theoretical grammar of English language

LECTURE #1 THE SUBJECT OF THEORETICAL GRAMMAR

The phonological system is the subfoundation of language; it determines the material (phonological) appearance of its significant units. The lexical system is the whole set of naming means of language, i.e. words'n'word groups.

The grammatical system is the whole set of regularities determining the combination of naming means of the formation in of utterances.

Traditionally grammar is determined as the system of rules of changing of the words'n'the rules of regulations of their combining in the sentence. That is why it is divided into 2 parts: morphology'n'syntax.

A practical description is aimed at providing the student with a manual of using the language in a proper way without making mistakes in oral'n'written speech. The aim of theoretical grammar of a language is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i.e. to scientifically analyze'n'define its grammatical categories 'n' study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances of words in the process of speech making.

The plane of content comprise the purely semantic elements contained in language where the plane of expression comprises the material (formal) units of language taken by themselves apart from the materials rendered by them (form).

These 2 planes are inseparable connected so that no meaning can be realised without some material means of expression. Grammatical elements present a unity of content'n'expression.

On the other hand, the corresp of two planes is very complex 'n' this complesity can be illustrated by means of polysemy, homonymy, synonymy.

In cases of polysemy'n'homonymy two or more units of the plane of content correspond to one unit of the plane of expression.

Synonymy

Two or more units of the plane of expression correspond to one unit of the plane of content(Will you come to the party? - Will you be coming? - Are you coming?).

Taking into consideration the discrimination between the two planes we may say that the purpose of grammar as a linguistic discipline is to disclose and formulate the regularities of the correspondence between the plane of conent'n'the plane of expression in the formation of utterances.

Lingual units stand to one another in two fundamental types of relations: syntagmatic and paradigmatic.

Syntagmatic relation are immediate their relations between units in a segmental sequence. My friend has come. In this sentence syntagmatically connected are the words'n'word groups my friend, has come, friend has come. The combination of two words or word groups one of which is modified by the other is called a syntactic syntagma.

There are four main types of notional syntagmas:

- predicative (subj + predicate)

- objective (verb + objective)

- attributive (noun + attributive)

- adverbial (modified notional word: v, adj, adv + adv modifier).

Since syntagmatic relations are actually observed in utterances, they are described by the Latin formula as relations in presentia (in the present), 'cause we can observe them in the phrase, sentence etc.

The other type of relations opposed to syntagmatic is called paradigmatic. They exist between elements of the system outside the forings where they occur unlike syntagmatic relations p r cannot be directly observed in utterances, that is why they are refered to as relations in absentia (in the absence).

Grammatical paradigms express various grammatical categories. The minim paradigm consist of two form-stages, e.g. boy-boys. A more complex paradigm can be divided into paradigmatic series (subparadigms) e.g. the system of the finite verbs. Any grammatical paradigm should consist of weak'n'strong members.

Units of language are divided into segmental'n'suprasegmental. Segmental units consist of phonemes, syllables, morphemes, words etc.

suprasegmental units do not exist by themselves; they are realisedd together with segmental units and express different modificational meanings (functional). To the suprasegmantal units belong intonation, accent and patterns of word order. The segmental units form a hierarhy of levels. Lingual hierarhy The lower level is phonemic: it is form by phonemes which have no meaning.

The level located above the phonemic one is the morphemic level. The morpheme is the elementary meaningful part of the word.

The third level in the segmental lingual hierarhy is the level of words, or lexemic level.

The next higher level is the level of phrases (word groups) or phrasemic. To this level belong combinations of two or more notional words. The level of sentence or proposemic level. Supraproposemic level which is formed by a supra-phrasal construction (supra-phrasal unit).

In the printed text the supra-phrasal construction very coincides with the paragraph.

- The next level level of the text, which of consists of group of supra-phrasal constructions. Although, it can consist of one supra-phrasal unity.

And the higher level of this hierarhy is the level of discourse.Discourse is interpreted as difficult communicative phenomenon, which includes in itself social content, and apart the participants of communication knowledge, of process production of perception of texts. Discourse after T. van Dijk is a different communication. Event of socio-cultural co-operation, characteristic lines of which are interests, aims'n'styles.

B. Johnstone determines discourse as combining text in an aggregate with extra-linguistic socio-cultural, pragmatic, psychological factors. Discourse is a communication, which submerged in life. Grammatical structure of the english languageThe chief features characterizing an analytical language are the following:

1. A lot of analitical forms. An analytical form consists of one or more functional words which have no lexical meaning and only express one or more of the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood, etc and one notional word.

