Animated objects
Animated objects
ANIMATED OBJECTS . Objects that have the ability to voluntarily move, i.e. people and animals, in contrast to inanimate objects and abstract or abstract concepts, i.e. signs of objects considered in abstraction from the objects themselves. In Russian. category O.P. on the one hand and inanimate. objects and abstract concepts, on the other hand, differ grammatically in that masculine nouns and adjectives in the singular that agree with them, and nouns and adjectives in the plural, which are the names of O.P., have one common form for the accusative and genitive cases, different from forms of the nominative case, and masculine nouns and adjectives in the singular and nouns and adjectives in the plural, which are the names of inanimate objects and abstract concepts, have a common form for the nominative and accusative cases, different from the genitive case. The grammatical distinction between nouns denoting animate objects and nouns denoting inanimate objects and abstract concepts also exists in other Slavic languages, and is also known in some non-Slavic languages, for example, Scandinavian.
N.D. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925
See what "Animated objects" are in other dictionaries:
Animated objects- ANIMATED OBJECTS. Objects that have the ability to voluntarily move, that is, people and animals, in contrast to inanimate and abstract or abstract concepts, that is, signs of objects considered in abstraction from ... ...
animate objects- Objects that have the ability to voluntarily move, that is, people and animals, in contrast to inanimate objects and abstract or abstract concepts, that is, signs of objects considered in abstraction from the objects themselves. In Russian …
INANIOUS OBJECTS. Things or objects that do not have the ability to voluntarily move, that is, all objects except people and animals. See Animate Objects. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 x vol. / Under ... ... Literary Encyclopedia
inanimate objects- INANIMATE OBJECTS. Things or objects that do not have the ability to voluntarily move, that is, all objects except people and animals. See Animate Objects... Dictionary of literary terms
inanimate objects- Things or objects that do not have the ability to voluntarily move, that is, all objects except people and animals. See Animate Objects... Grammar Dictionary: Grammar and linguistic terms
Noun endings- 1. In nouns that have a vowel and before case endings, the letter and is written in the prepositional singular (for feminine words also in the dative case), for example: about a genius, in Gogol's "Viya", on a billiard cue, sisters ... ... A guide to spelling and style
A guide to spelling and style
Gender of indeclinable nouns- 1. Words denoting inanimate objects. Indeclinable nouns of foreign origin, denoting inanimate objects, for the most part belong to the middle gender, for example: healing aloe, Scotch whiskey, ... ... A guide to spelling and style
1) The lexical and grammatical category of a noun, inherent in all nouns (with the exception of words used only in the plural), syntactically independent, manifested in their ability to combine with those defined for ... Dictionary of linguistic terms
Books
- , Vadbolskaya Anna. Some items that we enjoy using do not need complicated instructions for use. A pencil, for example, or a ball. Or our game is a real treasure for those who…
Animated nouns include the names of persons and animals: man, daughter, son, Vera, Petrov, Dima, on duty, cow, goat, goose, starling, carp, spider etc. These are mostly masculine and feminine nouns. Nouns of the middle gender are few: child, creature (in meaning "living organism"), face (meaning "man"), words in -ische (monster, monster), substantivized adjectives and participles ( animal, insect, mammal). As a defining feature of animate nouns, the ability of the “objects” they call to move independently, to move, which inanimate objects do not possess, is often noted.
This semantic classification does not coincide with the scientific division of everything that exists in nature into living and non-living: in the sciences of nature, plants also belong to the living. It does not fit into the framework of the "everyday" understanding of the living and non-living. So, words are animate nouns dead man, deceased seemingly contrary to logic. Boiled duck, roast goose are also animate in the grammar. This also includes a doll, a ball (in the language of billiard players), ace, trump, jack etc. - words that have nothing to do with the living world. The category of inanimate includes nouns denoting the totality of living beings ( people, crowd, platoon, flock, swarm, group etc.), as well as collective nouns like youth, peasantry, children, proletariat etc., denoting a set of persons.
The division of nouns into animate and inanimate is based not only on semantic grounds, but also on
grammatical. Accusative plural
for animate nouns it coincides with the genitive, and
for the inanimate - with the nominative. Wed:
I see trees, mountains, rivers, clouds, I see people, cows, birds,
flocks of insects, geese, buy cucumbers, notebooks, buttons, buy sheep, pigeons, dolls, ate tangerines, oranges, ate chickens, crayfish, served fried eggplant, served fried partridges.
In the singular, the distinction between animate and inanimate nouns is consistently expressed morphologically in masculine words. Cf.: inanimate nouns and animate nouns I’ll cook soup, broth, cook a goose, a rooster, see off the steamer, see off a friend, plant potatoes, plant a guest.
An exception is masculine words ending in -a. For them, as for feminine nouns, the accusative case does not coincide with either the genitive or the nominative. Compare: I. - boy, girl; R. - boys, girls; AT. - young man, girl.
In animate neuter nouns, as well as inanimate ones, in the singular the form of the accusative case coincides with the form of the im. case. For example: Oh, how I love this empty creature! moaned Pavel Petrovich(Turgenev). The same is observed for feminine nouns with a zero ending in them. case: I see a lynx, a mouse.
A deviation from the basic norm of expressing the meaning of animation is the formation of wine forms. pad. pl. h. with a preposition in nouns - the names of persons expressing attitudes towards a particular social group: student, nanny, livestock breeder, etc. In constructions with the meaning "become (do) what" these words form the form of wines. cases as inanimate nouns: to be promoted to general, to be elected to academicians, to enter the janitors, to join the partisans, a candidate for deputies etc.
The names of microorganisms fluctuate between animate and inanimate nouns: microbe, bacillus, ciliate, bacterium, amoeba etc. They have two forms of the accusative case: study microbes and microbes; examine viruses and viruses in a microscope; destroy bacilli and bacilli. In the professional language, such words are usually used as animate nouns, and in the non-professional sphere as inanimate ones.
One and the same noun in one of its meanings can refer to animate, in another - to inanimate. So, the names of fish in direct meanings are animated nouns ( catch a crucian). Used as the names of foods, they act as inanimate nouns: eat sprats, invite for trout etc. Cf. also: I see a huge stump and I see this stump (whom?) every day.
Animation / inanimateness in words is peculiarly manifested blockhead, idol, idol, idol etc., which figuratively designate people. In the meaning of “statue”, these words clearly gravitate to inanimate, and in the figurative meaning of a person, to animate nouns. True, this feature is expressed inconsistently. Wed: put up an idol and it is difficult to convince this idol, but: On the banks of the Danube, the Russians set up a wooden idol (A. N. Tolstoy); From shaving his beard, he creates an idol for himself (Saltykov-Shedrin) and ... to make an idol out of this old useless person (L. Tolstoy).
The names of works of art based on their heroes act as animated nouns. Wed: get to know Eugene Onegin and listen to "Eugene Onegin"; call Rudin and read "Rudin" etc.
Wed also: treated a Muscovite and bought "Moskvich", feed a horse and sculpt a horse, but feed a crocodile and buy a "Crocodile"; see a kite, let (launch) a kite and make kites.
The names of the ancient gods are animate nouns, and the names of the luminaries homonymous with them are inanimate: anger Mars and look at Mars, honor Jupiter and see Jupiter and etc.
The words type, image, character are used as inanimate nouns, which are the names of characters in works of art: create a strong character; characterize negative types and positive images. Wed: list the characters of the novel, the heroes of the fairy tale, the characters of the fable, but: bring out a comic character.
animated and nouns serve as the names of people, animals and answer the question who?(student, mentor, entertainer, peer).
Inanimate nouns serve as the names of inanimate objects, as well as objects of the plant world and answer the question what?(presidium, conference, landscape, mountain ash). This also includes nouns like group, people, crowd, flock, peasantry, youth, kids etc.
The division of nouns into animate and inanimate mainly depends on what object this noun denotes - living beings or objects of inanimate nature, but it is impossible to completely identify the concept of animation-inanimateness with the concept of living-inanimate. So, from a grammatical point of view birch, aspen, elm- nouns are inanimate, but from a scientific point of view, these are living organisms. In grammar, the names of dead people - dead man, deceased- are considered animate, and only a noun dead body- inanimate. Thus, the meaning of animateness-inanimateness is a purely grammatical category.
