Morfologija

NOUNS
VIDANOVI, An Outline of English Morphology, p. 58,
Nouns are one of the most important types of words. Together with the verb it helps to form
the sentence core of every complete sentence.
Criteria for classifying nouns:
Meaning: proper vs. common; concrete vs. abstract; countable vs. uncountable; collective vs.
noncollective
Form: simple, complex, compound
Function: performing different tasks in the given context e.g. subject, object, complement of
a verb.
Nouns as variable words which have a two-member system of number, a two-member
system of case. Another major grammatical category related to nouns is gender.

NUMBER
Number as a noun related category comprises singular (one) and plural (more than one).
Plural can be formed regularly and irregularly.
Idiosyncratic use of the singular with reference to plural subject:
A woman with child - pregnant woman...
A timorous woman with child - women with child
He lost heart when the critical time drew near they lost heart
Man has an eye for beauty in women they have an eye ...
A man came marching along, pipe in mouth and sword in hand men came pipe in mouth
His whole soul was fixed on the dead carcass their whole soul was fixed .

Regular plural is formed

[-iz] after [s,z,ch,sh, dz]
[-s] after [p,t,k,f,th]
[-z] after all voiced consonants except [z, dz] and after all vowels.
The orthographic rules:
-s or -es
-es in the following cases:
A. s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z, -ss
B. words that end in o:
Hero, volcano, cargo, echo, motto, negro, potato, tomato + -es
BUT only s:
piano, photo, kilo, solo, alto; also: studio, radio
Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant letter change y into ies:
Ladies, armies BUT boys, valleys
-f/-fe change to ves

wife wives, loaf loaves, calf calves BUT roof roofs, cliff cliffs, belief beliefs etc.
The plural paradigm can be realised in the following major ways:
1. cup + s > cups (flective suffix s)
2.ox + en > oxen (flective suffix en)
3. sheep > sheep (the same form)
4. mouse > mice (internal vowel change)
5. locus > loci (Latin plural) (Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew plural)
6. east/west (singularia tantum)
7. pants (pluralia tantum)
Rule of plural formation the plural morpheme can be realized as:
1. suffixal allomorph
2. vowel added to discontinuous basis
3. zero allomorph //
4. simultaneous adding of a vowel and a suffix
/mens:vnts/
5. simultaneous adding of two suffixes

/:/ + /iz/ > /:iz/

/g s/ + / i:/ > /gi:s/
/i:p/ + // > / i:p/
/m-ns:vnt/ + /e/ + /s/ >
/detz prizn/ +/s/ > / detz priznz/

Examples:
1. church churches
2. goose geese
3. sheep sheep
4. man servant men servants
5. debtors prison debtors prisons (-s = syncretic suffix = genitive + plural
Irregular plural formation (Vidanovi, 62-68)
Regular variable nouns
1.
Wolf Anglo-Saxon: wulfs
Self selfs psychology, philosophy
2.
-ch not followed by es:
monarchs /k/
stomachs /k/
epochs /k/
(more in: Quirk, 176-177)
3.
cargo + (e)s; motto + (e)s; volcano + (e)s BUT echo+es, embargo + es, hero + es, Negro + es
(Quirk, 173-174)
4.
-y not changed into ies:
- the two Germanys, the Kennedys
- stand-bys
- soliloquys

5.
Nouns of unusual word formatiom pluraliye in 's: dot your i's in the 1990's (1990s)
Invariable nouns and their plural formation
1.
Nouns ending in s not necessarily plural
The news is good.
No news is good news.
So much news
diseases: measles small-pox, mumps + plural/singular verb
subject names ending in ics (singular verb): classics, mathematics, linguistics, physics,
athletics, atatistics,
same games: billiards, darts, dominoes, checkers, ninepins, BUT a billiard table
some proper nouns: Algiers, Athens, Brussels, Naples, Wales, Marseilles
summation plurals (pairs): tongs, pants, scissors, pliers, scales, glasses, spectacles, crutches,
tights, trousers, shorts etc. BUT a garden shears, a curling tongs
Pluralia tantum, (Quirk, 168-171)
Amends, annals, archives, arms, ashes, brains, clothes etc.
A list of unmarked plurals
Cattle, clergy, folk(s) gentry, people, police, youth + verb in plural
Plural formation with en
Ox; children double plural: childru + en
Change of vowel plural
Foot feet
Goose geese
Louse lice
Plural in the form of singular
Animals
Deer deer
Sheep sheep (Quirk, 178-180)
Numeral nouns
Hundred
Thousand
Million
Dozen BUT three dozen of shirt
Measures of length
Foot
Fathom (hvat)

Mile BUT educated speakers always use plurals with the measures of length
Old plural with a new collective idea
Chicken
Moth
Woods of oak and breech, wood drva; woods - uma
Zero plural/Pluralia tantum
Barracks is
A deserted barracks
A fine Zoological Gardens
By the side of Hyde Park stands Zoological Gadrens
Double plurals with differentiating meaning
Brother- brothers (by blood)
Cherub-cherubs (darlings)
Cloth-cloths (piece of cloth)
Dei-dies (stamps)
Genius-geniuses (person of high mental power)
Index-indices (algebraic signs)
Seraph-seraphs (sweet singers)
Staff-staves (musical team)
Foreign plurals
Latin plurals
Greek plurals
French plurals
Italian plurals
Hebrew plurals
Plural of compound nouns

brethren (religious order)

cherubim (angels)
clothes (garments)
dice (cubes used in games)
genii (some sort of spirit)
indexes (tables of contents)
seraphim (angel)
staffs (military or newspaper staffs)

Morfologija
Plural of Nouns I
1. Give plural of these nouns: dwarf, hoof, scarf, wharf

.
2. Give plural of these nouns: ox, penny, person, louse

.
3. Give plural of these nouns: barracks, crossroads, headquarters, means, series, species,
works

.
4. Complete the following sentences with the appropriate verb:
1. Too much mathematics (teach) at school.
2.Politics (be) very complicated.
3. What ..(be) your politics?
4. Statistics.. (be) useful in language testing.
5. The unemployment statistics .(be) disturbing.
6. Many cattle ..(be) suffering from a disease called BSE.
7. Your jeans .(be) too tight.
5. Chose the correct form:
1. A number of people has/have tried to find the treasure.
2. Half of her students doesnt/dont understand the word she says.
3. Where are those/is that five pounds I lent you?
4. Weve only got five liters of petrol left. That isnt/ those arent enough.
5.Two and two is/are four.
6. If things dont get better, more than one person is/are going to have to find a new
job.
7. This gin and tonic isnt/arent very strong, is it/are they?
8. Nobody was late, was s/he/were they?
6. Choose the right concordance in the following sentences:
1. The biggest timewaster is/are meetings.
2. A serious problem in our garden is/are wasps.
3. What I am interested in is/are your immediate personal reactions.
4. What we need is/are a few bright young engineers.
5. Nobody except his best friend like/likes him.
6. A good knowledge of three languages is/are necessary for this job.
7. My baggage have/has been sent to Greece by mistake.
8. Your hair is/are pretty.
9. I go to Ireland every six weeks/week.
10. Neither of my brothers has/have been outside England.

Plural of Nouns II
I Give plural of these expressions:
A woman with child....
A timorous woman with child.
He lost heart when the critical time drew near
Man has an eye for beauty in women .....
A man came marching along, pipe in mouth and sword in hand
His whole soul was fixed on the dead carcass.

II Give Serbian plural and then translate into English:

Bio je prav ko strijela.
Ona mi je zenica oka moga.
III In the blanks of the first column, write a pronoun word that you would substitute for
the italicized word. In the blank of the second column write Sg or Pl to show the
number of the italicized doun:
1. Miss Shen is wearing hose today.
...
2. What did they do with the molasses?
...
3. The summons came in the mail.
...
4. Why doesnt she call the police?
...
5. Jack like to fish for pike.
..
6. He firm transported the goods to Australia.
..
7. The jar is filled with sugar.
..
8. Have you ever had the mumps
..
9. She became fond of mathematics.
..
10. Does your brother eat soap?
..

......
.
..
..
..

.
.

IV Encircle the noun modifier or pronoun reference that reveals the number of the
italicized
Noun.
1. The hunting party saw few deer this season.
2. That news delighted her.
3. She studied poetics in all its complications.
4. My scissors lost their sharpness.
5. He shot both quail on the wing.
V Insert the verb to mark plural:

1. The Chinese ..(be) preparing the dinner.

2. Oats (be) his best crop.
3. The bass .(be) biting today.
4. The species .(have) become extinct.

VI Give plural of these nouns:

1. alumna .
2. formula .
3. opus
4. appendix.
5. stratum
6. hypothesis..
7. cherub
8. apparatus
9. medium..
10. stimulus
11. memorandum
12. virtuoso
13. nucleus.
14. analysis.
15. stadium.
VII Give plural of the following nouns:
1. play.
2. boy..
3. valley..
4. stand-by..
5. soliloquy .
6. turkey.
7. pantry.
8. bakery
9. Harvey
10. Gray .
11. Kennedy..
12. February..
13. Amy
14. quality .
VIII Translate into English:
1. Ova prodavnica cipela je veoma dobro snabdjevena.
2. Lijevi dep od pantalona mu je bio probuen.
3. Raunovodstvo je dolje niz hodnik pa lijevo.
4. Njegova sportska kola su Cavallino Rampante Ferrari.
5. Diplomirao je ekonomiju.
6. Bilo je nekoliko prolaznika na ulici.
7. Marko i Petar su javni notari.
8. Markov prijatelj i John su pomonici direktora na jednom vanom projektu.

9. To su ba neka lijepa uveavanja. Vidi se svaki detalj.

10. Marija je nabrala puno nezaboravaka.

IXa

1. Mnogo stoke pati od bolesti ludih krava.

2. Farmerke su ti tijesne.
3. Moja porodica je odluila da se preseli za Beograd. Ona misli da su tamo
fakulteti dobri.

4. Polovina mojih studenata ne razumije francuski.

5. SAD nastoje da poprave odnose sa Latinskom Amerikom.
6. Ukoliko osoba ne eli da ivi, teko joj je pomoi.
7. Niko nije zakasnio, zar ne?
8. Ko god doe, kaite mu da ue.
9. Niko sem njenih najboljih prijatelja je ne voli.
10. Ni ona ni njen mu nisu pristigli.

X Write in phonemic script the allomorphic formula for the formation of the plural of
these words:
1. Child
2. herring.
3. foot...
4. leaf...
5. wolf .

6. man
7. woman..

Index (indexes, indices); appendix (appendixes, appendices); datum (data, datums)

NOUNS CASE - GENITIVE

Formal properties of:
I
1. ZERO GENITIVE Occurs with regular plurals. The spies companions were women.
The players shoes were worn out.
2. It can occur with some Greek polysyllabic names: Euripides' plays, Socrates wife
(Xantippe)
3. fixed expressions: For goodness sake, for conscious sake;
4. Pronunciation is [iz] and the spelling is Burns poems, less common Burns's
II. INFLECTIONAL (s) GENITIVE required by the classes highest on the gender scale
by animate nouns: Johns hat BUT also the ships name (ship as an organism)
III. PERIPHRASTIC GENITIVE/ NORMAN GENITIVE the name of the ship; the knob of
the door; the leg of the table
Some of the inanimate nouns that take the inflectional genitive are the following groups:
Geographical and institutional names: Europes future, Marylands senator, the schools
history, Londons water supply
Temporal nouns: a moments thought, a weeks holiday, todays business, the theatre seasons
first big event
Nouns of special interest to human activity: the brains solid weight, the minds development,
the games history, sciences influence
The genitive may be used in a variety of ways. In fact, here we talk about different uses which
are based on the corresponding meanings:
1. Possessive Genitive: Johns hat (John has a hat)
2. Subjective genitive: the boys application (the boy applied)
3. Objective genitive: the familys support (supports the family)
4. Genitive of origin: the girls story (the girl told a story)
5. Descriptive genitive: a womens college (a college for women)
6. Genitive of measure and partitive genitive: ten days absence (the absence which lasted for
ten days)
7. Appositive genitive: the city of New York, the pleasure of meeting you (meeting you is a
pleasure)
GENITIVE OR NOUN POSSESSIVE
The term possessive is not a completely satisfactory label for this morpheme because a variety
of different semantic relationships can exist between the possessive noun and the one that
follows. The following cases illustrate that.
Relationship
1. Possession or belongingness

Example
Johns hat
Johnnys home

2. Characterization or description

cowboys walk
mens coats
ladies room
Raphaels paintings
Carys novels
an hours wait
a dollars worth
a stones throw
Johns flight (John flew)
the judges decision (the judge

3. Origin
4. Measure (time, value, space)
5. Subject of act
decided)
6. Object of act
(Someone

Jims punishment was deserved.

punished Jim.) Eliots critics were

many.
(They criticized Eliot.)
I Using the numbers above, indicate the relation shown between the italicized possessive
and its following noun.
1. We missed the other car by a hairs breadth
2. A wrens song floated through the window.
3. They were playing childrens games.
4. he police provided for Richards protection
5. The boys jump saved his life..
6. The moons beams were brilliant that night
7. Willards arrival was a surprise..
8. He has never done a days work.
9. She met Dickies father
10. She was happy about Bobs winning.
11. Dr. McCoys examination aw a long one
12. That is my fathers photograph

..

..

13. He was carrying a womans coat on his arm. .

14. We bought one of Rutherfords paintings. .
15. The case was about his wifes fatal shooting. ..

..

CASE - GENITIVE
Case is the grammatical category represented by three members: nominative and genitive.
Nominative is sometimes called common.
s genitive (major uses)
1. personal names

Johns house

2. personal nouns
3. collective nouns
4. higher animals
5. geographical and institutional names
6. temporal nouns

the boys new glasses

the governments decision
the horses tail
Europes future
a weeks holiday

The double genitive

It is a combination of inflected and periphrasted genitives usually with partitive meaning. The
postmodifier must be definite and personal:
a work of Miltons
a friend of his fathers

this great nation of ours

these considerate students of mine

The group genitive

-suffix added to the last element of a noun phrase consisting of a postmodified or coordinated
noun head.
My mother-in-laws hat
Somebody elses job
Dolce and Gabanas creations vs. Dolces and Gabanas creations
An hour and a halfs walk
The elliptic genitive
The head is not expressed in this construction but it is implicit or explicit in the context:
My hairstyle is better than Marys
His memory is like an elephants
My car is faster than Johns
Johns is a nice car, too.
The local genitive
Restricted to some institutionalized expressions where no head needs to be mentioned.
1. normal residence
My sons
The Johnsons
2. public buildings
St. Pauls (Cathedral)
St. Jamess (Palace)
3. place where business is conducted:
the barbers
the butchers
the grocers
the chemists (BrE)
the druggists (AmE)

EXERCISES:
I Give plural of these nouns:
1. alumna .
2. formula .
3. opus
4. appendix.
5. stratum
6. hypothesis..
7. cherub
8. apparatus
9. medium..
10. stimulus
11. memorandum
12. virtuoso
13. nucleus.
14. analysis.
15. stadium.
II Give plural of the following nouns:
1. play.
2. boy..
3. valley..
4. stand-by..
5. soliloquy .
6. turkey.
7. pantry.
8. bakery
9. Harvey
10. Gray .
11. Kennedy..
12. February..
13. Amy
14. quality .

NOUNS SUMMARY
PLURAL Plural of nouns:
Grammatical category of number in nouns has a paradigm of two members: singular and
plural. The paradigm can be realised in the following major ways:
1. cup + s > cups (flective suffix s)
2.ox + en > oxen (flective suffix en)
3. sheep > sheep (the same form)
4. mouse > mice (internal vowel change)
5. locus > loci (Latin plural) (Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew plural)

6. east/west (singularia tantum)

7. pants (pluralia tantum)
Rule of plural formation the plural morpheme can be realized as:
1. suffixal allomorph
/:/ + /iz/ > /:iz/
2. vowel added to discontinuous basis
/g s/ + / i:/ > /gi:s/
3. zero allomorph //
/i:p/ + // > / i:p/
4. simultaneous adding of a vowel and a suffix
/m-ns:vnt/ + /e/ + /s/ >
/mens:vnts/
5. simultaneous adding of two suffixes
/detz prizn/ +/s/ > / detz priznz/
Examples:
1. church churches
2. goose geese
3. sheep sheep
4. man servant men servants
5. debtors prison debtors prisons (-s = syncretic suffix = genitive + plural
CASE - GENITIVE
Case is the grammatical category represented by three members: nominative and genitive.
Nominative is sometimes called common.
s genitive (major uses)
1. personal names
2. personal nouns
3. collective nouns
4. higher animals
5. geographical and institutional names
6. temporal nouns