Tense and Aspect verb forms (the continuals forms: I'm writing; the perfect form: I have written; Perf Cont : I have been writing; Fut Simple: I shall write; all the other forms of the Future also the interrogative and the negative forms of the Present and Past Simple: does he sing?- He doesn't sing).

The Passive Voice: I was invited to the theatre.

Subjunctive mood: I should go there if I had time.

With some adj: the category of degrees of comparison: more beautiful, the most beautiful.

2. Comparatively few grammatical inflections

Endings:

s in the 3rd person sg. In the Present simple: speaks.

s in the plural of nouns: tables. en: children, oxen.

s in the posessive case: my mother's book

ed, -d in the Past Simple of regular v: smoked, jumped

ing in the Present part and gerund: smiling

en in past particle of some irregular verbs: broken

er, -est in comparative and superlative degrees of comparison of some adj and adv: sooner-soonest.

3 A rare use of sound alteration to denote grammar forms: speak spoke, mouse mice, man - men.

4 A rare us eof suppletive forms; be-am-is-are, go-went, good-better.

5 A wide use of prepositions to denote relations between objects and to connect words in the sentence: the roof of the house.

6 Prominent us eof word order to denote grammatical relations: a more or less word order which acquires extreme importance: The fisherman caught a fish.

7 Extensive use of substitutes. Word substitutes saves repetition of a word in certain conditions. LECTURE #2 MORPHOLOGY. PARTS OF SPEECHMorphology is the part of grammar which studies the forms of words. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit into which a word form may be divided, e.g. writers can be divided into three morphemes:

1) write-, expressing the basic lexical meaning of the word,

2) -er-, expressing the idea of agent performing the action indicating by the root of the verb,

3) -s, indicating number, that is, showing that more than one person of the type indicated is meant.

Two remarks are necessary here:

1. Two or more morphemes may sound the same but be basically diffirent, e.g.

-er indicating the doer of an action as in writer

-er denoting the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs, as in longer.

2. There may be zero morphemes, that is the absence of morpheme may indicate a certain meaning. Thus books is characterized by the -s- morpheme as being a plural form, book is is characterized by the zero morpheme as being a singular form.

Allomorphs

- The student comes

- The students come

- The ox comes

- The oxen come

- the change of student to students is paralleled by the change of ox to oxen.- That is, the meaning and function of the -en in oxen is the same as the meaning and function of the -s in students. -s and the -en represent the same morpheme: each of them is a morph representing the same morpheme, and they are termed allomorphs of the same morpheme.

Parts of speech

The words of language, depending on various formal and semantic features, are divided into grammatically relevant classes of words. The traditional grammatical classes of words are called parts of speech. The term part of speech is purely traditional and conventional and was introduced in Ancient Greek.

In modern linguistics, parts of speech are classified on the basis of three criteria: meaning, form and function. According to Vinogradov parts of speech are divided into notional and functional, which reflects their division in the earlier grammatical tradition into changeable and unchangeable. The notional parts of speech of the English language are the noun, the adjective, the numeral, the pronoun, the verb, the adverb.

The features of the noun:

1. The categorial meaning of substance (thingness).

2. The specific suffixal forms of derivation; categories: number, case and gender.3. The functions in the sentence: subject, object, attribute, predicative, adverbial modifier.

The features of the adjective: 1. The categorial meaning of property (qualitative and relative);

2. The specific suffixal forms of derivation; categories: degrees of comparison (for qualitative adjectives);3. The functions in the sentence: subject, attribute, predicative.

The features of the nummeral:

1. The categorial meaning of number (cardinal and ordinal).

2. The narrow set of simple numerals; the specific forms of composition for compound numerals; the specific suffixal forms of derivation for ordinal numerals; no categories.3. The functions in the sentence: subject, attribute.

The features of the pronoun:

1. The categorial meaning of indication (deixis).

2. The narrow sets of various status with the corresponding formal properties of categorial changeability and word-building; categories: number, case, gender.3. The functions in the sentence: subject, object, attribute, predicative, adverbial modifier.

The features of the verb:

1. The categorial meaning of process.

2. The specific suffixal forms of derivation; the opposition of the finite and non-finite forms;categories: person, number, tense, time correlation, aspect, voice, mood. 3. Functions in the sentence: predicate for the finite verb, the mixed (verbal and other than verbal) functions for the non-finite verb.

The features of the adverb:

1. The categorial meaning of the secondary property, i.e. the property of process or another property.

2. The specific suffixal forms of derivation; categories: forms of the degrees of comparison for qualitative adverbs.

3. The functions in the sentence: adverbial modifier.

To the functional parts of speech (unchangeable words) belong the article, the preposition, the conjunction, the particle, the modal word, the interjection.

