(a) The grammatical meaning is a generalized and rather abstract meaning uniting large groups of words, being expressed through its inherent formal features or, in an opposition, through the absence of such. Its very important property is that the grammatical meaning is not named in the word, e.g. countables-uncountables in nouns, verbs of instant actions in Continuous (was jumping, was winking), etc.
The grammatical meaning in morphology is conveyed by means of:
1. Flexion, i.e. a word-changing formant which may be outer (street s, approach ed) or inner (f oo t-f ee t, f i nd-f ou nd).
2. Suppletive word forms (to be-am-was, good-better-best).
3. Analytical forms (is coming, has asked).
(b) The most general meanings conveyed by language and finding expression in the systemic, regular correlation of forms, are thought of as categorial grammatical meanings. Therefore, we may speak of the categorial grammatical meanings of number and case in nouns; person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood in verbs, etc. Non-categorial grammatical meanings are those which do not occur in oppositions,e.g. the grammatical meanings of collectiveness in nouns, qualitativeness in adjectives, or transitiveness in verbs, etc.
Point 6. The notion of the paradigm in morphology.
An orderly combination of grammatical forms expressing a certain categorial function (or meaning) constitutes a grammatical paradigm. Consequently, a grammatical category is built up as a combination of respective paradigms (e.g. the category of number in nouns, the category of tense in verbs, etc.).
Point 7. Oppositional relations of grammatical forms.
The basic method of the use of oppositions was elaborated by the Prague School linguists. In fact, the term ‘opposition’ should imply two contrasted elements, or forms, i.e. the opposition should be binary. The principle of binary oppositions is especially suitable for describing morphological categories where this kind of relations is more evident.
For example, the tense-forms of the English verb may be divided into two halves: the forms of the present plane and those of the past. The former comprises the Present, Present Perfect, Present Continuous, Present Perfect Continuous, and the Future; the latter includes the Past, Past Perfect, Past Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, and the Future-in-the-Past. The second half is characterized by specific formal features – either the suffix –ed (or its equivalents) appear, or a phonemic modification of the root. The past is thus a marked member of the opposition ‘present::past’ as against the present sub-system, which is the unmarked member. The same may be applied to perfect and non-perfect forms, active and passive forms, singular and plural forms in class nouns, etc.
Point 8. Functional transpositions of grammatical (morphological) forms.
In context functioning of grammatical forms under real circumstances of communicating, their oppositional categorial features interact so that a member of the categorial opposition may be used in a position typical of the other contrasted member. This phenomenon is referred to as the functional transposition. One must bear in mind that there are two kinds of functional transpositions: the one with a partial loss of the functional property, and the one with a complete loss of the functional property. The former may also be defined as the functional transposition proper where the substituting member performs the two functions simultaneously. E.g. the unusual usage of the plural form of a ‘unique’ object (cf.: …’that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgian suns ’. (M.Mitchel)
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Point 9. Neutralization of the opposition.
The second kind of functional transposition where the substituting member completely loses its functional property, is the actual neutralization of the opposition. Such neutralization itself does not possess any expressive meaning but is generally related to the variations of particular meanings (cf.: A man can die but once.(proverb) The lion is not so fierce as he is painted.(proverb)
Point 10. Polysemy, synonymy and homonymy in morphology.
Morphological polysemy implies representations of a word as different parts of speech, e.g. the word ‘but’ may function as a conjunction (last, but not least), a preposition (there was nothing but firelight), a restrictive adverb (those words were but excuses), a relative pronoun (there are none but do much the same), a noun in the singular and plural (that was a large but; his repeated buts are really trying).
Morphological synonymy reflects a variety of representations by different parts of speech for the same meaning, e.g. due to (adjective), thanks to (noun), because of (preposition), etc.
Morphological homonymy may be described as phonetic equivalents with different grammatical functions, e.g. He looks – her looks; they wanted – the job wanted; smoking is harmful – a smoking man; you read – we saw you, etc.
Point 11. The main problems of functional morphology.
The problems of functional morphology are many, the main and most disputed being:
(a) the functions of ‘formal’ morphemes (affixes) and allomorphs;
(b) the functional correlation, i.e. connection of phenomena differing in certain features but united through others (import-to import, must-should);
(c) the functional classification of words as parts of speech.
Theme 4. THE PARTS OF SPEECH.
Point 1. The problems of the parts of speech.
The whole lexicon of the English language, like the one of all Indo-European languages, is divided into certain lexico-grammatical classes traditionally called ‘parts of speech’. The existence of such classes is not doubted by any linguists though they might have different points of view as to their interpretation. Classification of the parts of speech is still a matter of dispute; linguists’ opinions differ concerning the number and the names of the parts of speech.
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Point 2. The principles of division into the parts of speech. Issues of discussion in the classification of words into the parts of speech. Notional and functional parts of speech. Conversion of the parts of speech.
(a) The main principles of word division into certain groups, that had long existed, were formulated by L.V.Shcherba quite explicitly. They are lexical meaning, morphological form and syntactic functioning. Still, some classifications are based on some of the three features, for any of them may coincide neglecting the strict logical rules.
(b) In linguistics there have been a number of attempts to build up such a classification of the parts of speech (lexico-grammatical classes) that would meet the main requirement of a logical classification, i.e. would be based on a single principle. Those attempts have failed.
H.Sweet, the author of the first scientific grammar of the English language, divides the parts of speech into two main groups – the declinables and the indeclinables. That means that he considers morphological properties to be the main principle of classification. Inside the group of the declinables he kept to the traditional division into nouns, adjectives and verbs. Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections are united into the group of the indeclinables. However, alongside of this classification, Sweet proposes grouping based on the syntactic functioning of certain classes of words. This leads to including nouns, pronouns, infinitives, gerunds and some other parts of speech into the same class, which is incorrect.
The Danish linguist O.Jespersen suggested the so-called theory of three ranks (primary, secondary and tertiary words), e.g. ‘furiously barking dog’ where ‘dog’ is a primary word, ‘barking’ – secondary, and ‘furiously’ – tertiary.
Another attempt to find a single principle of classification was made by Ch.Fries in his book ‘The Structure of English’. He rejects the traditional classification and tries to draw up a class system based on the word’s position in the sentence; his four classes correspond to what is traditionally called nouns (class 1), verbs (class 2), adjectives (class 3) and adverbs (class 4). Besides the four classes he set off 15 groups. And yet, his attempt turned out to be a failure, too, for the classes and groups overlap one another.
(c) Words on the semantic (meaningful) level of classification are divided into notional and functional.
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To the notional parts of speech of the English language belong the noun, the adjective, the numeral, the pronoun, the verb and the adverb.
Contrasted against the notional parts of speech are words of incomplete nominative meaning and non-self-dependent, mediatory functions in the sentence. These are functional parts of speech. To the basic functional series of words in English belong the article, the preposition, the conjunction, the particle, the modal word, the interjection.
(d) From the point of view of their functional characteristics lexical units may belong to different lexico-grammatical classes. This kind of syntactic transition is called conversion and represents a widespread phenomenon as one of the most productive and economical means of syntactic transpositions. E.g. She used to comb her hair lovingly. – Here is your comb. They lived up north a few years ago. – You must be ready to take all these ups and downs easy.
Theme 4. THE PARTS OF SPEECH (continued).
Point 3. The parts of speech in the onomasiologic light.
Comparing the class division of the lexicon at the angle of functional designation of words, we first of all note a sharp contrast in language of two polar types of lexemes, the notional type and the functional one. Being evaluated from the informative-functional point of view, the polar distribution of words into completely meaningful and incompletely meaningful domains appears quite clear and fundamental; the overt character of the notional lexical system and the covert one of the functional lexical system (with the field of transition from the former to the latter being available) acquire the status of the most important general feature of the form.
The notional domain of lexicon is divided into four generalizing classes, not a single more or less. The four notional parts of speech defined as the words with a self-dependent denotational-naming function, are the noun (substantially represented denotations), the verb (processually represented denotations), the adjective (feature-represented denotations of the substantial appurtenance) and the adverb (feature-represented denotations of the non-substantial appurtenance).
However, the typical functional positions of these classes may be occupied by representatives of the functional classes by virtue of substitution, that is why some scholars speak of additional notional subclasses.
Point 4. The field nature of the parts of speech.
The intricate correlations of units within each part of speech are reflected in the theory of the morphological fields which states the following: every part of speech comprises units fully possessing all features of the given part of speech; these are its nucleus. Yet, there are units which do not possess all features of the given part of speech though they belong to it. Therefore, the field includes both central and peripheral elements; it is not homogeneous in composition (cf.: ‘gives’ – the lexical meaning of a process, the functional position of a predicate, the word-changing paradigm; and ‘must’ – a feeble lexical meaning, the functional position of a predicative, absence of word-changing paradigm).
Theme 5. THE NOTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH.
Point 1. The noun. The grammatical meaning of the noun. Semantic and grammatical subclasses of nouns. Grammatical categories of the noun. The category of number. The correlation of the singular and the plural forms. The category of case. The varying semantics of the noun in the possessive case. Syntactic functions of nouns. The field structure of the noun.
(a) The noun is a notional part of speech possessing the meaning of substantivity.
(b) Substantivity is the grammatical meaning due to which word units, both the names of objects proper and non-objects, such as abstract notions, actions, properties, etc., function in language like the names of objects proper.
(c) From the point of view of semantic and grammatical properties all English nouns fall under two classes: proper nouns and common nouns.
Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things. As regards their meaning proper nouns may be personal names (Mary, Peter, Shakespeare), geographical names (London, The Crimea), the names of the months and the days of the week, names of ships, hotels, clubs, etc. A large number of nouns now proper were originally common nouns (Brown, Smith, Mason). Proper nouns may change their meaning and become common nouns (sandwich, champagne).
Common nouns are names that can be applied to any individual of a class of persons or things (man, dog, book), collections of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit (peasantry, family), materials (snow, iron,cotton) or abstract notions (kindness, development).
Thus there are different groups of common nouns: class nouns, collective nouns, nouns of material and abstract nouns.
Nouns may also be classified from another point of view: nouns denoting things (the word ‘thing’ is used in a broad sense) that can be counted are called countable nouns; nouns denoting things that cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns.
(d) We may speak of three grammatical categories of the noun.
1. The category of number. Nouns that can be counted have two numbers: singular and plural.
2. The category of case is highly disputable. Yet, many scholars assume that nouns denoting living beings (and some nouns denoting lifeless things) have two case forms: the common case and the genitive (or possessive) case.
3. It is doubtful whether the grammatical category of gender exists in Modern English for it is hardly ever expressed by means of grammatical forms. There is practically one gender-forming suffix in Modern English, the suffix –ess, expressing feminine gender. It is not widely used (heir – heiress, poet – poetess, actor – actress).
(e) The basic meaning of the category of number is the opposition of the singularity and the plurality of objects. The plurality implies an amount exceeding one. The singular number is conveyed by the basic form, i.e. by the form which has no endings and which coincides with the stem. The plural number is graphically conveyed by the –s formant that materializes itself as a number of allomorphs (/s/, /z/, /iz/) depending on the character of the final sound of the stem (books, cats, dogs, potatoes, classes, bushes). However, there are other, unproductive means of forming the plural form (children, nuclei, phenomena, feet, mice). And finally, there are some nouns that do not possess the formal features of either plural or singular number (sheep, deer, swine, news, scissors, trousers).
(f) Of the two number forms, the singular number is compulsory for all nouns, except for pluralia tantum. The reason for this fact is that the singular number is capable of conveying not only the availability of quantity (one) but also the absence of quantitative measurements for uncountables. The plural form always conveys some quantitative relationship; it is due to this fact that the plural number is capable of conveying the concretion of an abstract notion: a noun denoting a generalized feature (a quality or a feeling) may also convey manifestations which are occasional (attentions, joys).
