9. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in the language.

Modern linguistics stresses the systemic character of language and its constituent parts. The main idea is that language is a system of signs which are closely interconnected and interdependent & give expression to human thoughts.

Lingual units stand to one another in two fundamental types of relations: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. They exist on all levels of the language. Syntagmatic relations are linear relations between units in a segmental sequence. These relations can be described as relations “in the presence”. The surgeon did everything without the help of his assistant. In this sentence syntagmatically connected are the words and word-groups: the surgeon, did everything, the surgeon did everything, did everything without the help, the help of his assistant. Morphemes within the words are also connected syntagmatically: every|thing, assist|ant. Phonemes are connected syntagmatically within morphemes and words.

“Syntagma” is the combination of two words or word-groups one of which is modified by the other. There are 4 main types of notional syntagmas: predicative (subject + predicate), objective (a verb + its object), attributive (a noun + its attribute), adverbial (word and its modifier).

The other type of relations, opposed to syntagmatic, is called paradigmatic. These relations find their expression in the fact that each lingual unit is included in a set or series of connections based on different formal and functional properties. Paradigmatic relations cannot be directly observed in utterances, that is why they are referred to as relations “in absence”. In phonology such series are build up by correlations of phonemes on the basis of vocality or consonantism, voicedness or devoicedness, the factor of nasalization, length. In vocabulary: on the correlation of synonymy and antonymy, on various topical connections, on different word-building dependencies. In grammar: grammatical numbers and cases, persons and tenses,etc. Paradigmatic relations coexist with syntagmatic relations, some sort of syntagmatic connection is necessary for the realization of any paradigmatic series.

10. The pronoun. The numeral.

The treatment of the pronoun presents some difficulties. In fact, some pronouns share essential peculiarities of nouns (e.g. he), others have much in common with adjectives (e. g. which).

Form: Some pronouns have the category of number (singular and plural), e. g. this, while others have no such category, e. g. somebody. Some pronouns have the category of case (he — him, somebody — somebody's), while others have none (something).

Function: Some pronouns combine with verbs (he speaks, find him), while others can also combine with a following noun (this room). In the sentence, some pronouns may be the subject (he, what) or the object, while others are the attribute (my). Pronouns can be predicatives too. The traditional classification of pronouns into personal, possessive, interrogative, indefinite, relative, etc is mainly based on the semantic point of view, but it does not characterise pronouns from a grammatical side.

Some pronouns distinguish between 2 cases:

Nominative (subjective): I he she (it) we (you) they who

Objective: me him her (it) us (you) them whom

A certain number of pronouns have a different case system; they distinguish between a common & a genitive case, in the same way as the nouns (somebody, anybody, one, another). All other pronouns have no category of case (something, anything, nothing, everything, some, any, no, my, his, etc.; mine, hers, etc.).

Not all pronouns possess the grammatical category of number. It is found in the pronouns this/ these, that / those, other / others (if not used before a noun). As to the pronouns I / we; he, she, it / they, it must be stated that there is no grammatical category of number here. We & they are not a form of the pronouns I, he, she, or it, but separate words. There is no grammatical category of number either in the pronouns my / our; his, her, its / their, mine / ours; his, hers / theirs.

There are no other grammatical categories in the English pronoun: there is no category of gender. The pronouns he, she, it, and also the pronouns his, her, us; his, hers; himself, herself, itself, are all separate words.

There are many examples in English pronouns used to express different meanings in different contexts. That demonstrative and that relative; who interrogative and who relative; which interrogative and which relative; myself (and the other self-pronouns) reflexive and intensive. The limits of the pronoun class are somewhat difficult to define.

Numerals. The treatment of numerals presents some difficulties, too. The so-called cardinal numerals (one, two) are somewhat different from the so-called ordinal numerals (first, second). Meaning. Numerals denote either number or place in a series. Form. Numerals are invariable. Function. Both cardinal and ordinal numerals combine with a following noun (three rooms, third room); occasionally a numeral follows a noun (soldiers three, George the Third). In a sentence, a numeral most usually is an attribute (three rooms, the third room), but it can also be subject, predicative, and object: Three of them came in time; "We Are Seven"; I found only four.