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Файл:Теоретическая грамматика = THEORETICAL GRAMMAR. Учебное пособие
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Two or more morphemes may sound the same but be basically different,
in such case we say that they are homonyms. Thus, the -er morpheme
indicating the doer of the action as in writer has a homonym – the
morpheme -er denoting the comparative degree of adjectives, as in longer.
There are cases in which we may talk about zero morphemes, that is, the
absence of a morpheme may indicate a certain meaning. Thus, if we compare
forms book and books, both derived from the stem book-, we may say that
while the form books is characterized by the -s- morpheme (a plural form),
book is characterized by the zero morpheme (a singular form).
It is very difcult to give a rigorous and at the same time universal
denition to the word, namely, such a denition as would unambiguously
apply to different word-units of the language. Such difculty is explained
by the fact that a word is an extremely complex phenomenon.
In different linguistic theories word is dened as the minimal potential
sentence, the minimal free linguistic form, the elementary component of the
sentence, articulated sound symbol, grammatically arranged combination of
sound and meaning, meaningfully integral lingual unit, etc.
None of these denitions precisely covers all the lexical segments of
the language without a residue remaining outside the eld of denition. The
said difculties compel some linguists to refrain from accepting the word
as the basic element of a language.
L. Bloomeld, recognised not the word and the sentence, but the
phoneme and the morpheme as the basic units of linguistic description,
because these units are the easiest to be isolated in the continual text due to
their physically minimal character: the phoneme being the minimal formal
segment of a language, the morpheme, the minimal meaningful segment.
So, only two segmental levels were originally identied in language by
descriptivists: the phonemic level and the morphemic level. Later on a
third one was added – the level of constructions (the level of morphemic
combinations).
In traditional grammar, the study of morphemic structure of the word is
based on two criteria: the positional criterion – the location of the morphemes
with regard to each other, and the semantic (or functional) criterion – the
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contribution of morphemes to the general meaning of the word. According
to these criteria morphemes are divided into:
• root-morphemes (roots) and
• afxal morphemes (afxes).
Roots express material‖ part of the meaning of the word and constitute
its central part. Afxes specify, or transform the meaning of the root.
Afxal specication may be of two kinds: of lexical or grammatical
character. So, according to the semantic criterion afxes are subdivided into:
• lexical, or word-building (derivational) afxes, which together with
the root constitute the stem of the word;
• grammatical, or word-changing affixes, expressing different
morphological categories, such as number, case, tense and others.
With the help of lexical afxes new words are derived, or built; with the
help of grammatical afxes the form of the word is changed.
According to the positional criterion afxes are divided into:
• prexes (situated before the root in the word) and
• sufxes (situated after the root).
Prexes in English are only lexical. Sufxes in English may be either
lexical or grammatical. Grammatical sufxes are also called inexions
(inections, inectional endings).
Summing up what has been said above, we may point out some of the
properties of the morpheme and the word which are fundamental from
the point of view of their systemic status and therefore require detailed
investigations and descriptions. The morpheme is a meaningful segmental
component of the word; the morpheme is formed by phonemes; as a
meaningful component of the word it is ementary (i.e. indivisible into smaller
segments as regards its signicative function). The word is a nominative
unit of a language; it is formed by morphemes; it enters the lexicon of
language as its elementary component (i.e. a component indivisible into
smaller segments as regards its nominative function); together with other
nominative units the word is used for the formation of the sentences – units
of information in the communication process.
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Parts of speech are classes of words, having certain common charac-
teristics which distinguish them from the members of other classes.
The problem of word classication into parts of speech still remains one
of the most controversial in modern linguistics.
The attitude of grammarians to parts of speech and their classication
varied a good deal in different epochs. At different times English grammarians
distinguished between 3 and 13 parts of speech.
There exist four approaches to the problem of classication of parts of
speech:
(1) Classical or prescriptive;
(2) Functional or descriptive;
(3) Distributional or structural;
(4) Complex.
I. The Principles of Classication as Used by Prescriptive Gramma
rians. Prescriptive grammarians, who treated Latin as an ideal language,
described English in terms of Latin forms and Latin grammatical constraints.
Similar to Latin, words in English were divided into declinables (nouns,
adjectives, pronouns, verbs, participles) and indeclinables (adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, articles).
II. The Principles of Classication used by NonStructural Descriptive
Grammarians. Non-structural descriptive grammarians adopted the system
of parts of speech worked out by prescriptivists. Henry Sweet (1892) divided
words into declinable and indeclinable. To declinables he attributed nounwords (noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, innitive, gerund), adjectivewords (adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participle), verb
(nite verb), verbals (innitive, gerund, participle); and to indeclinables
he attributed particles, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections.
H. Sweet distinguishes three principles of the parts of speech classication: 1)
form, 2) meaning, and 3) function. However, the results of his classication
reveal a considerable divergence between theory and practice: the division
of the parts of speech into declinable and indeclinable is a division based
on form. Only within the class can we see the operation of the principle of
function. O. Jespersen also speaks of three principles of classication: “In my
opinion everything should be kept in view, form, function and meaning...”.
On the basis of the three criteria, the scholar distinguishes the following
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parts of speech: substantives, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, and particles
(adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections). O. Jespersen’s system
is a further elaboration of H. Sweet’s system. Unlike H. Sweet, O. Jespersen
separates nouns (which he calls substantives) from noun-words, a class of
words distinguished on the basis of function – a noun word is a word that
can function as a noun; he also distinguishes pronouns as a separate part
of speech, thus isolating them from H. Sweet’s noun-words and adjective
words. Both scholars treat the verb alike: to H. Sweet the verb includes
primarily nite forms: he doubts as to the inclusion of non-nites in the verb.
Although the scholar speaks of form, function and meaning, in practice he
gives preference to form.
III. The Principles of Classication as Used by Structural Descriptive
Grammarians. Structural grammarians criticized traditional classication
from two points. First, in their opinion, traditional grammar relies on the
most subjective element in language, that is, meaning. Second – it uses
different criteria of classication: it distinguishes the noun, the verb and the
interjection on the basis of meaning; the adjective, the adverb, the pronoun,
and the conjunction, on the basis of function, and the preposition, partly on
the basis of function and partly on the basis of form.
IV. The Classification of Words in PostStructural Traditional
Grammar. In modern linguistics, parts of speech are differentiated based on
three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. This approach may be dened
as complex. The semantic criterion presupposes the grammatical meaning
of the whole class of words (general grammatical meaning). The formal
criterion reveals paradigmatic properties: relevant grammatical categories,
the form of the words, their specic inectional and derivational features.
The functional criterion concerns the syntactic function of the words in the
sentence and their combinability.
So, characterizing any part of speech it is necessary to describe:
a) its semantics;
b) its morphological features;
c) its syntactic peculiarities.
Taking into account functional criterion and syntactic role of a word in
the sentence we can classify words of the English language into notional
and functional.
Thus, to the notional parts of speech belong the noun, the adjective, the
numeral, the verb, and the adverb. And to the functional parts of speech
belong the article, the pronoun, the preposition, the conjunction, the particle,
the modal words, and the interjection.
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The notional parts of speech present open classes while the functional
parts of speech present closed classes. In notional words lexical meaning
is predominant. In functional words grammatical meaning dominates over
the lexical one.
Notional words constitute the bulk of the existing word stock while
functional words constitute a smaller group of words. Although the number
of functional words is limited (there are only about 50 of them in Modern
English), they are the most frequently used units.
The System of Parts of Speech
The semantic meaning of the noun is the idea of substance or
thingness. A noun may be all any part of the sentence except the predicate.
The nouns can be simple and compound.
The category of gender of the noun is expressed in English through
two oppositions:
(a) the rst presupposes dividing the nouns into human and nonhuman;
the non-human nouns represent the neuter gender;
(b) the second presupposes dividing the nouns into masculine and
feminine genders. The peculiar feature of English gender is its semantic
character (chair-man :: chair-woman).
The category of number is comprised by the opposition of the singular
and the plural form of the noun. But the category of number has some
peculiarities. There exist (besides common singular and plural) so called
singularia tantum and pluralia tantum expressing generally the ability of
this or that noun to be used only in singular or only in plural. There are also
many cases when one and the same noun can be used in common singular
and/or plural and as absolute singular and/or absolute plural.
Combinability. A noun combines with a preceding adjective (big house),
or occasionally with a following adjective (secrets unrevealed), with a
preceding noun in either the common case (chocolate bar) or the genitive
case (mother’s face), with a verb following it (children play) or preceding
it (play games). Occasionally a noun may combine with a following or a
preceding adverb (the guy outside; the then president). It also combines with
prepositions (in a house; house of rest).
Function in the sentence. In the sentence a noun may be a subject, a
predicative an object, an attribute or an adverbial modier. It can also make
part of each of these when preceded by a preposition.
Adjective expresses the categorical meaning of property
of a noun. Adjectives are characterized by a wide combinability with nouns,
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link–words and modifying adverbs. The formal signs of adjectives are their
special afxes.
Adjectives are subdivided into qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative
adjectives denote various qualities of the noun which admit some quantitative
measure. One of the formal signs of qualitative adjectives is their usage in
degrees of comparison. Quantitative adjectives denote quantity of some
substance.
Adjectives have such a category as degrees of comparison. There are
three types of degree of comparison of adjectives: the neutral degree, the
comparative degree and the superlative degree.
Adjectives combine with nouns both preceding and (occasionally)
following them (large room, times immemorial). They also combine with a
preceding adverb (very large). Occasionally they combine with a preceding
verb (died young).
In the sentence, an adjective can be either an attribute (a large room)
or a predicative (is large). It can also be an objective predicative (painted
the door green).
In general adjective expresses the categorical semantics of a property of
a noun. It denotes various qualities of a noun which admit some quantitative
measure.
The meaning of a pronoun as a part of speech is difcult
to dene. Some pronouns share essential peculiarities of nouns (he), while
others have much in common with adjectives (which).
The meaning of pronouns as a part of speech can be stated as follows:
pronouns point to the things and properties without naming them.
According to their form pronouns fall into different types. Some of them
have the category of number (singular and plural), ‘this’, while others don’t
possess such category —‘somebody’. Some pronouns have the category
of case (‘he – him’, ‘somebody – somebody’s’), while others have none
(‘something’).
Functions. In the sentence, some pronouns may be the subject (‘She will
move to Spain soon’) or the object (‘They invited us to the concert’), while
others perform the functions of the attribute (‘This is my room). Pronouns
can also be predicatives (‘I thought it was they’).
Numeral is a part of speech, which denotes the number
of objects or their order when counting objects.
Numerals are united into one part of speech only semantically – they
denote the number or the order of objects, and are classied into cardinal and
ordinal. They are invariable words and can function as attributes, subjects,
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predicatives and objects (when they are substantivized and perform the
functions of a noun: She has not seen me for four days; She might be thirty
or thirty-ve; We are seven; I was looking for old friends and found only two.
An ordinal numeral can be modied by an innitive denoting an action
in which the object mentioned occupies a denite place: He was the rst
to come.
Some scholars classify ordinal numerals and pronouns, such as many,
several as a separate part of speech, quantitative words. Some scolars provide
a classication of numerals into nouns (a hundred – as it is used with an
article) and adjectives (ordinal numerals, functioning as attributes). Nounnumerals are offered to be united into one class with noun-pronouns (we,
someone), adjective-numerals – with adjective-pronouns (this, his, other).
Some words of this class are difcult to classify: some, one. Besides,
adjectives many, much, few, little may function like numerals, though they
have the category of comparison. There is hardly any difference between
a numeral a hundred and a noun a dozen. Thus, we have to apply polar
approach here. They are substantivised in the plural form: hundreds of people.
It is still more complicated with fractions and decimals: they are used
like nouns, with articles and plural endings when the numerator is more
than one – a half, a third, two thirds, a quarter (fourth), three quarters
(fourths), two and ve sixths – the numerator is a cardinal numeral and the
denominator is ordinal.
Decimals are compound words, which have the word point and then
cardinal numbers. For zero several different words are used: nought – in math,
oh – in telephone numbers, nil – in sport and some physical magnitudes,
love – in tennis. They can also be treated both as nouns and numerals.
Meaning: Numerals denote either number or place in a series.
Form: As for their form numerals are invariable.
Functions: In the sentence numeral can be:
• a subject: Ten students took part in the competition
• attribute: Twenty cars were sold on the rst day;
• object: There are 135 employees in the company. We talked to 45 of
them; How many cakes did you buy? – I bought ve and I ate three;
• predicative compliment: Two plus four is six. Three times three is
nine;
• adverbial modier: How old is your grandfather? – He is 72. He was
born in 1948.
Verbs are one of the four major classes, along with nouns,
adjectives and adverbs. A verb generally conveys the meaning of an action
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(to bring, to read, to walk, etc.), an occurance (to happen, to become, etc.)
or a state (to exist, to become, etc.).
Meaning: In general verbs express actions or processes.
Form: A verb is characterized by an elaborate system of morphological
categories, it possesses:
• a category of tense,
• a category of aspect,
• a category of mood,
• a category of voice,
• a category of person, and
• a category of number.
Function: Verbs may be connected with a preceding noun (children
play) and with a following noun (play games). They are also connected
with adverbs (write quickly). Occasionally a verb may combine with an
adjective (married young).
In a sentence a verb is always the predicate (The tiger leaped toward
me) or part of it (She is able to understand what I mean).
An adverb is a word that is used to change, modify or qualify
several types of words including adjectives, verbs, another adverb or some
type of a word or phrase with the exception of determiners and adjectives,
that directly modify nouns. Adverbs usually provide a wider context. They
provide a description of how, where, when, in what manner and to what
extent something is done or happens.
