1. System and Structure

The systemic approach to language leads to the recognition of the systemic nature of human language. The systemic features are charac­teristic of the language as a whole and of the elements making up the whole.

The two notions "system" and "structure" are usually applied in the internal analysis of language.

The "system" is a synthesizing notion which implies the characteri­zation of a complex object as a whole made up of separate parts. Language as a system is characterized as an orderly arrangement of cognate elements interrelated in the whole. The elements of the system are identified as components of the multitude. They possess the systemic value as the members of the given system which can be conceived through the establishment of the systemic relations, paradigmatic and syntagmatic, between the elements of the system because systemic components have no value apart from the system.

The structural view on language as a structure does not contradict the principles of the systemic approach to complex objects. This is an alternative but non-contradictory consideration of language with the focus on the mode of its internal organization. The notion "structure" which is basic for structural approach implies hierarchical layering of the parts in constituting the integrated whole. Language is not a pile of elements, it is a perfect constitution of the language units which are integrated in the structural whole.

Even the earliest grammatical theorists recognized the systemic nature of grammar, but the scientifically sustained and consistent principles of systemic approach to language and its grammar were essentially developed in the linguistics of the twentieth century, mainly in the works of the famous Russian scholar Beaudoin de Courtenay and the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.

2. Structural levels of the Language

Language is a structural layering and the structure of language is conventionally segmented into a number of structural levels. The levels of language are not independent layers, there are no gaps in the level structure of language because of the integrant properties of the level units: phonemes are the integrants of morphemes, morphemes are the integrants of words, etc. Naturally, there are transition and boundary cases.

By common tradition the three main structural levels are distin­guished in the structure of language which are represented by the corresponding level-units: phonological, morphological and syntactical levels.

The phonological level is the lowest language level. The phoneme is the phonological level unit which represents the features of the elements of the level and displays the features of the distinctive units of language.

The morphological level is the second of the main structural levels of language. There are two units at the morphological level which represent the two morphological sublevels: the Morpheme and the Word. The morpheme is the lowest meaningful unit of language and the word is the main nominative (naming) unit of language. Mor­phemes occur as meaningful parts of the word.

Morphemes are the integrants of words and there are elements which are intermediate between mor­phemes and words. These are known as "word-morphemes" because they display the features of both the word and the morpheme, they look like words but behave as morphemes. There are word-morphemes of lexical and of grammatical relevance. The first of these change the status and the meaning of the word (to give in, to bring up). The grammatical word-morphemes are of form-derivational value, they are auxiliary elements with the help of which analytical grammatical forms are derived (be + V-ing, have + V-en).

The syntactical level of language is the highest stage in the hierar­chy of language units. The syntactical level units are the highest struc­tural units of language which possess communicative value as the distinguishing feature of the elements of that level. The sentence is in fact the main communicative unit of language and it is the main syntactic unit too.

But there are several syntactic units which are hierarchically arranged at the level. Due to the law of hierarchy which governs the arrangement of the units in the structure of language and at its separate levels, the two sublevels are commonly distinguished at the syntactical level: the level of the Phrase and that of the Sentence. The phrase or word-group is the dependent syntactic unit distinguished as part of the sentence only.

Above the phrasemic level lies the level of sentences, the so-called proposemic level.

Its peculiar character lies in the fact that it expresses predication, i.e. shows the relations between the denoted event to reality, namely it shows whether this event is real or unreal, desirable, necessary, true or false, etc.

The sentence is produced by the speaker in the process of speech as a concrete, situationally bound utterance. At the same time it enters the system of language by its syntactic pattern which, as all the other lingual unit-types, has both syntagmatic and paradigmatic characteristics.

The sentence is not the highest unit of language in the hierarchy of levels. Above the proposemic level there is still another one, namely, the level of sentence-groups, "supra-sentential constructions".

The supra-sentential construction is a combination of separate sentences forming a textual unity. Such combina­tions are subject to regular lingual patterning making them into syntactic elements. The supra-sentential construction com­monly coincides with the paragraph. Many linguists are inclined to regard the sphere of supersyntax as the domain of text linguistics which deals with the text-composition and with forming up the texts grammatically and stylistically.

3. Types of Meaning in Grammar

The morpheme is the elementary meaningful part of the word. It is built up by phonemes, so that the shortest morphemes include only one phoneme.

E.g.: ros-y, come-s [-zl.

The morpheme expresses abstract, "significative" mean­ings which are used as constituents for the formation of more concrete, "nominative" meanings of words.

The third level in the segmental lingual hierarchy is the level of words, or lexemic level. The word, as different from the morpheme, is a directly naming (nominative) unit of language: it names things and their relations. Since words are built up by morphemes, the shortest words consist of one explicit morpheme only.

Cf.: man; will; but; I; etc.

The next higher level is the level of phrases (word-groups), or phrasemic level.

To level-forming phrase types belong combinations of two or more notional words. These combinations, like sepa­rate words, have a nominative function, but they represent the referent of nomination as a complicated phenomenon, be it a concrete thing, an action, a quality, or a whole situa­tion.

Cf., a picturesque village; to start with a jerk; extremely difficult; the unexpected arrival of the chief.

This kind of nomination can be called "polynomination", as different from "mononomination" effected by separate words.

Above the phrasemic level lies the level of sentences, or "proposemic" level.

The peculiar character of the sentence ("proposeme") is determined by the fact that, naming a certain situation, or situational event, it expresses predica­tion, i.e. shows the relation of the denoted event to reality. Namely, it shows whether this event is real or unreal, desir­able or obligatory, stated as a truth or asked about, etc. In this sense, as different from the word and the phrase, the sentence is a predicative unit.

Cf.: to receive — to receive a letter — Early in June I received a letter from Peter

Thus, the functions of level units are different:

the function of the phoneme is differential,

the function of the morpheme is significative,

the func­tion of the word is nominative,

the function of the sentence is predicative

As different from these, morphemes are iden­tified only as significative components of words, phrases pres­ent polynominative combinations of words, and supra-sen­tential constructions mark the transition from the sentence to the text.

4. Nuclear and Periphery

The system of language displays systemic characteristics in the mode of its organization. As any systemic organization the system of language has the core /nuclear/ and the periphery. The core of the system is represented by the stock of those elements which possess the typologically differential features characteristic of the elements of the given system. The peripheral elements have weakened differential features and may be migrants from other systemic arrangements. Some linguists consider "sphericity" and "nucleation" to be the mode of the language organization.

Accordingly, the system of lan­guage is parted into separate spheres or subsystems each of which displays systemic characteristics too: Grammar, Lexicon, Phonetics. From this point of view the grammar of the language is the system of grammatical devices used by the language for providing the deriva­tion of the elements and their organization in the system of language. There are several grammatical studies of such orientation. First come Derivational grammatical theories aiming at the esta­blishment and analysis of the systems of those grammatical devices which are used in the processes of paradigmatic and syntagmatic de­rivation of linguistic units. E.g. Derivational morphology is the theory of Word-building which establishes the system of word-building devices and studies the process of the word-derivation on the basis of derivational patterns. /Derivational theories in Syntax are commonly defined as Generative grammars due to their goal to expose the regularities in the generation or derivation of syntactic units, of sentences in particular/.

The principle of sphericity presupposes the establishment of diffe­rent spheres in the system of language. This is only one way possible in the internal analysis of language which is based on the analytical procedure of "partition" or "segmentation". The ways and directions of partition predetermine the models, methods and the domains of corresponding grammatical studies.

Part 2

Tasks and study questions

1. Comment on the following statements:

a) “Each system is a structured set of elements related to one another by a common function.” (Blokh, ibid., p.11)

b) “The systemic nature of grammar is probably more evidnt than that of any other sphere of language, since grammar is responsible for the very organization of informative content of utterances” (Blokh, ibid., p.11)

2. Enumerate the main characteristics of the language viewed

   1. as a structure;

   2. as a system

and analyze their significance for linguistic study.

3. Do you consider the description of the structural levels of the language consistent and valid? Provide your reasons.

4. Compare the nature/essence of lexical and grammatical meaning. Give examples.

5. Analyze the information about nucleus and periphery as they are defined in linguistics, think of examples of your own.

Part 3

Sentence Parsing