In
traditional grammar the study of the morphemic structure of the word
was conducted in the light of the two basic criteria: positional
criterion
(the location of the marginal morphemes in relation to the central
ones) and semantic
or functional criterion
(the correlative contribution of the morphemes to the general meaning
of the word). The combination
of these two criteria in an integral description has led to the
rational classification
of morphemes that is widely used both in research linguistic
work and in practical lingual tuition.
In accord
with the traditional classification, morphemes
on the upper
level are
divided
into root-morphemes
(roots) and affixal
morphemes
(affixes).
The roots express the concrete, «material» part of the
meaning of
the word,
while
the affixes express the specificational part of the meaning
of the word, the specifications being of lexico-semantic and
grammatico-semantic
character.
The roots of notional words
are classical lexical morphemes.
The
affixal morphemes include prefixes, suffixes, and inflexions (in the
tradition of the English school, grammatical inflexions are commonly
referred to as «suffixes»). Of these, prefixes and lexical
suffixes have word-building
functions, together with the root they form the stem of the word;
inflexions (grammatical suffixes) express different morphological
categories.
The root,
according to the positional content of the term (i.e. the border-area
between prefixes and suffixes), is obligatory for any word, while
affixes are not obligatory. Therefore one and the same morphemic
segment
of functional (i.e. non-notional) status, depending on various
morphemic
environments, can in principle be used now as an affix (mostly,
a
prefix), now as a root.
out
— a
root-word (preposition, adverb, verbal postposition, adjective,
noun, verb);
throughout
—
a composite word, in which -out
serves
as one of the roots
(the categorial status of the meaning of both morphemes is the same);
outing
—
a two-morpheme word, in which out-
is
a root, and -ing
is
a suffix;
outlook,
outline, outrage, out-talk, etc.
— words, in which out-
serves
as a
prefix;
look-out,
knock-out, shut-out, time-out, etc.
— words (nouns), in which -out
serves
as a suffix.
The
morphemic composition of modern English words has a wide range
of varieties; in the lexicon of everyday speech the preferable
morphemic types of stems are root stems (one-root stems or
two-root stems) and one-affix stems. With grammatically changeable
words, these stems take
one grammatical suffix (two «open» grammatical suffixes are
used only
with some plural nouns in the possessive case, cf:
the children’s toys, the oxen’s yokes).
Thus, the abstract complete
morphemic model of the common English word is the following: prefix +
root + lexical suffix + grammatical suffix.
3. Categorial structure of the word
Notional
words, first of all verbs and nouns, possess some morphemic
features expressing grammatical (morphological) meanings. These
features
determine the grammatical form of the word.
Grammatical meanings are very
abstract, very general. Therefore the grammatical form is not
confined to an individual word, but unites a whole class of words, so
that each word of the class expresses the corresponding grammatical
meaning together with its individual, concrete semantics.
The most general notions
reflecting the most general properties of phenomena are referred to
in logic as «categorial notions», or «categories».
The most general meanings rendered by language and expressed by
systemic correlations of word-forms are interpreted in linguistics as
categorial grammatical meanings. The forms themselves are identified
within definite paradigmatic series.
The means
employed for building up member-forms of categorial oppositions
are traditionally divided into synthetical
and
analytical;
accordingly,
the grammatical forms themselves are classed into synthetical and
analytical, too.
Synthetical
grammatical forms
are realized by the inner morphemic composition
of the word, while analytical
grammatical forms
are built up by a combination of at least two words, one of which is
a grammatical auxiliary (word-morpheme),
and the other, a word of «substantial» meaning.
Synthetical grammatical forms are based on inner inflexion, outer
inflexion, and suppletivity; hence, the forms are referred to as
inner-inflexional, outer-inflexional, and suppletive.
Inner inflexion, or phonemic (vowel) interchange, is not productive
in modern Indo-European languages, but it is peculiarly employed in
some of their basic, most ancient lexemic elements. By this feature,
the whole family of Indo-European languages is identified in
linguistics as typologically «inflexional».
Inner
inflexion (grammatical «infixation», see above) is used in
English in irregular verbs (the
bulk of them belong to the Germanic strong verbs) for the formation
of the past indefinite and past participle; besides, it is used
in a few nouns for the formation of the plural. Since the
corresponding
oppositions of forms are based on phonemic interchange, the
initial paradigmatic form of each lexeme in question should also be
considered
as inflexional. Cf:
take —
took
— taken, drive — drove — driven, keep
— kept — kept, etc.; man
— men, brother — brethren,
etc.
Suppletivity,
like inner inflexion, is not productive as a purely morphological
type of form. It is based on the correlation of different roots as
a means of paradigmatic differentiation. In other words, it consists
in the grammatical interchange of
word roots, and this, as we pointed out in the foregoing chapter,
unites it in principle with inner inflexion (or, rather, makes the
latter into a specificvariety of the former).
Suppletivity
is used in the forms of the verbs be
and
go,
in
the irregular forms of the
degrees of comparison, in some forms of personal pronouns. Cf:
be- am — are — is — was — were; go — went; good-better; bad- worse;
much — more;
little — less; I- me; we — us;
she — her.
In a broader morphological interpretation,
suppletivity can be recognized in paradigmatic correlations of
some modal verbs, some indefinite pronouns, as well as certain
nouns of peculiar categorial properties (lexemic suppletivity —
see Ch. IV, § 8). Cf: can — be able;
must —have
(to), be obliged (to); may — be allowed (to); one — some; man
-people; news — items of news; information -pieces of information,
etc.
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The menas used for building up grammatical forms are either synthetic or analytic. Synthetic grammatical forms are realized by the inner morphemic cimposition of the word, while analytic grammatical forms are built up by a combination of two and more words.
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«Synthetic and Analytic Forms»
The menas used for building up grammatical forms are either synthetic or analytic. Synthetic grammatical forms are realized by the inner morphemic cimposition of the word, while analytic grammatical forms are built up by a combination of two and more words.Synthetic grammatical forms include inner inflection, outher inflexion and suppletivity. Inner inflexion is used in English in irregular verbs and in forming the number of some nouns. Outer inflection is used to build up the number and case forms of the noun; the person , number, tense, participal and gerundial forms of the verb; the degrees of comparison of the adjective and adverb. Suppletivity is based on the use of different roots as a means of paradigmatic differetation; go-went, bad-worse, I-me. Analytic forms imply at least two parts which present a combination of an auxiliary word with a basic word. In some cases there may be more than two parts. Some linguists disttinguish idiomatic and non-idiomatic grammatical combinations. They maintain that grammaticaly idiomatic combinations are those whose releyant grammatical meaning is not depend on the meaning of their components taken separately. In non-idiomatic grammatical combinations the components preserve to some extent their meaning.
Categorial Structure of the Word
1. Definition of the Word
There are many definitions of the term ‘word’ and none of them is generally accepted. But usually people experience no difficulty in separating one word from another in their native tongue. The analysis of numerous definitions of this term is the domain of lexicology. For the purposes of theoretical grammar we’ll accept the following one:
“A word is a free lingual unit (свободная языковая единица) that cannot be divided wholly into smaller free units that can be used to build a sentence.”
There are often restrictions on the phonetic make-up of the word, e.g. English words cannot begin with the sounds [ŋ] and [Ʒ]. The position of a stress is often fixed, that is, it is determined by the boundaries of words or their syllabic structure. Elements within words show greater cohesion ([ko’hi:Ʒn] – связь]) than within larger units. Thus, stems and affixes cannot be separated except by other affixes. Nor does the order of their elements tend to vary.
Distinctions are often drawn:
1. Between a phonological word or word as seen from the viewpoint of phonology, and a grammatical word, established by grammatical criteria only;
2. Between words distinguished in the lexicon (e.g. sing) and the individual word-forms that they can possess (e.g. sang, sung, singing).
2. The Hierarchy of Levels
(1) The lowest level of lingual segments is pho’nemic. It is formed by ‘phonemes. The phoneme has no meaning, its function is purely differential. It differentiates morphemes and words: pit – bit, bit – beat, etc.
(2) The next level is the mor’phemic one. The ‘morpheme is the elementary meaningful part of the word.
(3) The third level is the level of words, or le’xemic level. The word is different from the morpheme. The morphemes express abstract, ‘significative’ meanings which are used as constituents for the formation of more concrete, ‘nominative’ meanings of words. The word is a directly naming , nominative unit of language; it names things and their relations.
(4) The next higher level is the level of phrases (word-groups).
(5) Above the level of phrases lies the level of sentences.
(6) The 6th level comprises topical grouping which are defined as ‘dictemes, or elementary topical segmental units of the continual text. In the printed text, these grouping coincide with paragraphs.
3. The Lexeme. The ‘Grammeme
While a word may have only one phonological form (sheep, sg. – sheep, pl.), this is not always the case. Let’s, for example, take GO and WENT. Native speakers of English know that these are different forms of the same word. That’s why it is necessary to distinguish between the abstract vocabulary word GO and the phonological and orthographical forms it can take: goes, gone, went, going. We can think of these forms as the realizations (in sound and print) of the abstract vocabulary word. Linguists call such an abstract vocabulary word a lexeme. It means that a single lexeme can have a variety of word-form realizations. The number of these realizations in an English lexeme may vary from one (e.g. always, sheep) to several dozens.
Now let’s take the form ‘goes’. The suffix –(e)s has such meaning as 1) present tense, 2) 3rd person, 3) singular number, 4) active voice, 5) indicative mood.
This form is a grammeme. When we speak of a word as a grammeme we don’t think of its lexical meaning. We concentrate on the kind of grammatical information it carries. The lexical meaning is irrelevant for the detection of the type of grammeme. So, ‘goes’, ‘runs’, ‘stands’, ‘sits’, etc. is one grammeme.
For practical purposes of grammatical description the term ‘word-form’ is usually used.
A grammeme may be analytical by structure, which means that it may consist of more than one element: will go, have gone. An analytical grammeme is equivalent to one word-form.
Morphemes and grammemes are directly observable units by nature, lexemes are not.
4. The Categorial Grammatical Meaning. The Paradigm.
Notional words, first of all verbs and nouns, possess some morphemic features expressing grammatical (morphological) meanings. These features determine the grammatical form of the word, that is, the type of grammeme.
Grammatical meanings are very abstract, very general, therefore the grammatical form is not confined to an individual word, but unites a whole class of words: plural of nouns – boys, girls, dogs, buildings, trees, etc.; 3rd person, sg. of verbs – runs, takes, gives, etc.
The most general meanings rendered by language and expressed by systemic correlations of word-forms are called categorical grammatical meanings. Thus, the categorical grammatical meaning unites the individual meanings of the correlated word-forms and is exposed through them. The correlated word-forms carry specific grammatical information. They form a paradigm. A grammatical paradigm formed by the ordered set of grammatical word-forms expresses a categorical grammatical meaning.
For example, the verb forms ‘am speaking, is speaking, are speaking, was speaking, were speaking, etc.’ are units with a common meaning that brings them together into one paradigm. This common meaning is the grammatical meaning of duration or development.
Grammatical paradigms express various grammatical categories. The minimal paradigm consists of two word-forms. This kind of paradigm we see, for example, in the category of noun number: boy – boys.
A more complex paradigm can be divided into two, three and more subparadigms.
The Paradigm of Personal Pronouns
Singular
The nom. form The obj. form The poss. form The poss. form (absolute)
I me my mine
he him his his
she her her hers
it it its its
Plural
we us our ours
you you your yours
they them their theirs
5. The Grammatical Opposition
The paradigmatic correlations of grammatical forms in a category are exposed by the so-called grammatical oppositions. The opposition is a correlation of lingual forms by means of which a certain function is expressed.
The correlated members of the opposition possess two types of features: common features and differential ones. Common features serve as the basis of contrast, while differential ones express the function in question.
There are 3 main qualitative types of opposition: privative [‘prIvqtIv], gradual [‘grxdjVql], equipollent [IkwI’pOlqnt].
By the number of members, oppositions are divided into binary (two members) and more than binary – ternary [‘tWnqrI] (three members), quaternary [kwq’tWnqrI] (four members), etc.
The binary privative opposition is formed by a pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature (“mark”), while the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature.
The member in which the feature is present is called the marked, or strong, or positive member; the member in which the feature is absent is called the unmarked, or weak, or negative member: boy – boys; strong – stronger; democratic – antidemocratic.
The gradual opposition is formed by a group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a feature, but by the degree of it: strong(ø) – stronger – strongest.
The equipollent opposition is formed by a pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive features: phenomenon – phenomena.
It is difficult to find the examples of this kind of opposition in English morphology (am – is – are), but in lexicology the best known examples are antonyms, that is, the pairs of antonyms having different roots: alive – dead, progressive – reactionary, etc.
The most important type of opposition is the binary privative opposition. The other types are reducible to it: strong – stronger – strongest > strong – stronger, strong – strongest; productive – wasteful > productive – unproductive.
6. Oppositional Substitution (Reduction)
In various contextual conditions, one member of an opposition can be used in the position of the other member. This is called ‘oppositional substitution’, or ‘oppositional reduction’, e.g.
The train leaves tomorrow.
The verb in this sentence has the form of the present indefinite while its meaning in the context is the future. So, the weak member (the present tense form) has replaced the strong member (the future tense form). The oppositional substitution shown in the above given sentence is stylistically indifferent. This kind of oppositional substitution is referred to as neutralization. The position of neutralization is filled in by the weak member of the opposition due to its more general semantics.
Alongside the neutralizing substitution (or reduction) there exists another kind of reduction when the use of the form is stylistically coloured. E.g. He is constantly grumbling.
The form of the present continuous here stands in sharp contradiction with its regular grammatical meaning “action in progress at the present moment”. The contradiction is purposeful: exaggeration.
This kind of oppositional substitution belongs to the domain of transposition. Transposition may be defined as a contrastive use of the counter-member of the opposition. As a rule, the strong member (or the counter-member) of the opposition is transpositionally employed. The stylistic colouring is explained by the comparatively limited regular functions of the strong member (limited semantics).
7. Synthetic(al) and Analytical Grammatical Forms
The grammatical forms fall under two main groups: synthetic and analytical.
Synthetic grammatical forms are realized by the inner morphemic composition of the word, while analytical grammatical forms are built up by a combination of at least two words: a grammatical auxiliary and a word of “substantial” meaning.
Synthetic grammatical forms are based on (1) inner inflexion, (2) outer inflexion and (3) suppletivity.
Inner inflexion, or phonemic vowel interchange, is not productive now: take – took, man – men, etc.
Suppletivity is not productive too. It is based on the correlation of different roots in one paradigm: go – went, good – better.
Outer inflexion is more productive. It is represented by grammatical suffixation: table – tables, take – takes, large – larger, etc. Grammatical prefixation can only be found in Old English.
The synthetic grammatical forms in English are used to build up (1) the number and case forms of the noun (boy – boys, boy – boy’s); (2) the person-number and tense of the verb (take – takes; work – worked), (3) participial and gerundial forms of the verb (take – taken, work – worked, take – taking), (4) the comparison forms of the adjective and adverb.
In the oppositional correlations of all these forms, the initial paradigmatic form of each opposition is distinguished by a zero suffix: boy + Ø – boy + s.
The forms consisting of two or more words are not always recognized as the analytical ones. Many linguists call them peri’phrastic constructions, or structures. The problems connected with the analytical form were investigated mostly by Russian grammarians. They have developed the criteria for the identification of analytical forms.
For example, the main features of a verbal analytical form are the following:
(1) It is a collocation of a constant element which is manifested by an auxiliary finite verb in one of the tense forms, and a variable element – notional verb. The notional verb stands in one of the non-finite forms – infinitive, participle I, participle II.
(2) This collocation is indivisible in grammatical sense, though its components are separate words.
(3) The auxiliaries are limited in number and fixed.
(4) The analytical form has an unlimited range of occurrence [q`kArqns] as a grammatical unit. It covers the whole of the verbal lexicon.
Grammatical categories
The grammatical categories are realized by the types of forms organized in paradigmatic oppositions, e.g. girl — girls (the category of number), large — larger (the category of comparison), etc. They can be divided into immanent categories, that is, categories innate for a given class of words, and reflective categories, that is, categories serving as a sign of correlation with some other class. Reflective categories are categories of a secondary, derivative semantic value.
For instance, the categories of number and person for nouns and pronouns are immanent, while the verbal person and the verbal number are reflective because the forms of these categories are based on grammatical agreement (The boy is smiling. The boys are smiling). For verbs the immanent categories are those of tense, aspect, voice and mood.
These is another important division of grammatical categories. The feature expressed by the category can be either constant (unchangeable) or variable (changeable).
Variable feature categories can be seen in the nominal number (singular — plural), the degrees of comparison (positive — comparative — superlative), the verbal tense, etc.
An example of a constant feature category can be seen in the category of gender.
Constant feature categories reflect the static classifications of phenomena, while variable feature categories expose various connections between phenomena.
СОДЕРЖАНИЕ
| ВВЕДЕНИЕ | 4 |
| THEORETICAL GRAMMAR AS A BRUNCH OF LINGUISTICS | 6 |
| Systemic Conception of Language | 7 |
| MORPHOLOGY | 11 |
| Morphological Structure of the Word | 11 |
| Categorial Structure of the Word | 16 |
| Grammatical Classes of Words | 21 |
| Noun and its Categories | 24 |
| Verb and its Categories | 39 |
| Non-Finite Forms of the Verb | 58 |
| Adjective | 71 |
| Stative | 77 |
| Adverb | 80 |
| SYNTAX | 86 |
| Word-Group Theory | 86 |
| Sentence: General | 95 |
| Simple Sentence | 97 |
| Sentence Parts | 103 |
| Principal Parts of the Sentence | 104 |
| Secondary Parts of the Sentence | 114 |
| Independent Elements of the Sentence | 123 |
| Composite Sentence | 126 |
| Compound Sentence | 127 |
| Complex Sentence | 128 |
| Semi-Composite Sentence | 135 |
| GLOSSARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS | 139 |
| REFFERENCES | 148 |
| ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЕ | 149 |
ВВЕДЕНИЕ
В настоящее время особую актуальность приобретает проблема развития у студентов способности к творческой деятельности и умению самостоятельно ориентироваться в непрерывно возрастающем потоке информации. Курс теоретической грамматики способствует решению этой проблемы.
Роль и местоданного курса в профессиональной подготовке выпускника обусловлено логической последовательностью изучения теоретических курсов. Курс теоретической грамматики тесно связан и опирается на ранее изученные дисциплины. В системе языковых дисциплин по подготовке преподавателей иностранного языка теоретическая грамматика вместе с теоретической фонетикой, лексикологией и стилистикой составляют единый комплекс теоретических знаний по изучаемому языку.
Для будущих преподавателей иностранного языка необходима постановка профессионального лингвистического мировоззрения, то есть осмысление языка как явления действительности, как учебного предмета и как сферы профессиональной деятельности; усвоение лингвистической терминологии, современных лингвистических концепций и методов работы с языком.
Причиной введения курса теоретической грамматики является то, что он углубляет общеязыковедческую подготовку выпускников, развивает их исследовательские навыки, расширяет профессиональный кругозор и открывает возможность по окончании вуза самостоятельно повышать свою профессиональную подготовку, следить за новейшими достижениями в науке и творчески применять их в практической работе.
Данное пособие построено в соответствии с требованиями Государственного образовательного стандарта для специальности 033200 – «Иностранный язык».
Изучение дисциплины имеет целью:
– овладение содержанием дисциплины «Теоретическая грамматика английского языка»;
– получение систематизированных сведений о грамматическом строе английского языка;
– развитие у студента способности к творческой деятельности и умению самостоятельно ориентироваться в непрерывно возрастающем потоке научной информации.
Преподавание дисциплины предполагает решение следующихзадач:
– вооружение студентов знанием системы языка и взаимодействия всех сторон его структуры;
– выработка умения правильно различать признаки основных единиц языка и речи;
– развитие у студентов умения критически оценивать наиболее распространенные классификации этих единиц и современные направления в грамматической теории;
– обучение студентов современным методам лингвистического анализа;
– знакомство студентов с достижениями отечественной грамматической теории;
– развитие умения анализировать противоречивые лингвистические концепции и формулировать самостоятельный подход к той или иной лингвистической проблеме.
В результате изучения данной дисциплины студент должен знать:
– теоретические основы, методологию и методику теоретической грамматики на базе современных достижений лингвистики;
– базовые понятия теоретической грамматики;
– основные направления развития грамматической теории и основные концепции различных лингвистических школ;
– особенности анализа различных грамматических явлений с помощью традиционных и современных лингвистических методов.
Полученные знания студент может использовать для
– проведения анализа различных грамматических явлений с целью извлечения наиболее полной информации об их грамматическом значении и функциях;
– выбора наиболее оптимальной методики анализа.
В процессе изучения дисциплины студент должен приобрести следующие умения:
– владение различными приемами анализа;
– умение поставить исследовательскую задачу и найти пути ее решения;
– доказательное изложение своей позиции.
Курс «Теоретическая грамматика английского языка» включает 3 раздела.
Раздел I. Введение.
Раздел П. Морфология.
Раздел Ш. Синтаксис.
Особенностью изучения I раздела является обзорное ознакомление с грамматическим строем английского языка и методами его описания.
Особенностью изучения П раздела является освоение основных концепций частей речи и их грамматических категорий.
Особенностью изучения Ш раздела является знакомство с основными единицами синтаксического уровня и критическое осмысление основных концепций, выдвигаемых различными лингвистическими школами.
THEORETICAL GRAMMAR AS A BRUNCH OF LINGUISTICS
Language is as a system of elements that have no value without each other. They depend on each other, they exist only in a system, and they are nothing without a system. Thus, any language incorporates three constituent parts. They are the phonological system, the lexical system, and the grammatical system (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1
The grammatical system consists of morphology and syntax (Fig. 2). Morphology deals with the internal structure of words, peculiarities of their grammatical categories and their semantics while traditional syntax deals with the rules governing combination of words in sentences (and texts in modern linguistics).
Fig. 2
SYSTEMIC CONCEPTION OF LANGUAGE
Modern linguistics is essentially based on the systemic conception of language. System in general is defined as a structured set of elements related to one another by a common function.
The interpretation of language as a system develops a number of notions, namely:
- the discrimination of language and speech;
- the notions of language levels and language units;
- paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.