Theme 5. THE NOTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH (continued).
(g) It is generally assumed that there are two cases in English: the common case and the genitive (possessive) case. Thus the paradigm may look as follows:
Singular Plural
Common case: the boy the boys
Genitive case: the boy’s the boys’
Most scholars usually point to the fact that the genitive case is mainly used with the nouns of person (Jim’s book, Mary’s brother) but it may be occasionally used with the nouns denoting lifeless things, namely: periods of time, distance, and price (a week’s notice, a mile’s distance, a dollar’s worth of sugar). It may also occur, though seldom, with the nouns which are situationally definite (The car’s front door was open).
(h) The semantic characteristics of the noun vary depending on the case used; the genitive case expresses the individual characteristics of the object modified whereas the common case denotes a generalized property which is not ascribed to any single bearer (cf.: Shakespeare’s sonnets – the Shakespeare National Theatre; the room’s walls – the room walls).
(i) The field structure of the noun is made up of the central group and the peripheral group. The central group includes object nouns and nouns of person, both having equal number of characteristic features; though object nouns are easily used as prepositive attributes, they do not tend to be used so easily in the genitive case which, in turn, is a characteristic feature of the nouns of person. The peripheral group consists of abstract nouns and nouns of material; both of them are devoid of the categories of number and case (with a few exceptions); they are not used with the indefinite article. However, nouns of material are easily used as prepositive attributes.
Point 2. The pronoun. The semantic classification of pronouns. The deictic and the anaphoric functions of pronouns. Syntactic peculiarities of pronouns. Grammatical categories of pronouns.
(a) The pronoun is a part of speech which points out objects and their qualities without naming them. Therefore, the pronoun possesses a highly generalized meaning that seldom materializes outside of the context.
(b) The semantic classification of pronouns includes such subclasses as personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, reciprocal, relative, indefinite, negative, conjunctive, defining and reflexive pronouns.
(c) The deictic, or indicatory, function of the pronoun is inherent in many subclasses except, maybe, interrogative, indefinite and negative. The anaphoric function, or the function of connecting with the preceding sentence or clause, is characteristic of relative and conjunctive pronouns though it may be occasionally performed by the other subclasses.
(d) Syntactic peculiarities of pronouns are accounted for by the fact that the pronoun is very close in its syntactic functions to those of the noun and the adjective. Hence, the main functions it performs are the ones of the subject, the predicative, the object, and the attribute.
(e) The pronoun seems to have the grammatical categories of person, gender (personal and possessive pronouns), case (personal, and the relative and interrogative WHO – the nominative and objective cases; indefinite, reciprocal and negative – the common and genitive cases) and number (demonstrative, and the defining OTHER).
Point 3. The numeral. General characteristics and problems of subcategorizing.
(a) The numeral is a part of speech which indicates number or the order of persons and things in a series.
(b) Numerals are united by their semantics only. They have neither morphologic nor syntactic features. All numerals are subdivided into cardinal and ordinal. Both subclasses can perform equally well the functions peculiar of nouns and adjectives. Numerals possess a specific word-building system: suffixes –teen, -ty, -th. Some of them are easily substantivized and treated as nouns.
Point 4. The adjective. The grammatical meaning of the adjective. Semantic and grammatical subclasses of adjectives. Grammatical categories of the adjective. Syntactic functions of adjectives. Substantivization of adjectives. The field nature of the adjective.
(a) The adjective is a part of speech expressing a quality of a substance.
(b) The grammatical meaning of the adjective lies in the fact that this part of speech names a quality possessing certain stability unlike Participle I, for example: a fast train – an approaching train.
(c) According to their meanings and grammatical characteristics, adjectives fall under two classes: (1) qualitative adjectives, (2) relative adjectives. Qualitative adjectives denote qualities of a substance directly, not through its relation to another substance, as size, shape, colour, physical and mental qualities, qualities of general estimation: little, large, high, soft, warm, white, important, etc. Relative adjectives denote qualities of a substance through their relation to materials (silken, woolen, wooden, metallic), to place (Italian, Asian), to time (monthly, weekly), to some action (preparatory, educational).
(d) Most adjectives have degrees of comparison: the comparative degree and the superlative degree.
(e) In a sentence the adjective may be used as an attribute or as a predicative, the former in preposition being more characteristic.
(f) Substantivized adjectives have acquired some or all of the characteristics of the noun, but their adjectival origin is still generally felt. They may be wholly substantivized (a native, the natives, a native’s hut, valuables, sweets, a Ukrainian, Ukrainians) and partially substantivized (the rich, the poor, the unemployed, the English, the good, the evil).
(g) Qualitative adjectives possess all the grammatical features of the adjective and belong to the central group. The peripheral group includes relative adjectives and words of state (asleep, awake) though there is no hard and fast demarcation line between these two groups.
Theme 5. THE NOTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH (continued).
Point 5. The verb. The grammatical meaning of the verb. Semantic and grammatical groups of verbs. The valency of verbs. Grammatical categories of the verb (aspect, tense, voice and state). Transpositions of verb-forms. Functional and semantic fields of temporality, state and modality. Verbals, their grammatical categories and syntactic functions.
(a) The verb is a part of speech which denotes an action.
(b) The grammatical meaning of action is understood widely: it is not only activities proper (He wrote a letter) but both a state (He will soon recover) and just an indication of the fact that the given object exists or belongs to a certain class of objects or persons (A chair is a piece of furniture). It is important that the verb conveys the feature as an action within some period of time, however unlimited.
(c) Semantically and grammatically English verbs are grouped as transitive (to give), intransitive (to sleep), regular, irregular, mixed, notional, auxiliary, link (to grow, to turn, to look), terminative (to come), non-terminative (to live) and verbs of double lexical (aspect) character (to see).
(d) The valency of verbs is their combinability. For example, all verbs are characterized by their subordination to the subject of a sentence; transitive verbs are usually combined with an object; auxiliary and link verbs need a notional predicative, etc.
(e) The verb has the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood.
In Modern English there are but few forms indicating person and number in the synthetic forms of the verb. These are:
(1) The third person singular Present Indefinite Indicative – ‘he speaks’.
(2) The Future Indefinite Tense – ‘I shall speak’ (‘He will speak’).
The verb ‘to be’ has suppletive forms for different persons – ‘am, is, are’.
The category of tense is very clearly expressed in the forms of the English verb. This category denotes the relation of the action either to the moment of speaking or to some definite moment in the past or future. The category of tense and the category of aspect are intermingled. There are four groups of tenses: Indefinite, Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous.
The category of aspect shows the way in which the action develops, whether it is in progress or completed, etc. The Indefinite form has no aspect characteristics whatever, the Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous forms denote both time and aspect relations. Each of these forms includes four tenses: Present, Past, Future and Future-in-the-Past. Thus there are 16 tenses in English.
Voice is the category of the verb which indicates the relation of the predicate to the subject and the object.
There are two undoubted voices in English: the active voice and the passive voice.
The active voice shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject is the doer of the action expressed by the predicate.
The passive voice shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject is acted upon.
Some scholars assume there is one more voice in English, the so-called neuter-reflexive voice. (E.g. She was dressing herself.)
Mood is a grammatical category which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality.
We distinguish the indicative mood, the imperative mood, and the subjunctive mood.
The Indicative Mood shows that the action or state expressed by the verb is presented as a fact.
The Imperative Mood expresses a command or a request.
The Subjunctive Mood shows that the action or state expressed by the verb is presented as a non-fact, as something imaginary or desired.
(f) Transpositions of verb-forms may be connected with either substitutions of personal forms in special cases (cf.: ‘If he were present, we’d ask him’ in the Subjunctive Mood) or with functional transpositions of tense forms (cf.: ‘He will come tomorrow. – He is coming tomorrow’.).
(g) The concepts of temporality (time correlations), state and modality are in most cases expressed by verbs, but the fields may be different in nature. The field of temporality may imply different functional patterns for the same action (cf.: ‘He will come next week. – He is coming next week. – He comes next week’, where the first sentence is grammatically central, and the other two peripheral.). On the other hand, the field of temporality may be represented by semantically different classes of verbs, such as terminative, non-terminative, and verbs of double lexical character, the latter belonging to the centre of the field.
As for the functional and semantic fields of state and modality, they may include a central group of verbs expressing these concepts both lexically and functionally, and a peripheral group of other parts of speech used in similar positions.
(h) There are three verbals in English: the participle, the gerund and the infinitive.
The characteristic traits of the verbals are as follows:
1. They have a double nature, nominal and verbal. The participle combines the characteristics of a verb with those of an adjective; the gerund and the infinitive combine the characteristics of a verb with those of a noun.
2. The tense distinctions of the verbals are not absolute, but relative.
3. All the verbals can form predicative constructions.
The participle is a non-finite form of the verb which has a verbal and an adjectival or an adverbial character. Its categories are those of tense-aspect and voice. In the sentence it may be used as an attribute, an adverbial modifier, a predicative and part of a complex object.
The gerund developed from the verbal noun, which in course of time became verbalized preserving at the same time its nominal character. It has the categories of tense-aspect and voice. The gerund can perform the function of subject, object, predicative, attribute and adverbial modifier.
The infinitive is the most abstract verb-form which simply indicates action (in the Indefinite Aspect). That is why it is referred to first in verb articles of dictionaries. Its categories are those of tense-aspect and voice. It can be used as a subject, a predicative, an object, an attribute, and an adverbial modifier.
Theme 5. THE NOTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH (continued).
Point 6. The adverb. The grammatical meaning of the adverb. The semantic classification of adverbs. The degrees of comparison of adverbs. Syntagmatics of adverbs.
(a) The adverb is a part of speech which expresses some circumstances that attend an action or state.
(b) The grammatical meaning of the adverb is pointing out some characteristic features of an action or a quality.
(c) According to their meanings adverbs fall under several groups:
1. adverbs of time (today, soon, etc.);
2. adverbs of repetition or frequency (often, seldom, over, etc.);
3. adverbs of place and direction (inside, backward, etc.);
4. adverbs of cause and consequence (therefore, accordingly, etc.);
5. adverbs of manner (kindly, hard, etc.);
6. adverbs of degree, measure and quantity (very, almost, once, etc.).
Three groups of adverbs stand aside: interrogative (where, when, why, how), relative and conjunctive adverbs, the former being used in special questions, and the latter two to introduce subordinate clauses.
Some adverbs are homonymous with prepositions, conjunctions (before, after, since) and words of the category of state.
(d) Some adverbs have degrees of comparison. This grammatical category finds its morphological expression only in a limited group of adverbs, namely, the suppletive forms of ‘well’, ‘badly’, ‘much’, ‘little’, and the degrees of comparison of the adverbs ‘fast’, ‘near’, ‘hard’. In other cases the forms are analytical (wisely - more wisely - most wisely). The adverb ‘far’ has a peculiar form.
(e) The syntagmatics of the adverb is that of an adverbial modifier (said softly, nice in a way), and sometimes of an attribute (the then president).
Point 7. The problems of setting off modal words as parts of speech.
The modal words express the attitude of the speaker to the reality, possibility or probability of the action he speaks about.
Formerly, they used to be referred to as adverbs, and it was in Russian linguistics that they were identified as a part of speech. However, H.Sweet distinguished the adverbs relating to the whole sentence and expressing the speaker’s attitude.
Modal words stand aside in the sentence, they are not its members. Sometimes they are used as sentence-words.