- animate For nouns, the accusative plural form is the same as the genitive plural form:
(v.p. pl. = r.p. pl.)r.p. (no) people, birds, animals
c.p. (to love) people, birds, animals
- inanimate For nouns, the plural accusative form is the same as the plural nominative form:
In addition, for animate masculine nouns of the II declension, the accusative case coincides with the genitive also in the singular, for inanimate nouns - with the nominative: I see a student, an elk, a crane, but a detachment, a forest, a regiment.(w.p. pl. = im.p. pl.)i.p. (there are) forests, mountains, rivers
c.p. (see) forests, mountains, rivers
Most often, animate nouns are masculine and feminine. There are few animate nouns among neuter nouns. This is - child, person (in the meaning of "man"), animal, insect, mammal, creature ("living organism"), monster, monster, monster and some others.
Animated nouns, used in a figurative sense, decline: admire "Sleeping Beauty".
Inanimate nouns, used in a figurative sense, get the meaning of a person and become animated: the tournament brought together all the table tennis stars.
The names of toys, mechanisms, images of a person refer to animated nouns: she was very fond of her dolls, nesting dolls, robots.
The names of pieces in games (chess, cards) are declined like animated nouns: sacrifice a knight, take an ace.
The name of the gods, mythical creatures ( goblin, mermaid, devil, water) refer to animate nouns, and the names of the planets by the name of the gods - to inanimate: looking at Jupiter, they begged Jupiter for help.
For a number of nouns, there are fluctuations in the expression of the category of animation-inanimateness (in the names of microorganisms, in nouns, the image, type, character, etc.): consider ciliates and ciliates, kill bacteria and bacteria; create vivid images, special characters.
| Animate and inanimate nouns | |
| animated | Inanimate |
| names of living things | names of inanimate objects |
| plant names | |
| names of gods | names of the planets by the names of the gods |
| names of mythical creatures | |
| names of figures in games | |
| names of toys, mechanisms, human images |
|
| dead man, deceased | dead body |
| names of microorganisms | |
| image, character | |
The listed words denote a certain set of living objects - people or animals. This set is understood as a single whole - a set of living beings, and this set is not equal to the simple sum of its components. For example, the attribute "set", expressing the idea of quantity in the concept of "people", in the concept of "people" is combined with the idea of quality - "the totality of people in their specific interactions". Thus, the common feature of the words of this group - 'collection' - turns out to be the leading one and forms the meaning of inanimateness. V.G. Gak connects the nouns under consideration with the category of a collective (quasi-animate) object: “Between animate and inanimate objects there is an intermediate group of collective objects consisting of animate units. Words denoting such objects ... can be conditionally called quasi-animate” 4 . The grammatical generalization of semantics is expressed in the morphological indicator of inanimateness (V. = I.): I see crowds, nations, flocks, herds etc.
Why are nouns denoting plants inanimate?
In the linguistic picture of the world, plants, which are a qualitatively different form of life than animals and humans, are not perceived as living organisms. The ability to move independently has long been recognized as one of the characteristic features of the living. As Aristotle pointed out, “the beginning of movement arises in us from ourselves, even if nothing has set us in motion from outside. We do not see anything like this in inanimate [bodies], but they are always set in motion by something external, and a living being, as we say, moves itself” 5 . The inability of plant organisms to move independently, the lack of visible motor activity and a number of other signs lead to the fact that in the mind of a person, plants, together with objects of inorganic nature, constitute a motionless, static part of the surrounding world. This is indicated by V.A. Itskovich: "... a living object is understood as an object capable of independent movement, so that plants are inanimate objects" 6 . Thus, the predominance of signs of the inanimate in everyday concepts of plants, as well as the nature of the labor activity of a person who has long widely used plants for various purposes, led to the fact that plants in most cases are perceived as inanimate objects.
How does the meaning of animate/inanimate manifest itself?
The attribute ‘living’ (‘non-living’) can be manifested not only in the meanings of nouns, but also in the meanings of indicative words. Indeed, the analysis showed that not only nouns, but also verbs and adjectives have the meaning of animateness/inanimateness in the language. This is manifested in the fact that verbs and adjectives can denote signs of objects that characterize these objects as living or inanimate. For example, the meaning of the verb read indicates that the action is performed by a person (person) and is directed to an inanimate object: read a book, newspaper, ad etc.
