Nouns – Countability
and Gender
Gramatika 1 - 07
NOUNS - COUNTABILITY
Countable Nouns
• names of separate objects, people , etc. which we can count. If a N is
countable:
1. We can use a/an in front of it: a book, an envelope
2. It has a plural and can be used in the question How many?
• How many stamps/envelopes? - Four stamps/envelopes
3. We can use numbers: one stamp, two stamps
Uncountable Nouns (also known as non-count N or mass N)
• the names of things which we do not see as separate,
• which we cannot count.
• If a N is U:
1. We do not normally use a/an in front of it: Sugar is expensive.
2. It does not normally have a plural and it can be used in the question How much?:
How much meat/oil? - A lot of meat/a little oil
3. We cannot normally use a number (one, two) in front of it.
U Ns include:
• abstract nouns: beauty, courage, death, help, hope, horror, knowledge, pity
• names of materials: beer, coffee, glass, stone, water, wine, wood
• some collective nouns: furniture, jewellery, hair, money
• These nouns are often preceded by some, any, no, little, a little, etc.
or by nouns such as bit, item, piece, slice, etc. + of:
little water a little water
a bit/piece of news a cake of soap
a drop of oil a grain of sand
a pane of glass a piece of advice
a pot of jam a sheet of paper
• Sometimes material nouns and abstract nouns are used in the plural
with emphatic force:
sand the sands of the Sahara
water the waters of the Black sea
• Some UNs in PL, when denote particular varieties:
This region produces some awful wines as well as good ones.
I go out in all weathers.
• Some UNs in PL: change in meaning, as in:
damage / damages; good / goods; force / forces; honour / honours
Some (glass, paper, stone, marble, etc.) can be C or U.
• When as C = as items (objects) made of material (real or perceived); when as U we
refer only to the material:
I broke a glass this morning. Would you like an ice?
I've got a new iron. What do the papers say?
x
Glass is made from sand. Ice floats.
Paper is made from wood. Steel is an alloy of iron.
GENDER
• less important grammatical category (compared to e.g. Czech); no
grammatical form makes G explicit, only 3rd pers.
• Tied to biological sex; reflected in co-occurrence patterns (SG pers.,
possessive and reflexive pronouns)
• Not only reflects reality; also:
• Convention
• Speaker’s choice
• Strategies to avoid gender refs.
• Pronouns marked for personal/neuter gender:
GENDER: LEXICAL PAIRS
• male v. female (MASCULINE, FEMININE) denotations:
• Family relationships, social roles, animals:
• king, father, uncle, lord, bull … queen, etc.
• Formal markers:
• Premodification: male/female …
• Compounding: -man/-woman …
• Derivational endings: -ess … (-or/-er)
• Some words have strong masculine overtones: soldier, labourer, alderman
• Masculine term if no specific referent identified:
• A Ford spokesman admitted the existence of an internal document.
• Masculine used even for women:
• That's the view of Sheila Davidson, chairman of the Institute of Public Relations.
• Eyeline spokesman Rosie Johnson said: "We don't need a vast sum but without it, we'll be
forced to close.“
• Means of expressing dual gender reference: -person(s), -people; to overcome
bias associated with the use masculine forms:
• The rally will also be addressed by Amanda Hallaway, chairperson of the Youth Committee of
the Northern Ireland Congress of Trade Unions.
• Mrs Ruddock, who said she had been nominated as spokesperson for the wives, told
reporters: <. . .>
• Only moderately common compounds:
chairperson, spokesperson, salespeople, townspeople
GENDER SPECIFIC / DUAL GENDER REFERENCE
• If Ns/pronouns of dual gender: friend, individual, journalist, … anybody;
problem when referring by: he, his v. she, her (no neuter
personal pronoun it)
• Each [novelist] aims to make a single novel of the material he has been given.
• Each [individual] is thus the recipient of the accumulated culture of the generations
which have preceded him.
… heavily criticized though intended to have dual reference
• Strategies to avoid gender-specific reference:
• Coordinated pronoun forms: he or she, he/she
• The user acts on his/her own responsibility
• Use of plural rather than singular:
• Not everybody uses their indicator.
• Now they expect responsible customers to pay for their folly.
