1. Language and speech, their levels 3. Word forms and its types 6. Definition of the noun 10.
6. Definition of the noun
Language is a system of signs, a system of
means of expression in the textbooks
(grammar), dictionaries, reference books.
Language is a means of forming and storing
ideas as reflections of reality and
exchanging them in the process of human
intercourse.
Speech is understood as the manifestation
of the system of the language in the process
of intercourse (communication). Produced
by the means of language – in writing and
orally.
The system of language comprises lexemes
(words), phonemes (sounds), morphemes
and phrasemes.
The second part of language is the rules of
the usage of the language units. The units
of the speech are: the sentences (written
speech) and the utterances (oral speech).
Levels of the language and speech.
1.Phonemic (the lowest) (Language) – unit
(phoneme) – has no meaning. Function:
word differentiating (back, bag); form
differentiation (men, man).
2.Morphemic (morphological) (Language) –
unit (morpheme) – M.: abstract. F.:
significative (load, reload).
3.Lexemic – unit (lexeme) (Language) – M.
and F.: nominative/naming (nouns – names,
verbs – name of actions, states).
4.Phrasemic – unit (phraseme) (Language) –
M. and F.: nominative/naming
(polynomination), (wooden desk).
5.Proposemic (Speech) – unit (proposeme)
– M. and F.: predication, forming
predicative relations.
6.Supra-proposemic (Speech) – unit
(texteme, dicteme (paragraph)) – M. and F.:
forming textual unity.
2. Morpheme, its definition and
classifications. Allomorphs
Morpheme – is one of the principal notions
of morphology. It is defined as a set of
morphs having the same meaning
(grammatical meaning) and standing in
relations of complementary distribution.
The morphs are the smallest meaningful
successions of phonemes into which words
can be broken up. (Ex. paint – paints –
painting – painted – painter).
Morpheme is a set of general abstract
notion while the morph is the particular
notion. (Ex. Past Simple morpheme:
stopped – morph; ran – internal flexion;
went – suppletive;)
4 classifications of morphs:
• according to semantics;
• according to form;
• according to distribution;
• according to linear characteristics;
1.There are 2 big groups of morphs: •
lexical (roots) are mainly the domain of
lexicology, are obligatory character because
there are no notional words without roots;
• grammatical (affixes) – derivational (they
are word-building morphs, belonging to
different word classes (parts of speech);
they are of optional character); (Ex. -ment, -
er, -ess, -able, -ing, -lal); and inflectional
(they are word-form-building ones. They
serve to derive new grammatical forms of
the same word. There may be found a
synonymous and homonymous aspect.) (Ex.
–s, ‘s, s’; -ed, -ing, -s).
2.Can be: free (can function independently)
and bound (affixes – prefixes, suffixes,
inflections).
Prefixes. There are 3 prefixes, which are
capable of turning one part of speech into
another (en- (in-), im-, be-).
Suffixes. Can be homonymous – the same
form but different meaning (-al-, -ly, -ful-, -
fy-, etc).
Inflections are used to change the form of
the word. (Ex. pl., sg., ‘s, tenses, gerund).
3.(applied only to phonemically and
morphemically conditioned morphs). Three
types of distribution: • non-contrastive
(learned vs. learnt, M/F=the same); •
contrastive (‘export vs. ex’port, M/F=are
different); • complementary (child –
children; illiterate, irrelevant). While having
the same M/F they cannot be used one
instead of another.
4.On the basis of this approach we may
distinguish continuous (linear) or
discontinuous (non-linear) morphs.
Continuous/linear morphs are
uninterruptedly used in speech which
means that they can form one unit with a
stem of the word (Ex. plays (because it
forms one word)).
Discontinuous/non-linear morphs ate two-
element grammatical units including an
auxiliary word + inflectional morpheme. (Ex.
be + V + ing, ed). They are also used in
Passive Voice.
Classification of allomorphs:
• replacive (men, stood, feet, mice (internal
inflection, sound interchange)).
• phonemically-conditioned (plays[z],
teaches [iz], stops[s]).
• morphemically-conditioned (ox+en,
child+r+en, fox+es).
• zero (one sheep – many sheep□, one deer
– two deer□, cut – cut – cut;
• amalgamated – combine 2 meanings in
one form (cats’ paws); combines plurality
and possessive.
10. The system of opposemes of the
Word form is the connection of the root-
morpheme with a suffix and the inflection.
(root + suffix=stem; stem + inflection =word
form)
There are 2 forms of word form in English:
synthetic (associated with linear forms) and
analytical (non-linear).
Synthetic. Is divided into inflectional (Ex.
rooms, student, stopped, playing (Gerund),
Participle, big-bigger-the biggest), sound
alternation (internal flexion) (Ex. man-men,
sing-song, mouth-mice) and suppletive
(formed from different roots) (Ex. go-went,
I-me, good-better).
English is analytical language. Pr. Cont.,
Passive, Subjunctive Mood => analytical
form.
Form class is a group of word forms
differing from one another by the stem
(root) but having the same inflectional
morpheme. (Ex. students, rooms, hands=>
pl. form class; worked, stood, cut, said=>
Past Indefinite form class)
4. Grammatical meaning
There are 2 types of grammatical meaning:
•generalised => is found in word classes
(part of speech) and in the English language
it is implicit (there is no formal marker).(Ex.
of nouns=>thingness, substance; of
adj.=>quality; of verbs=>action, process; of
adv.=>quality of action; of
number=>quantity, order)
•particular=> (lexemes) characteristics of
word form(Ex. plays=> formal marker.
Meaning and function can be in the form of
flexion, internal flexion.
Grammeme – all the grammatical
meanings, which unite many word forms
into one group. (Ex. runs, sleeps, walks=> 1
grammeme). The meanings are: Past Tense,
Indicative Mood, Plural, Non-continuous
aspect, Non-perfect order.