The existence of such semantic connections made it possible to build a classification of Russian verbs according to the presence in their meanings of an indication of the animateness / inanimateness of the subject and object of the action. This classification was developed by Prof. L.D. Chesnokova 7 . So, all the verbs of the Russian language can be divided into the following groups:
1) animated-marked - denote actions performed by living beings: breathe, dream, sleep and etc; 2) inanimate-marked - denote actions performed by inanimate objects: burn, crumble, evaporate and etc . ; 3) neutral - denote actions common to living and inanimate objects: stand, lie, fall and etc .
A similar division is observed among adjectives:
1) animate-marked adjectives denote signs of living beings: external signs, temperament, volitional qualities, emotional, intellectual and physical properties, etc.: lean, long-legged, lop-eared, phlegmatic, quick-tempered, kind, evil, intelligent, persistent, blind, talented etc.; 2) inanimate-marked adjectives denote signs of inanimate objects (phenomena) - spatial and temporal qualities and relationships, the properties and qualities of things perceived by the senses, signs in relation to the material of manufacture, etc.: liquid, rare, deep, spicy, sour, bitter, strong, thick, iron, glassy, woody, marshy etc.; 3) neutral adjectives denote features that can be attributed to both living beings and inanimate objects - the most common spatial characteristics, color characteristics, evaluative characteristics, belonging, etc.: left, right, tall, small, heavy, white, red, good, mother's.
Thus, the animate/inanimate meaning of a noun is usually supported by animate or inanimate marked context elements. Otherwise, figurative meanings are updated, which ensures the semantic agreement of words.
So, for animate nouns in combination with inanimate-marked verbs, the metonymic transfer ‘work - author’ is most typical: Then the worker started read Brockhaus (M. Bulgakov); But anyway Doderlein necessary view ... Here it is - Doderlein. "Operational Obstetrics"(M. Bulgakov).
For inanimate nouns, names can be transferred from inanimate objects to living ones: hungry bursa prowled through the streets of Kyiv and forced everyone to be careful(N. Gogol); Mesaw off all warm and loving camera in full force, without party distinctions (E. Ginzburg); Prison doesn't like brave men (V.Shalamov). There are also many cases of occasional metonymic transfer affecting the semantics of the animate/inanimate substantive: - Fast! To the phone! A tube vibrated, fluttered, choked with anxiety , did not dare to speak fatal question. Only repeated with an interrogative intonation: “Is that you? It's you?" (E. Ginzburg); Once in the hospital I heard: “From the seventh ward nasal furuncle discharged » (V. Levy).
The semantic discrepancy in the aspect of animateness/inanimateness can be overcome due to the metaphorical transfer of the meaning of the noun. An example is the combination of inanimate nouns with animate-marked words, creating an artistic device of personification (personification): sitting on the forehead of a short man, Pimple with envy glanced on the foreheads of tall people and thought : “I wish I were in such a position!”(F.Krivin).
So, let's sum up. Animate and inanimate nouns designate not so much living and inanimate objects as objects, understood as both living and non-living. In addition, between the members of the opposition ‘thinkable as living / thinkable as inanimate’, there are a number of intermediate formations that combine the signs of the living and the inanimate, the presence of which is due to the associative mechanisms of thinking and other features of human mental activity, for example:
1) conceivable as having been alive ( dead person, deceased, departed and etc.); 2) mentally represented alive ( mermaid, goblin, cyborg and etc.); 3) conceivable as a semblance of a living ( doll, baby doll, jack, queen and etc.); 4) conceivable as a set of living things ( people, crowd, flock, herd and etc.).
Thus, the category of animate/inanimate nouns, like some other linguistic phenomena, reflects the anthropocentric setting of human thinking, and the discrepancy between the linguistic picture of the world and scientific understanding is another manifestation of the subjective factor in the language.
It seems that it is easy to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects to the indecent: it's like a game of life and inanimate. But those who are guided by this principle are very much mistaken. Animation, as well as inanimateness, respectively, is a separate category in the characteristic that has nothing to do with the external features of some object. Here's how to explain the fact that, according to the rules, the word "corpse" is considered inanimate, and "dead" - animated? Act randomly? In no case! We'll figure out.