Johns house
the boys new glasses
the governments decision
the horses tail
Europes future
a weeks holiday

The double genitive

It is a combination of inflected and periphrasted genitives usually with partitive meaning. The
postmodifier must be definite and personal:
a work of Miltons
a friend of his fathers

this great nation of ours

these considerate students of mine

The group genitive

-suffix added to the last element of a noun phrase consisting of a postmodified or coordinated
noun head.
My mother-in-laws hat
Somebody elses job
Dolce and Gabanas creations vs. Dolces and Gabanas creations
An hour and a halfs walk
The elliptic genitive

The head is not expressed in this construction but it is implicit or explicit in the context:
My hairstyle is better than Marys
His memory is like an elephants
My car is faster than Johns
Johns is a nice car, too.
The local genitive
Restricted to some institutionalized expressions where no head needs to be mentioned.
1. normal residence
My sons
The Johnsons
2. public buildings
St. Pauls (Cathedral)
St. Jamess (Palace)
3. place where business is conducted:
the barbers
the butchers
the grocers
the chemists (BrE)
the druggists (AmE)

MORPHOLOGY, 2/3/08
NOUNS
VIDANOVI, An Outline of English Morphology,
Nouns are one of the most important types of words. Together with the verb it helps to form
the sentence core of every complete sentence.
Criteria for classifying nouns:
Meaning: proper vs. common; concrete vs. abstract; countable vs. uncountable; collective vs.
noncollective
Form: simple, complex, compound
Function: performing different tasks in the given context e.g. subject, object or complement
of a verb.
Nouns as variable words which have a two-member system of number, a two-member
system of case. Another major grammatical category related to nouns is gender.
NOUNS
GENDER
Gender is the lexical or grammatical category represented by four members: masculine (boy),
feminine (girl), neuter (table) and common (friend).
Analysis of gender can be done through semantic and lexical criteria.
man woman
lady gentleman
widow widower
bachelor spinster
master - mistress
stud slut
divorc divorce
king - queen
Nouns, pronouns and possessive adjectives are used to denote sex.
Personal masculine/feminine nouns
1. morphologically unmarked for gender
bachelor spinster
brother sister
father mother
gentleman lady
monk nun
uncle aunt
2. morphologically marked for gender
bridegroom bride
duke duchess
emperor empress
god goddess
hero heroine
host hostess

steward stewardess
waiter waitress
Personal dual gender, a very large group
Artist, friend, person, teacher, guest, professor, cook, inhabitant, servant, criminal, librarian,
musician, student, speaker, doctor, enemy, neighbour, fool, novelist, writer, foreigner, parent,
lover etc.
Gender marker
Boy friend, man servant, male student, female student, girl friend,
-> Woman doctor or lady doctor?
Collective nouns
1. specific
army, clan, class, committee, crew, crowd, family, flock, gang, government, group, herd, jury,
majority, minority
2. generic
the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, the clergy, the elite, the gentry, the intelligentsia, the
proletariat, laity / B `leIEti / A noun [singular or uncount] FORMAL people who are
members of a church but who are not priests compare CLERGY, the public
3. unique
the Arab League, (the) Congress, the Kremlin, the Papacy, Parliament
Higher animals
Masculine vs. feminine: buck - doe, bull - cow, cock - hen, dog - bitch, gander - goose, lion lioness, stallion mare, tiger- tigress. BUCK - the male of some animals such as RABBITS or
DEER
compare DOE
Higher organisms
Ships, countries (pronoun can be she)
Lower animals and inanimate nouns: male frog female frog, he goat- she goat, cock
pheasant- hen pheasant.
. Vidanovi
Gender as pronoun substitute
1. he-they: man, father, uncle, brother, priest, monk
2. she-they: woman, mother, aunt, sister, waitress, nun
3. it-they: house, tree, poem, friendship, snow, rock, farm
4. he-she: parent, child, artist, teacher, student, cook
5. he-it-they: bull, ram, rooster, buck, tomcat
6. she-it-they: cow, hen, doe, heifer, bitch, ship
7. he-she-it-they: baby, dog, cat, one, other
8. it-they-they: group, committee, gang, class, crew, jury
9. he-she-it-they (or no plural): somebody, someone, anybody, anyone, everybody, person
10. it (no plural) dirt, mathematics, poetry, music, nothing, bravado
11. they (no singular): pants, scissors, pliers, people

