1. Systemic relations in language: paradigmatic and syntagmatic.

There are two types of systemic relations through which the systemic value of linguistic units is realized – paradigmatic (PR) and syntagmatic (SR).

1.PR is established between units of the same class, which is why linguistic units that stand in PR cannot be used in speech at a time, they can only substitute one another.

PR is regularly realized through the opposition.

Four types of pr

1. PR₁ or semantic PR, established between linguistic units that have some semantic invariant feature, common to all of them:

she, girl, woman, Olga, my neighbor etc.

2. PR₂, or formal PR, established between members of the formal opposition: Ask: :asked

ᴓ : :ed verb in the past tense.

3. PR₃, or functional PR, established between different linguistic units that perform one and the same syntactic function:

the pronoun of different classes.

4. PR₄, or semantic-functional PR, established between linguistic units similar in their semantics and functioning. Linguistic units that go into this type of PR make up distributional classes, fillable for a certain syntactic position in the sentence.

Semantic-functional paradigm of the object:

N+V+ N-word – I like the film.

N-phrase – I like the film seen yesterday.

N-clause – I like the film that I saw yesterday.

2. Syntagma is a linear arrangement of linguistic units.

Being contrastive in nature, SR is established between linearly ordered linguistic units.

Two major types of SR are differentiated – combinational and non-combinational. The latter, found only in the text, are further classified into the following three main types:

Anaphoric, or left-hand directed;

Cataphoric, or right-hand directed;

Diaphoric, or both-way directed.

Combinational SR: is further classified into the following two types:

Configurational, due to which the constituents refer in parallel to one and the same basic element:

He told me that…, and that…., and that… .

Constructional, which is of great value for the science of grammar, as due to it all main types of syntactic constructions are formed.

Constructional SR is further classified into the following four types:

• SR of co-ordination, or conjunction that unites linguistic units equal in rank and relatively independent. Such units are called conjuncts.ladies and gentlemen

• SR of subordination, or adjunction that unites an independent linguistic units, called the head, with one or more dependent linguistic unit(s), called the adjuncts: to read books

• SR of adnection, established between the linguistic units cognate in nature but not equal in rank or/and status. This type of SR is intermediary between conjunction and adjunction.

Woman student, day-break

• SR of predication, or interdependence, due to which predicative constructions are formed:

I want you to read it – where the complex object is a predicative construction.

2. Lexical and grammatical aspects of the word. Types of grammatical meaning.

As the word is a bilateral unit, it obligatory has two planes – the plane of content and the plane of expression.

The content plane of the word is represented by the semanteme, which is a complex of two meanings – lexical (studied by Lexicology) and grammatical (studied by Grammar)

The gram. Meaning of the word, being ultimately abstract and general, does not depend on the lexical meaning of the word.

The gram.meaning may be of the following two main types:

Explicit, or categorical, which is always morphologically marked and points to a definite gram.category.

Implicit, which is not morphologically marked and is regularly classified into the following two types:

1. General, or the part-of-speech meaning, due to which the word is referred to the corresponding part of speech.

2. Dependent, which, being dependent on the explicit gram.meaning, restricts the realizitaion of the corresponding gram.category:

Countableness transitivity

N Uncountableness intransitivity

Animateness V terminativeness

Inanimateness non-terminativeness

3. The notion of the grammatical category.

The opposition is defined as a generalized correlation of two or more linguistic forms through which a certain function is expressed.

Book::books (the opposition of number)

The opposition between two reciprocally exclusive form classes is called the gram.category.

The gram.category is never represented by only one form, there should be at least two different forms opposed to one another.

Besides paradigmatical way of realization (through the opposition), the gram.category may also be realized syntagmatically – within linearly ordered linguistic units:

No news is good news – the gram.meaning of number is realized through subject-predicate agreement.

As a rule, gram.categories vary from language to language. However, there are universal gram.categories.

The verbal gram.categories of tense and mood are universal, while the gram.category of gender varies from language to language.

4. The noun as a part of speech. Grammatical categories of the English noun.

The noun is a part of speech with the general categorical meaning of substance. Giving names to all objects and phenomena, the noun is the main nominative part of speech.

To the formal features of the noun the following are usually referred:

• The specific word-building distinctions – typical derivation suffixes, compound stem models and patterns of conversion;

• Its gram.categories, two of which – number and case – are commonly recognized, and the other two – gender and article determination are still highly disputable.

The noun is classified into a number of subclasses that make up five oppositional pairs.

Noun

Proper Common

Human Animate Concrete

Non-human Inanimate Abstract

Countable

Uncountable

As the noun has the categorical meaning of substance, it regularly performs two substantive functions in the sentence – the function of the subject and the function of the object. Besides, the noun in English can perform some other syntactic functions, not connected with its substantive meaning – the attributive, adverbial and predicative functions.