The structural field of the modal words consists of the modal words proper used only parenthetically or as sentence-words (perhaps, maybe, indeed, etc.) and a peripheral group of adverbs functioning as modal words without losing their morphological and syntactic features (apparently, unfortunately, etc.).
Point 8. The interjection as a part of speech. Determination of the boundaries of interjections. Conversion of words belonging to other parts of speech, and other language units, into interjections.
(a) The interjection is a part of speech which expresses various emotions without naming them.
(b) According to Prof. Smirnitsky interjections ‘are opposed to the words of intellectual semantics’ and their field boundaries are limited by this characteristic feature. Nevertheless, interjections may be primary and secondary.
Primary interjections are not derived from other parts of speech. Most of them are simple words: ah, oh, eh, pooh, hum, fie, bravo, hush. Only a few primary interjections are composite: heigh-ho! hey-ho! holla-ho! gee-ho!
(c) Secondary interjections are derived from other parts of speech or language units. They are homonymous with the words or syntagms they are derived from. They are: well, now, why, God gracious, damn it, etc.; they should not be confused with exclamation-words such as ‘nonsense’, ‘shame’, ‘good’, etc.
Theme 6. THE FUNCTIONAL PARTS OF SPEECH.
Point 1. The conjunction. The place of conjunctions in the system of connecting devices in the English language. Types of conjunctions and their functioning in the sentence. Polysemy and synonymy of conjunctions.
(a) The conjunction is a part of speech which denotes connections between objects and phenomena. It connects parts of the sentence, clauses, and sentences.
(b) The conjunction seems to have some peculiar features: unlike the preposition it conveys grammatical relations in a more abstract way, it has no nomination and it cannot be a member of the sentence; on the other hand, it is more universal than prepositions and conjunctive words, for it can connect various syntactic structures and units.
(c) As to their functions conjunctions fall under two classes: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions join coordinate clauses in a compound sentence, or homogeneous parts in a simple sentence, or homogeneous subordinate clauses in a complex sentence, or independent sentences. There are four different kinds of coordinating conjunctions:
1. Copulative conjunctions: and, nor, as well as, both…and, not only…but (also), neither…nor. They chiefly denote that one statement or fact is simply added to another (‘nor’ and ‘neither’ express that relation in the negative sense).
2. Disjunctive conjunctions: or, either…or, or else, else. They offer some choice between one statement and another.
3. Adversative conjunctions: but, while, whereas. They show that one statement or fact is contrasted with or set against another.
4. Causative-consecutive conjunctions: so, for. They denote consequence, result, or reason.
Subordinating conjunctions generally join a subordinate or dependent clause to a principal clause, or adverbial modifiers to the predicate in a simple sentence, or sometimes they join homogeneous parts.
(d) Polysemy of conjunctions may be demonstrated by the example of the subordinating conjunction ‘that’ which may introduce different kinds of clauses(subject, predicative, object, etc.).
Synonymy of conjunctions is easily seen in such pairs as: in order – so as (that), as if – as though, etc.
Point 2. The preposition. The problem of the meaning of the preposition. The classification of prepositions. Grammatical functions of prepositions. Interconversion of prepositions and other parts of speech.
(a) The preposition is a part of speech which denotes the relations between objects and phenomena. It shows the relations between a noun or a pronoun and other words.
(b) The lexical meaning of some prepositions is quite concrete (e.g. in, below, between, before, after, till, etc.), while that of some other prepositions may be weakened to a great extent (e.g. to, by, of).
(c) According to their meanings prepositions may be divided into:
- prepositions of place and direction (in, on, below, under, between, etc.);
- time (after, before, at, etc.);
- prepositions expressing abstract relations (by, with, because of, etc.).
(d) A preposition does not perform any independent function in the sentence; it either reflects a relation between sentence-members, or is included in a word-combination.
(e) Prepositions may function as other parts of speech (e.g. ups and downs), while other parts of speech may serve as prepositions (e.g. owing to, in spite of).
Point 3. Particles. Grounds for setting off particles as parts of speech. The role of particles in the sentence.
(a) The particle is a part of speech giving modal or emotional emphasis to other words or groups of words or clauses.
(b) The theory of particles has not yet been elaborated well enough. Almost all the particles are homonymous with other parts of speech, chiefly with adverbs (simply), but also with conjunctions (but), pronouns (all), and adjectives (only). The particles ‘else, solely, merely’ have no homonyms. Taking this latter fact into account, as well as the emphasizing and sense-changing functions of the particle, we may set it off as a functional part of speech.
(c) Particles have no independent function in the sentence. Thus they may be treated dubiously: either as independent sentence units, or as parts of the sentence-members they refer to. As the former, they would require a specific name, apart from the traditional five sentence-members, otherwise they should not be considered while analyzing a sentence. As the latter, according to B.A.Illysh, they may lead to a confusion in case of a distant position with regard to the mother-member.
Point 4. The article. The categorial status of the article. The number of articles in the English language. The functions of the article.
(a) The article is a structural part of speech used with nouns.
(b) The categorial status of the article implies that it reflects the category of definiteness or indefiniteness.
(c) Opinions differ as to the number of articles in English. Recently, widespread has been the theory of three articles: the definite article, the indefinite article and the so-called ‘zero’ article. The theory of the zero article is, of course, directly connected with the theory of the zero morpheme. But if we assume that the article is a word, the concept of a ‘zero’ word seems hardly reasonable. Consequently, it appears more feasible to stick to the theory of two articles.
(d) The morphological function of the article is that of indicating the noun. Its syntactical function is that of defining the left border of an attributive word-combination. The main semantic function of the article is that of actualizing the notion; in other words, the article correlates a notion with the reality represented in the given text, i.e. any utterance irrespective of its volume and contents.
Theme 7. SYNTAX.
Point 1. The subject of syntax. The main units of syntax. Syntactic connections. Syntactic synonymy and homonymy. Problems of semantic syntax. Problems of functional syntax.
