CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR

of the ENGLISH and

UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES

Лектор -
доктор філологічних наук, професор
Мартинюк Алла Петрівна
 LECTURE 4
ISOMORPHIC AND ALLOMORPHIC FEATURES
OF THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN NOUN
Plan
4.1. Definition of the noun as a part of speech
4.2. Classification of nouns in accordance with their
lexico-grammatical meaning
4.3. Noun stem-building elements in English and
Ukrainian
4.4. Grammatical categories of the English and
Ukrainian noun
4.4.1. The category of number
4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia tantum
4.4.3. The category of case
4.4.4. The category of gender
4.4.5. The category of definiteness :: indefiniteness
 4.1. Definition of the noun
NOUN as a part of speech is characterized by specific
referential, syntagmatic and paradigmatic features
A. Referential aspect (kind of objects nouns refer to)
→ general lexico-grammatical meaning of substance.
You should realize that substance (thingness) is the
meaning of the most typical members of the noun class like
chair/стілець, boy/хлопець.
Besides, nouns can mean a lot of other things like
rain/дощ, air/повітря, freedom/свобода, wheat/пшениця,
cattle/худоба, knowledge/знання.
So we’ll have to put nouns into different classes in
accordance with their lexico-grammatical meaning.
 4.1. Definition of the noun
B. Syntagmatic aspect
(a) morphemic level (typical form) which is
realised through lexico-grammatical morphemes or
stem-building affixes, mostly suffixes like:
In English: -acy (democracy), -ance (alliance), -ion
(delegation), -dom (freedom), -er/yer/eer/ier/ar/or
(worker, lawyer, auctioneer, cashier, beggar, sailor), -
ty (loyalty), -ness (sweetness), -hood (childhood), -ics
(politics), -ism (feudalism), -ity (reality), -ment
(management), -ship (friendship) -ard/art (sluggard), -
ster (youngster) etc.;
in Ukrainian: -ник (завойовник), -яч/ач (глядач,
перекладач), -ар/яр (лікар), -ун (бігун, свистун)
etc.
 4.1. Definition of the noun
B. Syntagmatic aspect
(b) syntactic level (position in the sentence)
→
left-hand combinability with adjectives (a
beautiful girl/гарна дівчина), possessive and
demonstrative pronouns (John’s/this pen/ручка
Джона/ця ручка), other nouns (stone wall/відро
яблук);
by-lateral combinability with prepositions (in
front of John/ біля тину) and verbs (to read a
book/читати книгу; the book is being read/книгу
читають)
→ typical functions of the subject or object
(John loves Mary/ Джон кохає Мері)
 4.1. Definition of the noun
C. Paradigmatic aspect (grammatical
categories)
English and Ukrainian nouns share only two
grammatical categories – number and case.
Besides that, English noun also has the
category of definiteness/indefiniteness
which is built with the help of articles and
which is an allomorphic feature.
Ukrainian nouns, besides number and
case, also have the grammatical category
of gender.
4.2. Classification of nouns in
accordance with their lexico-
grammatical meaning
4.3. Noun stem-building
elements
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements

A lot of English and Ukrainian

nouns have simple noun stems
which do not contain any affixes:
boy, goat, wolf, fish – кіт, цап,
син, чуб, рука, нога; English has a
lot more simple-stem nouns than
Ukrainian.
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements
Derivative noun stems are formed with the help of AFFIXES (both
suffixes and prefixes) which are partly isomorphic and partly
allomorphic.
In Ukrainian nouns can consist of more than one suffix and more
than one prefix, cf. пере-роз-по-діл-ят-и, не-до-ви-мол-оч-ув-ан-н-я.
Noun-forming suffixes fall into international and national:
International noun-forming suffixes and prefixes are completely
isomorphic.
International noun-forming suffixes include
-ism/ізм/изм (materialism, barbarism/матеріалізм, варваризм),
-ist/іст (utopist/активіст), -or/op (orator/оратор), -ent/ент
(student/студент), -eer/ер (auctioneer/акціонер), -ier/ир
(сashier/касир), -ade/ад-а (blocade/блокада), -tion/ці-я
(protection/протекція), -ics/ ик-а (athlecics/атлетика), -age/аж
(tonnage/тоннаж), -ssion/сі-я (session/сесія) ect.
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements

International noun-forming prefixes

embrace
ante-anti-/анти- (antethesis, antibody/
антитеза), ex/екс- (ex-champion/екс-
чемпіон), extra-/екстра- (extraordinariness/
екстраординарність), hyper-/гіпер
(hyperbole/ гіпербола/), in-/ін (innovation/
інновація), super-/супер
(superprofit/суперприбуток), ultra-/ультра
(ultramarine/ ультрамарин), vice-/віце
(vice-president/віцепрезидент) etc.
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements
English national suffixes -dom (freedom), -hood
(falsehood), -ing (being), -ty (loyalty) which build abstract
nouns correspond to Ukrainian national suffixes -ність
(рівність), -ство (братство), -ість (легкість), -ивість
(вродливість), etc.
English national suffixes -ness (loneliness), -ion
(tension) which form emotional state nouns correspond to
Ukrainian suffixes -нн-я (напруження), -енн-я
(захоплення);
English national suffixes which build agent nouns
(animate nouns which denote occupations) -er/yer/ar
(worker, lawyer, beggar) correspond to Ukrainian -ник
(завойовник), -ач (перекладач), -ець (кравець), -тель
(вихователь), -щик (пайщик), -тай/тяй (шахрай,
гультяй), -ар (лікар), -ак/як (жебрак, пияк).
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements
The English noun-forming diminutive
suffixes include -y/ie (daddy, grannie), -let
(booklet), -ing (duckling), -ette (kitchenette);
The Ukrainian noun-forming diminutive
suffixes include -оньк- (голівонька), -очок
(грибочок), -унь (братунь), -усь (братусь), -
очк- (Ліночка), -еньк- (ненька), -к- (лапка)
etc.
Ukrainian has more diminutive suffixes
than English.
 4.3. Noun stem-building
elements

One English suffix denoting the recipient of

the action is allomorphic as to its denotation
meaning, cf. -ee (evacuee, examinee,
employee).
Ukrainian augmentative suffixes represent
another allomorphic feature expressing
peculiar connotation meanings typical only of
Ukrainian affixes, e.g. -ищ (вовчище), -ук/юк
(каменюка, зміюка), -уг/юг (дідуга,
злодюга), -ур/юр (ціпура), -ан/ань (дідуган,
здоровань), -ер (бабера), -яр (мисяра,
носяра), -яг (чолов’яга), -як (гуляка) etc.
4.3. Noun stem-building
elements

English prefixes il-ir-im-un-

having a negative meaning correlate
with the
Ukrainian prefix не-
(illiteracy/неграмотність,
irregularity/нерегулярність,
impossibility/неможливість,
uneasiness/незручність).
4.3. Noun stem-building
elements

Compound noun-stems (e.g.

airbus, headache, waterway;
лісостепом, Неїжмак) have
similar structure in both
contrasted languages.
And composite noun-stems are
typical of English only (e.g., take
off)
 4.4. Grammatical categories of the
English and Ukrainian noun
4.4.1. The category of Number

The category of number is based on

a two-member opposition of the type
boy – boys; син – сини
showing whether the noun stands for
one object or more than one.
In both languages the category of
number is realized synthetically.
 4.4.1. The category of number

Synthetic grammatical means of expressing number

in English
Mechanical adding (Regular plural)
zero singular:: positive plural -s/es/ies; -en
boy :: boys, match :: matches, country :: countries, child ::
children, etc.;
positive singular :: positive plural
Latin inflections: -a :: -ae (alga :: algae), -us :: -i
(stimulus :: stimuli), -um :: -a (curriculum :: curricula);
Greek inflexions: -is :: -es (analysis :: analyses), -on :: -a
(criterion :: criteria)
No change (Irregular plural)
Zero singular:: zero plural
sheep :: sheep, swine :: swine, trout :: trout, salmon ::
salmon, etc.
 4.4.1. The category of number

Synthetic grammatical means of

expressing number in English
Vowel change – internal inflection

foot :: feet, tooth :: teeth, goose ::

geese, man :: men, woman ::
women, louse :: lice, mouse :: mice.
 4.4.1. The category of number

Synthetic grammatical means of

expressing number in Ukrainian
Unlike English number inflexions,
Ukrainian inflexions are predetermined
by the gender of the noun, its
declension (відмінювання) and the
final consonant or vowel which can,
respectively, be hard, soft or mixed
(sibilant).
4.4.1. The category of number
Synthetic grammatical means of expressing
number in Ukrainian
 4.4.1. The category of number
Synthetic grammatical means of expressing
number in Ukrainian

In those cases where nouns end in a consonant we can speak about the
opposition zero morpheme :: positive morpheme (cons. :: -и/i);
In the rest of the cases grammatical meaning of number in expressed by
the opposition positive morpheme :: positive morpheme.
 4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia
tantum

Both in English and Ukrainian there are

groups of nouns which do not form either
singular or plural.
Nouns having no plural opposites are called
SINGULARIA TANTUM
Nouns having no singular opposites are
called PLURALIA TANTUM
Speaking about singularia tantum and
pluralia tantum nouns we take into
consideration their grammatical meanings
which do not always correspond with their
grammatical forms
 4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia
tantum
Isomorphic SINGULARIA TANTUM nouns (singular in form and
meaning) embrace:
I. Concrete nouns:
1) names of materials: iron/залізо, gold/золото, silver/срібло,
wood/дерево;
2) names of products: bread/хліб, butter/масло, milk/молоко,
coffee/кофе, sugar/цукор;
3) names of natural phenomena: dirt/бруд, sand/пісок,
water/вода, hay/сіно, weather/погода;
II. Abstract nouns:
1) names of social phenomena: information/інформація,
peace/мир, business/бізнес, patriotism/патріотизм:
2) names of physical and psychological states:
beauty/краса, happiness/щастя, grief/горе, courage, knowledge,
kindness, love;
III. Some geographical names: the North/північ, the South/
південь, the North-West/ північно-захід.
 4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia
tantum
Isomorphic PLURALIA TANTUM nouns (plural in form and
meaning) embrace:
I. concrete nouns:
1) summation names: trousers/штани, spectacles/окуляри,
leggings/легінси, scales/терези;
2) names of remnants: scraps/покидьки,
sweepings/зметини, leavings/недоїдки, siftings/
недопитки;
II. Some proper nouns: geographic names, cf. Athens/Афіни,
the Netherlands/Нідерланди, the Alps/Альпи, the
Carpathians/Карпати, the Bermudas/Бермуди etc.;

Isomorphic: Plural in form but singular in meaning:

