theoretical grammar

THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

Introductory to the theoretical study of the English Language Grammar

1.1. The Subject of Theoretical Grammar.

1.2. Kinds of Theoretical Grammar.

1.3. Main grammatical notions:

1.3.1. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations.

1.3.2. Grammatical categories.

1.3.3. Language levels.

1.4. General characteristics of the contemporary English language system.

The Subject of Theoretical Grammar

Theoretical Grammar is a section of linguistics that studies grammar system of language.

Grammar system of language refers to the whole complex of conformities to natural laws where the latter defines ways of words' alterations and also ways of word combinations in phrases and sentences.

As any complex object Grammar is a complex system that is presented by elements and structure in their mutually dependent organization.

Grammar elements refer to morphemes, words, word-combinations and sentences.

Grammar structure implies relations and connections among grammar elements or inner organization of the language grammar system.

The subject of English Theoretical Grammar refers to the study of the English Language grammar organization as a system parts of which are mutually connected with definite relations of different types of complexity (complication, complicacy).

Aromanian grammar book, 1813

English: A visual depiction of the various grammat...

Logo of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Langu...

The main task of Theoretical Grammar is an adequate systematic (methodic) description of language facts and also their theoretical interpretation.

The difference between Practical and Theoretical Grammar refers to the following peculiarities:

Practical Grammar prescribes definite rules for the use of a language (gives instructions for the use of language data, teaches how to speak and write);

Theoretical Grammar analyzes language data, interprets that, expounds the data but does not give instructions as for the use of them.

Kinds of Theoretical Grammar

To explain and interpreter a phenomenon means to reveal and understand its nature. Kinds of Theoretical Grammar are defined by different approaches to the problem of How to interpret language data.

In accordance with an approach there is a kind of Theoretical Grammar (Drawing 1.1).

Drawing 1.1. Basis for approaches to the problem 'How to interpreter language data'.

The drawing 1.1 shows relations of language signs with other different phenomena, which grounds the appearance of the approaches to the interpretation of their relations (table 1.1).

Table 1.1

Theoretical approaches to language data interpretation

Thus, there are two general approaches - pure linguistic and semantic. To the former Structural or Formal Grammar is referred, and to the latter - Logical Grammar, Psychological Grammar and Grammar of Situation (drawing 1.2).

Drawing 1.2. Two general types of Theoretical Grammar

Inside of each approach there are static (gives a way to make language facts be brought to light and classified) and dynamic methods (searches how one language facts transfer into other and one grammar forms appear from others) of language data study.

Main grammatical notions

1.3.1. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations.

As for the structure Theoretical Grammar can be stipulated by syntagmatic (distributive) or paradigmatic (transformative) relations.

Other words, connections of language elements can be syntagmatic or paradigmatic (drawing 1.3).

Drawing 1.3. Two general types of structural relations of language elements

1.3.2. Grammatical categories.

To the main notions in the study of Theoretical Grammar the following ones are included: grammatical category; grammatical form and grammatical meaning.

Grammatical Meaning differs from Lexical Meaning. The latter implies an idea or a sense that a word represents. Grammar Meaning also implies an idea or a sense but they (idea\sense) are peculiar to a class of words but not to a single word; they are united by a general propriety of the class of words. Thus, Grammatical Meaning is a generalized or abstract propriety of a class of words and unites big groups of classes of words.

For instance:

So, the Grammatical Meaning of the Noun is the propriety to present objects or things, the one of the Verb is the propriety to express an action, the one of the Adjective is the propriety to present a sign or a quality of an object or a thing, etc.

Grammatical Meaning is expressed through the formal indices of a class of words or through their absence. Formal indices are specific for each language and express Grammatical Meaning only when they are joined to the stems of definite parts of speech.

For instance:

The index 's' in the English Language can express:

the Plural form of the Noun (a language - languages);

the Present Simple for the 3rd Person Singular (We live. - He lives.);

the Possessive Case of the Noun (a friend's advice).

Grammatical Form refers to a material expression of Grammatical Meaning (expression of a word's form or inflexion).

For instance:

The Grammatical Form 'has been speaking' is a material (language) expression of the Grammatical Meaning of the Verb which is presented by the definite notional verb 'speak' in the Present Perfect Continuous which refers to the 3rd Person Singular.

Grammatical Category appears on the ground of Grammatical Forms (that in their turn express Grammatical Meaning); it cannot include less than two opposite or properly correlated Grammatical Forms.

For instance:

In English there are:

the Category of Tense (Past, Present and Future) that includes 3 Grammatical Forms (properly correlated);

the Category of Aspect (Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple and Perfect Continuous) that includes 4 Grammatical Forms (properly correlated);

the Category of Voice (Active and Passive) that includes 2 Grammatical Forms (opposite);

the Category of Number (Singular and Plural) that includes 2 Grammatical Forms (opposite), etc.

Grammatical Category presents a peculiar reflection of reality as the Category of Tense, for example, reflects a relation of an action to a moment of time; the Category of Voice reflects a relation of an agent to an action, etc.

Grammatical Category refers to the unity of two or more Grammatical Forms that are opposite or brought into proper correlation in accordance with Grammatical Meaning (example given above).

1.3.3. Language levels (table 1.2)

Table 1.2

Subdivision of Language Levels'

Certain units are defined by inner, relatively reserved in a corresponded level features. To such unites the following are referred:

Phoneme which is defined with a set of phonologic distinctive signs and which is not marked with the function of a sign;

Word which is defined with the signs of nominative function;

Sentence which is defined with the signs of predicative function (table 1.2).

The quality of other units is distinguished in a necessary and ingenious correlation with the units of adjacent levels. They are

Morpheme which is defined as a component of a word (with its nominative function of a sign);

Denoteme which is defined as a component of a sentence (with its situation-predicative or propositive function);

Dicteme which is a component of a text (with its communicative funtcion) (table 1.2).

General characteristics of the contemporary English language system

All languages are classified on the ground of two basic principles - of their genealogy (origin and relations) and of their typology (structure).

Typological classification is one which is based on the distinguishing similarities and differences of the structures of languages independently on their affinity. It is also called Morphological classification as it studies forms, structures and 'building' components of languages.

Typological classification was firstly worked out, grounded and proposed by the brothers August and Fririch Sleggel (XVII/XIX). They distinguished inflectional (флективные), which have inflections, and non-inflectional (нефлективные), which do not have inflections, languages. Besides, they distinguished synthetic (earlier) and analytical (later) languages (Drawing 1.4).

V.Gumboldt (XVII/XIX) reworked the Sleggels' classification and distinguished four types of languages: insulating (изолирующие или корневые), agglutinative (агглюнативные), incorporated (инкорпорирующие) and inflectional (флективные).

Insulating languages do not have affixes and express grammatical meanings with adjoining of certain words to others with the help of Syntacategorematic (auxiliary) words. There is no difference between root and stem in such languages. Words do not change and consequently do not have any indices of their syntactic correspondence with other words. The main means of syntactic combination is adjoining. Sentence, thus, is a definite sequence of unchangeable and indivisible words-roots.

For instance:

Chinese, Vietnam, Tibetan, etc.

Chinese:

Ma - mother

Ma - hemp

Ma - horse

Ma - to scold at

Ma ma ma. Мама ругает коня.

Ma чи ма. Мама едет на коне.

Agglutinative (glutten (Latin) - glue, agglutino - to glue) languages are the ones in which grammatical meanings are expressed with special affixes - 'stickers'.

For instance:

Turkish, Georgian, Japanese, etc.

Turkish:

Lar - Plural form

Da - Prepositional (предложный) case

Masa - a table

Baba - a father

Masada - on the table

Masalar - tables

Masalarda - on the tables

Babada - on the father

Babalar - fathers

Babalarda - on the fathers

Incorporated (incorporatio (Latin) - including, joining to a set) or polysynthetic (polys (Greek) - a lot of, synthesis - joining up, association, formation) languages are those in which different parts of an utterance present amorphous words-stems (words-roots) which are incorporated into united complexes number of which, in their turn, are formed with auxiliary elements.