The article expresses the specific limitation of the substantive functions.

The preposition expresses the dependencies and interdependencies of substantive referents.

The conjunction expresses connections of phenomena.

The particle unites the functional words of specifying and limiting meaning.

The modal word expresses the attitude of the speaker to the reflected situation and its parts.

The interjection is a signal of emotions.

Henry Sweet (15 September 1845 30 April 1912) is an English philologist, phonetician and grammarian. According to H. Sweet (A New English Grammar) the parts of speech in inflectional languages are divided into two main groups, declinable, that is, capable of inflection, and indeclinable, that is, incapable of inflection. Criteria for classifying are: meaning, form, and function.

The declinable parts of speech fall under the three main divisions: nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Noun-word: noun proper, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive and gerund. Adjective-word: adjective proper, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participle. Verb: finite verb and verbals (infinitive, gerund, participle). Indeclinable words or particles comprise arverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Otto Jespersen (16 July 1860 30 April 1943) is a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. He helped to revoutionize language teaching in Europe, contributed greatly to the advancement of phonetics, linguistic tjeory, and thr history of English, and originated an international language, Novial.

Acoording to Jespersen (meaning, form, function)

parts of speech are cassified into: (The philosophy of grammar)

-substantives (including proper named)

-adjectives

-pronouns (incuding numeral and pronominal adverbs)

-verbs

-particles: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.

Ch. Fries presents his scheme of English word-classes. In his book The structure of English Fries gives a classification of Parts of speech which entirely depends on the distribution of the word. The materias that furnished the evidence on which Fries' analysis is based, were somefifty hours of tape-recorded conversations by some three hundred different speakers, with the participants entirely unaware that their speech was being recorded. To study the word he introduced the term frames. A frame is a formula of a typica constuction which is typical of this particular word as belonging to a certain class.

Frame A. The concert was good (always)

Frame B. The clerk remembered the tak (suddenly)

Frame C. The team was there.

He proved the liabiity of his theory by the operation of substitution. Through this operation he gets four casses, he cals them by numbers:

class one (nouns)

class two (verbs)

class three (adjectives)

class four (adverbs)

He also distinguished 15 functional classes or functional words, designated by letters. Functional words are exposed in the process of testing as being unable to fill in the positions of the frames without destroying their structure. The group of functional words can be distributed among the three main sets. The words of the first set are used as specifiers of notional words. Here belong determiners of nouns, modal verbs serving as specifiers of notional verbs, functional modifiers and intersifiers of adjectives and adverbs.

The words of second set play the role of interpositional elements, determining the relations of notional words to one another. Here belong prepositions and conjunctions.

The words of thir set refers to the sentence as a whole. Such are question-words (what, how, etc), inducement-words (let's, please. Etc), attention-getting words. Words of affirmation and negation, sentence introducers (it, there) and some others.

J. Nesfield's classification of parts of speech

Words are classified according to the purpose that they are used for, and every such class is called a Part of Speech. The parts of speech can be thus defined:

- a noun is a word used for naming some persons or things.

- a pronoun is a word used instead of a noun or noun-equivalent

- an adjective is a word used to qualify a noun

- a verb is a word used for saying somethinf about some person or thing

- a preposition is a word placed before a noun or noun-equivalent to show in what relation the person or thing denoted by the noun stands to something else

- a conjunction is a word used to join words or phrases together, or one clause to another clause

- an adverb is a word used to qualify any part of speech except a noun or pronoun

- an interjection is a word or sound thrown into sentence to express some feeling of the mind.

Note. observe that the part of speech to which a word belongs depends on the purpose that the word is used for in that particular context, and that the same word may be of a different part of speech in a different context. Thus man is a noun in The man has come, but a verb in Man the lifeboat.

LECTURE #3 THE NOUN

The noun as a part of speech has the categorial meaning of substance or thingness. It follows from this that the noun is the main nominative part of speech and the central nominative lexemic unit of language.

The categorical functional properties of the noun are determined by its semantic properties.

The most characteristic substantive function of the noun is that of the subject in the sentence. The function of the object is also typical of the noun as the substance word. Other syntactic functions are attribute, adverbial modifier and even predicative.

Apart from these functions, the noun is characterized by some special types of combinability.

In particular, typical of the noun is the prepositional combinability with another noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, e.g. an entrance to the house, to turn round the corner, red in the face, far from its destination.

The possessive combinability characterizes the noun alongside its prepositional combinability with another noun, e.g. the Presidents speech, the books cover.