Meaning of the adverb as a part of speech is hard to dene. Some adverbs
indicate time or place of an action (yesterday, here), while others indicate
its property (quickly) and some – the degree of a property (very).
Form. Adverbs are invariable. Though some of them have degrees of
comparison (fast, faster, the fastest).
Function. An adverb combines with a verb (run quickly), with an
adjective (very long), occasionally with a noun (the then president) and with
a phrase (so out of things). An adverb can sometimes follow a preposition
(from there).
In a sentence an adverb almost always serves as:
• an adverbial modier: Winter set in early and unexpectedly;
• or part of it: He managed to see a lot from there;
• an attribute. In this case the adverb can stand either in pre-position:
In the light of after events one cannot but sympathize with them; or, more
often in post-position: A voice inside said, “Come in”, The room above is
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large and light, The man there is my brother, Will it be a step on or a step
back, etc.
A preposition is a word or a word group used to link
nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Some prepositions
are single words (in, at, on, of, to, by, etc.) others are presented by phrases
(such as, in front of, next to, instead of, etc.).
We commonly use prepositions to show a relationship in space or time
or a logical relationship between two or more people, places or things.
Prepositions are most commonly followed by a noun phrase or pronoun.
Prepositions in English are highly idiomatic. Although there are some
rules for usage, much preposition usage is dictated by xed expressions.
Meaning. A preposition is a word or a group of words used before a
noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location, spatial
relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples of prepositions are:
“in”, “at”, “on”, “of”, “to”. The meaning of prepositions is to show relations
between things.
Form. Prepositions are invariable.
Function. Prepositions are preceded by a noun, adjective, numeral,
stative verb or adverb, and followed by a noun, adjective, numeral or
pronoun. In a sentence a preposition is never a separate part of it. It goes
together with the following word to form an object (on the table, under
the chair, etc.), adverbial modier (in the afternoon, behind the door, etc.),
predicative (to believe in a good diet, to stay in a bad mood, etc.) or attribute
(outside of the matter, etc.).
A conjunction is a word that is used to connect
words, phrases, and clauses. There are many conjunctions in the English
language, but the most common ones include and, or, but, because, for, if,
and when. There are three basic types of conjunctions: a) coordinating, b)
subordinating, and c)correlative.
Meaning. Conjunctions express connections between things and
phenomena.
Form. According to their form conjunctions can be subdivided into:
one-word conjunctions (and, or, but) and two-words conjunctions (either...
or, neither...nor). Conjunctions are invariable.
Function. Conjunctions connect words, phrases or clauses. In a sentence,
conjunctions are never a special part of it. They either connect homogeneous
parts of a sentence or homogeneous clauses (the so-called coordinating
conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, etc.): She bought a mango for
she was hungry, etc.; or they join a subordinate clause to its head clause
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(the so-called subordinating conjunctions: as, when, wherever, etc.): When
the doorbell rang, my dog barked loudly.
A particle is a word that has a grammatical purpose but
possesses no meaning.
Meaning. Particles either have no meaning or they denote subjective
shades of meaning introduced by the speaker.
Form. Particles are invariable.
Function. (a) Particles may combine with practically every part of
speech, more often preceding it (only three), but occasionally following
it (for advanced students only). (b) Particles are never a separate part of a
sentence. They enter the part of the sentence formed by the word (or phrase)
to which they refer.
Interjection is a word which is used when someone
interrupts someone else; or a one shows short sudden expression of emotions.
Meaning. An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an
utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is
a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as
exclamations (ouch!, wow!), curses (damn!), greetings (hey, bye), response
particles (okay, oh!, m-hm), hesitation markers (uh, er, um), and other words
(stop, cool).
The use and linguistic discussion of interjections can be traced historically through the Greek and Latin Modistae over many centuries. They
have contributed to the different perspectives of interjections in language
throughout history. The Greeks held that interjections fell into the
grammatical category of adverbs. They thought that interjections modied
the verb as adverbs do, thus interjections were closely connected to verbs.
Latin scholars took the position that interjections did not rely on verbs but
were used to communicate emotions and ideas. They considered interjections
to be an independent part of speech.
Most interjections express feelings (ah, alas, etc.); though some
interjections represent noises, etc., with a strong emotional colouring (bang!).
Form. Interjections are invariable. Interjections may be subdivided and
classied in several ways. A common distinction is based on relations to
other word categories. We can point out• primary interjections – which
are interjections rst and foremost (Oops!, Ouch!, Huh?); and
• secondary interjections – which are words from other categories that
are used as interjections in virtue of their meaning (examples: Damn!, Hell!).
Primary interjections are generally considered to be single words (Oh!,
Wow!); while secondary interjections can consist of multi-word phrases, or
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