Научная статья на тему 'КАТЕГОРИЯ ГЕНДЕРА В СОВРЕМЕННОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ'

КАТЕГОРИЯ ГЕНДЕРА В СОВРЕМЕННОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ Текст научной статьи по специальности «Языкознание и литературоведение»

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Ключевые слова
MASCULINE / FEMININE / COMMON / NEUTER / ЖЕНСКИЙ РОД / ОБЩИЙ РОД / СРЕДНИЙ РОД / МУЖСКОЙ РОД

Аннотация научной статьи по языкознанию и литературоведению, автор научной работы — Юсифова К.

В современном английском языке категории родаграмматически не существует, так как род существительных и местоимений выражается лексически. Различия между мужским, женским и средним родом соответствуют лексическому значению слова. В современном английском языке есть четыре основных родовых понятия: мужской-относится к мужскому полу, женский- к женскому, общий- к обеим полам, средний- ни одному из полов. Существует несколько способов выражения мужского и женского полов: используя разные слова, добавляя суффиксы, используя префикс или суффикс слова, обозначающего пол. Существительные в общем роде могут обозначать как мужчин, так и женщин. Когда вещи персонифицированы, используются мужские и женские местоимения. Более сильные эмоции считаются мужскими, нежные-женскими. Существительные в роде среднего рода указывают на вещи без пола.

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THE CATEGORY OF GENDER IN MODERN ENGLISH

The category of gender is not grammatical since the gender of nouns and pronouns is mainly expressed lexically in Modern English. The distinction of male, female, common and neuter correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun. The linguistics consider four natural genders to be in Modern English: 1) masculine - male sex; 2) feminine - female sex; 3) common - either sex; 4) neuter - neither sex. There are some ways of expressing masculine and feminine genders: by using different words, by adding the suffixes, by prefixing or suffixing a word denoting the sex. Nouns in the common gender may denote either males or females.When things are personified, masculine and feminine pronouns are used. The stronger forces and emotions are considered to be masculine, the gentler ones are feminine. The nouns in the neuter gender indicate things without sex.

Текст научной работы на тему «КАТЕГОРИЯ ГЕНДЕРА В СОВРЕМЕННОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ»

The greatness and creativity of these two genius artists and their precious literary heritage and living ideas are still alive today, first and foremost, despite many centuries and many representatives in life and literature, also its importance was not diminished. After all, these immaculate writings of the pious perfectionists and the masterpieces of the world of "word", which reached the spiritual heights of the perfection of Islamic enlightenment, were not only works of art, but also good calls to humanity.

It is not difficult to see the ideological proximity, the national and logical basis of the expression of ideas, and it would be very simple to consider this as merely an external similarity or common ground. However, this understanding was primarily a reflection of Amir Khosraw Dehlavi and Alisher Navoi's vision of Oriental wisdom on life and man and nature, as well as the magnificent ideals and moral-spiritual ties between the two great artists. Secondly, it is also worth noting that this ideological collaboration was a firm judgment of the two great artists, that is, a profound philosophical observation of the wretched and inferior ones.

It is also worth noting that in the works of both poets it was a great honor to display such virtues as justice and enlightenment, kindness and generosity directly on the basis of life examples, and on the contrary, to expose brutally such wrongs as dishonesty and extortion, ignorance and neglect.

It is clear that such ideological proximity and harmony in the works of Amir Khosrav Dehlavi and Alisher Navoi was an important area of their creativity and world of thought.

Navoi and Amir Khosraw Dehlavi's creative works were undoubtedly the most important part of the chain of artistic spiritual ties that had been emerged on the basis of deep thinking and life lessons, immortal ideas and high universal values among people of different generations.

The list of used literature:

1. Alisher Navoi. Volume 20. Devoni Foni. - T .: Science, 2003.

2. Alisher Navoi. TAT. 10 volumes. Volume X. Mukhokamat ul-lughatayn. Tashkent. Gafur Gulom Publishing House, 2011.

3. Valikhojaev B., Vokhidov R. Navoi is a source of inspiration. - T., 1981.

4. Dehlavi A.H .. Muntahabot. «Irfon». - Dushanbe, 1975.

5. Dehlavi A.Kh.. Works. Fiction Publishing House named after Gafur Gulom. - Tashkent, 1972.

6. Isxakov Y. Navoi and Khosraw Dehlavi // Navoi and the problems of Literary Influence. - Tashkent, 1968.

THE CATEGORY OF GENDER IN MODERN ENGLISH

Yusifova Kamala Yagub

head teacher Azerbaijan University of Languages

Baku

КАТЕГОРИЯ ТЕНДЕРА В СОВРЕМЕННОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

Юсифова K.

SUMMARY

The category of gender is not grammatical since the gender of nouns and pronouns is mainly expressed lexically in Modern English. The distinction of male, female, common and neuter correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun. The linguistics consider four natural genders to be in Modern English: 1) masculine - male sex; 2) feminine - female sex; 3) common - either sex; 4) neuter - neither sex. There are some ways of expressing masculine and feminine genders: by using different words, by adding the suffixes, by prefixing or suffixing a word denoting the sex. Nouns in the common gender may denote either males or females.When things are personified, masculine and feminine pronouns are used. The stronger forces and emotions are considered to be masculine, the gentler ones are feminine. The nouns in the neuter gender indicate things without sex.

РЕЗЮМЕ

В современном английском языке категории родаграмматически не существует, так как род существительных и местоимений выражается лексически. Различия между мужским, женским и средним родом соответствуют лексическому значению слова. В современном английском языке есть четыре основных родовых понятия: мужской-относится к мужскому полу, женский- к женскому, общий- к обеим полам, средний- ни одному из полов. Существует несколько способов выражения мужского и женского полов: используя разные слова, добавляя суффиксы, используя префикс или суффикс слова, обозначающего пол. Существительные в общем роде могут обозначать как мужчин, так и женщин. Когда вещи персонифицированы, используются мужские и женские местоимения. Более сильные эмоции считаются мужскими, нежные-женскими. Существительные в роде среднего рода указывают на вещи без пола.

Key words: masculine, feminine, common, neuter

Ключевые слова: мужской род, женский род, общий род, средний род

The conception of gender is one of the conceptions reflected in human thinking. This conception is based on the correct logic formalizing in human thinking. That is why there are mainly two genders in human consciousness: masculine and feminine. The scholars have traditionally distinguishedthree genders:masculine, feminine and neuter. As a fact there is no third gender in human thinking. Being the third gender is not a logical meaning, but it is a grammatical meaning. To approach the problem seriously, according to their characters we can consider that there is no need for us to discriminate the things into different genders.The linguists B.ilyish, F.Palmer consider that the category of gender does not exist in Modern English. But M.Blokh, C.Lyons, R.Quirk, S.Greenbaum, C.Leech, C.Svartvik and others accept the existence of this category. M.Bloch notes that the category of gender is absolutely expressed by the noun together with the third person pronouns. The cognition of the gender as a category is the reflection of independence of any special semantic phrase from the logical viewpoint.The category of gender is based on two contrast points: higher contrast point and lower contrast point.As the higher contrast is general, it refers to all the nouns. This contrast discriminates the nouns into personal and impersonal nouns. Whereas the lower contrast is partially and it refers only to personal nouns. This contrast distinguishes them into masculine and feminine nouns. As a result of combination of double contrast there exists a system of three genders: neuter, masculine and feminine. Besides it, there are personal nouns expressing both masculine and feminine genders by pronominal coorelation. These nouns are considered to cover common gender. M.Cyril notes about the existence of the common gender as the fourth one. R.Quirk, S.Greenbaum, C.Leech, C.Svartvik discriminate nine gender classes. Generally, the lexical meaning of the nouns are meant as the main criteria for discriminating the nouns into genders, i.e.a boy, a man, a father and others refer to masculine, a girl, a woman,a mother and others refer to feminine, a pen, a book, a university and others refer to neuter.

The nouns denoting masculine and feminine may be classified into two groups:1) the nouns formed by the morphological way; 2) the nouns formed by the lexical way.

1) The nouns formed by the morphological way. The suffixes are added to the end of the nouns to denote the feminine gender in Modern English: emperor - empress, steward - stewardess, prince - princess, hero - heroine, usher - usherette, testator -testatrix, administrator -administratrix

But it should be taken into consideration that the morphological way is used in order to form the masculine gender in the following pairs:

bridegroom - bride, widower - widow

2) The nouns formed by the lexical way. Either the noun or the personal pronoun is added to the beginning of the nouns in this group: a boy-friend - a girlfriend, a he-cousin - a she-cousin, Mr. - Mrs/Miss/Ms, man -woman, father - mother, boy - girl, brother - sister, bachelor - spinster, king - queen

Some masculine and feminine pairs denoting relations have double gender term. For example, the term father-mother is used for the word parent, the term brother-sister is used for the word sibling. Basically in the American variant of the English language some efforts are made to the presentation of the neuter-gender forms (double gender nouns) of the personal pronouns she and he as s/he, the nouns woman and man as wo/man, the noun airline hostess as flight attendant in order to solve the difficulty of the tendency of gender in the language. It should be noted that all these changes occur only in the written form. Other neuter-gender nouns are: artist, cook, doctor, enemy, foreigner, friend, guest, inhabitant, novelist, person, professor, servant, singer, speaker, student, teacher, typist, writer. The words male and female, boy and girl, he and she are widely used in order to indicate the gender of these persons: male student/female student. When we talk about the job that is usually done by the other sex we may say a model - a male model, an engineer- a woman engineer. In the names of jobs instead of -man or -woman the neutral words like person, assistant, worker are frequently used. For instance, it is suitable for us to say police officer instead of the words policeman and policewoman. Both in British English and American English the neutral words are very commonly found in the official writing, in newspapares, on television and radio: Chairman-chair (person), Congressman-member of Congress, foreman-supervisor, fireman-firefighter, fisherman-fisher, mailman - mail carrier.

