The category of gender.

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Some grammaticians spent a lot of time proving that this category does not exist others define the subcategorization of gender as purely lexical.

The category of gender is expressed in English by the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person. The category is strictly oppositional. It is formed by two oppositions related to each other on a hierarchical basis. One opposition functions in the whole set of nouns, dividing them into person (human) nouns and non-person (non-human) nouns. The other opposition functions in the subset of person nouns dividing them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns So, there is the neuter, masculine and feminine gender.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives the following definition: gender is a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms.

As a result of the double oppositional correlation, a specific system of three genders arises, which is somewhat misleadingly represented by the traditional terminology: the neuter (i.e. non-person) gender, the masculine (i.e. masculine person) gender, the feminine (i.e. feminine person) gender.

The strong member of the upper opposition is the human subclass of nouns. The weak member of the opposition comprises both inanimate and animate non-person nouns. E.g. tree, mountain, love, etc.; cat, swallow, etc.; society, crowd, etc.; bull and cow, cock and hen etc.

In cases of oppositional reduction, non-person nouns and their substitute (it) are naturally used in the position of neutralisation.

The strong member of the lower opposition is the feminine subclass of person nouns, its sematic mark being " female sex". Here belong such nouns as woman, girl, mother, bride, etc. The masculine subclass of person nouns comprising such words as man, boy, father, bridegroom, etc. makes up the weak member of the opposition.

Many person nouns in English are capable of expressing both feminine and masculine person genders (the «common gender») such as person, parent, friend, etc.

English nouns can show the sex of their referents lexically, either by means of being combined with certain notional words used as sex indicators, or else by suffixal derivation. Cf.: boy-friend, girl-friend; man-producer, woman-producer; lion, lioness; sultan, sultana; etc.

The category of number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to the singular form. The strong member of this binary opposition is plural. Its productive formal mark is suffix s, es. The semantic content of the unmarked form enables grammarians to speak of the zero suffix of the singular. The other non- productive ways of expressing the number opposition are vowel interchange: goose - geese; correlation of individual singular and plural suffixes in some borrowed nouns. Sometimes the plural form can be homonymous with singular form: sheep-sheep. In some cases the meaning of the plural form can differ from the meaning of the singular form a potato (one item of the vegetables) and potatoes (food). As the result of the comparison we conclude that the broader Semantic mark of the plural should be described as the potentially dismembering reflection of the structure of the referent, while the semantic mark of the singular will be understood as the non-dismembering reflection of the structure of the referent, i.e. the presentation of the referent in its indivisible entireness.

It is sometimes stated that the plural form indiscriminately presents both multiplicity of separate objects (" discrete" plural, e.g. three houses) and multiplicity of units of measure for an indivisible object (" plural of measure", e.g. three hours). The difference here lies not in the content of the plural as such, but in the quality of the objects themselves. Actually, the singulars of the respective nouns differ from one another exactly on the same lines as the plurals do (cf. one house — one hour).

There are semantic varieties of the plural forms that differ from one another in the plural quality. They may express a define set of objects (eyes of the face), various types of the referent: fruits, peoples, wines; intensity of presentation of the idea: years and years. And the extreme point of this semantic scale is marked by the legalization of the plural form, re. by its serving as a means of rendering not specifications, but purely notional difference in meaning: colours as a 'flag '.

The subclasses of uncountable nouns are referred to, respectively, as singularia tantum and pluralia tantum.

Since the grammatical form of the uncountable nouns of the singularia tantum subclass is not excluded from the category of number, it stands to reason to speak of it as the " absolute" singular, as different from the " correlative" or " common" singular of the countable nouns. The absolute singular excludes the use of the modifying numeral one, as well as the indefinite article.

The absolute singular is characteristic of the names of abstract notions (peace, love, etc.), the names of the branches of professional activity (chemistry, architecture, etc.), the names of mass-materials (water, snow, etc.), the names of collective inanimate objects (foliage, fruit, etc.). Some of these words can be used in the form of the common singular with the common plural counterpart, but in this case they come to mean either different sorts of materials, or separate concrete manifestations of the qualities denoted by abstract nouns, or concrete objects exhibiting the respective qualities. (Joy is absolutely necessary for normal human life. — It was a joy to see her among us.)

In the sphere of the plural we must recognize the common plural form as the regular feature of the countability and the absolute plural form peculiar to the uncountable subclass of pluralia tantum nouns. The absolute plural is characteristic of the uncountable nouns which denote objects consisting of two halves (trousers, scissors, etc.); the nouns expressing some sort of collective meaning both concrete and abstract (poultry, police); the nouns denoting diseases as well as some abnormal states of the body and mind (hysterics).

The absolute plural, by the way of functional reduction, can be presented in countable nouns having the form of the singular, in uncountable nouns having the form of the plural, and also in countable nouns having the form of the plural.