Название: Теоретическая грамматика английского языка (Theoretical Grammar of the English language)
Автор: М. Науменко
Издательство: Южный Федеральный Университет
Жанр: Учебная литература
isbn: 9785927526116
isbn:
Some grammatical categories exist only in a certain class. They are closed within this word class. They are immanent categories (constant) – the verbal categories of tense, voice, mood. Other categories may transfer from one class to another and reflect in it. They are called reflective categories. They are: gender, number. The category of number of nouns is reflected in the verb: boy goes – boys go. In Russian the category of number is reflected in the verb and the adjective.
The grammatical category presents a unity of form and meaning. A set of grammatical forms expressing a categorial function constitutes a paradigm. The paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms in a category is exposed by the so-called grammatical opposition. See the example of aspect.
But sometimes a weak member of the opposition may turn onto a marked one. Example: He knocked, and knocked, and knocked. This is the stylistically marked member, as the idea of continuity is rendered, but by non-continuous forms.
The opposition may be defined as a generalized correlation of language forms, by means of which a certain function is expressed. The member of the opposition must possess two types of features: common features, and differentiating features. Because of common features they are included into one opposition. Example: in the category of aspect the common feature of the opposition of the continuous and non-continuous forms is to express the character of an action. One of the members of the opposition shows the action in progress; the other presents it as a fact – these are the differential features. They constitute the function of the whole opposition (as that of being able to distinguish between the character of an action).
The oppositional theory was originally formulated as a phonological theory by representatives of the Prague School. The method of oppositions has been successfully extended to grammar and semantics. Three main qualitative types of oppositions were established: privative (отрицательная); gradual (постепенная); equipollent (равная по силе).
By the number of contrasted oppositions they were divided into 1) binary, 2) more than binary. The most important for analysis is the binary privative type of opposition. The binary privitive opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature (mark), while the other is characterized by the absence of this feature. The member in which the feature is present is called the marked, or the strong, positive member; the member in which the feature is absent, is called the unmarked, weak, negative member. Example 1: I study (weak member – non-past) – I studied (strong member – past). Example 2: a bird (weak member- non-plurality) – birds (strong member – plurality).
The gradual opposition exists only on semantic level. It’s formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not only by the presence or absence of a feature, but by the degrees of it. Example: the degrees of comparison in adjectives: strong-stronger-strongest.
The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive features. Example: to be-forms: am – is – are – they are equal in value.
The meaning of the weak member of the privative opposition is more general and abstract as compared with the meaning of the strong member, which is more definite and concrete.
In various contextual conditions one member of the opposition can be used in the position of the other. This phenomenon is called oppositional reduction, or oppositional substitution. E.g.: Tonight we start for London.-the weak member– Present tensereplaced the strong one- the Future tense. Such case is called neutralization of oppositions. E.g.: She is constantly grumbling. – It’s an exaggeration, not a continuous process. Here a strong member is used in the meaning of the weak member for stylistic purposes. This kind of oppositional reduction is called transposition (Blokh, 2000).
The means employed for building up member forms of categorial oppositions are traditionally divided into: 1.synthetical, 2. analytical. So the grammatical forms themselves are classed into synthetical and analytical grammar forms. Synthetical grammar forms are realized by inner morphemic composition of the word. Analytical forms are built by a combination of at least two words, one of which is an auxiliary, and the other – a notional word. Synthetical grammar forms may be:
– Inner-inflectional: goose-geese,
– Outer-inflectional:boy-boys,
– Suppletive: good-better-best, is -was, were-been.
The first type is not productive in Modern Indo-European languages, it is used in English in forms of irregular verbs: keep-kept-kept, forms of singular and plural: man-men.
Suppletivity is not productive either. It is based on the correlation of different roots: be-was, were-been.
Outer-inflectional forms belong to the productive means of affixation. There are quite a few grammar suffixes which are used to build up the number and case forms of the noun; the person, number, tense, participial and gerundial forms of the verb; forms of comparison of adjectives and adverbs.
The analytical grammar forms are traditionally considered to be a combination of an auxiliary and a basic word, and it’s one of the most typical ways of form-building.
Module 2
Grammatical Classes of Words. Parts of Speech. Principles of differentiation
The entire vocabulary of the English language, like in all Indo-European languages, is divided into certain lexico-grammatical classes, called parts of speech ( Ivanova, 1989).
Prof. A.I.Smirnitsky calls these classes of words “lexico-grammatical categories”. The term “part of speech” is purely traditional and conventional, it was introduced in Ancient Greece. The theoretical study of language in the history of science began with the attempts to identify and describe grammatical classes of words called "parts of speech". The fi rst classifications were made by ancient philosophers of Ancient Greece. They were hardly based on any clear criteria, it was a natural classification reflecting the result of the cognitive activity of a person. The grammatical system of European languages was formed on the basis of the grammatical teaching of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
The existence of such lexico-grammatical classes has never been a debatable issue among the linguists, although there are different views on the principles of classifications. The representative of the English scientific grammar H. Sweet stressed the need to take into account the meaning, form and function of words, but he emphasized the priority of the form over the other criteria. The representative of structuralism Ch.Fries emphasized the priority of the function (syntactic criterion).
In modern linguistics parts of speech are also differentiated either by a number of criteria, or by a single criterion.
Traditional classification
The polydifferential ("traditional") classification of words is based on the three criteria: semantic, formal, and functional. The semantic criterion presupposes the evaluation of the generalized (categorial) meaning of the words of the given part of speech. The formal criterion provides for the exposition of all formal features (specific inflectional and derivational) of all the lexemic subsets of a particular part of speech. The functional criterion concerns the typical syntactic functions of a part of speech. Contractedly the set of these criteria is referred to as "meaning, form, function" (Blokh, 2000).
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