Common gender nouns are considered to cover the words referring to children and animals. The widely choosing of the interrogative and relative pronouns who, which and the personal pronouns he, she, it are possible for the relevant nouns in appropriate contexts. A child learns to speak the language of its family. Sometimes we meet people who prefer to use the pronouns he/she, him/her, his/her in speech and writing. We can come across with the following forms of personal pronouns: he/she, (s)he may also be found: If you have a question, ask your teacher. He/she can answer your question. In such situations we find it possible for the author or the writer to use only the pronoun she. But these situations are not recommended for frequently using. That is why we think it would be better for us to change the sentence by using a noun in the plural form. Instead of saying A baby cries when he or she is hungry we can say Babies cry when they are hungry. The personal pronoun he was used to denote both men and women years ago. But now it is not considered acceptable: Everyone needs to feel he is loved. Because after the defining pronouns everybody, everyone, the indefinite pronouns somebody, someone, anybody, anyone, the negative pronouns nobody, no one the plural pronouns they, them, their are often used.

Does everybody know who they are?

God send everyone their heart's desire. (Shakespeare)

Somebody has left their bag there.

I hope nobody has forgotten to bring their identity card with them.

It is necessary to have a look at the situations of the concrete nouns to denote the gender of the collective nouns. Thus, the use of the verb either in the singular or in the plural depends on the collective noun which is in the singular or in the plural. When we speak about a group as a whole acting together, a collective noun is thought singular. The committee has met and it has rejected the proposal. Vice versa when we speak about the individual members of a group, a collective noun is thought as plural. The committee have met and they have rejected the proposal. Other examples to the collective nouns: army, association, audience, board, cast, class, company, department, faculty, family, firm, group, institute, jury, opposition, party, staff, university.

The words cock and rooster, the pronouns which-it, who-he are used toindicate the male gender of higher animals. Whereas the word hen, the pronouns which-it, who-she are considered to express the female gender of higher animals. Other examples: buck - doe, bull - cow, dog - bitch, gander - goose, lion - lioness, ram - ewe, stallion - mare, tiger - tigress. There are some contexts in which we do not see any obligation to make a gender distinction. In this case the personal pronoun he is used. Look at the little tortoise, darling. Isn 't he sweet?

Lower animals, insects and inanimate things are mainly used with the pronoun it and the relative pronoun which. The nouns denoting the lower animals like the nouns denoting higher animals may be modified by the relative pronoun who. However, though the antecedent of the attributive relative clause is expressed by a noun denoting animals or insects, we may come across with some cases where the relative pronoun who is used: "goldfish who swim around", "bees who are busy". It is necessary for us to use relevant words to indicate the gender of the nouns denoting animals.For example, buck rabbit - doe rabbit, cock pheasant - hen pheasant, dog fox - bitch fox, he goat - she goat, roe buck - roe doe.

The gender of the noun denoting country depends on itsuse in the sentence. If the geographical position of the noun denoting country is meant, it is preferred to use the personal pronoun it. For example, Here is a map of Russia. It is the largest country in the world. Iceland is an island. It is washed on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. If the political or economical position of the noun denoting country is meant, it is preferred to use the feminine pronoun she. For example, England has been able to increase her exports by 10per cent over the last three months. England is proud of her poets. The sport team representing its country may be treated as a personal collective noun. For example, the sentence Russia will never lose its chances of winning the cup in the Olympic Games can be said like Russia have improved their chances of winning the cup. The form of the verb has is mainly used in American English, whereas have in British English.

The names of vessels are treated as feminine gender because of their owners' admire to their vessels. But the other people who are not the owners of the vessels like the car, carriage, coach, ship, boat, steamer, ice-breaker, cruiser, use the personal pronoun it to denote one of them:

"How is your new car?" "Terrific. She is running beautifully. "

My ship has struck a rock. She is sinking!

When the abstract nouns are personified, the pronuons indicating masculine and feminine are used. The nouns denoting power, strength, horror are treated as masculine gender, whereas the nouns expressing kindness, gentleness, beauty are referred to feminine gender. But the word love is exception. Though this word expresses kind feeling, it is treated as masculine gender.

The nouns referring to the masculine gender are: Angel, Death, War, Murder, Tear, Winter, Wind, Storm, River, Summer, the Sun, etc.

The nouns referring to the feminine gender are: Victory, Liberty, Charity, Faith, Fortune, Hope, Justice, Beauty, Morning, Night, the Earth, the Moon, City, Friendship, Kindness, etc.

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1. Cyril M. A Grammar of Modern English for Foreign Students, Longman, L.,1971

2. Ilyish B. The Structure of Modern English. M., L.,1971

3. Musayev O.I.(Turksever), Hajiyev E.I., Huseynov A.R. A Practical Grammar of Contemporary English, Baki-Qismet, 2009

4. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2000

5. Quirk R., Greenbaum S., Leech L., Svartvik J. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman. London and New York, 1998

6. Swan Michael Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press, 1995

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