Grammatical meaning is a system of
expressing the grammatical meaning
through the paradigmatic correlation of
grammatical forms-expressed by
grammatical opposition, which can be of
different types: private, gradual (large-
larger-largest) and equipollent (am/is/are).
5. Grammatical category
If particular grammatical meaning is
regularly expressed in the language by
grammatical means we can speak about the
existence of grammatical category. (Ex. cat
vs. cats, fox vs. foxes, ox vs. oxen, sheep vs.
sheep, goose vs. geese => category of
number)
Grammatical category is an expression of
some general grammatical idea, is a kind of
abstraction, some logical category.
Gr. category may be defined as the unity of
grammatical form and grammatical
meaning.
Grammatical category is an organized set of
grammatical forms (grammemes). The set
of self-exclusive form classes of the same
lexemes including different in meaning
inflectional morphemes. (Ex. cat – cat =>
the same lexemes, but different flexions)
All grammatical categories are distinguished
on the basis of oppositions or opposemes.
Opposition – is a set of word forms (form
classes) opposed to one another in one
respect (показатель). (Tense oppositions=>
play – played (respect here is tense)).
Majority of oppositions are 2-member
(binary)=> the first opposite (member) is
weak, and the second is strong. Weak
doesn’t have a formal marker, strong has a
marker. (Ex. play vs. played => weak –
strong). Binary oppositions are often
privative. Privative (the strong member of
the opposition has positive sign of category,
and weak – negative sign). Besides binary
there are ternary (троичная) and gradual
=> (Ex. good vs. better vs. best).
4-member of opposition is called
quaternary and equipollent
(равносильные). (Ex. do – did – should do –
would do).
14. The peculiarities of the “–‘s”
The Noun may be defined as a part of
speech characterized by following features:
• the generalised (lexico-grammatical)
meaning of thingness or substance.
• by the grammatical categories (number
and case).
• the typical stem-building morphemes
(lexico-grammatical, derivational). (Ex. –
ship, -dom, -er, -ist, -hood, -th, -ate, -tion).
• left-hand connections (left-hand valence)
with articles, adj., possessive pronouns,
numerals, prepositions, other nouns.
• right-hand connection is a verb.
• the functions in the sentence: a subject,
object, predicative, adverbial modifier.
7. Classes of nouns
Since the noun is the most numerous
lexico-grammatical class of lexemes it is
divided into a number of groups based on
grammatical and semantic considerations.
• The nouns may be countable or
uncountable. Basing on the category of case
nouns may be declinable and non-
declinable (indeclinable and indeclinables).
• According to semantics the nouns may be
divided into abstract and concrete. (Ex.
friendshipfriend)
• Another group => collective nouns; it is
not homogenous because some of the
collective nouns ate countables (family –
families), while others are not. (They belong
either to sg. or pl. form).
Ex. foliage( only sg.); aristocracy (sg.); the
military (sg. and pl.); the clergy (pl.); the
gentry (pl.)
• class nouns (with countable nouns)
• animate and inanimate (we single out
these groups in class nouns)
• material nouns (denote different
substances). They coincide with
uncountable nouns.
• proper nouns. They coincide with
uncountables. (common nouns)
8. The category of number. The system of
opposemes of the category
In English there is a system of 2-member
(binary) oppositions such as “person vs.
persons, tooth vs. teeth, etc. the number
opposemes consist opposites identical in
content. The first opposite presents the sg.
form, the second – the plural form. Both
these forms are united by the category of
number.
English nouns may have 2-number
oppositions at most: cat vs. cats, cat’s vs.
cats’.
Some nouns have only one opposition:
tooth vs. teeth (no case).
And still other nouns don’t have number
oppositions at all: ex. news, contents (pl.),
ink (sg.), etc.
9. Singularia tantum and Pluralia tantum
The two subclasses of uncountable nouns
are usually referred to, respectively, as
singularia tantum (only singular) and
pluralia tantum (only plural). In terms of
oppositions we may say that in the
formation of the two subclasses of
uncountable nouns the number opposition
is "constantly" (lexically) reduced either to
the weak member (singularia tantum) or to
the strong member (pluralia tantum).
Since the grammatical form of the
uncountable nouns of the singularia tantum
subclass is not excluded from the category
of number, it stands to reason to speak of it
as the "absolute" singular, as different from
the "correlative" or "common" singular of
the countable nouns. The absolute singular
excludes the use of the modifying numeral
one, as well as the indefinite article.
The absolute singular is characteristic of
the names of abstract notions {peace, love,
joy, courage, friendship, etc.), the names of
the branches of professional activity
{chemistry, architecture, mathematics,
linguistics, etc.), the names of mass-
materials {water, snow, steel, hair, etc.), the
names of collective inanimate objects
{foliage, fruit, furniture, machinery, etc.).
Among the PT are the nouns: trousers,
scissors, etc. The direct opposition of PT is
ST. Among this, we must note some nouns
denoting material substance, milk, butter
and names of abstract notions-peace,
usefulness with these nouns the predicate
verb is always singular.
There exist exceptions, these nouns may
have a plural form, for ex. wine-wines (to
denote several special kinds of wine),
beauty-beauties (of nature) when we mean
the objects exhibiting this quality ex; iron-
irons.
category of case
The category of the case of nouns is the
system of binary/two-member/privative
oppositions such as girl – girl’s, девочка –
девочке. The members of the opposition
show the relations of the noun and other
words in the sentence. John’s hat –
possessivity
All case oppositions are identical in context
in English, they convey the meaning of 2
cases – common case and possessive case.
The case oppositions at the same moment:
girl – girl’s, grils – girls’. The first member is
weak/unmarked, the second is
strong/marked.
11. Double nature of the category of case
Double nature of the category of case
shows a close connection between 1)
language and speech; 2) morphology and
syntax.
Speaking about 1): a case opposeme is unit
of the language system. But the differences
between the members of it become evident
only in the speech by the combinability. All
these relation are called paradigmatic. In
the speech the relations are syntagmatic
(each case occurs in one particular
syntagma.
Speaking about 2): at the same time the
category of case has a distinct syntactical
significance. If we take the common case,
grammemes fulfill a number a number of
syntactical functions not typical of
possessive case grammemes. And vise
versa.
Common case – syntactical functions in the
sentence – Subject, Object. “The boy went
to school” (Subj.), “I saw the boy there”
(Obj.). Besides, they perform functions of
attribute, adverbial modifier (in England),
part of compound predicate (You are
students).
Possessive case – syntactical functions –
attribute mainly. Sometimes it can be a
subject “Mary’s is an awesome outfit”.
12. Declinables and indeclinables
The majority of English nouns belong to
indeclinables. The group of declinables
includes: animate nouns, proper nouns
(John’s car), common nouns (teacher’s
desk), upper animals (cat’s paw, dog’s tail)
BUT it is not so with lower animals (ant nest
– муравейник). Besides those to the group
of declinables belong collective nouns with
the meaning of groups of people
(government’s decision, our team’s victory),
names of companies or business very often
abbreviated (BBC’s correspondent=the BBC
correspondent), noun with locative
meaning (cities, villages, towns – England’s
History), common nouns with locative
meaning (city’s population), common nouns
denoting time and place (a thousand miles’
road – not an absolute rule). Ex. John’s
parents’ car=the car of John’s parents, in a
year’s time – через год. Sometimes
indeclinable nouns can become declinable:
the pages of the book – the book’s
philosophy (personalized). There is a
tendency to use more and more
indeclinables as declinables. Ex. train’s
arrival. The belonging of the noun to the
group of declinables or indeclinables may
depend on its meaning. Ex. YOUTH, - all
young people (collective noun) – declinable;
- the state of being young (abstract noun) –
indeclinable; young male person (class
noun) – declinable.
13. The problem of analytical cases in
Modern English
This theory was worked out by two
scholars: M. Deutschbein and J.
Meshchaninov. According to this theory
different prepositions express different
cases. “to the student” – analytical Dative,
“of the student” – analytical Genitive, “by
the student” – analytical Instrumental. But
this theory is opposed by much bigger
number of scholars who have their reasons
why it is not grounded: 1. Prepositions in
these phrases can’t be regarded as
grammatical word morphemes because
they keep some definite meaning. (Ex. We
speak of the student; The speech of the
student; What became of the student?
2. Any grammatical category is known to be
represented by oppositions, comprising a
definite number of members. But
combination with different prepositions are
too numerous to be interpreted as
opposemes representing the category of
case (Ex. to dispose of – ; to complain of ; to
be informed of
3. Prepositional constructions can be used
side by side with synthetic (regular) cases: a
friend of John’s (means one of John’s
friends). This phrase should have displayed
double genitive which would be some kind
of reality, if we accepted the theory of
analytical cases.
morpheme
The case morpheme –‘s in the English
language differs in some respects from
other grammatical morphemes in English
and from case morphemes of other
languages. As emphasized by Ilyish “-‘s” is
no longer a case inflexion in the classical
sense of the word because unlike classical
inflexions it may be attached – firstly – not
only to the nouns but to other parts of
speech – substantivized adverbs because it
behaves like noun.
today’s, yesterday’s
Secondly, It can be attached not to a single
noun but to a whole group (Ex. Mary and
John’s house)
Thirdly, it can also be attached to the whole
clause (Ex. The man I saw yesterday’s son)
Besides these, there are some other
peculiarities: 1) the use of “-‘s” is optional:
her brother’s bicycle=the bicycle of her
brother; 2) “-‘s” may be used both in the
singular and in the plural. Such
phenomenon is not characteristic to other
languages. 3) “-‘s” occurs in very few
plurals, namely those with irregular
formation of the plural form. Ox – oxen ->
oxen’s feed, ox’s feed. 4) “-‘s” doesn’t make
an inseparable part of the structure of the
word. It may be placed at some distance
from the head noun of an attribute group.
Ex. deputy minister’s office
All those peculiarities testify that the
system of case is still undergoing changes.
15. Relational meanings expressed by
Genitive
All in all there are 8 relational meanings:
1. Genitive of possessivity (possessional
relations): Christine’s living-room; 2.
Genitive of “organic possession” (portative
relations): John’s leg. The hotel’s lobby;
3. Subjective Genitive expressing subject-
predicate relation: the President’s arrival,
Champion’s win – implies an active doer.
4. Genitive of patient expressing the
recipient of the action or process denoted
by the head noun: the champion’s great
defeat. The noun in Genitive is the recipient
of the action
5. Genitive of destination (functional
relations): women’s footwear, children’s
literature.
6. Genitive of dispensed qualification,
denoting some characteristic of
qualification: woman’s voice. Expresses
some characteristic of the noun.
7. Genitive of adverbial expressing time and
place of the event: today’s newspaper,
yesterday’s newspaper, tomorrow’s
meeting.
Absolute genitive – a kind of the latter
when the head word is missing.
Ex. the barber’s shop – the barber’s, St.
Paul’s cathedral – St. Paul’s. McDonald’s,
the watchmaker’s etc.
8. Genitive of quantity denoting the
measure of quantity.
Ex. three miles’ distance, a day’s trip, 100
tons’ load.
16. General characteristics of the verb
As a part of speech the verb is characterized
by the following features: 1) Its lexico-
grammatical meaning of action, process
and state; 2) Certain typical stem-building
elements such as - suffixes: -ize (organize),
-en (widen), -ify (clarify), -ate
(communicate) etc, - lexico-grammatical
word-morphemes: up (bring up), in (give
in), off (put off), down (touch down), out
(give out), on (switch on) etc.
3)Grammatical categories: 8 categories
altogether – tense, aspect, order, voice,
mood, person, number, finitude. Three out
of 8 categories are found not only in finites
but also in the verbals as well: voice, order
and aspect. Non-finite forms – participle,
gerund and infinitive. Gerund and participle
- no category of aspect. Voice: to ask – to
be asked, asking – being aksed. Order: asks
– has asked, to ask – to have asked, asking –
having asked. Aspect: to ask – to be asking.
4) Combinability – verbs can be associated
with nouns denoting the doer/ agent or
recipient of the action. It’s usually modified
by adverbs. 5) Syntactical functions – the
predicate. According to stem structure
verbs fall into the following groups: - simple
verbs (to write, know, maintain), - derived –
with affix (to organize, rewrite, waterpool),
- compound – 2 stems (to broadcast,
whitewash), - composite (give up, give
away, give out etc).
17. Semantic classification of Verbs
The class of Verbs falls into a number of
subclasses distinguished by different
semantic and lexico-grammatical features:
1) According to the Function: notional,
semi-notional (auxiliary: have, do, can,
must, should, might, may, would; semi-
notional verbal introductions: to seem, to
happen, to turn out, to try; link verbs: to be,
to become, to grow, to go, to run (to run
dry); 2) According to Subject – process
relation. Here are only Notional Verbs:
actional, stative. Actional (Dynamic): to do,
to act, to go, to read. Stative (not dynamic):
to be, to leave, to see; 3) According to
Aspective Verbal Semantics. Notional: non-
terminative (durative), terminative
(concluded). Non-terminative: to move, to
continue, to live, to sleep, to look for.
Terminative: to start, to stop, to find, to
drop; 4) According to the power to take
complements. Notional: transitive,
intransitive. Transitive: to kiss. Intransitive:
a) Subjective: to sit, b) Objective: to
interfere with.
18. The category of tense, its correlation
with the objective category of time
The category of tense is a system of 3-
member opposites, such as does-did-will
do, is doing-was doing-will be doing which
shows the relation of the action denoted by
the V to the moment of speech. Unlike the
category of order, aspect & voice found in
the verbals, the category of tense is
characteristic only of finite form. |The
difference between the lexical &
grammatical expression of time is as
follows: a) lexically it is possible to name a
definite moment, period or point of time (in
1985, currently); gram. meaning is abstract
& is related only to 3 particular tenses (the
present, the past & the future); b) lexically a
period of time is named directly (at 7
o’clock); the gram. meaning of time is
indirect; c) gram. meaning of time isn’t
absolute but related. There are some words
which may be conveyed as present & past
(can-could) or only present (must). |The
correlation of time & tense is connected
with the problem of absolute and relative
use of gram. tenses. Some tenses may be
not only absolute (showing the time of the
action in relation to the present moment).
That’s reflecting time and action not with
regard of the moment of speech but with
some other tense of the V. Therefore, a
present tense V in Eng. may be used only if
the time of the action it expresses includes
the moment of speech. It occurs, for
instance, in the subordinate clauses
expressing general statements. |Similarly, a
future tense V may be used if the action it
expresses refers to some time following the
moment of speech: Yesterday I heard some
remarks about the plan we shall discuss
tomorrow.
19. The problem of «perfect" in English.
Category of order. Meanings rendered by
perfect forms
The category of order is a system of binary,
privative opposemes such as write-have
written, writes-has written, writing-having
written, to be written-to have been written
showing whether the action is viewed as
prior to, perfect or irrespective of other
actions or situations. Some authors like
Ilysh regard perfect & non-perfect as part of
the aspect system, resultative aspect,
others treat the perfect as belonging to the
system of tense. E.g. Ivanova regards the
perfect as part of tense-0aspect system.
Smirnitsky calls it the category of time
correlation. But the most widespread name
is category of order. Expresses the order of
events-perfect, non-perfect. There is a
point of view shared by some authors
according to which a form like had given
expresses priority, has given-result. In case
of Past Perfect we have priority of the past
action in relation to some past moment
indicated by other action or some phrase.
Present Perfect, this moment to which the
action is prior the moment is indicated by
the action itself. The meanings of Present
Perfect: 1. resultative Perfect-denotes a
past action connected through its result
with the present moment 2. continuative
Perf.-often corresponds to Present tense in
other languages. We have lived here for 10
years. 3. the perf. of experience-shows the
experience of the speaker. I’ve always been
treated well in this family. Sometimes we
observe the neutralization of the primary
meaning of the Present Perfect tense in
subordinate clauses(time & condition)-it
comes to mean future action. Wait till I’ve
finished my work. The meanings of Past
Perfect: 1. in great many cases PPT serves
to connect grammatically 2 past actions one
of which is prior in time. I had studied
French before I started learning English. 2.
Intention or hope which wasn’t fulfilled-
acquires additional connotative value &
modal force. I had hoped to come in time
but unfortunately failed to do so.
20. The category of aspect. Aspect &
manner of action. Neutralization of
continuous forms
The category of aspect is system of binary,
privative oppositions like works-is working,
worked-was working, to work-to be
working shows the character of the action
whether the action is taking its progress,
development or it is simply stated, its
nature being unspecified, non-continuous.
The theory propagating the manner of
action, this approach is based on exclusively
semantic principles → types of manner: 1.
terminate manner representing the action
as a whole. He went to town. 2. Ingressive
manner pointing to the beginning of the
action. They began to work. 3. effective
manner showing the conclusion of the
action. They ceased speaking. 4. durative
manner presenting an action as continuous.
He is walking along the street. Wheat grows
in Canada.5.iterate manner showing
repetition. Each night the old man would
walk to town./The phenomenon of
neutralization of continuous forms-
continuous forms aren’t used where they
are supposed to be used, i9nstead of it we
use Present Simple-stative verbs:1.verbs of
relations-belong, contain, date, refer, have,
posses, want, wish, desire.2. verbs of
mental activities & feelings-see, hear, like,
detest.3.link verbs-be, taste, look, smell,
happen, prove.4.point action group
denoting momentary instantaneous action
at a given moment stressing its temporality
transient character, often occur with verbs
of sense perception.
21. The category of voice. Morphologo-
syntactic nature of the voice category.
Number and kinds of voices in ME. The
problem of reflexive, reciprocal and middle
voices
The category of voice is the system of
binary/privative oppositions (love-is loved,
loving-being loved, to love-to be loved)
which shows whether the action is
represented as issuing from the subjects
(Active V.) or experienced by its object
(Passive V.). |The category of voice shows
close links between morphology & syntax.
Being a morphological category, voice often
manifests syntactic relations. |The voice
opposites of the finite verbs indicate
whether the subject of the sentence
denotes the doer (agent) of the action or its
recipient. |There is a tradit. point of view
that there are 3 types of passive
constructions depending on the initial
active sentences: 1) direct passive (I wrote a
letter – The letter was written by me); 2)
indirect passive (I was shown the way to the
village); 3) prepositional passive (If you put
on this hat, you will be laughed at). |They
depend on the kind of objects. Besides this
tradit. classification there is a view of Ilysh
and Kaushanskaya. They single out so-called
(neuter-)reflexive voice, middle voice and
reciprocal voice. |Neuter-reflexive shows
that the action expressed by the predicate
passes on to the subject (V+reflex.pronoun:
myself, yourself but they’re semantically
weakened): He cut himself while shaving.
|Middle v. is represented by such
structures which look like active but have
passive meaning (the book sells well –
active in form, passive in meaning).
|Reciprocal v. is formed with each other &
one another (They greeted each other).
Some authors argue because: 1) in such
sentences as he washed himself the
pronoun may be viewed as direct object; 2)
the words “washed” & “himself” belong to
different lexical and grammatical meanings;
3) if we regard the form “wash himself” as
analytical one it’s necessary to admit that
the verb in English has the category of
gender which doesn’t really exist; 4) the
same meaning may be conveyed without
pronoun himself.
22. Syntax as a part of grammar
Syntax is a part of grammar which deals
with structure, classification & common or possessive case: speech sounds,
combinability of sentences and phrases.
|Phrases are combinations of at least 2
notional words. Function of phrases is
nominative, meaning is polynomination
because a phrase represents at least 2
objects. The main feature of the sentence is
predication which is based on proposition.
Predication is an actualized proposition.
Supra-proposemic level combines separate
sentences forming a textual unit. The
sentences are combined by the process
called cumulation. Cumulation is based on
the connection of thoughts in the
communicative progress. If there are no
connective thoughts, it’s not a text. |Syntax
which is the grammatical teaching of the
sentence gives analysis of the sentence
proper, its constituent parts (phrases) & the
language units the sentences form.
23. Basic syntactic notions: syntactic unit,
syntactic form, syntactic meaning,
syntactic function, syntactic relations,
syntactic position, syntactic valence
Syntactic units are phrase, sentence & text.
Syntactic form of the word is the form
which is determined by its combinability. It
displays close connection between
morphology & syntax. Syntactic meaning is
based on the syntactical-distributional
classification of words worked out by
American scholars Leonard Bloomfield,
William Harris and Charles Fries. According
to them there are 4 main syntactic
meanings: of N, V, A, D. |Words outside
these positions are treated as function
words of different syntactic values.
|Function words are divided into 3 groups:
1) specifiers of notional words: N
determiners (articles), V determiners
(modals), functional modifiers and
specifiers of D (other adverbs which are in
subordinate relation to them: better –
much(far) better); 2) interpositional
elements: prepositions & conjunctions; 3)
words referring to the sentence as a whole:
question words (what, who, how),
inducement words (please), attention
getting words (hey, hello), words of
affirmation and negation (yes & no),
sentence introducers – formal subjects (it,
there). Synt. function is synt. properties of
words of 2 kinds: 1) method of combining
with other words in the sentence; 2)
function in the sentence. |Verbs may
combine with following nouns (to write
letters), adverbs (to write legibly) or with
preceeding nouns. Verbs are usually
predicates. |Nouns may combine with
preceeding adjectives, following verbs.
Nouns may be subject, object, attribute,
complement (predicative). Synt. relations
are those of syntagmatic nature, i.e. they
are immediate, linear relations between
parts of the syntactic unit. Syntagmas may
be predicative (subject-predicate), objective
(V+object), attributive, adverbial (D/A/V+its
adverbial modifier): to run quickly –
adverbial syntagma. Synt. position is the
position of a word in the syntagma. There
exist only 2 types of synt. position: 1) pre-
position (defining word stands before
headword); 2) post-position (-//- after
headword). Very often the position of the
word in the syntagma defines its meaning.
martial arts – pre-position to N; court
martial – post-position |In pre-position we
may have up to 8 A. there is a specific
order: opinion, size, age, form, colour,
origin, material, what for. Synt.valency is
combinability of the word within a phrase
with other words. Usually it’s about
subordinate combination we have a
headword and its adjunct. |Originally only
V-s have valence but today this term may
be applied to any part of speech. Scholars
give following types of valence: 1) according
to the direction (left-hand & right-hand):
She can leave can is a 2-valence verb
subject (she) is left-hand and infinitive
(leave) – right-hand; 2) according to the
nature: obligatory & notional. |The
obligatory valence must necessarily be
realized for the sake of gram. & semantic
completeness of the phrase: They must go
home – must has obligatory valences for
the subject I and notional verb go, both are
obligatory. |Auxiliary verbs, modals and link
verbs open obligatory valences. |The
optional valence isn’t necessarily realized
for the sake of gram. & lexical
completeness & depends on the general
meaning of the sentence, f/ex, sentence
expressed by a transitive V may or may not
open valences for objects or adv. modifiers:
She is reading VS She is reading a story to
herself.
26. Classification of subordinate word-
combinations according to their heads
This classification is based on the types of
syntactic meanings (4 meanings: meaning
of N, V, A, D). Phrases may be: 1) noun
phrases (NP); 2) verb phrases (VP); 3)
adjectival phrases (AP); 4) adverbial
phrases (DP). |NP are subdivided into 2
types: 1) depending on the form of the 1st
element which may be a noun in the
3 miles’ distance; 2) combinations A+N
denoting a thing with its properties, such as
wooden bench, mission impossible. |VP
may be combinations of V-s with N-s & D-s.
Subtype V+N may correspond to 2 different
types of relations between an action & a
thing. In the majority of cases N denotes a
measure of the action, not its object: to
sleep an hour, to wait a minute. VP may be
represented by 3-element combinations of
the type V+Prep+N: to laugh at smb. |AP
are mostly of the type A+D where the D
denotes the degree of quality named by
this A: very easy. Besides, AP may have the
form A+Prep+N: many of the students. |DP
are mainly represented by D+D. These
combinations denote different degrees of
properties expressed by the head adverb:
quite slowly. |Sometimes there may be
found phrases of the type Prep+D
conveying time & space relations: from
above, by now.
24. Phrases (word-combinations), syntactic
constructions (complexes), clauses,
sentences, texts as units of syntax
A phrase is a combination of 2 or more
words which is a gram. unit, i.e. there exists
definite syntagmatic & syntactic relation
between the words and the phrase is not
supposed to be an analytical form of some
word. The constituent elements of the
phrase may belong to diff. parts of speech.
If there is no semantic, syntactic relation,
then it’s not a phrase: He took it badly
(phrase), He took it bad (not a phrase).
There is a specific type of phrase called
syntactic construction. Syntactic
constructions are those word-combinations
which serve as a separate part of the
sentence usually represented by 1 word. It
is supposed to display some kind of
predicative relation. We saw him cross the
street (We saw – predicative relation, him
cross – syntactic construction. |The
difference between a sentence & a phrase
is: 1) they have different functions; 2) a
phrase can undergo grammatical changes
without destroying itself: write letters –
wrote letters – will write letters – it’s 1
phrase. BUT Last year he wrote a lot of
letters to our friends – He writes a lot of
letters – these are diff. sentences.
|Sentence is a predicative unit, its function
is predication. It’s a minimum synt. unit
used in the communicative speech acts,
built up according to some definite
structural & intonational patterns &
possessing some properties (categories) of
the sentence, such as predicativity,
modality, temporality, communicativity.
|Structurally sentences fall into 2 major
groups: 1) simple; 2) composite. |Simple
have only 1 predicative relation, i.e. 1
subject & 1 predicate: Children jump and
run in the street. |Composite may be
compound & complex. |Compound consist
of clauses, minimum 2 coordinate clauses;
in complex sent-s 1 clause is principal,
another 1 – subordinate. |In the speech
sent-s do not occur separately, they’re
supposed to be connected both
semantically-topically & syntactically. These
groups of words form textual unities & the
process is called cumulation. Units of
speech are cumulemes. |These groups may
also be called complex syntactic unities or
supra-phrasal unities. In the written speech
they’re called paragraphs which have their
own internal organization, they’re
characterized by predicativity & modality.
Paragraphs are connected into bigger units
– texts. Paragraph groupings are cumulated
into whole texts.
25. Syntagmatic relations in syntax.
Syntactic relations & syntactic connections
Syntagmas are parts which the sentence
may be broken into. Syntactic relations may
be of 2 kinds: 1) equipotent (between
words related to 1 another on equal
basis)=coordinate; 2) dominational
(between syntactically unequal
words)=subordinate. In the case of
equipotent relation the words in the phrase
aren’t modified with 1 another, but the 2nd
word is modifier of the other. |According to
the nature of the headword in the
dominational word-combinations phrases
can be subdivided into: noun phrases (good
friend), verb phrases (to go quickly),
pronominal phrases (for him to go),
adjectival phrases (very nice), adverbial
phrases (very well). Synt.relations have
their own connections. Equipotent relations
have 2 types of connections: 1) syndetic
(deals with conjunctions and, but, or); 2)
asyndetic (realised through comma: no
moon, no stars). Dominational have 4
types: 1) agreement (concord) – the
headword & the adjunct must have the
same grm.form: this girl – these girls; 2)
government – subordinate word is used in
the form required by the headword but not
coinciding to it: We invited him to the party
(not he); 3) attachment (adjoinment) –
there must exist some syntactic relations
between words: to run quickly (not
brightly); 4) enclosure – 1 element of the
phrase is enclosed between the elements of
the other which is usually headword: the
then president.
27. Predicative word-combinations.
Primary and secondary predication.
Infinitival, participial and gerundial
construction, their function in the
sentence
Predicative word-combinations are those
consisting of N+V and displaying some kind
of predicative relation (the relation
between subject and predicate of the
phrase) man writes-man wrote. If this noun
& verb in predicative phrase coincide with
subject & predicate of the sentence this
type of predication is called primary. If it
isn’t the case our phrase will present
secondary nomination: The lessons
over(secondary),everybody went(primary
predication) home. The Nominative
Absolute Participial Construction is a
construction in which the participle stands
in predicate relation to a noun in the
common case or a pronoun in the
nominative case; the noun or pronoun is
not the subject of the sentence. The door
and window of the vacant room being
open, we looked in. It is used in the function
of an adverbial modifier. It can be an
adverbial modifier: (a)of time (b)of cause
(c)of attendant circumstances. (d)of
condition. The Nominative Absolute
Construction is used in the function of an
adverbial modifier of time or attendant
circumstances. In the function of an
adverbial modifier of time this construction
is rendered in Russian by an adverbial
clause. Breakfast over, he went to his
counting house. The Objective Participial
Construction is a construction in which the
participle is in predicate relation to a noun
in the common case or a pronoun in the
objective case. In the Objective Participial
Construction Participle 1 Indefinite Active
or Participle II is used. In the sentence this
construction has the function of a complex
object. Occasionally the meaning of the
construction is different: it may show that
the person denoted by the subject of the
sentence experiences the action expressed
by the participle. The Subjective Participial
Construction is a construction in which the
participle (mostly Participle I) is in predicate
relation to a noun in the common case or a
pronoun in the nominative case, which is
the subject of the sentence. The peculiarity
of this construction is that it does not serve
as one part of the sentence: one of its
component parts has the function of the
subject, the other forms part of a
compound verbal predicate.
The Objective-with-the-infinitive
Construction is a construction in which the
infinitive is in predicate relation to a noun
in the common case or a pronoun in the
objective case. In the sentence this
construction has the function of a complex
object, The Subjective Infinitive
Construction (traditionally called the
Nominative-with-the-Infinitive
Construction) is a construction in which the
infinitive is in predicate relation to a noun
in the common case or a pronoun in the
nominative case. The peculiarity of this
construction is that it does not serve as one
part of the sentence: one of its component
parts has the function of the subject, the
other forms part of a compound verbal
predicate. Edith is said to resemble me. The
for-to-Infinitive Construction is a
construction in which the infinitive is in
predicate relation to a noun or pronoun
preceded by the preposition for. The
construction can have different functions in
the sentence. It can be:1. Subject (often
with the introductory it).2. Predicative. 3.
Complex object. 4. Attribute. 5. Adverbial
modifier; (a) of purpose. (b) of result.
Predicative constructions with the gerund.
Like all the verbals the gerund can form
predicative constructions, i. e. constructions
in which the verbal element expressed by
the gerund is in predicate relation to the
nominal element expressed by a noun or
pronoun. I don't like your going off without
any money. The nominal element of the
construction can be expressed in different
ways.1. If it denotes a living being it may be
expressed: (a) by a noun in the genitive
case or by a possessive pronoun, b) by a
noun in the common case. 2. If the nominal
element of the construction denotes a
lifeless thing, it is expressed by a noun in
the common case (such nouns, as a rule,
are not used in the genitive case) or by a
possessive pronoun. I said something
about my clock being slow. 3. The nominal
element of the construction can also be
expressed by a pronoun which has no case
distinctions, such as all, this, that, both,
each, something. I insist on both of them
coming in time. Again Michael… was
conscious of something deep and private
stirring within himself.
28. Nexus and its types
Nexus is very much the same as a
predicative phrase. This term was
suggested by Danish linguist Otto
Jespersen. He proposed it for every
predicative word-combination, no matter
by what grammatical means it’s realized. He
distinguished between junction – which
isn’t a predicative group of words reading
man, & the nexus man reads. Using this
term we may say that there may be
primary & secondary nexus: I saw (primary
predication) him go (secondary). There is
more specific kind of nexus: nexus of
deprecation in which the connection
between the members of an ordinary
affirmative sentence is brushed aside by
intonation which is the same as in
questions often in exaggerated form. we
surrender? (high-rise) never! (high-fall) this
type of nexus is also represented in the
interrogative form of exclamatory
sentences which makes them most colorful
& expressive: you - I said - a favourite with
Mr. Rochester, you gifted with a power of
pleasing him?( high-rise)
29. Syntactic processes of extension,
expansion, replacement, representation,
complication, substitution and ellipsis
Syntactic processes are those which serve
to make an unexpanded simple sentence
that is a monopredicative sentence formed
only by obligatory notional parts into
expanded simple sentence which includes
some optional parts. The main syntactic
processes are extension, expansion,
replacement, representation, complication,
substitution and ellipsis. Extension is a
modification of one member of the
sentence by another standing in the
subordinate position to the former. he was
given a red carpet welcome. All kinds of
attributes, modifiers is extension.
Expansion consists in addition of the same
parts of the sentence to existing ones. It is
not obligatory from point of view of the
sentence structure. Any part of the
sentence can undergo expansion. I waited
& waited. Nice, nice old woman. He told me
everything – his love, his hope, his despair.
He pushed me suddenly & with energy. It
produces homogeneous parts of the
sentence. Replacement – rare, only
predicate can be replaced, double-
predicate. He lay awake for a long time. =
he was lying & didn’t sleep for a long time.
Representation is the use of a part of some
syntactic unit for the whole of this unit.
Capable of performing the function of
representative are: auxiliaries – you have
told lies again.-but I haven’t. links – are you
tired&- I am. Modals – can you speak
English? - I can. Infinitive or particle to- I
couldn’t find him though I tried to.
Complication is a change of a syntactic unit
structure (a member of a sentence) from a
simple one into complex or compound one.
Different parts of the sentence may be
complicated: they drive in the country every
weekend. They are likely to drive… they are
said to drive…(predicate is complicated) he
pushed the door. He pushed the door open.
(object) Compound & complex structures
are result of complication. Substitution is
the use of words with generalized structural
meaning instead of those with concrete
meaning mentioned earlier in the text. This
function can be performed by word
substitutes. I didn’t like the movie. Neither
did I. I haven’t applied for study but I’m
going to do so. Ellipsis is making some
element of the construction implied on the
basis of its obligatory combinability. This
element can always be easily reconstructed
from the context. You look so tired.-I am a
little. I don’t like sushi.-me neither.
30. Sentence, its categories and aspects 32. Communicative classification of
Sentence is a minimal syntactic unit, used in sentences
the communicative speech acts, Traditionally on the basis of communicative
characterized by predicativity & formed by
principle sentences are divided into 3 main
definite structural patterns. Every sentence
is based on so-called proposition which types: declarative, imperative,
shows that there exists some kind of interrogative./Ch. Fries suggested
relation of the denoted event to the reality. classification according to the responses
The category of predicativity is compulsory sentences may elicit, he singled out 3
category of the sentence, ‘tis based on groups: 1.those utterances that are
secondary categories: modality, personality, regularly followed by oral responses only,
temporality. The category of modality he lists-greetings, calls, wishes, questions 2.
describes the relation of its contents to those eliciting action responses, action is
reality. The action, state may be real or supposed to follow-requests, commands,
unreal. Shown by modals. Another
orders, invitations 3.those eliciting
meaning–relation between subject &
predicate, either necessity or ability or conventional signals of attention-
advisability. Also degree of speaker’s statements. Besides communicative
knowledge, certainty about the contents of utterances he speaks about non-
the utterance-modal verbs, words, adverbs. communicative-exclamations, interjections.
Temporality, from the point of view of
category of tense each sentence belongs to 33. Functional sentence perspective
the past, present, future tense. The (actual division of the sentence)
benchmark is moment of speaking. May be Almost each sentence contains 2 types of
found in two-member & one-member
information: the old, already known & the
sentences. Personality shows the relation
of the speaker to the subject of the new, unknown one. Actual division of
sentence, sometimes they coincide: I got sentence shows, studies the role of
hot./There’re 3 aspects of the sentence: different parts of the sentence in conveying
structural, semantic, pragmatic. Structural these 2 types of info, deals with
aspect includes the form of the sentence informational perspective in the sentence.
(affirmative, negative, interrogative, The part of the sentence containing the old
imperative) & the structure proper(two- info is called the theme. The part of the
member, one-member, simple, composite).
sentence containing the new info is called
Semantic aspect deals with the generalized
meaning of the sentence on the whole rheme. If the sentence is long enough
(proposition) & its main & secondary parts. between the theme & the rheme there may
The subject is the doer of the action or be transitional part of the actual division of
bearer of the sign. The predicate-action, this sentence which is called the transition.
state, process. Attribute-quality or quantity, In many sentences the theme is placed at
object-the goal of the action, adv. modifier- the beginning of the sentence & very often
qualitative characteristic of the action, coincides with subject of the sentence,
state. Pragmatic aspect characterizes the rheme is placed at the end, if the sentence
sentence as unit of speech communication. is unexpanded coincides with the predicate.
From this point of view sentences may be
They (theme) went out (rheme)./In MnE
divided: statements, questions, orders,
requests, promises, wishes. The sentences there are several ways of showing that a
are called utterances & usually are word or a phrase corresponds either to the
produced by the speaker, directed on theme or rheme or ways of finding them in
listener are called communicative the sentence: 1.emphatic construction-it is
utterances, they constitute the major that, it is who, it is which-shows to the
group. Non-communicative utterances- rheme of the sentence 2.the use of articles:
minor group, aren’t directed on listener, indefinite-rheme, definite-theme. Near our
give some characteristic of the situation, house there is a new shop. The new shop is
express emotions. Oh, my god!
near our house. 3.only, alone, even, just-
31. Different approaches to the study of show to the rheme. Even now we don’t
sentences (traditional analysis, know the whole truth. 4.Detached parts of
distributional analysis, transformational, the sentence always show to the theme. His
oppositional analysis, IC-analysis) likes, his dislikes(theme)-no one knew them
Traditional approach includes division of better(transition) than he did (rheme)./at
sentences into simple & composite the beginning of the text in its 1st opening
(complex, compound, but there may be 2 sentence the theme doesn’t represent smth
intermediate types-complex-compound: I
already known but is simply the starting
know that Frank studies French & Gerry
studies German. compound-complex my point of the text. The weather (theme) that
friend, who came to see me, was watching day (was beautiful-rheme).
TV and I was making coffee). From point of
view of this approach each sentence is
divided in principle parts (subject,
predicate) & secondary (attributes, objects,
adv. modifiers). communicative types:
declarative (affirmative, negative),
interrogative, imperative. Also can be
characterized from structural point of view:
two-member & one-member, extended,
unextended. Distributional analysis, its goal
is to study the units of the language in
relation to their textual environment, which
may be either left-hand or right-hand. The
distribution of any unit in the sentence may
be defined as the total of its environments.
Distributional analysis may be done on the
lexemic & phrasemic levels. I got to take
care of myself.-got opens one syntactic
valence for I(subject)& other for to take
care.’tis the finite part of the compound
verbal aspect predicate. Transformational
analysis, its aim is to establish the syntactic
paradigm of the sentence that is to find the
base pattern otherwise called kernel
sentence, structure & their transforms. If
we take interrogative sentence, it may be
described as transformationally produced
from a statement which is base pattern. Is
the weather fine today?→the weather is
fine today. Negative sentences are regarded
as transforms of affirmative sentences. All
complex structures may be presented as
derived from one or more simple
sentences. I saw him come in.→I saw him.&
he came in./Oppositional analysis helps to
determine grammatical forms & paradigms
of the constituent parts of the sentence.
Danny lit a cigarette. VS Danny lights a
cigarette. (tense) VS …was lighting…
(aspect). IC-analysis is based on group
parsing(division) that is dividing the whole
of the sentence into 2 groups: gr. Of subject
& predicate which in turn are divided into
their subgroups according to the successive
subordinate order.