- •The Subject Matter of Grammar
- •The Evolution of English Grammars
- •The XX th Century Linguistic Schools
- •Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)
- •American Descriptive Linguistics
- •Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
- •Semantic Syntax
- •Methods of Linguistic Analysis
- •Parsing (Traditional Syntactic Analysis)
- •The Oppositional Method
- •The Distributional method
- •The ic Method (method of immediate constituents)
- •The Transformational Method
- •The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
- •The Functional Sentence Perspective Method (fsp)
- •The Componential Method
- •The Contextual Method
- •The Levels of Language
- •The Morphological Structure of me
- •The Classifications of Morphemes
- •Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
- •The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
- •Parts of Speech Classifications of Parts of Speech.
- •Notionals and Functionals
- •Heterogeneity
- •Field and Periphery
- •Subcategorization
- •Onomaseological approach
- •The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
- •The Category of Gender.
- •The Category of Number
- •The Category of Case
- •Debated Problems within the Category of Case
- •Genitive Constructions (n’s n)
- •The Article Debated Problems
- •The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
- •The Verb The General Properties of a Verb
- •The Category of Tense
- •Classifications of Tenses
- •The Future Tense
- •The Present Tense
- •The Past Tense
- •The Future-in-the-Past Tense
- •The Category of Aspect
- •The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
- •The Category of Voice
- •The Category of Mood
- •The Indicative Mood
- •The Imperative Mood
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •Points of Similarities with the Finites
- •Points of Differences with the Finites
- •Debated Problems within The Verbals
- •The Functions of Non-Finites
- •Types of Syntax
- •The theory of the phrase
- •Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
- •Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
- •Classifications of Phrases
- •The theory of the simple sentence
- •The Definition of a Sentence
- •Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
- •Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
- •The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
- •Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
- •Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
- •Syntactic Processes
- •The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •The Secondary Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •An Object
- •An Adverbial Modifier
- •An Attribute
- •Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
- •A composite sentence
- •A Compound Sentence
- •I. The General Notion of a Complex Sentence.
- •2. The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
- •3.1. Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
- •3.2. Types of Subordinate Clauses.
- •4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
- •5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
- •6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
- •7. Levels of Subordination
- •Syntactic Processes in the Complex Sentence.
- •9. Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
Field and Periphery
Some scholars hold that major parts of speech have a field-like structure with the nucleus and the periphery. The nucleus embraces constituents with regular features, that is, notional words with full paradigms ( the plural form, the singular form, the genitive case form, the categorical forms of tense, aspect, correlation, voice, mood, etc). The periphery comprises deviated words, having defective paradigms.
Subcategorization
The trend among linguists is towards subdivision of major parts of speech. By the method of oppositions and the componential analysis classes of words are divided into binary groups. Nouns are divided into concrete / concrete/abstract, animate / inanimate, countable / uncountable, human / nonhuman, person / nonperson, male/female,etc. Verbs indicate actions, processes, states; each of these classes can be divided into binary groups: concrete / abstract actions, processes, states). By subcategorizing words we can improve the Distributional analysis (He reminds me of his father (напоминает отца). He reminds me of his party (напоминает о партии). These are homonymous structures. Semantically they are different, as father is an animate noun (Na), while party is an inanimate noun (Nā).
Onomaseological approach
Onomaseology is concerned with the problems of nomination. This approach is based on the nominative peculiarities of words. Nominatively, words are divided into the following classes. Identifying words (names) are those which refer to objects or qualities they name. Characterizing ( predicate, qualifying) words are adjectives, adverbs, verbs. They have no reference, they are dependent on identifying words. On the syntagmatic level they develop the meanings of emotiveness, expressiveness, intensiveness, evaluation. Deictic words (pronouns and adverbs) are used anaphorically, they represent something. Technical words ( functionals) are prepositions and conjunctions, they are semantically empty.
The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
Nouns constitute the most open class. They have the meaning of thingness as they denote substances, beings, phenomena, abstract concepts. Words of other classes can be easily nominalized (substantivized), even functional words can be nominalized for the given occasion (There are too many ifs and buts in your answer). Analytical forms can also be substantivized ( There are too many might-have-beens). Nouns are declinable words: they have inflexions of number and case. They function diversely, even as attributes( He is a space pilot).
The Category of Gender.
In Slavic languages it is a full-fledged category which finds its expression in the inflexioned feminine, masculine and neuter. Inflexions are supported by sound interchange (старик:: старуха).In German it is expressed by articles and suffixes, in French it is the articles which are the markers of the masculine and the feminine. Gender distinctions in the corresponding languages are illogical.
In OE gender was a morphological category. In present day English it is a purely lexico-semantic category, as there are no grammatical means to express gender distinctions here. There exists a whole system of lexical and semantic devices to express gender. Word-building processes (derivation, composition) are involved here. Gender distinctions are expressed by compositional models( a he-cat, a she-cat, a tom-cat, a pussy-cat, a he-wolf, a she-wolf, a man-servant, a lady-driver, etc.), by the derivative model with the productive suffix -ess (poetess, huntress, lioness, actress, empress, benefactress, etc. ), by semantic oppositions ( king :: queen, nephew:: niece, husband:: wife, stallion:: mare, etc.), by gender-sensitive pronouns he, she, it (Love is mightier than Philosophy, though He is might. O.Wilde).
Gender, expressed by gender-sensitive pronouns he, she, it, divides the class of English nouns into non-human (mountain , lake, house, street ), common human (person, child, parent: he is an artist; she is an artist), male human ( man, boy, youth, husband, father, uncle), female human ( woman, girl, wife, mother, lady, aunt).
Traditionally some nouns are referred to as feminine: ships, cars, seas, oceans, the names of countries and cities( San Francisco was lying on her seven hills).
Poets and writers are free to ascribe words to any gender ( The soul selects her own society and shuts the door. E. Dickinson. The sun is a huntress young. V.Lindsay). In St.King’s writings we see two moons: a he-moon (a demon-moon) and a she-moon.
Being a lexico-semantic category, gender tends to be grammaticalized. The suffix -ess seems to be on the way to turning into a regular grammatical inflexion. We can predict that with the course of time English gender can acquire a new life as a grammatical category.