Actualization of the category of

plurality in English and Armenian

Student-Sona Khnkoyan
Suprevisor-Marina Yaghubyan
 Structure

Introduction

Chapter 1 Chapter 2
THE NOTION OF PLURALITY AS A STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC PECULIARITIES
LANGUAGE UNIVERSAL OF NUMBER IN ENGLISH AND ARMENIAN

Chapter 3
DIFFERENCES IN
THE
GRAMMATICAL Conclusion Bibliography
CATEGORY OF
PLURALITY IN
ENGLISH
 The Aim and Objectives
to uncover the peculiarities of plurality in different languages;

to describe the types of plural forms in English and Armenian

to demonstrate what grammatical, semantic and structural

peculiarities have the plurals in Armenian and English.

To reach our aim we have the following objectives:

to uncover the peculiarities of plurality in different languages;

to describe the types of plural forms in English and Armenian
to demonstrate what grammatical, semantic and structural peculiarities have
the plurals in Armenian and English.
 THE NOTION OF PLURALITY AS A LANGUAGE UNIVERSAL

Nouns, and sometimes other

parts of speech, in most
languages with grammatical
number, have two forms:
singular for one instance of a
notion, and plural for several
instances.
The singular is usually the
unmarked form of a word,
while the plural is formed
by inflecting it.

There are certain uncommon

nouns that have the same plural
form as the single one: one
sheep/two sheep (which is not
the same as nouns that have
only one number).
 Plural in ME and MEA

 In English and Armenian, the plural is one of the values of the grammatical category of number.
The plural form of a noun usually suggests a quantity bigger than the word's default amount.

 The most common default quantity is one (a form that represents this default quantity of one is
said to be of singular number). Plurals usually refer to two or more of something, but they can also
refer to fractional, zero, or negative numbers. Other sorts of words, including as verbs, adjectives,
and pronouns, have unique plural forms that are employed in accordance with the number of
linked nouns.

 Languages like English and Armenian have the category of number, as we find correspondences
like the following:
Magazine-magazine-s (լրագիր-լրագրեր)
Hat-hat-s (գլխարկ-գլխարկներ)
Head-head-s (գլուխ-գլուխներ)
Women-women (կին-կանայք)
STRUCTURAL-SEMANTIC PECULIARITIES OF NUMBER IN ENGLISH AND
ARMENIAN

Comparing Armenian and

English we find the category Singular and plural stand in
of number in both of the contrast as diametrically
languages. Modern English opposite. From the point of
and Armenian, like most actualization of plurality in
other languages, distinguish English and Armenian both
between two numbers: similarities and differences are
singular and plural. observed.
Unlike Armenian, in English some nouns have the same form for singular and plural:
 a deer – several deer,
 a bison – five bison,
 a moose – three moose,
 a fish – two fish,
 a salmon – several salmon,
 a swine – several swine,
 a dozen – two dozen,
 a sheep – nine sheep
 an aircraft – two aircraft,
 a means – means,
 a series – three series,
 a species – different species,
 a corps – corps,
 a headquarters – headquarters,
 an alms – alms.
 DIFFERENCES IN THE GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF PLURALITY IN ENGLISH
AND ARMENIAN

In the English language we come across with nouns that denote an invisible pair of things.
 These jeans are of low quality.
 His trousers fit him very well.
 Where are my gym tights?
 There is a pair of pincers on the table.
 My glasses were broken.
 In Claasic Armenian (Grabar) a lot of words could be found that had only plural forms.

These are the dual forms. The dual forms are constructed with the help of the suffix –ք and all of them were
considered to be non singular. The dual forms included words such as աչք, խելք, կառք, միտք,
մեղադրանք, անարգանք, etc.

 In Modern Armenian, however, these words are no more considered plural. The are used as singular

nouns, the plural forms of which are formed in the regular way – by adding the plural endings in the end

of the words.

e.g. աչք – աչքեր,

միտք – մտքեր,

մեղադրանք – մեղադրանքներ,

տանջանք – տանջանքներ.
Words that have only plural form in MEA

 Վարդանանք, Արամենք
 Ալպերը, որ թարգմանաբար նշանակում է բարձր լեռ, Եվրոպայի
ամենաբարձր լեռնաշղթան է:
 Ֆիլիպինները կազմված է բազմաթիվ կղզիներից, ու նրա անվանումը
կապված է Ֆիլիպ Երկրորդի հետ:
 Նիդեռլանդները խորհրդարանային միապետություն է, որի
մայրաքաղաքը Ամստերդամն է:
 nouns have the ending –s in their form, but they are used
in the singular form with a singular verb in a sentence.

 news,
 names of certain games (billiards, dominoes, checkers, cards),
 names of dieases (measles, mumps).
 Scientific subjects are also singular:
e.g. mathematics, physics, phonetics, linguistics, economics, politics.
 In sentences all of these nouns agree with a singular verb:
e.g. No news is good news.
Dominoes is his favorite game.
Measles is a serious disease.
Physics was her least favorite subject at school.
Singular nouns show not only a particular object but they also
represent a whole class of the representative object:

 Մահամերձն աչքերը բաց արավ, գլուխը դանդաղորեն բարձրացրեց:

(Շիրվանզադե «Քաոս»)

 Ծանր տնքալով թեք ընկավ ծերը,

 Երկար կոթավոր չիբուխը լցրեց:(Թումանյան «Հառաչանք»)

 Քամուց հնձանի դուռը մեղմ ճռնչում էր, ու մաշված դուռը երգում էր մի հին երգ:
(Բակունց «Միրհավ»)

 Մարդը բանական էակ է:

 Առյուծը գիշատիչ կենդանի է:

 Բառն ունի երկու կողմ՝ հնչյուններ ու իմաստ:

 Suffix -ք

 Տեղացիք, սովորելով լատիներենը, ամբողջապես դարձրին իրենց

ամենօրյա սովորական լեզուն: (Աճառյան)

 Գալիս է երկնի ճամփեքով սպիտակ,

 Կարապ-ամպերի երամն սպիտակ: (Սահյան «Սպիտակ կարապը»)

 Մի՞թե անգլիացիք իրենց պահաջը արդեն արել են թղթով: (ՎՓ)

 Եւ տարիք անցան բայց իր կտրիճին,

 Մտքից չհանեց մայրը մի վայրկյան: (Շիրազ)

 THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION!