42. The sentence. Major aspects. The distributive model. The transformational model.

The sentence is the main object of syntax as it represents a certain connection of words according to a definite syntactic pattern and serves to some communicative purpose It doesn't exist in the system of language as a ready-made unit It is created by the speaker in the process of communication, so this is not a unit of language, but a unit of speech. Being a unit of speech the sentence intonationally denoted. Intonation separates one sentence from another and it plays an important part in the sentence.

The sentence is characterised by its specific category of predication which establishes the relation of the named phenomena to reality. Namely it is the feature of predication that identifies the sentence as opposed to any other combination of words.

The centre of predication in a sentence of verbal type is a finite verb which expresses predicative meanings by its categorial forms, first of all, the categories of tense and mood. But also other elements of the sentence can establish the connection between the named object and reality intonation, word-order, different functional words.

In the predicative sentences also included such sentence-meaning as the purpose of communication (declaration, interrogation, inducement, modal probability, affirmation and so on).

But the general semantic context of the sentence can't be reduced to predicative meaning only. To establish connection between some phenomenon and reality it is necessary to name the phenomenon itself This is achieved in the sentence with the help of nominative function. The sentence performs two functions.(1. Nominative, 2. Predicative)

And predication can be interpreted as referring the nominative content of the sentence to reality The definition of the sentence as combination of groups of words is often criticized on the ground that there exist one-word sentences. But it doesn't contradicts the general idea of the sentence as a special syntactic combination of words.

The sentence and the word may wholly coincide. A word-sentence as a unit of the text is different from a word-lexeme as they belong to different levels of language. The word-lexeme is an element of word-stock.

The word-sentence being a predicative utterance-unit makes up a certain situation expressing all semantic complex and performing all functions inherent to the sentence. Also we stated above that a sentence performs a nominative function like a word. But there is a profound difference between the nominative function of a word and nominative meaning of a sentence. The nominative meaning of a sentence reflects a processual situation or event. It includes a certain process as its dynamic center and an agent (doer) of an action, the object of the process and also the various conditions and circumstances of realization of the process. As we have said the sentence as a product of speech and being a unit of communication it has its own dynamics. The utterance here is divided into two sections: 1. the theme, 2. the rheme)

Oppositional relations of the sentence level are most obvious in the following: 1. Peter plays. - Does Peter play? 2. Peter plays. - Peter doesn't play. 3. Peter plays. - Peter will (must, may) play.

Correlation in the 1^st gives the opposition "affirmation - question". In the 2^nd: affirmation - integration". In the 3 it gives the opposition "indicative - potential"