For instance:

Majority of the languages of South America, чукотский

Чукотский:

га - ма - a kind of the case which shows a sign with whom or with what

гапojгeма - with a spear

гаторпojгeма - with a new spear

гатанпojгeма - with a good spear

гатанпелwентепоjгeма - with a good metal spear

Inflectional languages express their grammatical meanings mainly with inflexions.

They are divided into synthetic and analytical.

Drawing 1.4. Division of languages as for the systems of changes of their grammar forms

(synthetic languages and analytical)

Old English used to be a synthetic language and used to have its own system of inflections. Though with the time (foreign intrusions, wars, cultural ties) it altered and transformed into an analytical one. Nevertheless in English some synthetic forms are still used (look for example of the 2nd characteristic of English brought under).

Characteristics of English:

Auxiliaries. Auxiliary verb does not have a lexical meaning; notional verb has that.

For instance:

She has already been preparing for three hours (both auxiliaries - has been - do not have lexical meanings) = Она готовится уже три часа.

She has a nice kid (has is not an auxiliary but a notional verb here, so it has a lexical meaning to obtain, to posses sth) = Она имеет милого ребенка = У нее есть милый ребенок.

Scarcity of flexible forms.

For instance alterations:

a) of the Noun (Singular and Plural forms): a chair (Sng) - chairs (Pl);

b) of the Verb (in accordance with Tense, Person, Number): we approach (Present Simple, Plural), he approaches (Present Simple, Third Person Singular), we, he, etc. approached (Past Simple);

c) of the Adjective (Degrees of Comparison): pretty (Neutral) - prettier (Comparative) - the prettiest (Superlative).

Homonymy (which refers to the phenomenon of similar spelling or pronunciation of words that have different lexical meanings).

For instance, homonymy of Grammar affixes:

Boys study (Plural, Nominative Case) - boy's book (Singular, Possessive Case) - boys' book (Plural, Possessive Case).

Absence of Grammatical Agreement of a noun and an adjective that attributes the noun.

For instance:

A big boy (he) \ girl (she) \ apple (it). Compare with Russian большой мальчик, большая девочка, большое яблоко.

Use of the Noun in the Common Case as a prepositional attribute.

For instance:

Table (noun) + lamp (noun) = table lamp (table is a prepositional attribute).

Formal double complete predicative center (when a verb obviously has a personal form).

For instance:

Compare: It is dark. and Темно.

Wide use of the assistant words.

For instance:

The Noun: one, they, that, this, those, etc.

The Verb: do, get, etc.

Wide development of secondary predicative combinations.

For instance:

Complex Object: They expected me to behave as they wanted but I was not going to allow them to manipulate me.

Direct word order.

For instance:

I have already been there.

Yesterday we gave him a book.

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II Structure of the Word. Problem of Parts of Speech

The notions of the Word and the Morpheme.

Principles of subdivision of parts of speech.

Classification of parts of speech.

Theory of the field structure of the word.

2.1. The notions of the Word and the Morpheme

The word morphology is based on the two Greek words morpheme and logos.

Morpheme means form.

Logos was regarded as one of the main notions of the Old Greek philosophy. It meant both: 1) word (expression, sentence or speech) and 2) sense/meaning (notion, judgment or base). To the Old Greek philosophy it was introduced by Heraclites in the 6th - 5th centuries B.C. Logos (Mind) and Spirit (Soul) were considered as the base of the World's Fire or the initiation of Existence (Life).

Thus, it is seen that morphology in Linguistics does not only refer to the Form but also takes into consideration the Content.

To simplify, Morphology studies morpheme and word which is built with morphemes and can change due to them.

Morphology refers to:

A part of the system of language, the system of parts of speech, their grammar meanings, categories and forms of the Word.

A section of Grammar that studies such part of the language system; a science about parts of speech, their grammar meanings, categories and forms of word.

Word (general definition) is the main unity of morphology; a unity of language that denotes/names a definite object, thing, phenomenon or notion.

The definition of the Word, which is characteristic for flexible languages (given by Maslow, a professor, Leningrad school):

Word is a minimum unity of a language whose property is a positional independence (the examples are given under). It has characteristics of mobility (different words-parts of speech take different positions in a sentence) and discrete (can exist separately unlike/in the contrast to the Morpheme that has a meaning but cannot exist separately).

For example:

Respect is a desirable attitude (subject).

He has been paid a lot of respect (object). positional independence and mobility

We respect him (predicate).

When the word respect is said or written or heard it can exist separately and be perceived and understood (discrete).

Morpheme is a minimum meaningful unity of word that does not have a positional independency (prefix takes the position in the beginning of the Word, root takes main central position in the midst and suffix - at the end). Thus, all the morphemes can be divided into two big groups, root morphemes and affixes (table 2.1).

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Table 2.1

Kinds of Morphemes

NOTE! In English the Root coincided with the Stem. Stem is also regarded to be a root morpheme. Stem is a significant unity of Morphology, a part of the Word till the Ending.

In a language Morpheme is presented by its versions, allomorphemes (алломорфы, from the Greek allo = other/another).

Characteristics of allomorphemes:

1) they have language (they mean sth, they form words' forms) and phonetic (they sound) power;

2) the allomorphemes of a definite morpheme can absolutely coincide in pronunciation

For example:

Fresh, freshment, freshen. The letters s,h in the root morpheme fresh create the same sound [ ].

3) the allomorphemes of a definite morpheme can be not identical in pronunciation

For example:

1)

Dreamed [d] the morpheme-suffix ed means the same - it is the index of Past Simple or

Loaded [id] Past Participle for regular verbs

Worked [t] but is pronounced differently

2)

Physics [k]

Physicist [s] in the root morpheme physic the letter c is pronounced differently

Physician […]

2.2. Principles of subdivision of parts of speech

The whole structure of Language is divided into lexical-grammatical classes or parts of speech.

Different linguistic schools ground different ways of lexical-grammatical classes' subdivisions.

1.Henry Sweet (19th century), an English linguist

First scientific grammar of English (the second half of the 19th century);

Classical Grammar

Principles of classification:

1) the Form (morphological);

2) the Function (syntactic).

In accordance with the principle of Form he singles out two big classes - declinable (those parts of speech that can change their forms) and indeclinable (those that do not change).

There were singled out three subclasses of declinable parts of speech:

1) Noun-words (Nouns);

Noun-numerals (Cardinal Numbers (количественные));

Noun-pronounce (Personal and Indefinite Pronouns);

2) Adjective-words (Adjectives);

Adjective-pronouns (Possessive Pronouns);

Adjective-numerals (Ordinal Numbers(порядковые));

Participle;

3) Verbs (Finite and Non-finite verbs).

In accordance with the principle of Function he takes into consideration syntactic position that a definite part of speech can take in a sentence. He made an attempt to classify parts of speech in accordance with their syntactic function.

BUT the principle of Meaning was not distinct (clear) or was not taken into consideration at all. H.Sweet did not really take into account categorical parts of speech, properties of parts of speech to present generalized meanings (Grammar Meaning), for example, the property of the Noun to present objects and things, the one of the Verb to present action, etc. These properties he refers/relates/attributes not to the grammar ones but to the logical signs.

2. Jence Otto Harry Jespersen (1860-1943), a Danish linguist

Philosophy of Grammar (1924)

Made an attempt to reconcile/balance the principle/sign of the Form (Morphology) and the one of the Function (Syntax).

Principles of classification:

1) the Form (traditional description of parts of speech in accordance with their morphological form and lexical meaning);

2) the Function (analysis of the same singled out classes (above) in accordance with their syntactic function in an expression or in a sentence).

Created a theory of three ranks/classes (table 2.2), and by the theory made an attempt to give a generalized common classification of parts of speech based on the Function of the Word in Language Units more than a word (expressions and sentences).

Table 2.2

The essence of the Theory of Three Ranks

BUT morphological classification, syntactic function and theory of three tanks used together bred some confusion.

For example:

In the expression a dinner table the word table is regarded as a primary word.

Though in an expression a table lamp the word table becomes a secondary word.

3. Charls Freez (19th-20th century), an American linguist

The Structure of English

The main principle of classification:

Position of a word in a sentence (Syntactic Function) can indicate a Part of Speech.

In English there are three main positions - of the Subject (1), of the Predicate (2) and of the Object (3).

Three types of pseudo sentences:

1. Woggles ugged diggles. First words are subjects; consequently their property is to

2. Uggs woggled diggs. present objects or things. Second words are predicates;

3. Woggs diggled uggles. they indicate actions. Third words are objects; they

indicate things or objects of an action.

Three test frames to test and explain his classification:

1. The concert was good (always).

2. The clerk remembered the task (suddenly).

3. He went there.

Limited by the frames he defines main positions that are characteristic for English. In each frame he uses the Method of Substitution. He affirms that all the words that can be put in a definite syntactic position present/form a certain positional class of words.

Due to the method of substitution he singled out four positional classes of words and fifteen groups of function words.

BUT the research had led to a certain confusion - the same very word could be included into several classes.

4. Lev Scherba (1880-1944), a Russian (Soviet) linguist,

a head of the Leningrad Phonological School

Explicitly formulated three principles of classification of lexical-grammatical classes

Three principles of classification:

1) Lexical Meaning (lexical meanings of words allow to analyze a common property of a class of words and thus to single out generalized Grammar Meaning, for example, the one of the Noun, of the Adjective, etc.);

2) Morphological Form (each part of speech has a common way of word-building and changing);

3) Syntactic Function (each pert of speech can take an appropriate position in a sentence).

2.3. Classification of parts of speech

The biggest subdivision of parts of speech are the ones of Categorematic words (знаменательные слова) and Syntacategorematic/syntactic words (служебные слова). The Classification is based on three principles formulated by L.Scherba.

Syntacategorematic words

Some parts of speech do not have morphological signs.

For example:

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1) Since, before, after can be:

* prepositions: after the revolution;

* conjunctions: I reached the station after the train had left.

* adverbs: You speak first, I will speak after.

2) the Noun can serve different syntactic functions:

*A table lamp (Attribute);

* On the table (Object)

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There are 13 parts of speech in English:

As for their Grammatical Meanings Categorematic parts of speech

are divided into three general groups:

Categorematic parts of speech that name objects, things, phenomena and their signs:

the Noun (1), the Adjective (3), the Verb (2), the Adverb (4), the words of the category of state (7);

Categorematic parts of speech that point to objects, things, phenomena and their qualities or quantity but do not name them (they substitute the former): the Pronoun (6), the Numeral (5);

Categorematic parts of speech that express the attitude of a speaker to what feelings, emotions and wills they are expressing: interjections (9) and modal words (8) which are not parts of a sentence (!).

2.4. Theory of the field structure of the word.

Theory of the Morphological Field:

In a group of words there are ones which have all indications (signs) of a definite morphological part of speech; there are also words which have not all indications (signs) of a definite morphological part of speech. The former form the nucleus of the morphological field of a certain part of speech; the latter - its periphery.

For example:

*The word table form the periphery of the Noun, not the nucleus, because it can, for example, have a sign of the Adjective. In the word-combination a big table it has a sign of the Noun but in the word-combination a table lamp - the one of the Adjective.

*Words like pen, woman, sky, etc. form the nucleus of the Noun. They always are main and attributed in word-combinations.

Two general tasks of linguists are:

to define the structure of the field and the composition of the language elements (words) in the morphological field of a part of speech;

to determine the indications which make some language elements close to another or other morphological parts of speech (ex. with table).

III The Noun

General characteristics of the Noun. Its Grammatical Meaning, syntactic functions and the system of word-formation.

Subcategorization of the Noun.

Grammatical categories of the Noun.

The problem of the Gender of the English Noun.

The category of Number.

The category of the Case.

3.1. General characteristics of the Noun. Its Grammatical Meaning, syntactic functions and the system of word-formation.

Characteristics of the Noun:

The Noun refers to the Categorematic parts of speech:

it has lexical meaning and can take a definite syntactic position and serve some functions of a member of a sentence.

The Noun has its own Grammatical Meaning:

it denotes objects, things, phenomena. All the nouns (does not matter what type of objects, things or phenomena they name, concrete or abstract) function in a language in the same way.

For example, the nouns man (concrete), friendship (abstract) both name, denote not signs or qualities and not actions or circumstances but an object and phenomenon (which can both be included to the group of Things).

The Noun can serve the syntactic functions of the Subject and the Object.

Besides it can also be the Predicative. Though this index makes the Noun and the Adjective alike because they both can serve the syntactic function of the Predicative.

For example, He is a man (a noun). He is smart (an adjective).

The Noun has a strong system of word-formation.

It is very important in the light of Grammar for they not only change the meanings of words but also indicate their belonging to the Noun.

The word-formative suffixes of the Noun are divided into two general groups: those which denote persons and those which denote abstract things.

For example:

*suffixes which denote persons:-er, -ist, -ess, -ee (singer, specialist, actress, employee, etc).

*suffixes which denote abstract things: -ness, -ion, -tion, -ity, -ism, -ment (kindness, obsession, rotation, security, pluralism, development, etc.).

The Noun has a weak system of word-changing (a kept sign of a synthetic language):

its root and stem coincided. Some nouns can have both forms, Singular and Plural.

For example, pen - pens, day - days, star - stars, etc.

Grammatical categories of the Noun are poor.

*There is the Category of the Number (boy - boys, study - studies, etc.).

*The Category of the Case has been still under certain doubts (will be seen later on).

*The Category of the Gender completely disappeared by the end of the Middle Ages though some scientist tend to regard Gender as a grammatical category of the English Noun (will be seen later on).

3.2. Subcategorization of the Noun.

There are two general classifications of the Noun.

The first is based on the principle of three properly correlated kinds of nouns - individual names, generalized names for alike things and names for a group of things. It is schematically presented in the table 3.1.

Table 3.1

The first classification of nouns

The second classification of the Noun is based on the principle of opposition - individual 'personal' names and names for other things. It is schematically presented in the table 3.2.

Table 3.2

The second classification of nouns

3.3. Grammatical categories of the Noun.

Grammatical categories of the Noun are poor.

*There is the Category of the Number.

*The Category of the Case has been still under certain doubts.

*The Category of the Gender is considered to have completely disappeared by the end of the Middle Ages, though there is still some arguments as for considering Gender as a grammatical category of the English Noun.

The problem of the Gender of the English Noun.

The gender of an object, thing or phenomenon is expressed with lexical, but not grammatical, means (boy - girl, man - woman, bull - caw; he-goat - she-goat; star - it; window - it, ship - it/she, etc.). Grammatically there is almost no sign to indicate the gender of a noun (the suffix -ess can be considered as an exception: steward - stewardess, actor - actress, etc.).

Some scientists, however, (for example, an American linguist Strand, a Russian linguist Bloch) consider Gender as a category of the English Noun as all the nouns can be substituted by the appropriate pronouns. Though it would not be really correct for the propriety of the Pronoun (to substitute the noun in accordance to the lexical gender the latter expresses) is shifted to the Noun. It can breed a certain confusion in the understanding of the problem of English Grammar.

The category of the Number.

1. The category of the Number is based on the opposition of singularity and plurality.

For example:

parent - parents, tree -trees, man -men, life - lives, etc.

Singular form of the Noun is multiciphered (многозначное; can stay singular or change into plural) and Plural - simple (однозначное; cannot change for has already been changed).

The opposition of singularity and plurality can, for example:

express differences in size (ex., wood (like material to be used to make a fire; logs) and woods (like an area of trees, smaller than a forest));

distinguish a class and a subclass (ex., fish (as a creature that lives in water) and fishes (refers to different kinds of fish)).

2. The category of the Number as for the formal indices is presented in two general models - open and closed.

1). As for the open model or productive (it goes on working) it is displayed by the formal index - the suffix -s/-es (in the Plural form of the Noun) or by its absence (in the Singular one).

For example:

Star - stars, floor -floors, knife - knives, etc.

*To the allomorphemes of the suffix -s/-es the following three are included:

[s]; after voiceless (unvoiced, surd, breathed) consonants (ex., cats);

[z] after vowels (ex., indices) and voiced consonants (ex., dogs);

[iz] sibilant (ex., kisses) and hushing sounds (ex., bushes).

2). As for the closed model (it is a certain historical heritage and does not develop) it is grammatically displayed only morphologically or in the sequence with a verb:

morphologically: Ox - oxen, child - children, woman -women, man - men, phenomenon - phenomena, antenna - antennae, data - datum, etc.

in the sequence with a verb: the noun sheep does not change its grammatical form at all: The sheep is here (Singular Number). The sheep are here (Plural Number).

3). There are also nouns which are unchangeable and have only singular or only plural form:

only singular: advice, information, knowledge, furniture, etc.;

only plural: trousers, pants, pyjamas, spectacles, etc.

The category of Case.

The Case

refers to the relations of an object/thing/phenomenon (which is denoted by a noun) to other objects, actions and signs, on the one hand, and

presents the means of material or linguistic expression of these relations, on the other.

The are two opposite points of scientific view as for the existence of the category of Case in English:

1) there is the category of Case in English (there are a few approaches to the problem of the English Case);

2) there is not the category of Case in English (a new point of linguistic view).

1. Five general approaches to the problem of the English Case are based on the principle of the number of the cases.

1). There are two cases. The principle of Form.

Henry Sweet

(19th century; an English linguist; Classical Grammar; principles of morphological form and syntactic function)

On the ground of the principle of Form he distinguished two grammatical forms of the English Case:

the Common Case (shows the relations of an object in the linguistic form of a noun with actions (verbs) and signs (adjectives)).

The notion of the Common Case was introduced to the English Grammar by H.Sweet;

the Possessive Case (shows the object's possession of another object, thing, phenomenon).

In the second half of the 18th c. Robert Laud (an English linguist) attracted the attention of the scientists to a diachronical change in the structure of the language. The change concerned with the old English Genitive Case (родительный падеж) which lost its original grammatical meaning and kept only the meaning of possession.

For example:

Mother (the Common Case) did not know where the son's (the Possessive Case) hat (the Common Case) was left.

2). There are five cases. The principle of Lexical Meaning.

In the field of Semantic Grammar five cases were distinguished on the principle of Lexical Meaning. They were said to be Nominative (именительный), Genitive (родительный), Dative (дательный), Accusative (винительный) and Vocative (звательный) cases.

The approach was criticized by

Jence Otto Harry Jespersen

(1860-1943; a Danish linguist; Philosophy of Grammar; principles of morphological form and syntactic function)

The critics was based on the peculiarity of the approach as it was grounded on Latin which left some traits in English structure but was different: the Latin Noun changed its Grammatical Form whereas the English Noun could change it only in Number and when a possession was emphasized. Latin cases were Nominativus, Genitivus, Dativus, Accusativus, Vocativus and Ablativus (отделительный).

For example:

Table 3.3

Comparing Grammatical Forms of the cases of the Latin and English Noun

Critics by O.H.Jespersen.

It is seen from the example that the English Noun does not have a grammatical paradigm of its declension. Consequently, if there is no signs of material expression of changes (Grammatical Form), if there is no opposition or properly correlated relations, then there can not be a proper Grammatical Category as there is no base for it. It is the first drawback. Though O.H.Jespersen considers the Case as a Category of English. Then there is another drawback which is the lack of attention to the relations of possession that has a material expression in the grammatical form of the Possessive Case.

3). There are four cases. The principle of Syntactic Function.

Four cases in the light of the approach are stipulated by the syntactic position of the Noun in the Sentence. The English Noun can take the positions of the Subject, Attribute, Direct Object, Indirect Object. Consequently there are proper cases distinguished. They are presented in the table 3.4.

Table 3.4

Correspondence of the syntactic function and the case of the Noun

The drawback of the approach.

The Case is a morphological Category. In the approach under critics, firstly, Morphological Form is not taken into consideration at all, secondly, Lexical Meaning is not paid attention at. Thus, the category from the morphological turns out to become syntactic, which brakes the basic principles of Grammar in general.

4). There are as many cases as many prepositions. The principle of analytics.

Theory of Analytical Cases

A case of a noun is stipulated by a peculiarity of the combination of a noun and a preposition.

For example:

To a man - the Dative Case (direction towards sb/sth is emphasized);

By a man - the Instrumental Case (an instrument is emphasized);

In a man - the Locative Case (a place is emphasized).

Critics by O.H.Jespersen.

The combinations under consideration are only prepositional combinations of a noun and preposition and can not be taken as the ground/principle for cases' classification.

5). There are three cases. The principle of Substitution.

In the light of Structural Approach (Structural Grammar) there was the system of three cases distinguished. Each case was grounded by the principle of substitution of a noun by a proper personal pronoun (table 3.5).

Table 3.5

The principle of Substitution in stipulating the three English Cases

Critics.

The approach is quite a reasonable one as it takes into consideration the Lexical Meaning (a propriety to substitute a noun by a proper personal pronoun), the Syntactic Function (the propriety of a noun to serve a definite syntactic function in a sentence) and the analytical character of the English language (to change grammatical forms by an analytical means, not by synthetic, inflective/inflectional ways).

Though Morphologically the English Noun can hardly change: it has an opposition only in the category of the Number, not in the one of the Case. As for the latter (the Category of Case) materially, morphologically it can have an opposition only when the relations concern some possession. Then there is the opposition of the Common Case and the Possessive one (as in the classification introduced by H.O.Jespersen).

2. Contemporary approach to the Category of Case.

Nowadays there is a tendency to think that there is no morphological category of the case in English.

Firstly, there are no definite morphological forms as material expression of the Case. As a result there is no paradigm of the morphological forms of it.

Secondly, there is a certain confusion as for syntactic functions of the Noun in the form of the Common Case and in the form of the Possessive Case.

Thus, in the both forms the Noun can serve the syntactic function of the Attribute, though, naturally in the Objective Case it should serve the function of the Subject or the one of the Object and in the form of the Possessive Case - the function of the Attribute.

For example:

There is the John's book. The noun in the Possessive Case is an attribute in the sentence.

There is a table lamp. The noun in the Common Case is an attribute (prepositional attribute), too.

Thirdly, the Possessive Case in English has a few definite peculiarities, which makes it different from synthetic ways of word inflection. They are the following.

1). The main Grammatical Meaning of the Possessive Case is to express a certain possession.

For example:

A student's book; a students' book

Though there are also other meanings.

For example:

The day's wait = the wait during a day (the meaning of temporality)

The hair's width = the width of a hair, very narrow (the meaning of measure)

The snake's character = the character that resemble peculiar behaviour of snake (the meaning of quality)

2). The Possessive Case has limited functions:

a) limited lexical function:

usually it is used with names of animated objects

For example:

A girl's prize; a dog's bed, etc

But not table's lamp

b) limited positional function:

a noun takes the place before another noun which is attributed (prepositional location)

For example

A table lamp (not lamp table);

A girl's prize (not a prize girl's);

A dog's bed (not a bed dog's)

3). Singular and Plural forms of the Noun in the Possessive Case differ only in writing, not in oral speech. There are only rare exceptions.

For example:

Boy's [boiz]; boys' [boiz] (sounds the same)

Child - child's; children - children's' (an exception)

4). The index 's is not fixed only for the Noun; it can also be added to a word-combination or a clause.

For example:

The girl's father (added to the word);

The dancing with my friend girl's father (added to a phrase);

The girl I go with's father (added to a clause).

Conclusion:

the contemporary English Noun does not have the Category of the Case. There is a tendency to consider the Case as the syntactic attributive category (the syntactic category of attributivity) the formal index of which is 's.

In the contemporary English Grammar the Possessive case is included also in the grammatical group of Possessives to which nouns in the Possessive Case, possessives without following nouns, the possessive pronouns and phrases with the preposition of are included.

For example:

Mother's car (the noun in the Possessive Case);

She got married at St Joseph's. Alice is at the hairdresser's (the possessive without a following noun).

There is my new coat. That coat is mine (the possessive personal pronoun)

It is easy to loose one's temper when one is criticized (the possessive impersonal pronoun)

That policemen is a friend of Lucy. His work is no business of yours (phrases with the preposition of )

IV The Problem of English Article

4.1. Interpretation of the status of the English Article.

4.2. The problem of the number of articles (how many morphological forms the Article can be presented in).

4.3. Functions and significance of the Article.

Functionally there are two forms of the Article - definite and indefinite. The forms are not changed. Though they have definite phonetic versions/the versions in pronunciation (drawing 4.1):

Drawing 4.1. Allomorphemes of the Definite and Indefinite Forms of the English Article

There are three main problems/questions in accordance with the English Article:

1. If the Article is a definite word or not; and what is its relation to the Noun (the problem of garamatical status)?

2. If the Article is a definite word, then if it is a definite part of speech (the problem of morphological status)?

3. What is the number of articles in English (the problem of Grammatical Category)?

4.1. Interpretation of the status of the English Article

There are two general approaches to the grammatical morphological status of the Article (Drawing 4.2).

I. II.

Drawing 4.2. The problem of Status of the English Article

1. The approach to the Article as to a definite Syntacategorematic word which defines the Noun.

Article here is compared with the Adjectival Pronoun (his, her, its, etc.).

BUT such approach leads to treating the combination 'Article + noun' as an attributive word-combination and, consequently to treating Article as the Attribute in the Sentence, which is not possible for the Article does not possess the Lexical Meaning.

It has its own Grammatical Meaning which is to define concrete known or any, not particular, noun. Its Grammatical Category is based on the opposition of the definite - indefinite attitude to the Noun. Though there is no Lexical Meaning of any type of the Article. Consequently it can not be regarded as a member of a sentence because only Categorematic words/parts of speech (which have their own individual lexical meanings) are considered as members of the Sentence.

For example, compare:

*It is my book.

My is an attribute of a direct object book as it, firstly, defines the noun book and, secondly, has its own lexical meaning, it is lexically-morphologically expressed by the possessive pronoun my in the possessive form of a personal pronoun I which means 'the subject of a verb when the speaker or writer is referring to himself/herself''.

*It is a book. It is the book.

Neither article a nor article the can be considered as the attributes because in spite of having grammatical meanings neither of them has a lexical one (what then the attribute will be expressed by?).

2. The approach to the Article as to a peculiar morpheme of the Noun.

The English linguist Christophersen emphasizes analytical nature of English and considers the Article as a morpheme of the Noun.

Firstly, he distinguishes three Morphological Forms of the Noun in the Category of the Article (table 4.1):

Table 4.1

Three Morphological Forms of the Noun in the Category of the Article

Secondly, Christophersen stipulated his approach with the following arguments:

1) Article resembles the Auxiliary of the Verb as both of them create a definite analytical form of a part of speech, auxiliary verbs - of the Verb, articles - of the Noun. He stipulates Article as the Auxiliary of the Noun on the ground of the following arguments:

article is a formal morphological index of the Noun;

article does not have Lexical Meaning.

BUT these arguments are not enough and there is a confusion:

article is not a pure unique index of the Noun.

For example:

(The) water (noun) was wonderful those days. They water (verb) flowers.

article is a definer of the Noun but it does not create Morphological Forms of it whereas auxiliaries create new Morphological forms of the Verb, they change it. Consequently, there is a syntactic connection of the Article and the Noun and there is not of the Auxiliary and the Verb.

For example:

*Article can be substituted by another proper word/pronoun (syntactic connection):

The man is a smart one. = This man is a smart one.

A girl suddenly came in. = Some girl suddenly came in.

*Auxiliary cannot be replaced/substituted by any other word (morphological connection):

He is singing a beautiful song. We have been climbing the rock for three hours.

In the Occidental science there has still been some arguments to the problem of Article (where to refer it). In the Post-Soviet science the Article is treated as a Syntacategorematic part of speech.

4.2. The problem of the number of articles (how many morphological forms the Article can be presented in)

There are two approaches (traditional Grammar and contemporary approach):

1) there are two articles in English (drawing 4.1): definite and indefinite (the Category of Article is based on the opposition);

2) there are three articles (table 4.1): zero, definite and indefinite (the Category of Article is grounded on the proper correlation of the absence, emphasis on the definite character of the Noun and emphasis on the indefinite character of the Noun). The absence of Article is regarded to be a relevant characteristics as it has the meaning (identifying a thing as a general phenomenon) and two properly correlated characteristics - identifying a definite and indefinite things.

4.3. Functions and significance of the Article

There are three general functions of the Article: morphological, syntactic and semantic.

1). Morphological function of the Article.

Article is the main formal material morphological index of the Noun.

For example:

*Would you sponge the water from the table? (water is the noun: it is defined by the article which is a formal index of the Noun);

*Would you water the flowers? (water is the verb: it follows after the personal pronoun in the function of the Subject (direct word order in English))

2). Syntactic function of the Article.

It is called the function of the index of a group of the Noun's left limit: Article forms a left limit to the following after it group of words that define or attribute the Noun which takes the limit right position. Article defines the Noun but not obligatory is put directly before the Noun.

For example:

A house; A big house; A big stone house; A comfortable big stone house, etc.

3). Semantic function of the Article.

Semantically the Article can express:

a) a certain identification (a concrete or unique thing);

b) a reference to a class of homogeneous or similar things (any of the class).

The Meaning of identification is the main for the Definite Article the.

The can mainly be used:

a) in the repeated nomination of an object:

For example:

A day was terrific! I will never forget the day.

b) with the limiting attribute:

For example:

The man, who entered, was really nice.

c) when it is stipulated by the situation:

For example:

Not a word was spoken in the parlor.

d) to define unique phenomena:

For example:

The sun, the moon, the sky, the earth, etc.

e) to express the meaning of the whole class of things;

For example:

The dog is a domestic animal.

The reference to a class of homogeneous or similar things (any of the class) creates the Grammatical Meaning of the Indefinite Article (a/an).

A/an can mainly be used:

a) to present a definite object which is not distinguished from the class of homogeneous or similar ones; presents a thing as one from a class:

For example:

You can read a book while waiting.

He is going to be a doctor.

b) to express a generalized meaning which is realized in sentences expressing abstract classification:

For example:

A swarm (any) is more beautiful than a goose (any).

V The Verb

5.1. Grammatical Meaning of the Verb

5.2. Word-formative and word-changing systems of the Verb

5.3. Classification of verbs

5.3.1. Morphological

5.3.2. Semantic

5.3.3. Syntactic

5.4. Grammatical Categories of the English Verb

5.1. Grammatical Meaning of the Verb

The Verb refers to the Categorematic parts of speech:

it has lexical meaning and can take a definite syntactic position and serve some functions of a member of a sentence.

The Verb has its own Grammatical Meaning:

it expresses a dynamic sign which elapses in time, so it has the Grammatical Meaning of action:

* activity (e.g., We study and work);

* state (e.g., He feels happy);

* existence, a sign that an object or thing exists (e.g., A chair is a piece of furniture).

