Contrastive Linguistics

Lecture 2
Typology of the Parts of Speech in the Contrasted
Languages

The identification of the parts of speech in the contrasted languages is not

always an easy matter though the main subdivision of words into notionals and
functionals seems to be indisputable. Why is it so? The ambiguity of form and
meaning of many English notional words, however, brought some grammarians to the
assumption (припущення) that there exist no proper grounds and justification for
singling out some notional parts of speech in present-day English. Charles Carpenter
Fries , for example, suggested a purely functional approach to the classification of
English words. He singled out class 1 words (those performing the function of the
subject), class 2 words (those performing the function of the predicate), class 3 words
(adjectivals), i.e. attributives, and class 4 were in Fries' classification adverbial
function words or word-groups. C. Fries tried to avoid even mentioning the usual
term of "parts of speech". The term is also avoided by this grammarian in his
classification of "function words", which are allotted to 15 different groups and
include also some pronouns, adverbs and verbs.
A typologically more relevant classification has been suggested for English
notionals by Charles Francis Hockett (one of the brightest representitaves of the
second generation of American Structuralism) who distinguishes in English "parts of
speech" and "classes of words". Among the notionals three pure "classes of words"
(or regular parts of speech) are distinguished: "class N words", "class V words" and
"class A words". These "classes" are mainly singled out with regard to the
morphological (or rather paradigmatic) properties of these notionals which, having
the structure of mere roots or stems, can "show more than one pattern (зразок) of
usage", as С. F. Hockett puts it. In other words, they may follow either the noun or
the verb and an adjective pattern. Hence, the grammarian singled out apart from the
N, A, V classes of words some double and triple word stem classes. These are, for
example, the NA class, represented by many words, such as American, human,
innocent, private, savage (дикий), sweet, which may function both as nouns and
adjectives (cf. American scientists, an American). The NV class are words which can
respectively have the meaning and perform the function of the noun and verb (cf. a
book, to book smth.). The AV class represents words which can show the adjective
and the verb pattern (cf. clean hands, to clean the room). The NAV class represents
words which can follow the noun, the adjective and the verb pattern respectively (cf.
the fat of meat, fat meat, to fat (up) fowls).
Thus, "classes of words" clearly reflect the amorphous grammatical nature of
many English nouns, verbs, adjectives and sometimes adverbs which in the course of

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Lecture 2
their historical development have been reduced, as a rule, to regular roots or stems.
As a result, their true lexico-grammatical nature, i.e. their proper lexical meaning, and
consequently their formal and functional characteristics can not be descriminated
when taken out of a word-group or sentence. The word "export", for example, may be
noun or verb (when indicated by stress or determined by the particle "to"). "Negro"
may also be noun (a Negro) or adjective (Negro and white schools); "blue" may be
noun (the blue of the sky), adjective (the blue sky), or verb (to blue smth.).
What about such words in the Ukrainian language?
In Ukrainian, on the other hand, the lexical meaning and "formal"
(morphological) characteristics of such notional words as експорт, негр, синь,
синій, синіти, синіючий, синіючи, etc. are always explicitly displayed already at
language level, i.e. when taken separately, out of context (as in dictionaries).
Therefore, many notionals in English, unlike their lexico-grammatical equivalents in
Ukrainian, are variable, i.e. they may change their nature depending on the contextual
environment and their functional significance which they acquire in a syntaxeme
(an elementary syntactic structure).
The variability of some English notionals, which can often shift from one part of
speech to another without any morphological changes in their form/structure is
certainly the main typological (allomorphic) difference pertaining to the nature of
some notional words as compared to the corresponding classes of words in Ukrainian.
It becomes especially evident when dealing with the conglomerates like NV, AN,
ND, NVA and the like, which are in reality no regular parts of speech but one-lexeme
units able to realize different functional meanings depending on their functionally
relevant place occupied in a syntaxeme (word-group or sentence).
Nevertheless, the existence of the kind of morphologically indistinct notionals in
present-day English does not deprive the language of the regular system of notional
parts of speech in general and those of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in particular.
These same parts of speech, though considered to be "words in their dictionary
form", functioning "as constituents of phrases", are also identified in English by such
linguists Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik.
Along with the four notionals, these grammarians also point out "a set of parts of
speech", having a "closed system" in English. The "set" includes "article,
demonstrative (that, this) pronouns, preposition, conjunction and interjection."
There is no doubt whatsoever concerning the status and the set to which, for
example, different proper nouns like Ann, Peter, Sam, etc. should be allotted. Neither
can there be any doubt in the substantival nature of words denoting specific national
notions (Miss, sir, hopak) or internationalisms (actress, emperor, computer,
phoneme) and many regular class nouns (boy, girl, tree). Neither can there be any

