7. Study of Parts of Speech

POS - lexico-grammatical categories. In modern linguistics POS are discriminated on the basis of use of three criteria:

1. semantic (meaning) - common to all words of a given class and constituting its essence

2. form - morphological characteristics

3. function - syntactic role of words

Henry Sweet was the first who outlined these three features but neglected them in the classification of function in the sentence:

1. declinable - that is capable of inflections (Noun - pronoun functioning as a noun, numerals, gerund functioning as a noun; Adjective - pronouns, adjectives, numerals, adjective particles; Verb - finite verbs, non-finite verbs, verbials that don't express predication but keep all the other meaning of the verb)

1. indeclinable - incapable of inflections (adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, articles)

Otto Jespersen paid attention to form:

1. declinable - Substantives (also proper names), adjectives, pronouns (also numerals and pronominal adverbs), verbs (also verbials)

2. indeclinable - Particles (adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections)

Randolph Quirk worked out a classification based on semantic principle. POS are singled out and classified due to generalizing grammatical meaning:

1. objects - have the same semantic nature but differ on the level of form (they can be personified and non-personified)

2. characteristics - express certain functional notion (intensifiers - generally particles; determinators- demonstrative pronouns and articles; hesitations words; autoclitics - self-describing words)

Charles Fries used structural approach employing methods of distribution and substitution. According to this method POS were singled out from the flow of speech according to their structural characteristics. He classified words into POS according to the position they have. All words that could occupy the same position in the English sentence must belong to the same POS. He employed the following testing frames:

A. The concert was good

B. The clerk remembered the tax

C. The team went there

Using them, Fries singled out 4 classes of notional words. Class 1 - concert; Class 2 - remembered; Class 3 - good; Class 4 - there. Lexical meaning can be separated from structural meaning.

There are also 15 groups of functional words: Group A - determiners; Group В - modal verbs; Group С - negative particle "not"; Group D - adverbs of degree, coordinating conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliary verb "do", introductory "there", interrogative pronouns, subordinating conjunctions.

Academician Vinogradov became the developer of the traditional approach. All three components are included into his classification that divides POS into notional and functional.

1. Notional: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, numeral

2. Functional: article, preposition, conjunction, interjection, particle, modal words.

But some Russian scholars outlined modal verbs as a non-traditional POS: modal words and state words.

Modal Words:

1. Syntactic function - parenthesis

2. Meaning - modal words render the speaker's attitude to speech, show the evaluation of the relation between action and reality

3. Form - formal characteristics are not essential

Modal words can be classified according to the semantics:

1. M W of necessity (of course)

2. Of probability, expressing certainty (certainly, surely)

3. Expressing doubt (perhaps, maybe)

4. So-called adverbs (really)

State Words were first singled out by Ilyish. They express the meaning of state and function as a part of predicative after the auxiliary verbs (asleep, awake). Noun + state word = attributive (a man asleep in his chair). Ilyish also thinks that the following words belong to the category of state words (He is at school. It's a pity).

2. State Words Ilyish was the first who noticed them. Meaning of sate. Function as a part of predicate after the auxiliary verbs (asleep, awake). Noun + state word = attributives (a man asleep in his chair). Ilyish also thinks that the following words belong to the category of state words (He is at school. It's a pity)

Notional POS: noun, adjective, verb.

Functional: articles, demonstrative, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection