PART 1. THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

1.1 Grammar, as a science

In order that to build expression expressing some idea, it is not enough to choose corresponding words and pronounces them one after other. Chosen words, and more precisely, words, speeches picked up by talking as far as opening out must be connected with each other in the certain order and executed as the single complex purposefully plugged in the situation of communication.
Totality of conformities to law of construction of such complexes from separate words by means of their category change and well-organized combination with each other and makes the grammatical system of language, studied by science grammar.

An organizing role that is executed in a language by his grammatical system is not taken to the formal adjusting of processes of change of words and construction of expressions. Vice versa, the self grammatical adjusting of these processes becomes possible due to that all elements of the grammatical system have the special semantic maintenance. It is characterized by the maximal degree of abstracting from the concrete values of words and their combinations, directly reflecting objects, phenomena and relations of reality.

Grammatically-semantic generalizations, coming tolight in the forms of words and forms of associations of words in expressions, reflect not separate, concrete objects, phenomena and relations of the world, and general signs of classes of objects and phenomena, general properties of relations between classes. Exactly this semantic specific of the grammatical system stipulates his fundamental role in realization of quality definiteness of language on the whole, i.e. in the exposure of essence of language as an object of reality. On this role of the grammatical system linguists specify vivid phrases, naming grammar the “skeleton of language” and “soul of language”.

The semantics expressed by the grammatically-structural elements of language is correlated with the generalized maintenance of logical forms of thinking. This correlation is natural expression of indissoluble connection of language and operating consciousness: if logic serves as basis of organization of rational consciousness, then grammar serves as basis of organization of language as facilities of his existence and expression. Not by chance in history of European civilization science of logician and science of grammarian appeared approximately at one and the sometime

(Ancient Greece, IV of century B.C.). [ http://www.bestreferat.ru/referat-39521.html]

Grammar is semantically expressed by means, expresses different semantically meanings. Grammar is a complex set of semantically charged regularities of forming utterances of speech from the nominative means of language. Since grammar forms and regularities are meaningful; the rules of grammar must be stated semantically, or they must be worded functionally. Grammatical elements of language present a unity of content and expression (or form and meaning).

Grammar (greek. Grammatike, from grammar is a letter, writing):

1) line-up of language, i.e. system of morphological categories and forms, syntactic categories and constructions, methods of словопроизводства. In a triad, organizing a language on the whole - in his voice, lexico-phraseological and actually formal systems, are categories and all phenomena of formal, actually combatant level of language. Grammar is naming all improperly-voice and unlexical organization of language, presented in his grammatical categories, grammatical units and grammatical forms. Grammar in this value is combatant basis of language.Without that can not be created word (with all their forms) and their co articulation, suggestion (wider are expressions) and their co articulation;

2) division of linguistics, studying suchlike-up, him not one level organization, his categories and their relations to each other;

3) term of “grammarian” sometimes also use for denotation of functions of separate grammatical categories or lexico-grammatical great numbers. One or another part of speech is so, for example, told about grammar or about grammar of one or another case, infinitive, separate pretexts.

Grammar deals with abstractions, generalizations. Character of these generalizations is different. It can be, for example, generalization of methods of the verbal name (in a word-formation), various relations (in case values, in connections of words and forms of words, in the structure of suggestion) generalized shown in the language of situations(such, for example, as a relation by a subject and his action or state, between an action and his object).Grammatical system of language as system of abstract categories, being unities of abstract grammatical values and their formal expressions, is that basis without that a language does not exist not functions.

Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations.

Beaudoin de Courtenay (Rus.) and Ferdinand de Saussure (Swiss) showed difference between lingual synchrony (coexistence of lingual elements) and diachrony (different time-periods in the development of lingual elements as well as language as a whole) and defined language as a synchronic system of meaningful elements at any stage of its historical evolution. Lingual units stand to one another in two fundamental types of relations: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. Syntagmatic relations are immediate linear relations between units in a segmental sequence. Example: The spaceship was launched without the help of a booster rocket. Words, word-groups and morphemes of words are connected syntagmatically. The combination of two words or word-groups one of which is modified by the other forms a unit, which is referred to as a syntactic “syntagma”. Notional syntagmas: predicative (a subject+predicate), objective (a verb+its object), attributive (a noun+its attribute), adverbial (verb/adjective/adverb+adverbial modifier). The other type of relations, opposed to syntactic. And called paradigmatic, are such as exist between elements of the system outside the strings where they co-occur. These intra-systemic relations and dependencies are expressed in the fact that each lingual unit is included in a set of connections based on different formal and functional properties.

Levels of language.

1) The lowest level – phonemic. Phoneme is not a sign, but a unit of a language (lacks content). It’s abstract, represents by a sound and letter. Specific function – differential: phonemes distinguish words and morphemes as material bodies, changes their meanings.

2) Morphemic. Morpheme is a sign–two sides; the smallest meaningful part of a word. The smallest -s. Function – significative: morpheme express the significant or generalized meaning. Morpheme is a group of allophones. Example: roots (can function by themselves-free morpheme) and affixes (suffixes, prefixes and inflections).

3) Lexemic. Lexeme (a word) in a language performs a nominative function, it names objects and phenomena. First morpheme can be first word (the smallest). 4) Denotemic. A word-combination/phrase (denoteme) is a combination of at least two notional words connected semantically. A combination of a noun word and an auxiliary element is not a phrase, but just a grammar form (exercise has been done). Function – polynominative. Phrases name complicated things and phenom, give additional information about qualities of objects, circumstances. Phrases: free (we can choose elements freely) and stable (phraseological units).

5) Proposemic (a level of a sentence). Functions: a) Nominative (names a whole situation or a situation event) and b) Predicative.

Predication is the connection between the subject and the predicate of a sentence, which form a predicative line. Predication is express through tense and mood of a verb.

6) Dictemic – level of topicalization. (Blokh) Unit – dicteme. Utterance – supra-sentential construction. A dicteme is a combination of two or more sentences which are united by common topic. Though there may be only first sentence in a dictemic functions: a) Nominative: names situation/situation events. b) Predicative (see), c) Function of topicalozation - main: each dicteme presents a separate topic in a continual text, d) Stylistic (to express the attitude of the speaker).

The word and the morpheme.

In studying the morpheme we study the word in the necessary details of its composition and functions. The word is a basic nominative unit. Without words – no combination even in thought. Bloomfield: phoneme and morpheme are basic categories of lingual description. Morpheme – minimal meaningful segment. Morpheme is a meaningful segmental component of the word; the morpheme is formed by phonemes. The word is a 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.

Traditional (functional) classification of morphemes. (Henry Sweet, Smirnitsky.)

Study of morpheme structure in traditional grammar has two criteria:

1) Positional: the analysis of the location of the marginal morphemes in relation to the central ones.

2) Semantic (functional): involves the study of the correlative contribution of the morpheme to the general meaning of the word. Morphemes at the upper level are divided into root and affixal (lexical and grammatical). A lot of varieties of morphemic composition of modern English words, but preferable model is: prefix+root+lexical, suffix+gram.suffix. Roots: concrete, “material” part of the meaning of the word, affixes – specificational part of the meaning. Specifications: of lexico-semantic and grammatico-semantic character. Or three criteria: a) semantic properties of words (meaning), b) formal properties (form), c) functional (syntactic function).

Distributional classification of morphemes.

In the distribution analysis three main types of distribution are discriminate: contrastive distribution, non-contrastive distribution, and complementary distribution. Contrastive non-contrastive distribution concern identical environments of different morphs. (Morpheme is combination of phones that has a meaning, it happens only once).The morphs are said to be in contrastive distribution if their meanings (functions) are different; such morphemes constitute different morphemes. Example: returned/returning/returns. The morphs are in non-contrastive distribution if their meanings (functions) are identical; such morphs constitute “free variants” of the same morpheme. Example: suffixes –ed and –t (learned/learnt), -s and -i (genies/genii). As for complementary distribution, it concerns different environments of formally different morphemes which fulfil one and the same function; such morphemes are termed “allo-morphs”. Example: a few allomorphs of the plural suffix: -en (children), -s (toys), -a (data), -es (crises), -I (genii), zero (trout-trout).The application of distributional analysis to the morphemic level-> classification of morpheme on distributional lines. a) free and bound morphemes, b) overt and covert morphemes, c) additive and replacive morpheme, d) continuous and discontinuous morpheme, e) segmental and supra-segmental morpheme.

Synthetical and Analytical forms in Grammar.

Grammatical opposition – correlation of grammatical forms expressing a categorical grammatical meaning based on common and differential features of these forms. The means used for building up member-forms of categorical oppositions are divided into synthetical and analytical, and so do the grammar forms. Synthetical – realized by the inner morphemic composition of the word, while analytical grammar forms are built up by a combination of two/more words, one of which is a grammatically auxiliary (word- morpheme), and the other, a word of “substantial” meaning. Synthetical grammar functions are based on inner inflexion (phonemic (vowel) interchange; non-productive now, on ancient elements, used in irregular verbs, some nouns-plural), outer inflection (productive, grammar suffixation: number, case, person-number, tense participial-gerundial forms, the comparisons), and suppletivity (non-productive, based on grammar interchange of word roots (be-am-is-are, go-went, good-better, we-us; +can-be able – broader morphological interpretation). Analytical (typical of modern English) – a combination of auxiliary word+basic word. “Grammatically idiomatic” combinations (whose relevant grammar meaning is not dependent on meanings of their component elements taken apart). But: more, most – unidiomatic

Identification of parts of speech.