It has a propriety to show elapsed time of an action.

5.2. Word-formative and word-changing systems of the Verb

Word-changing system of the Verb is richer in comparison with other parts of speech.

There are two main means of word-changing of the Verb

Drawing 5.1. Two main means of word-changing of the Verb

Word-formative system is rather poor.

There are three main means of word-formation of the Verb

Drawing 5.2. Three main means of word-formation of the Verb

5.3. Classification of verbs

There are three main classifications of verbs based on the different principles.

5.3.1. Morphological Classification

The classification is based on the Principle of Form (tab. 5.1).

Table 5.1

Scheme of Morphological Classification of Verbs

5.3.2. Semantic Classification

There are three main subclassifications that are based on the Principle of Meaning, both Lexical and Grammatical (tab. 5.2).

Table 5.2

Scheme of the 1st Semantic Classification of Verbs

*There is a problem, a certain confusion:

1) auxiliary verbs can also be Categorematic in accordance with the function they serve in a sentence, for example:

I have a dog (Categorematic). I have bought a dog (auxiliary).

She does a lot to help him (Categorematic). She does not know how to help him (auxiliary).

To be or not to be? (Categorematic). We are the champions (auxiliary, linking verb). They are studying now (auxiliary);

2) there are also some linking verbs Lexical Meanings of which have completely disappeared, for example:

He grew thin (Он похудел). She turned pail (Она побледнела). They grew red (Они покраснели). We felt cold (мы замерзли).

There are also some linking verbs that has kept their Lexical Meanings, for example:

He felt a cold touch (Он почувствовал холодное прикосновение).

A characteristic feature of Linking Verb is that it can correlate with an adjective (which is treated as the main word).

Table 5.3

Scheme of the 2nd Semantic Classification of Verbs

The 3rd version of Semantic Classification includes the following types :

the verbs of feelings and perception which are not used in Continuous (e.g., to feel, to love, to hear, etc.);

the verbs of mental, intellectual, activity (e.g., to think, to cognize, etc.);

the verbs of psychic states which are not used in the Passive Voice (e.g., to understand, to know, to comprehend, etc.);

the verbs of speech (e.g., to speak, to talk, to say, to tell, to proclaim, to declare, etc.);

the verbs of movement and location in the space (e.g., to move, to run, to settle, etc.);

other verbs that can not be classified in this version. They are usually classified in the 1st and 2nd versions (e.g., to find, to have, to complete, etc.).

5.3.3. Syntactic Classification

The classification is based on the Principle of Syntactic Behaviour (tab. 5.3)

Table 5.4

Scheme of Syntactic Classification of Verbs

5.4. Grammatical Categories of the English Verb

General Characteristics of the Categories of the English Verb

I Categories of the Finite Verbs

The Voice (Active, Passive): expresses relations of an action, its agent and object (an agent does an action (the Active Voice); an action is done over the agent or at the object (the Passive Voice)).

For example:

A carpenter made a table (AV). The table is made of silver (PV)

The Mood (Indicative (expresses a statement), Subjunctive/Conditional (expresses a condition), Imperative (expresses an order)).

For example:

Struggle for study enables you to develop (Indicative Mood). You can develop (IM).

If you had warned him beforehand, he would not had made that stupid mistake (Conditional Mood). May you be happy together (Subjunctive Mood). I wish you were here (SM).

Behave yourself, or else! (Imperative Mood) Don't ask such ridiculous questions! (IM)

The Person (a defective category): expresses the relations of a verb and a concrete Person. The formal index (the suffix -s/-es) has been still kept only to express the relations of a verb and the 3rd Person Singular in the Present Tenses.

For example:

She has been living here for ages (BUT I have been…). He lives happily (BUT We live happily)

The Number (a defective category): expresses the relations of a verb and the Singular Number of the 3rd Person in the Present Tenses. The formal index is the suffix -s/-es.

For example: look #3

The verb be also changes its forms in accordance with the Number in Present and Past

Tenses.

For example:

He/she is the best driver I've ever met. You/we/they are the best drivers… I am the best driver…

He/she/it/I was there last year. You/we/they were there last year.

The Kind/the Aspect: specifies a character of action in the elapsed time (expresses a form of committing an action without being named in the word but completing the Lexical Meaning of it).

There are the Perfective Aspect and the Imperfective Aspect.

Grammatically Limited (Transitive) verbs refer to the Perfective Aspect and Unlimited (Intransitive) verbs - to the Imperfective Aspect.

For example, the following verbs refer to:

a) the Perfective Aspect: to become (famous), to catch (a ball), to find (the key)

b) the Imperfective Aspect: to walk, to sleep, to come, etc. She slept, then walked and finally came.

The Time (Tenses) is the leading category and makes the Aspect/the Kind subordinate. The category of Tense expresses relation of an action to a moment of speech (a point of correlation of the Tense-forms). An action can:

Coincide with the moment of speech (Present Time/Tenses);

Precede the moment of speech (Past Time/Tenses);

Be thought as a planned, arranged, supposed after the moment of speech action (Future Time/Tenses)

The Aspect of Grammar Time. In each kind of Time the verb can take the form of an appropriate Aspect:

Indefinite (usually done). The Aspect can express:

a definite finished action

For example:

I met him yesterday.

a number of actions in a sequence

For example:

She gets up, washes, dresses and drinks her coffee at 8 every morning.

not finished action, the attention is concentrated at the fact that the action happened

For example:

She drank coffee noisily.

Continuous (in longevity/duration at the moment of speech). The Aspect emphasizes the significance of the very process and its temporality, duration.

For example:

She was working when you phoned. She is sleeping now, be quiet. We will be flying to Paris on the fifth of October.

Perfect (completed by the moment of speech);The Aspect expresses the completeness of an action and usually emphasizes the result of it.

For example:

She will have graduated from university by the summer, 2010. Look at her! She has cut her hair short!

Perfect Continuous (having been in certain duration up to the moment of speech).The Aspect express the completeness of unrolling an action and emphasizes its longevity.

For example:

We had been listening to him for ages before he finally stopped. You have been doing odds jobs since the morning.

The collision of Time and Aspect results in Grammatical Tense (12 in number).

II Categories of the Non-Finite Verbs

The Infinitive

The Gerund do not refer to a Person but refer to another verb in a Finite Form

The Participle

VI Non-Finite Forms of the Verb

6.1. Terms that are used when Non-Finite Forms are studied

6.2. The Paradigm of the Non-Finite Forms

6.3. Functions and Significance of the Non-Finite Forms

6.1. Terms that are used when Non-Finite Forms are studied

In the tab. 6.1 different names for the Non-finite Forms of the Verb are presented and certain critics towards the attitudes.

Table 6.1

Terms that are used to name Forms of the Verb that do not make agree with Persons

Non-finite Forms are included to the system of the Verb on the ground of the following characteristics:

They keep the Grammatical Meaning of the Verb.

They all can be formed from any verb; the exception is Modals (which have a defective paradigm and neither change nor produce other forms).

They have the Paradigm of forms of the Time and Aspect/Kind of Time and the Paradigm of the Voice Forms.

The model of their government coincides with the one of the Finite Forms (they are also defined by the Adverb and demand the Complement).

There are different number of Non-Finite Forms distinguished in Classical and Traditional Grammar (drawing 6.1).

Drawing 6.1. Classification of Non-finite Forms

6.2. The Paradigm of the Non-Finite Forms

General Paradigm of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb which is grounded on the Traditional Classification is presented in the tab. 6.2.

Table 6.2

The General Paradigm of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb

Infinitive includes 4 general Forms, 2 of which are used in Active and Passive and 2 - only in Active (in sum total - 6):

2 units (Active and Passive) of Simple (Present) Form;

2 units (Active and Passive) of Perfect Form;

I unit (Active) of Continuous Form;

1 unit (Active) of Perfect Continuous Form.

