - younger sister,
(in relation to the person of a female), карындаш the younger sister (about the sister of a man), таа
жеце - wife, relative of the mother; тай эже - sister of the mother (senior or younger), кайын эне
(кайнене) - mother -in - law, кайын эже (кайнэже) - senior sister of the wife or husband etc.
designates the name of the persons of a female.
Words: ини - younger brother, ara - senior brother, ата - father, тайата - father of the mother,
таяке - brother of the mother, кайын ara - (кайнага) - senior brother of the wife or husband,
кайны - younger brother of the wife or husband, жезде - son - in - law (husband of a sister), чоң
ата - grandfather or great-grandfather etc. designate names of a male.
Some words express gender and simultaneously age of the people: кудача - young
relative of the groom,
кудагый - mother of the bride, groom or their elderly relatives, кемпир - old woman, чал -
old man, келин- young woman, жигит - парень, unmarried man etc.
Similar it is found out and in the names of animals: кулун - жеребенок on the first year, тай -
жеребенок on the second year, кунан - жеребенок on the third year, бычты, бышты- the horse on
the fourth year, байтал - кобылица, кунаажын - телка on the third year, инген - camel.
Alongside with such names, there are nouns expressing the general(common) name
of breed, without expression of a gender. For example:
жылкы - horse (as the patrimonial name),
тоок - hen (as the patrimonial name),
бодо - the large horned cattle (as the patrimonial name),
ит - dog (as the patrimonial name) etc.
Sometimes such patrimonial names of animated subjects express on a name of a female.
For example:
кой - овца (самка) and simultaneously patrimonial name of breed sheep, эчки -
goat and simultaneously patrimonial name , уй - cow and simultaneously
patrimonial name etc.
For distinction of peculiarities of male of these breeds have their names: кочкор -
ram, теке - a goat, бука - bull etc.
Besides still there are words, which denote male of animals, but not of the
manufacturers:
ат - конь,
шишек-ram (for 2 years), серке - goat etc.
For the majority of animals, birds and insects in Kyrgyz language are not present the
55
parallel names for expression belonging to this or that gender, when their patrimonial
distinction (sexual) has no practical meaning(importance):
сагызган - forty,
жылаан - snake,
күкүк - kokoo,
чиркей- a mosquito etc.
If it is necessary to distinguish them by gender, in these cases it will be done by means of special
words.9
Conclusion
From the ancient times it was paid a close attention by linguists to the comparative
investigation of linguistic peculiarities (phonetic, lexical, grammatical) of two or more cognate
9 Турсуналиев Т.Т. Англис тилинин грамматикасы Ф: - 1988.
2. Баскаков Н.А, Введение в изучении тюркских языков М.,1969.
56
and incognate languages and it helped to the forming of comparative historical method in
linguistics in XIX centure.
The numerous observations and experimental investigation show that the comparative
investigation of languages is very effective in learning foreign languages.
The comparative typological investigation represents one of the parts of typology.
The course of comparative typology of different languages aims to teach the students to
show up the most essential typological characteristics of given languages, to show those
methods and ways which help to compare the structure of given languages and to take into
account components of the structure of learning language which are not in the native language
as well as the means used for transferring them in native language of student.
The typological investigation has its own history investigation in Kyrgyzstan. A lot of
authors typologically investigated Kyrgyz and Russian languages in 60s K.K. Sartbaev, A.
Japarov, N. Alpiev, G.I. Morlets, A.I. Vasilev, G.F. Zenkov, V.D. Skirdov, B.D. Muradova, О.
V. Zakareva, A. Oruzbaeva, K. Chonbashev wrote research works, manuals etc. Later N.K.
Salahidinova, B. Kasymova, A. Karymshakov, M. Sagynaliev, J. Judemishev, Z.
Karymshakova wrote research works in the materials of these languages.
Most Kyrgyz topologists investigated the comparison of Kyrgyz language with other
incognate German languages and proved their similarities and differences in the structure. We
can include to these typologiest: A. Bekbalaev, A.H. Liss, J. Buranov, Z.Z. Galatulina, V.M.
Karpov, K. Umarov, R. Chybekov, A. Joldoshbekov, K.
Jumabaev, A.Irsalieva, A.K. Shamenova, T. Tursunaluiev, J. Sydykov, N.S. Satkynaliev, B.
Kasymova, Ch. Bayterekova, Ch. Naymanova, Sh. Kadyrova, M. Akchekeev, D. Koziev etc.
This work is devoted to the problems of comparative typology - study of noun categories
(number, case, gender) in Kyrgyz and English languages.
Nouns of the languages are compared not only on the level of a category, but as the main
part of speech, all their categories are investigated. It has been revealed that in all the categories of
Kyrgyz and English nouns there are some similarities and differences.
The meaning of work is not to compare the only category of definite part of speech, but to
investigate comparatively the common systems of all grammatical categories of nouns in the
materials of these two languages. The noun is completely considered as an object of investigation
in this work. It brings a great advantage in science to compare not only the facts but also
comparing some phenomena of tightly related with each other so called Microsystems of the
language. According to study the noun is a word exdivssing substance in the widest sense of the
word. In the concept of substance we include not only names of living beings (e.g. boy, girl, bird)
and lifeless things (e.g. table, chair, book), but also names of abstract notions, i.e. qualities, slates,
57
actions (kindness, strength, sleep, fear, conversation, fight), abstracted from their bearers. In
speech these types of nouns are treated in different ways, so one, who does not know ways of
treatment, can make mistakes in his speech.
In our opinion the practical significance of our work is hard to be overvalued. This work
reflects modern trends in linguistics and we hope it would serve as a good manual for those who
wants to master modern English language.
In comparing the number, case, gender categories of these two typologically investigating
languages, there are mostly used the materials of the inflected languages. The number and case
categories are in equal level in both these two languages but the gender category wasn't founded as
a grammatical category in agglutinative languages and among them in kyrgyz also.
Kyrgyz language helps in analyzing typologically the Possessive Pronoun and Predicate
categories, because this categories are given in English in syntactical way, but wasn't founded as a
morphological categories.
The main part of our work includes several items. There we discussed such problems as
definition of nouns, main features of English and Kyrgyz nouns, their grammatical categories. In
the conclusion we tried to draw some results from the scientific investigations made within the
main part of our qualification work. In bibliography part we mentioned more than 20 sources of
which were used while compiling the divsent work. It includes linguistic books and articles dealing
with the theme, a number of used dictionaries and encyclopedias and also some internet sources.
The present work might find a good way of implying in the following spheres:
1. It can be used by teachers of schools, lyceums and colleges by teachers of English as a practical
manual for teaching English grammar.
2. It can be useful for everyone who wants to enlarge his/her knowledge in English
3. It can be used by the scientists who based on typological investigation
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1a) Internet sourses:
1. Internet:http://www.englishlanguage.ru/main/definitearticle.htm
2. Internet:http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives/theory.htm
3. www.yandex.com
4. www.rambler.ru
5. www.google.kg