The distinction between language and speech was made by Ferdinand de Saussure. This is the fundamental principle of linguistics. Language is a system of means of expression. It is a collective body of knowledge, a set of basic elements, but these elements can form a great variety of combinations. In fact the number of these combinations is endless. The system of language includes the body of material units sounds, morphemes, words, word-groups, and a set of regularities or “rules” of the use of these units.
Speech is a manifestation of the system of language in the process of communication. Speech comprises both the act of producing utterances and the utterances themselves, i.e. the text made up of lingual units of various status. Speech is closely connected with language, as it is the result of using the language, the result of a definite act of speaking (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3
Speech is individual, personal while language is common for all individuals (Table 1).
Table 1
Discrimination of Language and Speech
| Language proper | Speech proper |
| Common for all individuals, social | Individual, personal |
| Ideal | Material |
| Potential | Actual |
| Abstract | Concrete |
| Static | Dynamic |
| Systemic | Linear |
Language is a structural system. Structure means hierarchical layering of parts in constituting the whole. In the structure of language there are six main structural levels (Fig. 4).
Hierarchy of Language Levels
Level of topicalisation
Proposemic level
Denotemic level
Lexemic level
Morphemic level
Phonemic level
Fig. 4
The levels are represented by the corresponding level units.
The phonological level is the lowest level. The phonological level unit is the phoneme. It is a distinctive unit (bag – back).
The morphological level unit is the morpheme – the lowest meaningful unit (teach – teacher).
The third level is lexemic. Its differential unit is the word, the main naming unit of language (I, here, nothing).
The fourth level is denotemic, its constituent unit is denoteme, the word-group – the dependent syntactic unit (you and me).
The fifth level is proposemic. It is built up by sentences, main communicative units. As a sign, the sentence fulfils two functions – nominative and predicative .
The sixth level is the level of topicalization, or the supersyntactical level, its constituent element is the “dicteme” (“utterance”). It fulfils four main functions: the functions of nomination, predication, topicalization, and stylization.
Language is opposed to speech and accordingly language units are opposed to speech units (Table 2).
Table 2
Language Units and Speech Units
| Level | Unit of language | Unit of speech |
| Phonemic | phoneme | sound |
| Morphemic | morpheme | morph |
| Lexemic | lexeme (word) | wordform |
| Syntactic |
sentence
text |
utterance
discourse |
A linguistic unit can enter into relations of two different kinds: paradigmatic relations and syntagmatic relations (Fig. 5). It enters into paradigmatic relations with all the units that can also occur in the same environment. Paradigmatic relations are relations based on the principles of similarity. They exist between the units that can substitute one another. According to different principles of similarity paradigmatic relations can be of three types: semantic, formal and functional.
- Semantic paradigmatic relations are based on the similarity of meaning.
- Formal paradigmatic relations are based on the similarity of forms. Such relations exist between the members of a paradigm.
- Functional paradigmatic relations are based on the similarity of function. They are established between the elements that can occur in the same position.
Paradigmatic relations are associated with the sphere of ‘language’.
A linguistic unit enters into syntagmatic relations with other units of the same level it occurs with. Syntagmatic relations exist at every language level. They can be of three different types: coordinate, subordinate and predicative.
- Coordinate syntagmatic relations exist between the homogeneous linguistic units that are equal in rank, that is, they are the relations of independence.
- Subordinate syntagmatic relations exist are the relations of dependence when one linguistic unit depends on the other.
- Predicative syntagmatic relations are the relations of interdependence.
Syntagmatic relations are observed in utterances.
Semantic Formal Functional Coordinate Subordinate Predicative
Fig. 5
Therefore, paradigmatic relations are identified with ‘language’ while syntagmatic relations are identified with ‘speech’ (Table 3).
Table 3
Systemic Relations in Language
| Level | Syntagmatic relations | Paradigmatic relations |
| Phonemic | b=o=y |
oy
oy |
| Morphemic | boy=s |
boy <> – boy |
| Derivational | teach=er | teach – teach |
| Lexemic | good=teacher | good – bad |
| Syntactic | A=teacher=is=giving=a= lecture | A teacher is giving a lecture. – A teacher is giving a lecture, isn’t she? |
MORPHOLOGY
MORPHEMIC STRUCTURE OF THE WORD
The word is the main unit of morphology. The word is the main expressive unit of human language which ensures the thought-forming function of the language. It is also the basic nominative unit of language with the help of which the naming function of language is realized. As any linguistic sign the word is a level unit. In the structure of language it belongs to the upper stage of the morphological level. It is a unit of the sphere of ‘language’ and it exists only through its speech actualization. One of the most characteristic features of the word is its indivisibility. Thus, the word is the nominative unit of language built up by morphemes and indivisible into smaller segments as regards its nominative function. The morphological system of language reveals its properties through the morphemic structure of words. So, it is but natural that one of the essential tasks of morphology is to study the morphemic structure of the word.