-ing Form (Gerund and Participle I) includes 2 Forms in Active and Passive (in sum total - 4):

2 units (Active and Passive) of Simple Form;

2 units (Active and Passive) of Perfect Form.

There can not be any Continuous (Perfect Continuous) Form for the -ing Form primordially expresses certain longevity and emphasizes the process as it is.

Participle II has only one form in all the cases.

Traditional Paradigm seems to be logic if we classify the forms on the ground of the principle Morphological Form. Though when we analyze the forms being led by the Principle of Syntactic Function, Gerund and Participle should be distinguished for the former can be used in the Sentence as the Predicate and Predicative (syntactic propriety of the Noun) and the latter can be used as a certain Attribute or in Predicative Complexes (propriety of the Adjective and the Verb). Though in such division there, firstly, will be a morphological confusion and, secondly, Past Participle (Participle II) appears to be unique as no other verbal form can be used in such aspect.

6.3. Functions and Significance of the Non-Finite Forms

As for the morphological form there is a subdivision. They are said to be Simple Non-Finite forms and Analytical Non-Finite Forms.

Two morphological forms of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb:

*Simple:

to speak (simple or present infinitive active),

speaking (-ing form, whether simple gerund or present participle),

spoken (past participle);

*Analytical:

to be spoken (simple or present infinitive passive),

to be speaking (continuous infinitive),

to have spoken (perfect infinitive active),

to have been spoken (perfect infinitive passive),

to have been speaking (perfect continuous infinitive),

being spoken (-ing form, whether perfect simple gerund or perfect participle passive),

having spoken (-ing form, whether perfect gerund active or perfect participle active).

Non-Finite Forms can

express different meanings and shades of meanings of the Verb :

*Preceding (forgoing) non-finite activity: Past Participle, Present Participle Passive

For example:

Arrived in the town, he bought his usual weekly local paper (Past Participle).

Being completed, the book was issued (Present Participle Passive).

*Simultaneity: Present Participle (Active, Passive), Simple Gerund (Active, Passive), Simple or Present Infinitive (Active, Passive)

For example:

Reading a book, she was chewing a cheeseburger (Present Participle Active).

Being introduced to the people at the party, she felt no confuse (Present Participle Passive).

Reading means thinking (Simple Gerund Active).

Being heard and understood means successful communication (Simple Gerund Passive).

To understand the message of a book means to be able to get not only the context but also its implication (Present Infinitive Active).

To be listened does not mean to be heard (Present Infinitive Passive).

*Duration: Perfect Continuous Infinitive

For example:

Having been working under the project for a half of the year, he still could not complete it (Perfect Continuous Infinitive).

*Completeness: Perfect Gerund (Active, Passive), Perfect Participle (Active, Passive)

For example:

Having done any work completely makes me satisfied (Perfect Gerund Active).

Having been already asked makes me released (Perfect Gerund Passive).

Having prepared the work, he could enjoy himself (Perfect Participle Active).

Having been asked, he had to give an honest answer (Perfect Participle Passive).

*Activity Look at the preceding examples of Verbals

*Passivity differentially in Active and Passive forms

For example:

Having done any work completely makes me satisfied (Active form).

Having been already asked makes me released (Passive form).

VII Word-combination

7.1. The problem of the definition of Word-combination

7.2. Classification of Word-combinations

7.1. The problem of the definition of Word-combination

Word-combination can be called:

A phrase;

A word cluster / a cluster of words;

A word group / a group of words.

Word-combination and Sentence are regarded to be main unites of Syntax.

The problem of definition of Word-combination concerns the difficulty in giving the positive definition. It is usually defined negatively - what Word-combination does not refer to.

Thus the main negative differential characteristics of Word-combination is the following: Word-combination, in comparison with Sentence (they are compared because both refer to Syntax, not to morphology), does not have the communicative direction.

Definitions of Word-combination:

Theory of Word-combination studies:

Its structure (main and dependent words / elements);

Arrangements of its elements, the principle of arrangement the elements of Word

combination in relation to each other (the order the elements of a word-combinations

take in its structure);

Its forms which can differ (the form a word-combination gets in the result of the

arrangement of its elements);

Syntactic relations between or among the elements of it (peculiarities of syntactic

combinations and relations in different forms of a word-combination).

7.2. Classification of Word-combinations

General Classification. All word-combinations (WC) can be divided into two general groups on the ground of:

Principle of Form (inner structure, grammatical morphological relations and sequence of elements inside of WC);

Principle of Syntactic Function (behaviour of WC and its elements inside of Sentence).

In accordance to these two principles there are two general types of WC:

Endocentric: combination of words where one or any component can substitute the whole combination in a bigger, extended structure which is Sentence;

Exocentric: combination of words where any component can not substitute the whole WC.

For example:

Endocentric WC:

Poor John; in a sentence it can be replaced by one component: John has already recovered.

John and Marry. It is possible to separate the components: John and Marry ran. = John ran. Marry ran.

Exocentric WC:

John ran. It can not be replaced by one component.

In front of John. The same.

Another classification grounded on the Principle of the Inner Structure of WC is presented in the tab. 7.1.

Table 7.1

Classification of Word-combinations grounded on the Principle of its Inner Structure

Meanings of the presented types of WC (tab. 7.1):

I. Nuclear WC is a group of words where one element takes the superior position (becomes the main word). The element is not subordinate to any other element of the WC. Relations in this type of WC are based on the syntactic connection of subordination.

As for the type of subordination there are Regressive or Progressive WC.

1.1. Regressive WC: subordinate element is put on the left from the nucleus (e.g., new books; very young);

1.2. Progressive WC: subordinate element is put on the right from the nucleus (e.g., a book of poems; to see a man, to laugh heartily).

II. Nuclear-free WC is characterized by the absence of a nucleus (main, superior word in a group of words).

As for the need in the context (Sentence) there are two types of WC: Dependent and Independent:

2.1. Independent WC can be identified without additional context (e.g., red and green, ladies and gentlemen).

2.2. Dependent WC demands additional context to be identified as a syntactically organized combination (e.g., wise old (man); (to find) the car gone).

As for the morphological choice of words in WC there can be WC with the words belonging to on morphological class and the words belonging to different classes:

WC of one class: include the words of the same morphological part of speech (e.g., men, women, children; wise, old (man));

WC of different classes (e.g., his old (friend), (to see) him go).

As for the type of syntactic coordination of elements in WC there can be the following relations of the elements:

Relations of mutual dependency (e.g., he laughed);

Coordinative relations (e.g., red and green);

Accumulative relations (e.g., wise old (man)).

Examples of word-combinations (WC) are given in the tab. 7.2.

Table 7.2

Examples of types of word-combinations

VIII Sentence

7.1. Main characteristics of the Sentence, its notion, models of the Sentence.

7.2. Classification of sentences. Structural Approach.

7.3. Semantics of the Sentence. Relevant Model.

7.1. Main characteristics of the Sentence, its notion, models of the Sentence.

Main characteristics of the Sentence are the following:

Syntactic autonomy (the absence of grammatical indices of being included into a bigger structure: in comparison with the Word-combination which has the grammatical indices of being included into the bigger structure - the Sentence).

For example:

Him go - WC, is not an autonomic structure;

I saw him go home - a sentence, autonomic structure which includes the WC given above.

Grammatically closed structure (has only inner syntactic connections, syntactically is not connected with other sentences of the bigger structure which is the Text).

For example:

They moved to another city. It was a new step in their life. Syntactically the two sentences in

She gave him a kiss. He took it and went away. ( both examples are not connected

Integrity / целостность (impossibility to divide the Simple Sentence into the unites with the same indices and functions).

For example:

I gave him a book.

I asked him to bring a book. They are indivisible, inseparable unites. If divided, they become

I was given a book. word-combinations and loose the indices of the Sentence.

Intonation and grammatical completeness (all the necessary syntactic relations are realized).

