Function (grammatical) words

Lecture 8

Outline:

Closed classes of words in the system of parts of speech.

Particle.

Conjunction.

Preposition.

Modal word.

Interjection.

Closed classes of words in the system of parts of speech

Function words Structural words

Carry primarily grammatical (rather than lexical) meaning

Fulfil mainly syntactic and structural functions

Non-self-dependent (synsematic), i.e. cannot be isolated from other words

Function words belong to the closed classes of words in grammar in that it is very uncommon to have new function words created in the course of speech.

Basic function words in English

Article / determiner

Preposition

Conjunction

Particle

Modal word

Interjection

Pronouns (foreign linguistics)

Term synonyms

Function word

Structural word

Particle (a catch-all term in foreign linguistics)

Function words are

among the most frequently occurring words in languages.

For example, a frequency ranking for English word forms begins as follows:

the, of, and, to, a, in, that, it, is, was, I, for, on, you…

(WordCount website)

Particle

Lat. Particula ‘small part’

Wide-reaching term, including all indeclinable word classes, such as adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions and other particle classes such as scalar particles, discourse markers, modal particles, negation, interjections.

In a narrower sense, all invariant words which are not adverbs, conjunctions or prepositions, i.e. scalar particles, discourse markers, modal particles and interjections.

(H.Bussman Routledge Dic. of Language and Linguistics)

scalar particles

Indicate alternative degrees that are implicit.

Only, also, already, still

Only Jacob is coming.

Implies the exclusion of other background people known from the context

Russian linguistics: intensifiers

Scalar particles

Statements modified by scalar particles are generally presuppositions, cases of conventional implicature:

I also read the book.

Presupposition: Other people read the book.

discourse markers/particles

Linguistic devices that help structure discourse:

a) in turn-taking: well, you know, right?, okay

b) in topic management: concerning X, by the way, so;

c) speaker’s attitude: oddly, personally, fortunately, indeed, frankly;

d) organizing discourse structure: first, then, finally, anyway

modal particles

Fit the content of an utterance to the context of speech

Perhaps we’ve met before.

Particles in phrasal verbs

Particles = adverb-cum-preposition / postpositional element attached to simple English verbs, by becoming integral to their meaning:

Take up, sit down

Other particles

Not

To (+ infinitive)

Definition

B.A.Ilyish:

A word (sometimes phrase) giving a special prominence to the notion expressed by a word/phrase, or singling it out in some other way.

Russian Classification

Semantico-syntactic classes

Grammatical features

Particles, unlike other parts of speech, have no definite and constant syntactic position.

He has a Mercedes, also.

He also loves to paint.

I am also on a diet.

Also, the weather was uncooperative.

Combine with: N, V, Pron, Num, Adj, Adv

No question can be asked to them; they cannot be used as answers (weak lexical meaning)

Part of the sentence?

Part of the sentence: parenthesis?

His latest novel is perhaps his best.

Their omission changes the meaning of the sentence: (only) she was dear to my heart.

An element of the part of the sentence (but often at a distance: I have only met him twice)

Stands outside the structure of the sentence.

Fusion of not

Do not > don’t

Cannot

Shan’t, won’t, don’t cannot be divided into morphemes

Particles vs. adverbs

The time is nearly two o’clock. (particle)

The time is very nearly two o’clock. (adv.)

The time is almost two o’clock.

*The time is very almost two o’clock.

=> synonymous words belong to different parts of speech (B.Ilyish)

Conjunction

Connector

Definition

Class of words whose function is to connect words, phrases, or sentences syntactically, while characterizing logical (semantic) relations between those elements.

Express a variety of logical relations between phrases, clauses and sentences (equal or subordinate relations).

The use of a conjunction is never predicted by any preceding word.

Sometimes conjunctions can lose their connecting function: