Теорграмматика / Блох М.Я. Семенова Т.Н. Тимофеева С.В. - Theoretical English Grammar. Seminars. Практикум по теоретической грамматике английского языка - 2010

Entry

Definition

Equivalent terms

relative generali-

relative degree of abstraction, working on

abstraction

zation

the level of broad or general concepts

Cf: absolute generalization

relevant

pertinent, applicable, bearing on the issue

in question

"repetition" plural

a specific plural form of the noun which

•

acquires a pronounced stylistic marking

due to the repetition of the noun in the

singular, e.g.: He smoked cigarette after

cigarette.

replacive mor-

a morpheme built up on the basis of root

pheme

(or vowel) interchange; usually a root

vowel that replaces another in a categori-al

form, e.g.: sing - sang

Cf: additive morpheme

representamen

the type to which a coding convention

assigns a certain content by means of

certain interpretants; type-expressions

conventionally correlated to a type-content

by a given culture, irrespective of the fact

that they can be used in order to

communicate effectively something to

somebody (Ch.S. Peirce)

Cf.: interpretant, sign

Result (as a

entity that emerges due to some action,

Factitive (Ch.

semantic role)

e.g.: She has written a letter.

Fillmore)

retrospective

establishing relation between the given

coordination

action and some prior action or moment

root

the element left after all affixes have been

removed from a complex word, carrying

the basic lexical meaning of the word

Cf.: nucleus, stem, affix

secondary

predication expressed by potentially

potential pre-

predication

predicative complexes with non-finite

dication, in-

forms of the verb and verbal nouns

complete/par-

Cf.: primary predication

tial predica-

tion, implicit

predication,

semi-predica-

tion

460

Entry

Definition

Equivalent terms

sineme

a unit of language having a semantic con-

tent, e.g.: morpheme, word (M. Blokh) Cf.:

cor t erne

significative

suggestive of a meaning

signifie

meaning

Singularia

nouns having only the singular form

absolute sin-

Tantum nouns

Cf.: Pluralia Tantum nouns

gular nouns

Source (as a

smth. which gives rise/origin to another

semantic role)

entity, cause of some action, e.g.: He sells

books.

stem

a term in grammar and word-formation for

a root plus the element that fits it into the

flow of speech

Cf.: root, nucleus, affix

structure

1 . the set of relations between

the elements of a system;

2. construction

stylization

the function of a dicteme which consists in

referring it to a particular style (M. Blokh)

subjunct

a tertiary word in a junction

(O. Jespersen)

Cf.: adjunct (2)

substance

1 . the essence or material part;

2. the essence which underlies all phenom-

ena;

3. that which is real;

4. that which has qualities and character-

istics

substantive

a noun

suffix

an affix added at the end of a word, base,

or root to form a new word or form of the

word

Cf.: prefix, infix, root

supplement

a non-obligatory adjunct

optional

Cf.: complement

adjunct

Glossary of Linguistic Terms

461

Entry

j

Equivalent terms

suppletivity

the formation of word-forms from different

roots Cf.: affixation, inner inflection, outer

suprasegmental

unit

contours, pauses, patterns of word-order Cf.:

surface structure

symbol

synchronic

syntagma

word combi-

(syntactic)

nation, phrase

syntagmatic

system

a structured set of elements connected by a

common function

topic

topicalization

established information may be combined

with the incoming new information (T.A.

Entry

Definition

Equivalent terms

2. the formation of the informative

thematization

content of text (M. Blokh)

transformation

transition from one syntactic pattern to

another syntactic pattern with the

preservation of its notional parts

Transformational-

a type of generative grammar, first intro-

Generative

duced by N. Chomsky ("Three Models for

Grammar

the Description of Language", 1956). It

holds that some rules are transformational,

i.e. they change one structure into another

according to such prescribed conventions as

moving, inserting, deleting, and replacing

items. It stipulates two levels of syntactic

structure: deep structure (an abstract

underlying structure that incorporates all the

syntactic information required for the

interpretation of a given sentence) and

surface structure (a structure that incorpo-

rates all the syntactic features of a sentence

required to convert the sentence into a

spoken or written version)

transitivity

the ability of a verb to take a direct

object

Cf.: objectivity

transposition

the use of a language element in the

contextual conditions typical of its •

oppositional counter-member by which it

fulfils two functions simultaneously Cf.:

neutralization

unit

a constituent of a system

element

utterance acts

uttering words and sentences (J.R. Searle)

valency

the ability of a language unit to take an

adjunct, potential combinability of a

language unit

verbal

a non-finite form of the verb

verbid

Cf.: finite verb

Entry

Definition

alerter

an opening element preceding the actual request (i.e., term of

address, attention getter, endearment term, offensive term,

etc.)

appealer

an element used by a speaker when he wishes to appeal to

the hearer's benevolent understanding. It functions to elicit a

hearer's signal, and occurs in a syntactically final position,

and may signal turn-availability (e.g.: Will you? O'key?

Aren't we?)

beneficiary

the one who benefits from the performing of the act re-

quired by the speaker

cajoler

conventionalized speech item whose semantic content is of

little transparent relevance to the discourse meaning. It

commonly doesn't enter into syntactical structures, but is

interspersed to increase, establish, or restore harmony be-

tween interlocutors, which may be endangered through the

request, etc. (e.g.: You know,...)

coerciveness

imperative force

cognitive load

(= locution, proposition) the literal content of a sentence,

the situation denoted

commitment

an upgrader serving to indicate the speaker's heightened

indicator

degree of commitment (involvement) vis-a-vis the state of

affairs referred to in the proposition (e.g.: I'm sure, cer-

tainly, etc.)

communicative

an ability to employ speech acts to achieve the desired com-

competence

municative end

communicative risk

a potential breakdown in communication, a failure to

achieve the desired communicative result

conventionality

thesis formulated by J. Searle, according to which certain

thesis

forms tend to become conventionally established as the

standard idiomatic forms for indirect speech acts

cultural transposi-

transfer of native speech categories to the target language

tion

directness

the degree to which the speaker's illocutionary intent is

apparent from the locution. In this sense it is a pragmalin-

guistic category which leads itself to psycholinguistic vali-

dation. It is related, but by no means coexistive, with po-

liteness

Entry

Definition

downtoner

a sententional or prepositional modifier which is used by a

speaker in order to modulate the impact his speech act is

likely to have on the hearer (e.g.: possibly, perhaps)

hedge

an internal modifier used by the speaker to avoid a precise

prepositional specification and, consequently, the potential

provocation of such precision (e.g.: somehow, kind (sort)

of)

illocutionary point

the purpose of communication, or of a particular speech

act; the speaker's intent = illocutionary intent

indirectness

an intended exploitation of a gap between the speaker's

meaning and the utterance's meaning: the hearer identifies

an utterance as a hint. As a result of this belief he assigns

the speaker some hidden intention

intensifler

an upgrader used to intensify elements of the proposition

(e.g.: a terrible/frightful man )

interactional style

a method (or a complex of methods) employed by the

speaker to achieve a particular illocutionary point and char-

acterizing him this or that way

interactive con-

fundamental concerns influencing the choice of strategies in

straints

a message. They are:

1. appropriateness: "be polite"; 2. efficiency

(effectiveness): "be clear, direct"; 3. concern for

minimizing imposition; 4. concern for avoiding negative

evaluation by the hearer;

5. likelihood of use (of a strategy within a specific request

situation)

internal modifiers

elements within the utterance proper, the presence of which

is not essential for the utterance to be potentially under-

stood as, for example, a request. They serve as indicating

devices used to signal pragmatic force, and as socio-prag-

matic devices meant to affect the social impact the utter-

ance is likely to have (downgraders and upgraders)

interpersonal end

the purpose of maintaining relationship between the speaker

and the hearer

locution

aspect of an utterance which consists in its cognitive load

466

Entry

Definition

- of effective means

(= rationality principle) "Given a desired end, one is to

choose that action which most effectively, and at least cost,

attains that end" (Kosher)

prepositional

the cognitive content of an utterance (= locution); one of

content

the components, alongside of the pragmatic component,

of the semantics of an utterance

sentence meaning

standard interpretation assigned by a particular lingual

structure only

sociopragmatics

sociological interface of pragmatics that studies the ways

in which pragmatic performance is subjected to specific

social conditions

sociopragmatic

a factor determining the specific character of communica-

factor

tion: age, sex, relative status of the interlocutors, situational

constraints, degree of familiarity, etc.

sociopragmatic

the error learners commit when they assess the relevant

failure

situational factors as the basis of their native socioprag-

matic norms

speech act

a form of interpersonal communication which is distin-

guished by a specific communicative intention of the speaker

and its own linguistic markers

subjectivizers

elements by which the speaker explicitly expresses his sub-

jective opinion vis-a-vis the state of affairs referred to in

the proposition, thus lowering the assertiveness of the re-

quest (e.g.: I'm afraid, I wonder, I think)

supportive move

a unit external to the request which modifies its impact by

either aggravating or mitigating its force

understater

an internal modifier by means of which the speaker under-

represents the state of affairs denoted in the proposition (a

bit, a little)

upgrader

an element which functions to increase the impact of a re-

quest: intensifier, commitment indicator, expletive, time

intensifier, lexical uptoner, determination marker, repeti-

tion of request, orthographical (supersegmental) emphasis,

emphatic addition

utterance meaning

meaning rendered in a specific context by having the hearer

recognize the intention of the speaker

want statement

a statement which contains the expression of the speaker's

volition, desire