Traditional Classification of Morphemes
In traditional grammar the study of the morphemic structure of the word is based upon two criteria – positional and semantic (functional).
The positional criterion presupposes the analysis of the location of the marginal morphemes in relation to the central ones (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7
The semantic or functional criterion involves the study of the correlative contribution of the morpheme to the general meaning of the word (Fig. 8, Fig. 9) .
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Allo-emic Classification of Morphemes
Descriptive Linguistics put forward the “allo-emic” theory. According to this theory, lingual units are described by means of two types of terms: “allo-terms” and “eme-terms” (Fig. 10).
Lingual units
Allo-terms
Eme-terms
Fig. 10
Eme-terms denote the generalized invariant units of language characterized by a certain functional status, e.g., phonemes, morphemes, lexemes, phrasemes, etc. Allo-terms denote the concrete manifestations or variants of the eme-units. Typical examples of allo-units are allophones and allomorphs.
The allo-emic identification of lingual elements is the basis for the so-called “distributional analysis”.
In the distributional analysis three main types of distribution are discriminated: contrastive distribution, non-contrastive distribution, and complementary distribution (Fig. 11).
Types of Distribution
Contrastive Non-contrastive Complimentary
distribution distribution distribution
| Contrastive | Non-contrastive | Complimentary | |
| Environment | Identical | Identical | Different |
| Meaning | Different | Identical | Identical |
| Example |
Worked –
working |
Learned –
learnt |
Boys – men –
mice – oxen |
different morphemes free variants allomorphs
Fig. 11
The morphs are in contrastive distribution if their environments are identical and their meanings are different, such morphs constitute different morphemes.
The morphs are in non-contrastive distribution if their environments and meanings are identical; such morphs constitute “’free variants” of the same morpheme.
The morphs are in complementary if their environments are different and their meanings are identical; such morphs are termed “allo-morphs”.
There exist five criteria of classifying morphemes (Fig. 12). According to the classification suggested by Descriptive Linguistics there are the following “distributional morpheme types”.
On the basis of the degree of self-dependence, “free” morphemes and “bound” morphemes are distinguished. Bound morphemes cannot form words by themselves, they are identified only as component segmental parts of words (Fig. 13).
Degree of
self-dependence
Formal Grammatical presentation alternations
Linear characteristics Segmental relation
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
On the basis of formal presentation,“overt” morphemes and “covert” morphemes are distinguished (Fig. 14). Overt morphemes are explicit morphemes building up words. The covert morpheme is identified as a contrastive absence of morpheme expressing a certain function. The notion of covert morpheme coincides with the notion of zero morpheme.
Fig. 14
On the basis of grammatical alternation, “additive” morphemes and “replacive” morphemes are distinguished. Additive morphemes are outer grammatical suffixes. The root phonemes of grammatical interchange are considered as replacive morphemes, since they replace one another in the paradigmatic forms (Fig. 15).
Fig. 15
On the basis of linear characteristic, “continuous” morphemes and «discontinuous» morphemes are distinguished (Fig. 16).
The discontinuous morpheme is a two-element grammatical unit which is identified in the analytical grammatical form comprising an auxiliary word and a grammatical suffix.
The continuous morpheme is a common uninterruptedly expressed grammatical unit.
Fig. 16
On the basis of segmental relation, “segmental” morphemes and “supra-segmental” morphemes are distinguished (Fig. 17). Supra-segmental morphemes are intonation contours, accents, pauses.
Fig. 17
CATEGORIAL STRUCTURE OF THE WORD
The word combines in its semantic structure two meanings – lexical and grammatical. Lexical meaning is the individual meaning of the word. Grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole class or a subclass. Thus, categorial grammatical meanings are the most general meanings rendered by language and expressed by systemic correlations of word-forms.
The grammatical meaning may be of several types (Fig. 18). It may be explicit and implicit. The implicit grammatical meaning is not expressed formally.
The explicit grammatical meaning is always marked morphologically – it has its marker.
The implicit grammatical meaning may be of two types – general and dependent. The general grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole word-class, of a part of speech. The dependent grammatical meaning is the meaning of a subclass within the same part of speech.
Fig. 18
Grammatical categories are made up by the unity of identical grammatical meanings that have the same form. Thus, the grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms.
We may define grammatical categories as references of the corresponding objective categories. For example, the objective category of time finds its representation in the grammatical category of tense, the objective category of quantity finds its representation in the grammatical category of number. Those grammatical categories that have references in the objective reality are called referential grammatical categories.