The words of language, depending on various formal and semantic features, are divided into grammatically relevant sets or classes. Traditionally they are called parts of speech (“lexico-grammatical” series of words or categories). Today they are discriminated actually to three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. Semantic (meaning): presupposes the evaluation of the generalized meaning, characteristic of all words of a given part of speech. The meaning is understood as “categorical meaning of the parts of speech”. Formal (form): provides for the exposition of the specific inflexional and derivational (word-building) features of all the lexemic subsets of a part of speech. Functional (function): concerns the syntactic role of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech.

Notional parts of speech in English.

Access to these criteria words on the upper level are divide into notional (the noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb), words of complete nominative meaning characterized by self-dependent functions, and functional (the article, preposition, conjunction, particle, modal verb, interjection).

Noun: 1) meaning-substance (thinness), 2) the changeable forms of number and case; specific sufficient forms of derivation, 3) the substantive functions in the sentence (subject, object, substantial predicate); prepositional connections; modification by an adjective.

Adjective: 1) the categorical meaning of property (qualitative and relative), 2) forms of degrees of comparison (for qualitative adjective), special sufficient forms of derivative, 3) adjective functions (attribute to a noun, adjectival predicate).

Numeral: 1) number (cardinal and ordinal), 2) narrow set of simple numerals, special forms of composition for compound numeral, special forms of derivative for ordinal numeral, 3) functions of numerical attribute and numeral substantive.

Pronoun: 1) indication (deixis), 2) narrow sets of various statuses with the corresponding formal properties of categorical changeability and word-building, 3) the substantive and adjectival functions for different sets.

Verb: 1) process (finite process and non-finite process), 2) of verbal categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood; opposition of finite and non-finite forms, 3)function of the finite predicate for the finite verb; mixed verbal-other than verbal functions for the non-finite verb.

Adverb: 1) secondary property (i.e. of process or another property), 2) of degrees of comparison for qualitative adverbs; special suffixal forms of derivation; 3) functions of various adverbial modifiers.

Functional parts of speech.

Words of incomplete nominative meaning and non-self-dependent, mediary functions in the sentence. Their number is limited.

Article: expresses the specific limitation of the substantive functions.

Preposition: express the dependencies and interdependencies of substantive referents.

Conjunction: expressed connections of phenomena.

Particle: unites the functions words of specifying and limiting meaning.

Modal verbs: express the attitude of the special to the situation. Here belong words of probability (probably, perhaps), of qualitative evaluation (un/fortunately, luckily), of affirmative and negation.

Interjection: is a signal of emotions.

Syntactic classes of words (Ch.Fries).

The syntactic (monofiggerential) classification of words is based on syntactic featuring of words only. The syntactic classification of words, in principle, supplements the third criteria classification specifying the syntactic features of parts of speech. For the Russian language the basic principles of the syntactic classification of words were outlined in the works of Peshkovski. In English the syntactico-distributional classification of words was worked out by Bloomfield and his followers Harris and especially Ch.Fries. The syntactically-distribution. Classification of words is based on the study of their combinability by means of substitution tests. As a rezult of this testing, a standard model of four main syntactic positions of notional words was built up. These positions are those of the noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. Pronouns are included into the corresponding positional classes as their substitutes. Words incapable to occupy the said main syntactic positions are treated as functional words.

The three-Layer structure of vocabulary (M.Blokh).

Classification of the lexicon presenting some essential generalizations about its structure. Lexicon is divided into two parts: notional words and functional words. The open character of the notional part and the closed character of the functional part have the status of a formal grammatical feature. Between them there is also an intermediary field of semi-functional words.

1) The whole of the lexicon is divided into three layers.

2) The first (upper) layer, of open character, is formed by four classes of notional words; since these words have full nominative value, they may be referred to as “names”: respectively, substance-names (nouns), process-noun (verbs), primary property noun (adjective), secondary property noun (adverbs);

3) the names are consolidated into an integral system by the lexical paradigm of nomination-the paradigmatic series whose function is to form and distribute any given word root among the four lexical class-types (parts of speech); 4) the second (intermediate) layer of closed character, is formed by pronominal words or “substitutes of names”; here belong pronouns and replacer lexemes of all kinds (noun-,verb-,adjective-,adverb-replacers), word of broad meaning (thing, matter etc) and numbers;

5) the third (lower) layer of closed character, is formed by functional word proper, or “specifies of names”: determiners, preposition, conjunction, particles etc. The function of second and third layers is to organize together with the categorical means of grammar, the production of speech utterances out of the direct naming means of language (the first layer). [http://100pudov.com.ua/subject/29/12963]

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 5773