(a) The subject of syntax is the study of various grammatical structures which are realized as the product of speech-thinking activity of man.
(b) The main units of syntax are the word-combination, the sentence, and the text.
(c) Traditionally, the basic types of connections distinguished in syntax are coordination and subordination. Besides this two-member succession, there is another succession consisting of four members that denote relations called predicative, objective, adverbial and attributive.
Some linguists suppose that the two-member succession may be expanded to a three-member one to include the “interdependence” type, as L.Hjelmslev named it.
(d) Synonymy in syntax implies that one and the same communicative information may be conveyed by means of different syntactic structures (cf.: Having read the book, she took up another one. = As soon as she finished reading the book, she took up another one.).
Homonymy is the coincidence of sound forms of different syntactic functions (cf.: a smoking man – a smoking-room; Watching me closely, the dog slowly retreated. – I noticed a man watching me closely.).
(e) The semantic syntax covers a wide range of problems, among which are the semantics of the word-combination constituents, of the parts of the sentence and of the sentence as a whole, as well as of the role meanings of the sentence components, of the phenomena of the reference, of the presupposition and sequence, etc.
(f) The basic problem of the functional syntax is studying and systematizing various language units (syntactic structures) as they function in the speech-thinking activity of man. This general problem may be subdivided into a number of minor ones, such as the problem of combinability and valency, the problem of syntactical analysis, etc.
Point 2. The word-combination. The theory of the word-combination in linguistics. The classification of word-combinations.
(a) The word-combination is defined in different ways. Some scholars assume that it is a group of words which does not possess any communicative purpose. This definition is, no doubt, correct, but it is not complete. Most linguists are of the opinion that the word-combination is any syntactically organized group of words irrespective of the type of relations on which it is based. But in any case it is a grammatical structure.
(b) The issue of the word-combination was first mentioned by Russian linguists in their early studies of grammar in the 18th century. But it was not until late in the 19th century and especially early in the 20th century that a really scientific theory of the word-combination appeared. It was developed by outstanding Russian linguists F.F.Fortunatov, A.A.Shakhmatov and others. The definition of the word-combination as any syntactically organized group was predominant up to the 1950s. That viewpoint is still shared by Ukrainian linguists (G.G.Pocheptsov and others), and it was supported by Western scholars (L.Bloomfield and others).
In the 1950s a new approach found its way. The term ‘word-combination’ was interpreted as a combination of at least two notional words in subordination. This viewpoint was worded by Acad. Vinogradov and supported by many linguists.
(c) The classification of word-combinations may be based on space-position relations, on the one hand. The resulting types of word-combinations are those based on the linear space-position relations and those based on the sublinear space-position relations (independent and dependent).
On the other hand, the classification may be based on the internal structure of word-combinations. They are then classified as kernel and non-kernel.
Kernel word-combinations are grammatically organized structures in which one element dominates the others. This element is the kernel (the head, according to L.Bloomfield).
Non-kernel word-combinations are not united by any single common structural feature. They are, in turn, subdivided into independent (easy and simple; she nodded) and dependent (\send\ him a letter).
Theme 8. THE SENTENCE.
Point 1.1. Problems of the definition of the sentence. The fundamental features of the sentence. Predication and modality of the affirmation and negation. The correlation of the notions “the sentence” and “the utterance”. The level analysis of the sentence. The structural and syntactic characteristics of the sentence. Principal and secondary parts of the sentence. The complicating elements of the sentence: homogeneous, specifying, and detached parts of the sentence.
(a) The sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose. Any coherent connection of words having an informative destination is effected within the framework of the sentence. Therefore the sentence is the main object of syntax as part of the grammatical theory.
The sentence, being composed of words, may in certain cases include only one word of various lexico-grammatical standing. (Congratulations! Why? Certainly.)
The actual existence of one-word sentences, however, does not contradict the general idea of the sentence as a special syntactic combination of words. A word-sentence as a unit of the text is radically different from a word-lexeme as a unit of lexicon, the differentiation being inherent in the respective places occupied by the sentence and the word in the hierarchy of language levels.
(b) The sentence not only names some referents with the help of its word-constituents, but also, first, presents these referents as making up a certain situation, or, more specifically, a situational event, and second, reflects the connection between the nominal denotation of the event on the one hand, and objective reality on the other, showing the time of the event, its being real or unreal, desirable or undesirable, necessary or unnecessary, etc. Thus a sentence possesses predication, modality, form and intonation.
(c) The sentence is characterized by its specific category of predication which establishes the relation of the named phenomena to actual life. The general semantic category of modality is also defined by linguists as exposing the connection between the named objects and surrounding reality. However, modality, as different from predication, is not specifically confined to the sentence: it is revealed both in the grammatical elements of language and its lexical, purely nominative elements. Predication and modality of the affirmation and negation are both reflected in language by means of syntactical or lexical devices since they are similar intonationally.
(d) The notions of the sentence and the utterance are very similar and often overlap each other. The above-mentioned definition of the sentence, if compared to that of the utterance as “any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is silence on the part of the person”(Z.S.Harris.”Method in Structural Linguistics”.Chicago.1960,p.14), will show that both units are means of communication. A distinct difference may be seen in the way they are organized. Besides, the notion of the utterance is much wider as the latter may consist of a word, a word-combination (or a phrase), a sentence and even a text.
(e) The level of the sentence, the so-called “proposematic” level, will include smaller levels going upward from the “phrasematic” level through the nomination and predication levels. According to Ch.Fries, the level analysis should also go down to the lexemic level (or rather the level of the parts of speech). The details of this type of analysis were considered in the section dealing with modern methods of grammatical analysis.
(f) The structural scheme of an English sentence is rather simple and fixed. It consists of the principal parts (subject and predicate) and the secondary parts (object, attribute, adverbial modifier). This scheme may be elementary (a simple sentence) or sophisticated (a composite sentence) but its syntactic characteristics are generally the same. Two-member sentences and one-member sentences are vivid examples of purely syntactical opposition, though some scholars treat them as examples of ellipsis.