H
owever, not all of the grammatical categories have references in the objective reality. Such categories correlate only with conceptual matters. They are called significational categories. To this type belong the categories of mood and degree (Fig. 19).
Fig. 19
The ordered set of grammatical forms expressing a categorial function constitutes a paradigm.
Means of realization of grammatical categories may be synthetical and analytical (Fig. 20).
Grammatical means
for building up member-forms
of categorial oppositions
Synthetical Analytical
means means
Fig. 20
Accordingly, the grammatical forms themselves are classed into synthetical and analytical, too (Fig. 21).
Grammatical forms
Synthetical forms
Analytical forms
e.g. will do, of the table, more convenient
Inflextional forms
Suppletive forms
e.g. be – is, go – went,
I – me, good – better
Inner inflextional forms
e.g. man – men,
sing – sang – sung
Outer inflextional forms
e.g. boy – boys
Fig. 21
Synthetical grammatical forms are realised by the inner morphemic composition of the word. Analytical grammatical forms are built up by a combination of at least two words, one of which is a grammatical auxiliary (word-morpheme), and the other, a word of “substantial” meaning.
Synthetical grammatical forms are based on inner inflexion, outer inflexion, and suppletivity; hence, the forms are referred to as inner-inflexional, outer-inflexional, and suppletive.
Any grammatical category must be represented by at least two grammatical forms. The relation between two grammatical forms differing in meaning and external signs is called opposition. All grammatical categories find their realization through oppositions.
There exist qualitative and quantitative types of oppositions (Fig. 22).
By the number of members contrasted, oppositions are divided into binary and more than binary.
There are three main types of qualitatively different oppositions: “privative”, “gradual”, “equipollent”.
The privative binary opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain feature called the “mark”, while the other member is characterized by the absence of this differential feature (Fig. 23).
The gradual opposition is formed by the degree of the presentation of one and the same feature of the opposition members.
The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a certain feature, but by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive (differential) features.
Fig. 22
Privative
e.g. serve – served
Gradual
e.g. strong – stronger – the strongest
Equipollent
e.g. is – am – are – was – were – been
Qualitative
Quantitative
Types of opposition
Binary
e.g. serve – served
Ternary
e.g. strong – stronger – strongest
Quaternary,
etc.
e.g. is – am – are – was
Fig. 23
In the process of communication grammatical categories may undergo the processes of oppositional reduction. Oppositional reduction is the usage of one member of an opposition in the position of the counter-member. From the functional point of view there exist two types of oppositional reduction: neutralization of the categorial opposition and its transposition (Fig. 24).
Neutralization
(the weak member replaces the strong one; stylistically neutral)
Oppositional Reduction
Transposition
(the strong member replaces the weak one; stylistically coloured)
e.g.Man conquers nature. e.g.She is always leaving things around.
(man – people) (leaves – is leaving)
Fig. 24
In case of neutralization one member of the opposition becomes fully identified with its counterpart. In other words, neutralization is the reduction of the opposition to one of its members.
Transposition takes place when one member of the opposition placed in the contextual conditions uncommon for it begins to fulfil two functions – its own and the function of its counterpart. Transposition is the use of a linguistic unit in an unusual environment or in the function that is not characteristic of it. As a result, transposition is always accompanied by different stylistic effects.
GRAMMATICAL CLASSES OF WORDS
The parts of speech are classes of words. All the members of these classes have certain characteristics in common which distinguish them from the members of other classes. All the words of the English language are grouped into different types of classes. The problem of word classification into parts of speech remains one of the most controversial problems in modern linguistics. Parts of speech are differentiated either by a number of criteria, or by a single criterion.
There are four approaches to the problem:
- Classical (logical-inflectional)
- Functional
- Distributional
- Complex or traditional
The classical parts of speech theory goes back to ancient times. It is based on Latin grammar. According to the Latin classification of the parts of speech all words were divided into declinable and indeclinable parts of speech. Declinable words included nouns, pronouns, verbs and participles, indeclinable words – adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. This classification is quite successful for Latin or other languages with developed morphology and synthetic paradigms but it cannot be applied to the English language because the principle of declinability/indeclinability is not relevant for analytical languages.
A new approach to the problem was introduced in the XIX century by Henry Sweet. This approach may be defined as functional. singled out nominative units and particles. To nominative parts of speech belonged noun-words (noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund), adjective-words (adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participles), verb (finite verb, verbals – gerund, infinitive, participles), while adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection belonged to the group of particles. However, though the criterion for classification was functional, Henry Sweet failed to break the tradition and classified words into those having morphological forms and lacking morphological forms, in other words, declinable and indeclinable (Fig. 25).