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denying the fact that words like "do, hear, listen, read, write", etc. can be allotted at
first sight by every English language speaker to verbs, since they express action,
whereas words like "happy, new, older/younger" are recognized as qualifiers of
nouns, i.e. adjectives, and words like "slowly, quickly, unanimously (одностайно)"
will be unerringly taken for qualifiers of actions, i.e. adverbs. Easily enough, already
at language level, are identified pronouns (he, she, we, they, who), numerals (ten, the
first, the tenth), conjunctions (and, or, if, because) and many other words having the
same lexico-grammatical nature in English, Ukrainian, and in many other languages.
Consequently, apart from the semantically and morphologically indistinct
conglomerates/"word classes"/ like AN, NVA,VN, etc. having no definite
differentiation at language level, there also exist in English a bulk of words whose
lexico-grammatical nature as a part of speech is quite evident and indisputable. These
words clearly disclose their lexico-grammaticat identity already at language level
(when taken separately, i.e. when singled out as in dictionary).
Functional parts of speech
There is much common ground for a typological contrasting of the functional
parts of speech as well, which in English and Ukrainian have often their lexico-
grammatical nature quite explicit already at language level. This is observed, for
example, in case of conjunctions (and, but, or, if, either – or, neither – nor, etc.),
prepositions (at, in, on, under), interjections (ah, oh, alas, humph), and some particles
(not, to). Most of these functionals, except for the articles, have absolute semantic
and functional equivalents in Ukrainian. For example: and – i, but – але, проте, or –
чи, if – якщо/якби, either – or, чи – чи, in – в/у, on – на, under – під, ah/oh –ax/ox,
not –ні/не, etc. As a result, these and a number of other functionals in English and
Ukrainian are typologically relevant, i.e. isomorphic, in other words, common.
It must be pointed out, however, that some parts of speech both among the
notionals and among the semi-notionals/functionals are still disputable in the
contrasted languages. Far from unanimously recognized as a separate part of speech
by most Western and some Ukrainian and Russian linguists (A. Hryshchenko and co-
authors, L.S. Barkhudarov, M.Y. Blokh) is, for example, the stative (alike, asleep),
which is considered by these grammarians to be a "predicative adjective". Still other
Western grammarians are not quite sure about the numerals which they are inclined
to identify as nouns (cardinals) or as relative adjectives (ordinals). Among these
grammarians are also R. Quirk, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech and J. Svartvik. Up to now
there is no unanimity yet among some grammarians concerning the status of the
modal words ("perhaps, sure, certainly," etc.), or particles and even articles, which
are not always recognized in English as a separate functional part of speech. This idea
might have come to life because of the common in both languages phenomenon of

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"migration" of some parts of speech from one to another. For axample: a just man
(adj.), he has just come (adv.), just a moment, please (particle). Similarly in
Ukrainian: Надворі холодно (adv.); мені холодно (stative), etc.
Notwithstanding the above-mentioned, what notionals can be distinguished?
On the ground of identical or similar semantic, morphological/formal and
syntactic/functional properties pertaining to common lexico-grammatical classes of
words, the number of notional parts of speech in English and Ukrainian may be
considered (from the typological point of view) all in all the same – seven. Namely:
noun, adjective, pronoun, numeral, verb, adverb, stative – іменник, прикметник,
займенник, числівник, дієслово, прислівник, слово категорії стану.
What is the main difference?
As to the functionals (semi-notional words, as they are still sometimes called)
their number in the contrasted languages is not identical, because present-day English
has the article which is missing in Ukrainian. The rest of functionals are all common:
conjunctions, prepositions, modal words and modal expressions, particles,
exclamations, articles (in English), сполучники, прийменники, модальні слова та
вирази, частки, вигуки.

Typological Features of the Noun as a Part of Speech

The noun as a part of speech is characterized in English and Ukrainian by a

common lexico-grammatical nature of substantivity or "thingness". This meaning
(thingness) finds its realization not only in concrete nouns (book, boy, house, tree,
fish, meat, etc.) but also in abstract nouns (love, hatefulness (брадкість), business,
information, etc.). Hence, typologically isomorphic are also the main paradigmatic
classes of nouns, which are two: 1) common nouns and 2) proper names.
Each of these two main classes of nouns is subcategorized in English and
Ukrainian into several minor groups which can be found below (Table 1, 2).

Common Nouns split in the contrasted languages into the following subclasses:
Table 1
Concrete nouns Abstract nouns Collective nouns Names of materials
arrow, cap, fear, hatred, cattle, crew, air, flour, iron, salt,
carp, doll, tree, knowledge, joy; family, police, snow; повітря,
house; стріла, страх, government, борошно, залізо,
кашкет, короп, ненависть, худоба, екіпаж, сіль, сніг
лялька, дерево, знання, радість сім’я, поліція,
дім уряд

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Lecture 2
Proper names in their turn split in English and Ukrainian into some common
subclasses as well. The main of them are as follows.
The main Classes of Proper Names
Table 2
Names/Nicknames Family names Geographical Names of
of people(s), Names companies,
nationals newspapers, etc.
Ann, Oscar, Adams, Byron, Alaska, Chicago, Ford, Standard Oil,
Yankeys, English, McDonald, Leeds, the Black Rolls-Royce, The
Ukrainians, Newton, Smith, Sea, the Buh; Daily Telegraph;
the Dutch; Ганна, Shakespeare; Аляска, Київ, “Світоч”,
Данило, Ярослав Аврамчук, Полтава, “Світанок”,
Мудрий, англійці, Лукаш, Вакуленці, Чорне “Дніпро”, “Форд”
українці, Довженко, море, Буг
голландці Винник,
Коновалець,
Смит

Isomorphism is equally observed in the existence of some other grammatically

and typologically relevant groups of nouns in English and Ukrainian. Among these
are, first of all, life (animate) nouns (boy, girl, cat, cock, goat, wolf – хлопець,
дівчина, кim, півень,цan, вовк); inanimate nouns (atom, bell, door, stone – amoм,
дзвін, двepi, шлях); count (aountable) nouns (pen, star, tree, wall – pyчкa, зipка,
depeвo, cmina) and non-count (uncountable) nouns (air, honesty, slavery – noвітря,
чесність, рабство), etc.
There is some allomorphism, however, in the realization of the meaning (and
category) of number and quantity in some groups of nouns in the contrasted
languages. Among these are some collective nouns, which may be used in English
both in singular and in plural (when the constituent members of these collective
nouns are meant). Cf: My family is small – My family are early risers. The crew has
prepared the aircraft for the take off – The crew are all young. Hence, in plural these
collective nouns become nouns of multitude, as police, cattle, etc. having always,
however, a singular meaning in Ukrainian (cf. Вся родина зійшлася. Поліція
слідкує за порядком).
The most characteristic divergent feature of English nouns as compared with the
Ukrainian ones is their usually indistinct lexico-grammatical nature at language level.
As a result, determiners (usually the definite or the indefinite article or demonstrative
pronouns) are used to identify these nouns: the bear, the round of talks, that round of

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talks. Besides, English nouns are often determined by the -'s/-s' element (cf. today's
weather, London's population, etc.).
Morphological Categories of the Noun

The only morphological category of the noun which is almost always marked in
present-day English is that of number. Like in Ukrainian, it is mostly realized
synthetically, i.e. through zero and marked inflexions respectively. Eg: child –
children, ox – oxen, and correspondingly baths, bushes, heroes, countries, etc.
An irregularity can be observed in the position of the English inflexion -s in various
compounds, e.g: take-off = take-offs (недоліки, дефекти), sit-in = sit-ins (сидячий
страйк), forget-me-not = forget-me-nots, merry-go-round = merry-go-rounds,
commander-in-chief = commanders-in chief; passer-by = passers-by.
Completely allomorphic, i.e. pertained only to the English language is the
formation of plural number by way of sound interchange (ablaut) as in the following
seven English nouns: foot – feet, tooth – teeth, goose – geese; man – men, woman –
women; louse – lice, mouse – mice (zero inflexion).
(Allomorphism) A few simple life nouns have in English one and the same form
for singular and plural (cf. grouse, sheep, deer, swine, plaice). Usually, these nouns
also have the zero marked plural form: carp, pike, trout, deer, salmon. Apart from the
genuinely English there are some borrowed noun inflexions. These are Latin: -a –
-ae: alga – algae (водорость), larva – larvae (личинка); -us – -i: stimulus – stimuli,
terminus – termini (кінцева станція); -um – -a: curriculum – curricula, erratum –
errata (друкарська помилка), etc. Several Greek borrowings preserve their singular
and plural inflexions as well: -is – -es (analysis – analyses, basis – bases, ellipsis –
ellipses) and –on – -a (criterion – criteria, phenomenon – phenomena), though some
nouns often take regular English plural forms (cf. memorandums, ganglions, solos,
etc.).
Unlike English, Ukrainian number inflexions are partly predetermined by the
declension groups (відміна) to which the nouns are allotted, and partly by the gender
of nouns and final consonant or vowel, which can respectively be hard, soft or mixed
(sibilant). Moreover, many Ukrainian nouns have both number oppositions marked.
Thus, masculine, neuter and feminine gender nouns of the first and second
declensions have the following endings (Table 3):
Table 3
Declension

Inflexion

Inflexion

Inflexion

Hard consonant group Soft consonant Mixes / sibilant

group consonant group

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Lecture 2
I а–и Ганна – Ганни, я–і буря – бурі, а–і груша –
сирота – сироти, вишня – груші,
хата – хати вишні, межа – межі,
сім’я – сім’ї площа –
площі
II ?–і ятір – ятері ?–і день – дні е–а селище –
?–і комар – комарі ?–ї край – краї селища
е–і плече – плечі
o–а крило – крила е–я поле – поля ?–і кущ – кущі
весло – весла море – моря ?–і хрущ – хрущі
o–и батько – батьки е–я місце – місця ?–і ткач – ткачі
The third and fourth declensions nouns in Ukrainian may also have hard, soft and
sibilant final consonants. Their singular and plural number oppositions are as follows:
in the III declension: и – і: мamu – маmepi, 0 – i: вість – вicmi, miнь – miнi, niч –
neчi, мamip – мamepi. In the IV declension: a – /т/a: дівча – дiвчama, кypчa –
кypчama, лoшa –лoшama, я – m+a: ім’я – імена, маля – малята, ягня – ягнята.
Present-day Ukrainian has no such variety of inflexions which are all of
consonantal nature as the English language has (cf. -s/-es, -ren/-en). The major
allomorphic feature in the system of noun categories is the existence in Ukrainian
(as in Russian and Byelarussian) of dual number (двоїна), which is often mixed up
with the plural or replaced by it by many Ukrainians. The nouns express dual number
only in connection with the numeral adjuncts (придаток, додаток) two, three and
four. This number is mostly indicated by stress which differs, as a rule, from that of
the plural form, e.g.

Singular – Plural – Dual

6eper – береги, but два (три, чотири) 6e'peги; дуб – дуби, but два (три, чотири)
'дуби; слово – слова but два (три, чотири) слова

Note. In some nouns the stress in plural and dual number forms may
coincide, e.g.: сповідь – cnoвіді – дві/mpu cnoвіді; борець – борці –
два/mpu,чomupu бopцi, чобіт – чоботи – два/три, чотири чоботи.
Typologically isomorphic, on the other hand, is the existence in English and
Ukrainian of the classes of singularia and pluralia tantum (єдиний) nouns mostly
expressing quantity. The great majority of singularia tantum nouns are names of
materials: iron, copper, snow, milk, bread; cpiблo, зonomo, cнiг, хліб, сіль, молоко,
etc. These and other nouns in both contrasted languages denote plurality of
substances and things, whereas abstract notions have a singular expression of
number. Nouns of this semantic class are especially amply (рясно) represented in

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Ukrainian where there may be singled out the following subclasses of them: a)
derivatives formed with the help of the suffixes -cтво-o (-цтв-o): воїнство,
селянство, студентство, козацтво; b) nouns formed with the help of suffixes –т-
я, -дд-я, -лл-я, -сс-я, -чч-я: листя, колоддя, гілля, пруття,колосся, струччя; c)
nouns formed with the help of the suffix -н-я: комарня, мурашня, офіцерня; d)
nouns formed with the help of the suffix -в-a: 6paтвa, грошва, мурашва; e) nouns
formed with the help of the suffix -от-a: жінота, парубота, біднота, дрібнота,
etc.; f) nouns formed with the help of the suffixes -инн-я (-овинн-я): картоплиння,
гарбузиння, кукурудзиння; g) nouns formed with the help of the suffixes -ин-a (-
oвин-a): дичина, садовина, ярина; h) nouns formed with the help of the suffixes –
ник-няк: сливник, липняк, осичник, вишняк, etc.
Apart from these there are some foreign nouns with the suffixes -yp-a
(npoфecypa, адвокатура, мускулатура, etc.); nouns with the suffix -ик-a (-ік-a,
-aтик-a): символіка, проблематика, синоніміка. This group also includes nouns
with the suffixes -eт, -aт: генералітет, імунітет, секретаріат, плагіат and
singularia tantum nouns with the suffix -iaн-a: Шевченкіана, Шекспіріана and
some others.
Let’s innumerate semantic classes of such nouns once again
It should be emphasized that far from all Ukrainian singularia tantum nouns
have corresponding equivalents within the same semantic groups in English and
respectively in Ukrainian. This can partly be seen in the equivalents representation
Table 4 below.
Table 4

Isomorphic Semantic Groups of Singularia Tantum Nouns

ENGLISH UKRAINIAN
1. Nouns denoting parts of the world: the 1. Північ, південь, захід, схід, північний схід,
North, the South, the East, the West, the North- північний захід, південний схід, південний
West, the North-East, the South-East, the South- захід
West.
2. Names of materials: gold, silver, iron, 2. Золото, срібло, залізо, алюміній, мідь,
copper, milk, butter, snow, dirt, sand, water, молоко, масло, бруд, сніг, пісок, вода, хліб,
hay, straw, bread, coffee, sugar, wood, etc. деревина, сіно, солома, цукор, etc.
3. Collective nouns: brushwood, foliage, 3. Білизна, збрід, крам, гарбузиння,
leafage, furniture, shrubbery, rubbish, peasantry, капустиння, паліччя, збіжжя, птаство,
hair, professorate, womankind, etc. волосся, професура, селянство, жіноцтво, etc.
no 4. Abstract notions as: courage, knowledge, 4. Відвага, знання, буття, кохання, любов,
advice, recognition, friendship. kindness, news, мир, патріотизм, погода, прогрес, визнання,
information, business, love, peace, patriotism, гамір, сумління, буття, виховання, ненависть,
weather, etc. каяття, etc.

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Therefore the main classes of singularia tantum nouns are of isomorphic nature,
though their representation is not always equal in the contrasted languages. Thus,
there exists no identity between the Ukrainian collective nouns ярина (spring crops),
озимина (winter crops), зілля (herbs), бадилля (potato leaves) which are pluralia
tantum in English. Neither are there corresponding singularia tantum equivalents in
English to the Ukrainian nouns formed with the help of the suffixes -н-я (офіцерня,
комарня), -ник, -няк (сливник, вишняк) and -в-а (братва, дітва) whose
corresponding equivalents in English are nouns in plural (officers, mice, kids/
children) or in singular – cherry/plum trees orchard, lime-trees grove (гай), etc.
No complete coincidence can be observed in the semantic classes of pluralia
tantum nouns in English and Ukrainian where common lexico-semantic classes are
not completely the same either. Completely coincide only nouns belonging to the so-
called summation plurals (scissors, tongs (щипці), skates, shorts, trousers: ножиці,
обценьки (гвоздодерные щипцы), терези, шорти, штани, окуляри, etc. Besides,
common are also the pluralia tantum nouns belonging to the semantic group of
geographic names: Athens, the Netherlands, the Bahamas, the Andes; Афіни/Атени,
Нідерланди, Карпати, Анди, Бровари, Лубни, Суми, etc. 3) Nouns denoting
remnants are only partly common too. They are: scraps (обривки), leavings
(відброси), remains (of food) (залишки), siftings (висівки), sweepings; висівки,
недопитки, перебірки, помиї, вишкрібки. недоїдки, etc.
Not always coinciding, however, are nouns denoting in English and Ukrainian
some abstract notions (contents, goings-on (вчинки), means, manners, savings;
злидні, манери, надра, заощадження) and names of some games which are not
always the same in the contrasted languages either, e.g. cards, billiards, drafts, darts,
skittles (каpmu, шaxu, maшки, кеглі). Among these are the nouns більярд and барак
which belong to common class nouns in Ukrainian. Consequently, a number of nouns
may have plural meaning in English and singular meaning in Ukrainian or vice versa
as: barracks, goods, customs, works, police, arms, gymnastics, etc., their Ukrainian
equivalents being казарма, товар/майно/добро, мито, завод, поліція, зброя,
фізкультура, etc. Ukrainian plurals вершки, дріжджі, дрова, гроші, on the other
hand, have singularia tantum equivalents in English (cream, yeast, firewood, money).
Hence, the common/fully or partly corresponding table of these semantic classes
of nouns has the following counteropposed representation:
Table 5
Isomorphic Semantic Groups of Pluralia Tantum Nouns
ENGLISH UKRAINIAN
1 . SUMMATION NOUNS: trousers, shorts, tongs, 1. Штани, шорти, обценьки, ножиці, терези,
scissors, scales, spectacles, eyeglasses, opera- окуляри, сани, в'язи, баки, граблі, ворота,
glasses, leggings, pincers, etc. цимбали, легінси, etc.
2. NAMES OF REMNANTS (ЗАЛИШКИ): scraps, 2. Покидьки, помиї, висівки, недоїдки,
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 Contrastive Linguistics
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slops, sweepings, siftings, leavings, remnants, недопитки, зметини, вишкрібки, etc.
etc.
3. NAMES OF SOME GAMES: drafts, cards, darts, 3. Шахи, шашки, карти, дротики, кеглі,
skittles, billiards, etc. городки, etc.
4. SOME ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE NOTIONS: 4. Будні, злидні, іменини, родини,
outskirts, tigins, (inverted) commas, goings-on, заручини, христини, лапки, посиденьки,
contents, means (кошти), etc. витребеньки, жмурки, etc.
5. SOME GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES like Athens, 5. Афіни, Нідерланди, Альпи, Карпати,
the Netherlands, the Alps, the Urals, Азори, Бермуди, Філіпіни, Бровари,
the Carpathians, the Azores, the Bermudas, Суми, Лубни, Жуляни, Черкаси, etc.
the Philippines, etc.

Some semantic classes of pluralia tantum nouns are more numerous in

Ukrainian, than in English. Among them are, for example, nouns denoting such
actions as проводи (seeing-off), вхідчини (house-warming) or monetary notions as
фінанси (finance), ресурси, кошти (money); no pluralia tantum equivalents have
such Ukrainian notions as дрова (firewood), вершки (cream), одвійки, дріжджі
(yeast). Neither has present-day English pluralia tantum equivalents to such notions
as посиденьки, походеньки, вечірниці, витребеньки, побігеньки, (пі)жмурки,
пересміхи, хвастощі, пустощі, гупьбощі, пастощі, прикрощі, мудрощі, ревнощі,
скупощі and others. Consequently, present-day Ukrainian seems to have a larger
number of both the singularia and pluralia tantum nouns in some semantic classes of
this part of speech, than the English language has.

The Category of Case and its Realization in English and

Ukrainian
Unlike the category of number, the category of case in present-day English has
always been disputable. So was for some time the question of expressing case
relations which has also remained for a longer time disputable. Some grammarians
found in present-day English two cases (O. Jespersen, V. Yartseva, B. Rohovska, B.
Khaimovich), others found in English four cases (G. Curme, M. Deutschbein), and
still other grammarians were inclined to see in English five, six and more cases
(J. Nes-field, F. Sonnenschein). The Russian grammarian G. N. Vorontsova
recognized no cases in English at all, since the -'s sign she treated as a postpositive
particle expressing possession. R. Quirk, S. Greenbaum and co-authors speak of
common and genitive cases (-'s genitive and of-genitive). As to Ukrainian nouns they
may have 7 marked singular and plural oppositions in the nominative, genitive,
dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative case, eg: хмара, хмари,
хмарі, хмару, хмарою, (на) хмарі, хмаро (first decl.), vocative case; or in plural:

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 Contrastive Linguistics
Lecture 2
степи, степів, степам, степи, степам, степами, (у) степах, степи (second decl.,
vocative case).
No identity exists in the contrasted languages in the expression of the category
of gender either and many languages make these distinctions different and unequal.
Thus, in Ukrainian, Russian, German and other languages there are three grammatical
genders — masculine, feminine, and neuter. In Italian, Spanish, French, Danish —
two genders (masculine and feminine), in Estonian, Finnish, Japanese and Turkic
languages no gender distinctions are made.
The morphological category of gender in Ukrainian is identified either through
separate inflexions of the adjunct/attribute or through the inflexion of the finite form
of the verb that conjugates with a noun. For example:

Masculine gender Feminine gender Neuter gender

каштан цвів/ріс ведмідь яблуня цвіла/росла вода жито цвіло/росло лоша
ходив/спав обід замерзла Відвага ходило/бігало жито
захолов/замерз життя перемогла лисиця зійшло сонечко
проходило хлопець ходила/бігла дівчина пригрівало дитя
сміявся/був сміялася/була сміялося/було

In present-day English no gender distinctions of the kind are possible, as can be

seen from the following sentences:
the actor plays the actress plays the child plays/smiles
the actor played the actress played the child played/smiled, etc.
the actor is/has the actress is/has seen the child is/has seen
the actor was seen the actress was seen the child was seen/heard

The form of the verbal predicate, therefore, does not reflect or in any way testify
to the existence of any gender distinction in the three above-given nouns. This is not
so in Ukrainian. Cf. актор грав/був, актриса грала/була, дитя грало/було,
дитя грає/буває, etc.
Absence of the morphological category of gender in English, as could be already
noticed, is also easy to be proved by the unchanged attributive adjuncts to nouns
which have this category in Ukrainian, e.g. the great emperor lived long – великий
імператор жив довго’ the great heroine lived long – велика героїня жила довго;
the great desire lived long – велике бажання жило довго The adjective "great"
does not reflect any sex or gender distinction of the English head nouns "emperor",
"heroine" or "desire" as it is in Ukrainian ("великий імператор", "велика героїня",
"велике бажання").

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Lecture 2
Unlike English, the categorial meaning of the gender category and the
objective/extralingual category of sex are distinctly indicated by the verbal predicate
in Ukrainian: "імператор жив", "героїня жила", "бажання жило".
The morphological category of gender and the objective (natural) category of
sex may also be indicated in Ukrainian by the following means: a) by a marked
inflexion in the nominative case (книжка, село, яйце, батько, мати, сестра);
b) by the zero inflexion (дуб, час, ніч, річ, вість); с) by suffixes only or by the root
suffixes + endings (робітник, вівчар, стрілець, орач, вчительк-а, робітниц-я,
поетес-а, поетик-а); d) by means of a modifying word: наше київське метро
(кашне, кіно), цей кабальєро, такий великий ту, гарний поні, ця молода
леді/дама, пані, etc.
The possessive conjoint or possessive absolute pronouns, however, may
sometime be used in English to indicate the extralingual category of sex, eg: the bear
and his life, that actress and her voice, his child and its toys, the directrix and
her school; the desire of mine/hers, those friends of hers, etc.
A testimony to there being no grammatical gender in English nouns is the use of
appositional pronouns and nouns to indicate the sex of living beings as in boy-friend
– girl-friend, man-servant – maid-servant, woman/female novelist – man/male
novelist, billy-goat – nanny-goat, torn cat – pussy cat, he-bear – she-beat; male
elephant – female elephant, (bull elephant – cow elephant), cock-sparrow – hen-
sparrow. Neither can the English suffixes -ist, -er/-or, -ess, -o, -ine express the
morphological gender (but only sex) as in emperor, widower, actress, goddess,
heroine, hobo, and many other living beings.
All lifeless things in English, unlike Ukrainian and some other languages, are
generally associated with the pronoun it (the neuter gender). Cf. The tree and its
leaves; the desire and its realization; the stone and its age; the tulip and its
colour; the pond and its inhabitants; the carbonic acid and its use, etc.
In Ukrainian, on the contrary, each noun irrespective of its being a life or lifeless
thing, belongs to a concrete gender. Thus, the stone (камінь) like the wolf or bull is
masculine (he він), the carbonic acid or the star, the river, the cow have faminine
gender (річка, зірка, думка, корова). Similarly with many life and lifeless nouns
having neuter gender distinctions (cf. життя, сміття, курча, дитя, небо, жито, мито,
etc.).
When personified, English life and lifeless nouns may be referred to different
(sometimes quite unexpected genders). Thus, the Reed (очерет) in the Happy Prince
by Oscar Wilde became femine and the Swallow (ластівка) who fell in love with it
became (was personified by the author) masculine (he). In spoken English all strong
or fearful animals, birds and natural phenomena or celestial objects (небесные
светила) are usually referred to masculine gender. Thus, the wolf, the dog, the
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 Contrastive Linguistics
Lecture 2
buffelo like the tiger, the lion, the elephant or the eagle are referred to masculine
gender. Consequently, the wolf or the bear, or death is always he. All weaker, timid
or sly animals and birds are referred to the feminine gender. Hence, the cat, the fox or
the hare, the nightingale, or tomtit (синиця) are each referred to faminine gender
(she). Though not without exceptions. The daisy, for example, is he in O. Wilde's
fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose-tree as well as the timid little lizard that is
also referred by the author to masculine gender. So is the timid rabbit in American
folk-tales (The Rabbit, his Friends and Animals) and the monkey like the parrot who
are usually masculine.
The names of vessels (boat, ship, steamer, cruiser) and vehicles (coach, car,
carriage) are usually associated with feminine gender. So are the names of hotels and
inns. The names of celestial bodies may be femine, masculine and neuter. The sun
which is strong and powerful is, naturally, he, whereas the moon, the Paradise and
the Earth are associated with the pronoun she (faminine gender). The countries are
also mostly of faminine gender. Hence, Ukraine, the USA, France, Italy, Russia,
India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, the Argentine or the Philippines, China, etc. are all
feminine. Mythical, mythological and various abstract notions are treated accordingly
(depending on their corresponding meaning). Consequently, the notions like devil,
dickens or genius (pi. genii, злий дух) are referred to masculine gender, but the
nymph is naturally she. So are pleasant abstract notions like love or peace, whereas
fearful and dangerous notions like war or death, etc. are masculine.

THE CATEGORY OF DEFINITENESS AND INDEFINITENESS

The noun in English and Ukrainian, as in other languages, possesses the

semantic category of DEFINITENESS and INDEFINITENESS. In other words, when a noun
(even a proper name) or family/geographical name is taken out of its context to which
it belonged, its meaning may not be definitely understood, i.e. identified. Thus, the
proper names Mykola, Petro or Anatoliy when used for the first time (e.g. I met
Petro/Mykola yesterday evening) may not be definite enough for the listener or col-
locutor who may inquire: which Petro/Mykola? Your friend/cousine Petro/Mykola?
You mean your co-student Petro/Mykola? etc. Even when one uses the geographical
name like BESKYD the real meaning of this proper noun may not be clear to the
listener who has not enough preliminary information about the used name. This is
because "Beskyd" may be the name of a mountain in the Carpathians as well as a
tourist camp or a hotel there. Similarly identified must also be many other nouns in
Ukrainian despite its being a predominantly synthetic by structure language. Thus, it
may be sometimes far from easy to unanimously identify the real meaning, for
example, of such a seemingly transparent for every Ukrainian listener name as Київ.
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 Contrastive Linguistics
Lecture 2
Even in the sentence as Він мешкав деякий час у Києві (when used in oral
speech) and when the listener does not see this noun written, it may mean the city
named Київ or the "Київ" hotel (then it is in inverted commas in Ukrainian).
Similarly when one hears the English king's name Charles, one would naturally
inquire which king Charles? The first, the third or the fifth? Only when the
substantivized numeral is added (Charles the First or Charles the Third, etc.), will the
King's name become definite (clearly and finally indentified).
The category of definiteness and indefiniteness may be identified in English and
Ukrainian both at language level (when the noun is out of a concrete context) and at
speech level, i.e. in oral presentation or in a written microtext. The main means of
making the noun definite in English is to use the definite or indefinite (zero) article or
any other determining or identifying adjunct. For example: Bristol (zero article)
means the town of Bristol, whereas the Bristol is the name of a hotel or an inn, ship,
etc. Similarly even with such a proper noun as Україна which, when used without
the definite article, means the country of Ukraine, but when presented in inverted
commas it will mean anything: готель "Україна", концертний зал "Україна" or an
agricultural enterprise/joint venture "Україна". The definite article may also deter-
mine, i.e. make definite some other groups (or single) nouns as, for example, those
denoting generic nouns or unique objects on the globe, or even in the universe as in
the following sentences: The lion is a wild animal. The sun is a bright celestial body.
The Bible is a holy book of all Christians.
The category of definiteness may be also indicated by syntactic, i.e. lexico-
syntactic means. Namely, by an appositive noun or a substantivized numeral, an
adjective or any other adjunct: Cf.: the Tory government, King Нету V, the first
Summit meeting, уряд торі, король Генріх П'ятий, готель "Колос", дівчина-
парашутистка, перша зустріч у верхах, четвертий універсал уряду УНР, etc.
Hence, the categories of definiteness and indefiniteness may be expressed both by
preposed and postposed identifiers simultaneously (as in the last example четвертий
> універсал < уряду УНР). Or such an example: the noun congress or its
Ukrainian variant з’їзд when used out of a context remains absolutely non-related to
any concretely identified event. Even when preceded by a numeral (the first or the
second congress) it remains far from semantically identified. Only when explicated
by one more identifier – the first congress of ecologists, the noun congress becomes
more or less exhaustively identified. Similarly in Ukrainian where the noun з’їзд
becomes definite (or indefinite) when it is explicitly identified: з’їзд екологів, з’їзд
екологів України, черговий/ позачерговий з'їзд екологів України, etc.
The category of indefiniteness apart from being indicated in English by the
indefinite article a/an, may also be made explicit by the indefinite pronouns any,

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 Contrastive Linguistics
Lecture 2
some, etc., and by the numeral one as well as by the indefinite article plus an
adjectival, participial or any other adjunct. Eg: There is some boy wants to see you.
(King) "Was there a Mr Palgravel" (H.E. Bates) - "there's a marvelously good
restaurant called L 'Ocean about six or seven miles down the coast". (Ibid.) Cf. in
Ukrainian: Там ніякого містера Палгрейва не було?
The expression of indefiniteness in Ukrainian is likewise realized with the help
of the indefinite pronouns якийсь (якась, якесь), through the indefinite numeral
один (одна, одне) or via the indefinite pronouns якийсь/ якась, якесь plus the
adjuncts expressing the characteristic features of the person or object. Eg: Якийсь
Петренко там чекає на вас. Був собі один чоловік і мав він два сини. Навіть
один страшний день війни запам'ятався кожному навіки.
Unlike English where indefiniteness is expressed via the corresponding
markers, in Ukrainian it may sometimes be expressed also through grammatical
shifting of the indefinite noun into the final position of the sentence. For example:

The door The door opened and the teacher Дверіentered

відчи Двері відчинилися і вчитель увійшов до
the classroom класу.
To expressTo express indefiniteness, the noun will be shifted to the final position:
The door TThe door opened and a teacher entered Двері відчинилися і до класу ввійшов
the classroom. учитель.
Therefore, the category of definiteness and indefiniteness is equally pertained to
both contrasted languages, though it differs in the use of articles typical only of the
English language.

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