MALE
dude / B du:d / A noun [count] AMERICAN VERY INFORMAL
a man
a. used for talking in a friendly or threatening way to a man you do not know
fop / B f\197p / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED
a man who thinks too much about his clothes and appearance

foppish adjective
masher / B `mSE / A noun [count]
an object used for crushing potatoes or other food
bruiser / B `bru:zE / A noun [count] INFORMAL
1
a big strong man or boy who looks capable of hurting people
2
someone who argues with a lot of force, making other people feel rather afraid
ruffian / B `r\229fiEn / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED
someone who acts in a threatening and violent way
FEMALE
frump / B fr\229mp / A noun [count]
an insulting word for a woman who dresses in a way that is not attractive or fashionable
dowd not neat or fashionable, shabby
slattern / B `slt(E)n / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED
an insulting word for a woman who looks untidy or dirty
termagant / B `t3:mEgEnt / A noun [count] LITERARY
a woman who is always arguing and fighting
virago / B vI`rA:gEU / A noun [count]
an offensive word for a woman who becomes annoyed or angry very easily
dowager / B `daUEdZE / A noun [count]
1
a woman who has a title or property because her dead husband belonged to a
high social class
2
INFORMAL an impressive older woman, especially one who is rich
prude / B pru:d / A noun [count]
someone who is very easily shocked or embarrassed by anything relating to sex. This word
shows that you think people like this are silly.

MALE
dude / B du:d / A noun [count] AMERICAN VERY INFORMAL
a man
a. used for talking in a friendly or threatening way to a man you do not know
sr. kico, ovjek koji afektira profinjenost, koji oponaa engleski nain odijevanja i govora

fop / B f\197p / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED

a man who thinks too much about his clothes and appearance

foppish adjective
masher / B `mSE / A noun [count]
an object used for crushing potatoes or other food
sr. umiljeni osvaja, nasrtljivi udvara, kico, dendi
bruiser / B `bru:zE / A noun [count] INFORMAL
1
a big strong man or boy who looks capable of hurting people
2
someone who argues with a lot of force, making other people feel rather afraid
sr. boksa (profesionalan) brdo od ovjeka, bik
ruffian / B `r\229fiEn / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED
someone who acts in a threatening and violent way
sr. lupe, razbojnik, surov ovjek
FEMALE
frump / B fr\229mp / A noun [count]
an insulting word for a woman who dresses in a way that is not attractive or fashionable
sr. stara ena staromodno i neukusno odjevena, staro gundjalo, strailo
dowd not neat or fashionable, shabby
sr. ena zaputene vanjtine, aljkavua
slattern / B `slt(E)n / A noun [count] OLD-FASHIONED
an insulting word for a woman who looks untidy or dirty
sr. ena neuredne vanjtine, zarozana, aljkavua
termagant / B `t3:mEgEnt / A noun [count] LITERARY
a woman who is always arguing and fighting
sr. svadljiva ena, nadak baba
virago / B vI`rA:gEU / A noun [count]
an offensive word for a woman who becomes annoyed or angry very easily
sr. nadak baba, arch. Mukaraa
dowager / B `daUEdZE / A noun [count]
sr. udovica plemia, matrona,
1
a woman who has a title or property because her dead husband belonged to a
high social class
2
INFORMAL an impressive older woman, especially one who is rich
prude / B pru:d / A noun [count]
someone who is very easily shocked or embarrassed by anything relating to sex. This word
shows that you think people like this are silly.
sr. pretjerano, izvjetaeno stidljiv, edan
Faculty of Philosophy
University of Montenegro