Categorial structure of the word

The word combines in its semantic structure two meanings – lexical and grammatical. Lexical meaning is the individual meaning of the word. Grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole class or a subclass. Thus, categorial grammatical meanings are the most general meanings rendered by language and expressed by systemic correlations of word-forms.

The grammatical meaning may be of several types (Fig. 18). It may be explicit and implicit. The implicit grammatical meaning is not expressed formally.

The explicit grammatical meaning is always marked morphologically – it has its marker.

The implicit grammatical meaning may be of two types – general and dependent. The general grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole word-class, of a part of speech. The dependent grammatical meaning is the meaning of a subclass within the same part of speech.

Fig. 18

Grammatical categories are made up by the unity of identical grammatical meanings that have the same form. Thus, the grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms.

We may define grammatical categories as references of the corresponding objective categories. For example, the objective category of time finds its representation in the grammatical category of tense, the objective category of quantity finds its representation in the grammatical category of number. Those grammatical categories that have references in the objective reality are called referential grammatical categories.

H owever, not all of the grammatical categories have references in the objective reality. Such categories correlate only with conceptual matters. They are called significational categories. To this type belong the categories of mood and degree (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19

The ordered set of grammatical forms expressing a categorial function constitutes a paradigm.

Means of realization of grammatical categories may be synthetical and analytical (Fig. 20).

Grammatical means

for building up member-forms

of categorial oppositions

Synthetical Analytical

means means

Fig. 20

Accordingly, the grammatical forms themselves are classed into synthetical and analytical, too (Fig. 21).

Grammatical forms

Synthetical forms

Analytical forms

e.g. will do, of the table, more convenient

Inflextional forms

Suppletive forms

e.g. be – is, go – went,

I – me, good – better

Inner inflextional forms

e.g. man – men,

sing – sang – sung

Outer inflextional forms

e.g. boy – boys

Fig. 21

Synthetical grammatical forms are realised by the inner morphemic composition of the word. Analytical grammatical forms are built up by a combination of at least two words, one of which is a grammatical auxiliary (word-morpheme), and the other, a word of “substantial” meaning.

Synthetical grammatical forms are based on inner inflexion, outer inflexion, and suppletivity; hence, the forms are referred to as inner-inflexional, outer-inflexional, and suppletive.

Any grammatical category must be represented by at least two grammatical forms. The relation between two grammatical forms differing in meaning and external signs is called opposition. All grammatical categories find their realization through oppositions.

There exist qualitative and quantitative types of oppositions (Fig. 22).

By the number of members contrasted, oppositions are divided into binary and more than binary.

There are three main types of qualitatively different oppositions: “privative”, “gradual”, “equipollent”.

The privative binary opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain feature called the “mark”, while the other member is characterized by the absence of this differential feature (Fig. 23).

The gradual opposition is formed by the degree of the presentation of one and the same feature of the opposition members.

The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a certain feature, but by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive (differential) features.

Fig. 22

Privative

e.g. serve – served

Gradual

e.g. strong – stronger – the strongest

Equipollent

e.g. is – am – are – was – were – been

Qualitative

Quantitative

Types of opposition

Binary

e.g. serve – served

Ternary

e.g. strong – stronger – strongest

Quaternary,

etc.

e.g. is – am – are – was

Fig. 23

In the process of communication grammatical categories may undergo the processes of oppositional reduction. Oppositional reduction is the usage of one member of an opposition in the position of the counter-member. From the functional point of view there exist two types of oppositional reduction: neutralization of the categorial opposition and its transposition (Fig. 24).