names of games: cards/карти, drafts/дротики, drafts/шахи,
skittles/кеглі;
 4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia
tantum
Allomorphic cases include:
PLURALIA TANTUM in English – SINGULARIA TANTUM in
Ukrainian:
1) abstract nouns: contents/зміст;
2) concrete nouns: arms/зброя;
3) names of games: billiards (are)/ більярд
Singular in form but plural in meaning in English –
SINGULARIA TANTUM in Ukrainian: collective nouns:
police/поліція
Plural in form but singular in meaning in English –
SINGULARIA TANTUM in Ukrainian:
a) names of sciences: physics/фізика, mathematics/математика,
statistics/статистика;
b) names of kinds of sport : gymnastics/гімнастика, athletics/
атлетика;
PLURALIA TANTUM in Ukrainian – SINGULARIA TANTUM in
English: miscellaneous: вершки/сream, дріжджі/yeast, дрова/
firewood, гроші/money, фінанси/finance
 4.4.2. Singularia tantum and pluralia
tantum
Allomorphic cases include:PLURALIA TANTUM in English – regular
in Ukrainian: concrete nouns: barracks/казарма, goods/товар.
No English equivalents: 1)Ukrainian collective nouns:
a) -ств-о/цтв-о (студентство/students, козацтво/kozaks etc.);
b) -инн-я (картоплиння/potatoes, бобовиння/beans);
c) -илл-я (бадилля/potato leaves, зілля/herbs);
d) -в-а/в-ор-а (дітвора/children, мишва/mice, мурашва/ants);
e) от-а (парубота/chaps, біднота/poor people);
f) -ин-а/-овин-а (ярина/spring crops, озимина/winter crops);
g) -ник/няк (сливник/plum trees orchard, вишняк/cherry trees
orchard);
h) -н-я (офіцерня/officers, комарня/mosquitoes);
i) -ур-а (професура/professors, мускулатура/muscles,
адвокатура/lawyers);
2) Ukrainian names of actions: посиденьки, походеньки,
побігеньки, витребеньки; вечірниці; ласощі, пустощі, гульбищі,
прикрощі, мудрощі, ревнощі, скупощі, хвастощі
 4.4.3. The category of case

The category of case is a system of opposites showing

the relations of the object denoted by the noun to objects,
actions, states etc. denoted by other words in speech.
Both in English and in Ukrainian case relations are realized
synthetically.

In English there are only two cases: common case and

possessive (genitive) case.
There is only one case inflection in English – the so-called ’s
morpheme which denotes possessive case and is opposed
to the zero morpheme which denotes common case.
 4.4.3. The category of case
Synthetic grammatical means of expressing case in
English
Zero morpheme :: ’s morpheme (singular) – boy :: boy’s,
Zero morpheme :: ’ morpheme (plural) boys :: boys’.

Since the ’s morpheme is very different from other inflections

some linguists do not think it is a case morpheme.
Unlike other case morphemes
it does not merge with the noun to which it is attached;
it can be attached to adverbs (yesterday’s events; somebody
else’s son); word-groups (Mary and John’s apartment);
clauses (The girl he was dancing with’s name was Susan; the
man I saw yesterday’s son);
it denotes not only the relations of possession but also locality
(Washington’s inhabitants), distance (to have a mile’s walk),
time (an hour’s sleep) etc.
 4.4.3. The category of case

As a result of such peculiarities, some

linguists do not admit the existence of the
category of case in English.
B.A. Ilyish claims it is a particle serving to
convey the meaning of belonging.
G.M. Vorontsova thinks it is a syntactical
form-word resembling preposition.
M.Y. Blokh speaks about the particle
expression of the genitive falling into two
segmental types: the word Genitive
(John’s book) and the phrase genitive (the
book of John’s).
 4.4.3. The category of case
Some linguists speak about more than two
cases. The adherents of this approach hold it that
the category of case is expressed by
prepositions: of the boy (Genitive case), to the
boy (dative case), by the boy (instrumental case).
But in this case we cannot speak about
grammatical category because prepositions are
not grammatical word-morphemes since they are
not devoid of lexical meanings and they do not
form oppositions; the meanings of prepositions
are not relative. So, they are syntactical means
of expressing meaning.
 4.4.3. The category of case
Synthetic grammatical means of
expressing case in Ukrainian
In Ukrainian there are seven cases which have
different inflexions in singular and in plural
depending on the gender, declension and the
consonant group of the noun. The cases are:
nominative, genitive, dative, accusative,
instrumental, locative and vocative.
Unlike English case inflexions, Ukrainian case
inflexions are predetermined by the gender of
the noun, its declension and the final
consonant or vowel which can, respectively,
be hard, soft or mixed (sibilant).
 4.4.3. The category of gender

There are three genders in English

(masculine, feminine and neuter) but the
category of gender in English is purely
semantic (nouns denoting male persons are of
masculine gender, female persons – of feminine
and the rest of the nouns fall under neuter
gender).
In English there are some special affixes for
feminine gender, just a small number of
feminine lexico-grammatical suffixes like -ess, -
ine, -ette (waitress, heroine, farmerette).
 4.4.3. The category of gender
Ukrainian has morphological gender
(masculine, feminine and neuter); besides it also has
the so-called common gender (спільний: сирот-а,
судд-я) which is semantic (сирота – вона/він)
Masculine, feminine and neuter gender are
expressed synthetically: by the oppositions which
are predetermined by the declension:
zero (дуб, день, час) for masculine; positive for
masculine (Микол-а, Тол-я, кра-й; батьк-о)
zero for feminine (ніч, любов, мідь);positive for
feminine (сосн-а; земл-я; мат-и)
positive for neuter gender (курч-а вікн-о, пол-е,
плеч-е, знанн-я, тел-я)
 4.4.3. The category of gender

Besides, in Ukrainian gender is

also expressed by lexico-
grammatical suffixes or suffixes
+ inflexions (робіт-ник, робіт-
ниц-я, поет – поет-ес-а поет-ес-а;
учитель – учитель-к-а; лікар-к-а).
 4.4.4. The category of definiteness ::
indefiniteness

This category is represented by the opposition

which shows whether the object denoted by the
noun is definite (known to the speaker) or
indefinite (unknown to the speaker).
In English it is expressed by the articles:
indefinite or zero article and definite article
which function as analytical word-
morphemes.
Analytical grammatical means of
expressing definiteness :: indefiniteness in
English
definite article :: indefinite article / zero article
 4.4.4. The category of definiteness ::
indefiniteness

This category is closely connected with the so-called

actual division of information in the sentence:
into theme (the known information) and rheme
(new information).
So the indefinite article usually carries new
information and the definite article signals old
information.
A young girl entered the room. The girl was beautiful.
There are cases when the use of articles cannot be
explained by this grammatical opposition, since it is the
matter of tradition, e.g. in the distance, at a distance,
etc.
 4.4.4. The category of definiteness ::
indefiniteness

In English, besides grammatical means, the category of

definiteness :: indefiniteness can also be expressed lexico-
grammatically. In Ukrainian, this category is expressed
only lexico-grammatically.
Isomorphic lexico-grammatical means of expressing
definiteness:
demonstrative pronouns: this/these, that/those –
цей/ця/це/ці; той/та/те/ті; this very – той самий;
possessive pronouns;
ordinal numerals: first – перший; my, his, her, its, our,
your, their – мій
Isomorphic lexico-grammatical means of expressing
indefiniteness:
indefinite pronouns any, some, one, another, certain –
один, якийсь, ще один.
 4.4.4. The category of definiteness ::
indefiniteness

Unlike English, Ukrainian category of

definiteness/indefiniteness can also be
expressed by the word order:
Двері відчинилися і вчитель увійшов до
классу (The door opened and the teacher
entered the classroom)
Двері відчинилися і до класу увійшов
учитель (The door opened and a teacher
entered the classroom).
 LECTURE 4
ISOMORPHIC AND ALLOMORPHIC FEATURES
OF THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN NOUN

RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
Аракин В. Д. Сравнительная типология английского и русского
языков. – М., 1989.
Блох М.Я. Теоретические основы грамматики. – М., 2004.
Воронцова Г.Н. Очерки по грамматике английского языка. – М.,
1960.
Жлуктенко Ю. О. Порівняльна граматика української та англійської
мов. – К., 1960.
Ильиш Б.А. Современный английский язык. – М., 1948.
Мартинюк А.П. Порівняльна морфологія англійської та української
мов. – Харків: ХНУ імені ВН. Каразіна, 2007. – 63 с.
Порівняльні дослідження з граматики англійської, української,
російської мов. – К., 1981.
Смирницкий И.А. Морфология английского языка. – М., 1959;
Синтаксис английского язика. – М., 1957.
Сучасна українська літературна мова. – К., 2010
Khaimovich B. S., Rogovskaya B. I. A Course in English grammar. – M.,
1967.
Мартинюк Алла Петрівна

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