For example:

I have brought is not a sentence, it is only a nuclear-free mutually dependent WC with

the primary predicativity of the elements of different classes.

I have brought you the good news is a sentence - all the relations are realized, the predicate

expressed by the transitive verb to bring has been completed.

Predicativity (relation of the content of the utterance presented in the form of a sentence to the Reality).

For example:

There is an unforgettable beautiful view seen from the top of the mountain (I see the view, get a motive to process this experience, process it, have some cognitive information - knowledge about the view, want to present the knowledge to another person; for that I cognitively code it into the language signs, coordinate them according to the grammatical rules and finally speak it out in my utterance in the form of a sentence).

The notion of the Sentence: the Sentence is an autonomic unity which expresses a complete thought/idea and realizes all the necessary grammatical relations and connections of the included elements (members of the Sentence).

Model of the Sentence is an etalon /standard scheme or formula which is abstract from a concrete lexical filling and includes necessary classes of words.

There are two general models of the Sentence: relative and structural (Drawing 8.1).

Drawing 8.1. Two general Models of the Sentence

Positional (Structural) model implies the following structured content (Drawing 8.2).

are defined by the following indices:

Syntactic Location;

Morphological Form

Presence or absence of Syntacategorematic words

Drawing 8.2. Scheme of the Structural Model of the Sentence

7.2. Classification of sentences. Structural Approach.

As for the structure Simple Sentence can be presented in the following scheme (tab. 8.1).

Table 8.1

General Structure of the Simple Sentence

Sentences are classified into the following types in accordance with the following principles:

As for the purpose of utterance:

Narrative (Affirmative (утвердительные), Negative (отрицательные)):

All people are created equal.

There are no Jagoes in the world.

Interrogative (вопросительные): Do you believe in Man?

Exclamatory (восклицательные): Life is life!

Imperative (побудительные): Be yourself.

As for the meaning / significance of the Subject:

Personal: People develop through their mistakes.

Impersonal: It is nice world.

Indefinitely Personal: There is love in the world.

As for the presence of the Main Members:

One-member: Night. Summer night.

Two-member: Man lives.

As for the completeness of the Members:

Complete: He is a man now.

Incomplete / Elliptical: Has become a man.

As for the presence of the Secondary Members:

Extended: Life is full of black and white sides.

Non-extended: Life is mine.

7.3. Semantics of the Sentence. Relevant Model.

Words denote objects, things, phenomena and the Sentence denotes events.

Semantic units of the Sentence which are the language correspondences of the elements of an event are called Semantic Roles (tab. 8.2).

Table 8.2

Correspondence of Semantic Roles and their syntactic realisation

For example:

Agent.

1). The man has brought a good news (Subject).

2). The news was brought by the man (Object).

Patience.

The man has brought a good news (Object).

The news was brought by the man (Subject).

Factitive.

The man has wrote a book of poems (Object).

A book of poems was wrote by the man (Subject).

Benefactive.

She gave him reasonable advice (Indirect Object).

He was given reasonable advice.

Instrument.

He wrote the letter with a pen (Indirect Object).

Means.

He wrote the letter thoughtfully (Adverbial Modifier).

Locative.

He wrote the letter in the hotel (Adverbial Modifier).

Semantic Roles in this or that way refer to an action (activity, state, existence). The Action is presented and emphasized. If there is no action, there is no cognitive intention to present it in utterance. Thus, Semantic Roles ground the Role Structure of the Verb. It includes all the possible relations (semantic maximum of the Verb) of a concrete verb with other possible components.

For example:

The Role Structure of the verb to show will include the following Semantic Roles:

Main: Agent (Who?), Patience (What?), Benefactive (To whom?); Subordinate: Instrument (Whit what?), Means (How?), Locative (Where?).

He quickly showed her a wound on his left shoulder with the help of his right hand.

He (Agent) quickly (Means) showed her (Benefactive) a wound (Patience) on his left shoulder (Locative) with the help of his right hand (Instrument).

Schematically it (Role Structure) will be presented in the following way:

show [ - Agent, Benefactive, Patience]

In accordance with an event of Reality which is presented in utterance there is an appropriate selection of Semantic Roles of the Verb, which creates a definite Semantic Configuration of a sentence. In the basis of the Sentence there is a certain Semantic Configuration (an organization of a number of semantic roles and the meaning of an action). Semantic Configuration presents semantic minimum of the Sentence.

For example:

The Semantic Configuration of the following sentence will include the following Semantic Roles:

The man cut glass with a diamond.

The man (Agent) cut glass (Patience) with a diamond (Instrument).

Schematically it (Semantic Configuration) will be presented in the following way:

{cut, Agent, Patience, Instrument}

PRACTICE I

Task 1: join the given language elements thus to form sуntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between or among them.

Has been cleaning, meaning, an, has been peeled, beauty, they, girl, potato, he, meaningful, slowly, cleaned, she, the, is peeling, oranges, flat, quickly, we, definitely, to clean, orange, teenager, a, fresh, boy, adult, means, beautiful, have been peeled

For example:

The words 'boy', 'girl', 'teenager', 'adult' form a paradigmatic class of nouns that name people of different age and sex.

The words 'means', 'meaning', 'meaningful', 'meant' create a paradigm of forms of the word 'mean'.

The combination 'an adult meant potato' form syntagmatic relations of the mentioned words.

Task 2: characterize the given in the task №1 language elements as for their Grammar Meanings, Forms and Categories.

For example:

Has been peeled: can be characterized with:

a) the Grammar Meaning of the Verb (it expresses an action);

b) the Grammar Form of the Present Perfect Simple (have+been+V3), 3rd Person Singular (has), Active Voice (be+V3);

c) the Grammar Categories of the Tense (Present from the choice of Past, Present and Future), Aspect (Perfect Simple from the choice of Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple and Perfect Continuous) and Voice (Passive from the choice of Active and Passive).

TEST I (teacher's copy)

The task: match an item from the left column with its explanation given in the right one.

TEST I (S)

The task: match an item from the left column with its explanation given in the right one.

PRACTICE I

Main grammar notions

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Grammar categories

Task 1: join the given language elements thus to form syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between or among them.

Has been cleaning, meaning, an, has been peeled, beauty, they, girl, potato, he, meaningful, slowly, cleaned, she, the, is peeling, oranges, flat, quickly, we, definitely, to clean, orange, teenager, a, fresh, boy, adult, means, beautiful, have been peeled

For example:

The words 'boy', 'girl', 'teenager', 'adult' form a paradigmatic class of nouns that name people of different age and sex.

The words 'means', 'meaning', 'meaningful', 'meant' create a paradigm of forms of the word 'mean'.

The combination 'an adult meant potato' form syntagmatic relations of the mentioned words.

Task 2: characterize the given in the task №1 language elements as for their Grammar Meanings, Forms and Categories.

For example:

Has been peeled: can be characterized with:

a) the Grammar Meaning of the Verb (it expresses an action);

b) the Grammar Form of the Present Perfect Simple (have+been+V3), 3rd Person Singular (has), Active Voice (be+V3);

c) the Grammar Categories of the Tense (Present from the choice of Past, Present and Future), Aspect (Perfect Simple from the choice of Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple and Perfect Continuous) and Voice (Passive from the choice of Active and Passive).

1. Other Language Signs

2. Signs as marks (linguistic forms of designation)

3. References (elements of objective reality)

4. Notions

5. The speaking

Two types of

Theoretical Grammar

Two types of Grammar

Two types of Grammar

Structural (Formal)

Semantic

Language elements are related

Syntagmatically

Paradigmatically

ARTICLE

DEFINITE

INDEFINITE

ARTICLE

Is a definite

Syntacategorematic word

Is

a peculiar morpheme of the Noun

Two general models of the Sentence

Structural

Relative

Positions

Structurally stipulated

Facultative

Obligatory

Valently stipulated

Types of languages

as for their proprieties to change grammatical forms

Analytical

Synthetic