17. Typology of the category of case

More controversial, because the number of cases various from 2 to 15. In some lang-s there are no cases. The number of cases depends on the number of factors. In Rus. 6 cases and they show the relations btw case form in nominative and accusative in plural (дом’а – ‘дома)In Eng. prepositions are used because there’s only one distinction btw. noun and possessive. Every case form has its definite syntactical function. In Rus. only in nominative case are used in subjects. In Eng. nouns in possessive case have the function of attribute. Some grammarians consider that there are no case flexions at all.Nouns in the possessive case in Eng. have the following characteristic features as nouns in nominative case may be used with articles a puple’s book

the puple’s book with adj. (a good pupil’s book) with numeral (2 puples’ book)

But nouns with the possessive and nominative case have different functions. Nouns in genitive case may have ‘of’ (дом брата).In Eng. nouns in the possessive case have: - property opposition (jone’s book), - private or social relations (jone’s wife), - the origin (the moon’s light), - relation btw a whole and a part (jone’s hand), - a characteristic feature of smth (mother’s care), - time distance relations.Relations expressed by nouns in the possessive case may be expressed by a noun with prep ‘of’.

They are synonyms but difference is in style. Combinations with ‘of’ phrase are more official and may have some additional meanings: - a characteristic feature (a woman of a strong will), - material (a dress of wool), - a part of smth (crowd of people).Posessive case in Eng. has 2 forms: dependant (tom’s falt), - absolute/ independent(Jone’s was a brilliant idea).

In Rus. dative case has the meaning of an action directed at an object. (купил детям).Accusative case in Rus denotes a direct object (писал письмо).Instrumental case denotes an instrument with the help of which is performed (писать карандашем). In Eng. preposition ‘by’ is used. Prepositional case in Rus has meaning of space (собрались в аудитории).

This category in English is represented by opposition nominative possessive – a girl-girls, in Russian it is represented by the system of six cases – nominative,genitive,dative,accusative,instrumental and prepositional. The category of case shows the relations between words in a sentence. The number of cases is different in different languages. Some languages have no cases at all. The number of cases varies from two till 15 in Finish. It depends upon the structure of the language. In Russian in plural number nouns have five different forms, because nominative and accusative coincide in form – дома,дома. Sometime genitive and accusative coincide in form – учеников, учеников. But incite of their likeness in form they have different lexical and syntactical functions. When case forms coincide then prepositions and the context help to understand the meaning у двери, к двеи, на двери. Prepositions are especially important in English because the majority of nouns has no case distinctions and only prepositions show the relations between words – at the door, to the door, near the door. Every case of a noun has its definite syntactical function. The subject of the sentence in Russian is expressed by nominative case and other members of the sentence may be expressed by other case forms. In English the majority of linguists distinguish two case forms. Possessive case in English differs from genitive in Russian, by the fact that it is characteristic of nouns denoting living beings and nouns denoting time and distance – a minutes talk. A miles distance. A noun in the possessive case in English has the same characteristic features as a noun in nominative case. It may be used with articles, a pupil’s book, with adjectives a good pupil’s book., numerals two pupils’ book, and pronouns his pupil’s book. Nouns in the possessive and nominative case are used in different syntactical functions. Nouns in the possessive case are usually used in the function of an attribute, but in Russian nouns in genitive case may also be used in combination with another noun and in such cases they have the function of an attribute. –дом отца. Приезд брата. In English in such cases preposition OF is generally used. The house of my father, the arrival of my brother. In Russian genitive case may be used after adjectives in comparative degree like сильнее бури, красивее принцессы. In English the meaning of the possessive case is more limited than this of the nominative case. It has the following meanings -1.property or possession like John’s book, 2.social relations (private) like John’s wife. 3. The origin of something the moon’s light. 4. The relation between a whole and a part – like – John’s head. 5. Characteristic feature of something – mother’s care. 6 time or distance – a minute’s walk. Relations expresses by possessive case may be expressed by a noun with preposition OF but they are synonyms only in some context. Constructions with OF may be used with all nouns in English, besides constructions with OF may have some additional meanings to those which have been mentioned. They are:

1. Characteristic feature of something : a man of strong will.

2. Material : a dress of silk

3. A part of something : a group of students.

Constructions with OF are more official than possessive case. But the possessive case in English is divided into possessive case dependent and independent (absolute genitive). John’s was a good idea. In such cases possessive pronouns may substitute a noun like his was a good idea.

Summary.

1. From lexical point of view nouns in English and Russian denote objects or things.

2. From the syntactical point of view in both languages they are used as subjects, objects or predicates.

3. A characteristic feature of nouns in Russian is existence of special suffixes with individual сoloring like братец, братишка, девушка. Девица. Which absolutely impossible in English except one suffix – ing, et. Book-bookle, duck-duckling

4. Both languages have grammatical categories of number and case, but their structure is different. Besides English nouns are characterized by the category of determination which is expressed with the help of articles. In both languages the category of gender is expressed lexically. And in Russian it also expressed morphologically.