(g) In a sentence we distinguish the principal parts, secondary parts and independent elements. The principal parts of a sentence are the subject and the predicate. The independent elements are interjections, direct address and parenthesis.
The subject is the principal part of the sentence which is grammatically independent of the other parts of the sentence. The subject can denote a living being, a lifeless thing or an idea. It can be expressed by:
1. A noun in the common (nominative) case.
2. A pronoun – personal, demonstrative, defining, indefinite, negative, possessive, interrogative.
3. A substantivized adjective or participle.
4. A numeral.
5. An infinitive, an infinitive phrase or construction.
6. A gerund, a gerundial phrase or construction.
7. Any part of speech used as a quotation, or a quotation group.
8. A group of words which is one part of the sentence, i.e. a syntactically indivisible group.
The predicate is the principal part of the sentence which expresses an action, state, or quality of the person, thing, or idea denoted by the subject. It is grammatically dependent upon the subject.
As a rule the predicate contains a finite verb which may express tense, mood, voice, aspect, and sometimes person and number. According to the structure and the meaning of the predicate we distinguish two main types: the simple predicate and the compound predicate.
The simple predicate is expressed by a finite verb in a simple or a compound tense form. It generally denotes an action; sometimes, however, it denotes a state which is represented as an action. There is a special kind of predicate expressed by a phraseological unit, the so-called phraseological predicate.
The compound predicate consists of two parts: (a) a finite verb and (b) some other part of speech: a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a verbal, etc. The second component is the significant part of the predicate. The first part expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, mood and voice; besides it has a certain lexical meaning of its own. The compound predicate may be nominal or verbal.
The compound nominal predicate consists of a link verb and a predicative (the latter is also called the nominal part of the predicate).
The compound verbal predicate consists of a modal verb (modal expression) or a verb expressing the beginning, repetition, duration or cessation of the action, and an infinitive or a gerund.
There are also mixed types of predicates.
The object is a secondary part of the sentence which completes or restricts the meaning of a verb or sometimes an adjective, a word denoting state, or a noun. There are three kinds of object in English: the direct object, the indirect object, and the cognate object (e.g. to live a happy life).
The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence which qualifies a noun, a pronoun, or any other part of speech that has a nominal character. There is a special kind of attribute called apposition which may be close or loose (detached).
The adverbial modifier is a secondary part of the sentence which modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb. There exist adverbial modifiers of time, frequency, place and direction, attendant circumstances, degree and measure, cause, result (consequence), comparison, concession and purpose.
(h) The complicating elements of the sentence are homogeneous members (two or more subjects, predicates, etc.), specifying parts of the sentence (objects, attributes, adverbial modifiers) and detached, or loose, parts of the sentence, i.e. those which assume a certain grammatical and semantic independence. In spoken language they are marked by intonation, pauses, and special stress; in written language they are generally separated by commas or dashes.
Theme 8. THE SENTENCE (continued)
Point 1.2. Models of the sentence. The notion of the syntactic paradigm. The word order in the sentence. Semantic and syntactic characteristics of the sentence. The notion of predicative and non-predicative symbols. Types of predicates. The notion of inclusive and included predicates. The role semantics of the sentence. The notion of presupposition.
(a) The sentence as a unit of information in the speech succession sets off its own generalized model, a typical construction which stands behind the concrete lexico-semantic composition of the utterance bound to its context. This model is a combination of two essential signemic functions of the sentence: the nominative and the predicative. However, different types of sentences have their own characteristic models that are observed in most cases. Thus we may speak of a specific model of a declarative sentence (a fixed word order, a falling intonation), an interrogative sentence (structural or structural and morphological changes, a rising or/and falling intonation), a complex sentence, etc.
(b) There are some general principles of constructing syntactic paradigms of predicative functions, with a differentiation between syntactic paradigms of the ‘normal’ type and the ‘actual’ type.
The normal paradigm of a sentence should include all forms of its changing, e.g. This is true. – This isn’t true. – Is this true? – This is true, isn’t it?, etc.
The actual paradigm should be based upon a real sentence of the text, e.g. She couldn’t hear it. – Couldn’t she hear it? – She couldn’t have heard it. – It couldn’t be heard by her., etc.
(c) Arrangement, or order of words is of especially great importance in such languages as English whose inflexion is comparatively scarce and syntactic relations are chiefly expressed by analytical means. Words have to be arranged in a definite order, in a definite succession to express such syntactic relations as, say, attributive, predicative, subject-object relations. It is preferable to distinguish between two sets of phenomena within a sentence:
(1)normal order, which may be either the order “subject-predicate”, as in most declarative sentences, or “predicate-subject”, as in most interrogative and in some declarative sentences (There are many people in the room. There came a thunderstorm.)
(2)inverted order, or inversion, which may be the order “predicate-subject” in a special type of a declarative sentence (Only at sunset did I leave the house.) or “subject-predicate” in a special type of a sentence characterized in general by the order “predicate-subject” (the latter is a very rare phenomenon indeed).
(d) Taking into consideration the two-aspective character of the sentence as a signemic unit of language, predication should be interpreted not simply as referring the content of the sentence to reality, but as referring the nominative content of the sentence to reality. It is this interpretation of the semantico-functional nature of predication that discloses, in one and the same generalized presentation, both the unity of the two identified aspects of the sentence, and also their different, though mutually complementary meaningful roles.
(e) The predicate expresses two variants of structural meanings:
- the meaning inherent in the predicate as a definite part of the sentence, i.e. the meaning of the predicative signal;
- the meanings connected with the grammatical categories of a finite verb (the meanings of mood and tense, voice, person and number), i.e. the meanings of non-predicative signals.
(f) There are two basic types of predicates: the verbal predicate and the nominal predicate. Some linguists set off a third type of predicates – the phraseological predicate. All the three types have been mentioned and described in detail earlier, in the lecture dealing with the predicate.
(g) Besides simple predicates consisting of only finite verbs, there may be inclusive and included predicates.
Inclusive predicates are such structures which contain a finite verb and some other parts of speech, e.g. We are sitting. – She had breakfast. – He is supposed to have arrived.
Included predicates are parts of larger structures, e.g. There appeared a young girl in the doorway.
(h) Semantic units that represent language identification of the participants of a situation are called semantic roles. The main bearers of role meanings are nominal groups. Semantic roles, or rather a definite set of them, together with the action expressed by a verb, reflect the language semantic model of a non-language situation. A set of semantic roles which is implied by the lexico-semantic contents of a verb, and which allows for an adequate reflection of the situation, comprises the role structure of the verb. For instance, in the sentence ‘They showed him the jewels’ the role structure of the verb ‘to show’ includes the agent, the object of the action, and the object to which the action is directed. Thus role structures reflect the nature of objective relations between things (or persons) in reality.
(i) Presupposition is a judgement drawn from the sentence where it is present in a covert form (cf. He came late. – Even he came late./here the word ‘even’ reflects the presupposition which may be worded as ‘it is unexpected’/).
Some scholars are of the opinion that presupposition is a condition (or conditions) that should be fulfilled before the sentence can be used in any communicative function (cf. Please, open the door./there must be some door, and it must be closed/).
Anyway, presupposition is characterized by three essential factors:
- its drawability (ambiguity);
- its insensitiveness to negation (cf. Even he came late. – Even he did not come late./the sentences are quite different in meaning but the presupposition is the same: contrary to my expectations/);
- its pragmatic contents (it shows the author’s attitude).
Point 2. Actual division of the sentence. Methods of identification of the theme and the rheme.
(a) Alongside of the traditional nominative division of the sentence, the idea of the so-called ‘actual division’ of the sentence has been put forward in theoretical linguistics. The purpose of the actual division of the sentence, called also the ‘functional sentence perspective’ (FSP), is to reveal the correlative significance of the sentence parts from the point of view of their actual informative role in an utterance, i.e. from the point of view of the immediate semantic contribution they make to the total information conveyed by the sentence in the context of connected speech. In other words, the actual division of the sentence in fact exposes its informative perspective.
(b) The main components of the actual division of the sentence are the theme (T) and the rheme (R). The theme (from the Greek ‘the’ – ‘to set’, ‘to establish’) expresses the starting point of the communication, i.e. it denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is reported. The rheme (from the Greek ‘rhe’ – ‘to say’, ‘to tell’) expresses the basic informative part of the communication, its contextually relevant center. Between the theme and the rheme are positioned intermediary, transitional parts of the actual division of various degrees of informative value (these parts are sometimes called ‘transition’). The theme and the rheme of the actual division of the sentence may or may not coincide with the subject and the predicate, respectively.
E.g. They obeyed. Here is your book.
T R T R
Point 3. The main semantic types of sentences. Existential sentences. Qualifying sentences. Identifying sentences and others.
(a) The semantic classification of simple sentences should be effected at least on the three bases: first, on the basis of the subject categorical meanings; second, on the basis of the predicate categorical meanings; third, on the basis of the subject-object relation.
Reflecting the categories of the subject, simple sentences are divided into personal and impersonal. The further division of the personal sentences is into human and non-human; human – into definite and indefinite; non-human – into animate and inanimate. The further essential division of impersonal sentences is into factual (It rains; It’s 5 o’clock) and perceptional (It smells of hay here).
Reflecting the categories of the predicate, simple sentences are divided into process-featuring (‘verbal’) and, in the broad sense, substance-featuring (‘nominal’). Among the process-featuring sentences actional and statal ones are to be discriminated (The window is opening. – The window is glistening in the sun.); among the substance-featuring sentences factual and perceptional ones are to be discriminated (The sea is rough. – The place seems quiet.).
Finally, reflecting the subject-object relation, simple sentences should be divided into subjective (John lives in London.), objective (John reads a book.) and neutral or ‘potentially’ objective (John reads.), capable of implying both the transitive action of the syntactic person and the syntactic person’s intransitive characteristic.
On the other hand, taking into account general semantics of sentences, we may classify them into existential, qualifying, identifying, etc.
(b) Existential sentences express the general idea of something or somebody existing by means of various lexico-semantic facilities, of which the predicate is the signemic center.
(c) Qualifying sentences lay the main stress on qualifying some fact of reality conveyed in speech, whether it is substance, action or state, etc.
(d) Identifying sentences mostly serve to identify various phenomena with each other to express the idea more clearly and adequately.
Theme 8. THE SENTENCE (continued).
Point 4. Communicative types of sentences.
In accord with the purpose of communication three cardinal sentence-types have long been recognized in linguistic tradition: first, the declarative sentence; second, the imperative (inductive) sentence; third, the interrogative sentence.
The declarative sentence expresses a statement, either affirmative or negative, and as such stands in systemic syntagmatic correlation with listener’s responding signals of attention, of appraisal (including agreement or disagreement), or of fellow-feeling.
The imperative sentence expresses inducement, either affirmative or negative. That is, it urges the listener, in the form of request or command, to perform or not to perform a certain action. As such, the imperative sentence is situationally connected with the corresponding ‘action response’, and lingually is systemically correlated with a verbal response showing that the inducement is either complied with, or else rejected.
The interrogative sentence expresses a question, i.e. a request for information wanted by the speaker from the listener. It is naturally connected with the answer, forming together with it a question-answer dialogue unity.
Point 5. Nominative and modal-communicative aspects of the sentence. Modus and dictum.
(a) The nominative aspect of the sentence is a major functional and lingual aspect of speech. Nomination effects naming of sentential events or situations whereas modal-communicative aspects correlate the named events or situations with reality, considering the purpose of communication.