For the little ones
Let's start with the very basics. Animate and inanimate objects answer different questions - "who" and "what" respectively. It can be said that the formulation of the question is the most primitive, albeit very unreliable, way of defining this category. Usually children are introduced to him in the first or second grade. In order to practice this method, you can fill in the gaps with the students in the following text:
« In sleepy oblivion flows great (what?). Around (what?) and (what?). (Who?) Slowly moved the skis, shook off (what?) Hats from the ears. (Who?) quickly made a hole, and began (what?). Soon he pulled out a huge (who?). His mirror (what?) shone brightly in the sun". Words to be inserted: ice, scales, fisherman, frost, river, carp, snow, fishing. One word is repeated twice.
Grammar explanation
But it's worth moving on, right? How to determine whether an animate or inanimate object is based on rules, and not on intuition? The difference between these two categories lies in the different case forms of the nouns. Inanimate nouns have the same nominative and plural form, while animate nouns have the same genitive and accusative in the same number. Of course, it will be much easier to understand specific examples.
We take the noun cat". We put it in the plural "cats" and begin to decline: nominative - " cats”, genitive - “ cats", accusative -" cats"- as you can see, the forms of the genitive and accusative cases coincide. Whereas for the noun table”, which, to define this category, becomes “ tables» when declining « tables-tables-tables» the accusative and
Thus, the rule allows to separate an animate and inanimate object only when they are put in the plural and the subsequent declension. And then, already by the coincidence of case forms, this category is determined.
Exceptions
But, as you know, there are very few rules in Russian that do not have any exceptions. So, it is sometimes possible to separate animate and inanimate objects logically. Yes, all living beings will be animate, but at the same time, mythical creatures belong to the same category ( goblin-goblin-goblin-goblin) and toy names ( matryoshka-matryoshka-matryoshka) - here you can still find a logical explanation. As well as card and chess suit-pieces ( spades, spades, pawns, pawns, pawns), which even in their forms do not fit into this category.
Move on. Inanimate nouns, in turn, include large groups of people ( crowd-crowd-crowd) and some living organisms ( embryos-embryos-embryos; germs-germs-microbes) - it is impossible to explain this phenomenon, you just have to accept and remember.
More difficulties
I would also like to add that animate and inanimate objects in the grammatical sense have their own characteristics. So, for example, for animate masculine nouns, the forms of the genitive and accusative cases coincide and in the singular: Anton-Anton-Anton, accountant-accountant-accountant, however, this phenomenon is observed only in nouns of the second declension (compare: Dima-Dima-Dima, although it is also an animate masculine noun). So, in principle, this pattern can be used as another simple, albeit not very well-known, way to determine the category of animation in nouns.
I want to confuse
It is worth noting that in Russian there is an image of an inanimate object as animated. This is usually associated with the use of the word as an analogy to a living being: There is a mattress in the barn - Yes, the mattress is weak-willed! or Great and mighty is the Russian language! - This language (= captive) will tell us everything.
Exactly the same phenomenon occurs with the use of animate nouns as inanimate ones: A kite flies in the blue sky; The fighter went down. Here the category of animation and inanimateness is determined based on the semantic content of the noun.
It is worth noting that, despite all the requirements of teachers to use the rules, most students continue to rely on intuition. As the above examples show, inner instinct is not always a reliable assistant in matters of philology. We can definitely say that the names of professions, the names of people by family affiliation, nationality and other groups will always be animated, and the names of animals can also be included here. By the way, among animate nouns, according to some researchers, there are only masculine and feminine words, while the neuter gender is already inanimate, like all names of objects of nature and other objects.
Practice for the little ones
Now that we have figured out how to distinguish one category of nouns from another, it is worth summarizing all of the above. Animate and inanimate objects for preschoolers, who still have no idea what cases are, differ in terms of “who” and “what”, respectively. For practice, you can play with the kids in “living-non-living”, where the word is called, and the child must determine what this object is.
Or another interesting task for younger students is to offer a series of animate nouns that can be turned into inanimate ones by replacing one letter: fox (linden), goat (spit), heron (drop).
I would like to finish the article on how to distinguish between animate and inanimate objects by saying that, no matter how simple this topic may seem, it is better not to tempt fate and not act at random, trusting intuition. A minute spent checking the category of a noun can sometimes change the way you think about it. So spare no effort and practice in the great and mighty Russian language.