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35
Fifth, the "genitive of destination" (Lat. "genetivus destinationis"). This form denotes the destination, or
function of the referent of the head-noun. E.g.: women's footwear; children's verses; a fishers' tent.
Diagnostic test: ... > footwear for women; ... > a tent for tishers, etc.
Sixth, the "genitive of dispensed qualification" (Lat. "genetivus qualificationis dispensatae"). The meaning
of this genitive type, as different from the subtype "genitive of received qualification", is some characteristic or
qualification, not received, but given by the genitive noun to the referent of the head-noun. E.g.: a girl's voice; a
book-keeper's statistics; Curtis O'Keefe's kind (of hotels - M.B.).
Diagnostic test: ... > a voice characteristic of a girl; ... > statistics peculiar to a book-keeper's report; ... >
the kind (of hotels) characteristic of those owned by Curtis O'Keefe.
Under the heading of this general type comes a verv important subtype of the genitive which expresses a
comparison. The comparison, as different from a general qualification, is supposed to be of a vivid, descriptive
nature. The subtype is called the "genitive of comparison" (Lat. "genetivus comparationis"). This term has been
used to cover the whole class. E.g.: the cock's self-confidence of the man; his perky sparrow's smile.
Diagnostic test: ... > the self-confidence like that of a cock; ... > the smile making the man resemble a
perky sparrow.
Seventh, the "genitive of adverbial" (Lat. "genetivus adverbii"). The form denotes adverbial factors relating
to the referent of the head-noun, mostly the time and place of the event. Strictly speaking, this genitive may be
considered as another subtype of the genitive of dispensed qualification. Due to its adverbial meaning, this type
of genitive can be used with adverbialized substantives. E.g:. the evening's newspaper; yesterday's encounter;
Moscow's talks.
Diagnostic test: ... > the newspaper issued in the evening; ... > the encounter which took place yesterday;
... > the talks that were held in Moscow.
Eighth, the "genitive of quantity" (Lat. "genetivus quantitatis"). This type of genitive denotes the measure or
quantity relating to the referent of the head-noun. For the most part, the quantitative meaning expressed
concerns units of distance measure, time measure, weight measure. E.g.: three miles' distance; an hour's delay,
two months' time; a hundred tons' load.
Diagnostic test: ... > a distance the measure of which is three miles; ...
>
a time lasting two months; ... > a
load weighing a hundred tons.
The given survey of the semantic types of the genitive is by no means exhaustive in any analytical sense.
The identified types are open both to subtype specifications, and inter-type generalizations (for instance, on the
principle of the differentiation between subject - object relations), and the very set of primary types may be ex-
panded.
However, what does emerge out of the survey is the evidence of a wide functional range of the English
particle genitive, making it into a helpful and flexible, if subsidiary, means of expressing relational semantics in
the sphere of the noun.
§ 6. We have considered theoretical aspects of the problem of case of the English noun, and have also
observed the relevant lingual data instrumental in substantiating the suggested interpretations. As a result of the
analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the inflexional case of nouns in English has ceased to exist. In its
place a new, peculiar two-case system has developed based on the particle expression of the genitive falling
into two segmental types: the word-genitive and the phrase-genitive.
The undertaken study of the case in the domain of the noun, as the next step, calls upon the observer to re-
formulate the accepted interpretation of the form-types of the English personal pronouns.
The personal pronouns are commonly interpreted as having a case system of their own, differing in principle
from the case system of the noun. The two cases traditionally recognized here are the nominative case (I, you,
he, etc.) and the objective case (me, you, him, etc.). To these forms the two series of forms of the possessive
pronouns are added - respectively, the conjoint series (my, your, his, etc.) and the absolute series (mine, yours,
his, etc.). A question now arises, if it is rational at all to recognize the type of case in the words of substitutional
nature which is absolutely incompatible with the type of case in the correlated notional words?
Attempts have been made in linguistics to transfer the accepted view of pronominal cases to the
unchangeable forms of the nouns (by way of the logical procedure of back substitution), thereby supporting the
positional theory of case (M. Bryant). In the light of the present study, however, it is clear that these attempts
lack an adequate linguistic foundation.
As a matter of fact, the categories of the substitute have to reflect the categories of the antecedent, not vice
versa. As an example we may refer to the category of gender (see Ch. VI): the English gender is expressed
through the correlation of nouns with their pronominal substitutes by no other means than the reflection of the