NOMINAL CLASSIFICATION: ABOUT FLAT OBJECTS OF UNSTABLE FORM IN ENGLISH

Abstract

Тhe paper off ers typological underpinnings of the identifi cation of a covert lexical and grammatical nominal category (cryptotype) and its description. The classifi ers and prototypes of the cryptotype «Res Textileforme» are defi ned. Theoretical hypotheses are supported by the examples extracted from electronic corpora. The class of fl at objects with unstable shapes is recognized in at least 13 languages around the world. This class is marked by verb stems, count words, and nominal classifi ers. The prototypes for this cryptotype have a dominant semantic feature of “a fl at object of unstable shape”. The prototypes include such nouns as cloth, fabric, skin, leaf, carpet, sheet, etc. The classifi ers of the crypotype «Res Textileforme» include predicative, substantive, verbal and attributive structures and refl ect the concept of cognitively signifi cant properties of the topological type «fl atfl exible object» one of which is a functionally signifi cant aspect of the form «being fl at and fl exible», which can be revealed in the use of such verb structures as «wrapped up in an OBJECT»,«enveloped in an OBJECT»,«cloaked in an OBJECT», «draped in an OBJECT», «swaddled in an OBJECT», and «enfolded in an OBJECT. Additionally, the fl at and fl exible object is capable of being folded. This intrinsic quality of the fl at and fl exible form is explicitly expressed by such verb structures as «unfurl an OBJECT», «an OBJECT unfolds», and “an OBJECT unfurls”. The categorization of non-object entities as a fabric allows us to express a number of meanings that are closely connected with both the sensory-empirical and spiritual-emotive spheres of human experience refl ected in the language such as “to hide”, “to conceal”, as well as “to take care of”, “to save” or “to reveal”, “to develop” (about the sequence of events), which were considered in this study.