English nouns can also easily combine with one another by sheer contact, e.g. a sport event, film festival. In the contact group the noun in pre-position plays the role of a semantic qualifier to the noun in post-position.

The noun is generally associated with the article. Because of the comparative scarcity of morphological distinctions in English in some cases only articles show that the word is a noun.

As a part of speech, the noun is also characterized by a set of formal features determining its specific status in the paradigm of nomination. It has its word-building distinctions, including typical suffixes, compound stem models, conversion patterns.

According to their morphological composition we distinguish simple, derivative and compound nouns.

Simple nouns are nouns which have neither prefixes nor suffixes: chair, table, room, fish, map, work.

Derivative nouns are nouns which have derivative elements (prefixes or suffixes or both): reader, sailor, childhood, misconduct, inexperience.

Productive noun-forming suffixes are:-er reader, -ist dramatist, -ess actress, -ness madness, -ism nationalism.

Unproductive suffixes are: -hood childhood, -dom freedom, -ship friendship, -ment development, -ance importance, -ence dependence, -ty cruelty, -ity generosity.

Compound nouns are nouns built from two or more stems: appletree, snowball, blueball, reading-hall, dining-room.

Lexico-grammatical classification of nouns

The most general subclasses of nouns are grouped into five oppositional pairs.

The first nounal subclass opposition differentiates proper and common nouns. The basis of this division is type of nomination.

Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organizations, religions, holy texts are proper nouns.

Many people hate Monday mornings.

Common nouns are nouns referring to a person, place or thing in a general sense.

According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.

The second subclass opposition differentiates animate and inanimate nouns on the basis of form of existence. The third subclass opposition differentiates human and non-human nouns on the basis of personal quality. The fourth opposition is countable, uncountable and collective nouns on the basis of quantitative structure.

A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. Countable nouns are the opposition of non-countable nouns and collective nouns (table, chair, room).

A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence (oxygen, tea, coffee).

A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole, as one unit.

The committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.

Other examples are the jury, the police, crowd, fleet, family, cattle, machinery, foliage.

Somewhat less explicitly distinguished is the division of English nouns into concrete and abstract.

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell.

The judge handed the files to the clerk.

An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses (justice, afterthought, childhood, schizophrenia).Categories of nouns

The category of number

Modern English, as most other languages, distinguishes between two numbers, singular and plural.

The grammatical category of number defines a set of word forms which has one common categorical function, that of the singular/plural distinction. Semantically, number expresses the propositional content and actualizes nouns in communication by providing a qualification book: books, difficulty: difficulties.The strong member of this binary opposition is the plural, its productive formal mark being the suffix -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz] as presented in the forms dog-dogs, clock-clocks, box-boxes.

The other, non-productive ways of expressing the number opposition are vowel interchange in several relict forms (man - men, woman-women, tooth-teeth, etc.), the archaic suffix -(e)n supported by phonemic interchange in a couple of other relict forms (ox-oxen, child-children, cow-kine, brother-brethren), the correlation of individual singular and plural suffixes in a limited number of borrowed nouns (formula - formulae, phenomenon - phenomena, alumnus-alumni, etc.). In some cases the plural form of the noun is homonymous with the singular form (sheep, deer, fish, etc.).

The essential meaning of singular and plural seems clear enough: the singular number shows that one object is meant, and the plural shows that more than one object is meant. However, language facts are not always so simple as that. The category of number in English nouns gives rise to several problems which claim special attention.

First of all, it is to be noted that there is some difference between, say, three houses and three hours. Whereas three houses are three separate objects existing side by side, three hours are a continuous period of time measured by a certain unit of duration.

If we take such plurals as waters (e.g. the waters of the Atlantic), or snows (e.g. A Daughter of the snows), we shall see that we are drifting further away from the original meaning of the plural number. In the first place no numeral could be used with nouns of this kind. We could not possibly say three waters, or three snows. We cannot say how many waters we mean when we use this noun in the plural number. What is the real difference in meaning between water and waters, snow and snows? Its obvious that the plural form in every case serves to denote a vast stretch of water (e.g. an ocean), or of snow, or rather of ground covered by snow (e.g. in the arctic regions of Canada). In the case of water and waters we can state that the water of the Atlantic refers to its physical or chemical properties, whereas the waters of the Atlantic refers to a geographical idea: it denotes a seascape. So we see that between the singular and the plural an additional difference of meaning has developed.

The difference between two numbers may increase to such a degree, that the plural form develops a completely new meaning which the singular has not got at all. Thus, for example, the plural form colours has the meaning banner which is restricted to the plural (e.g. to serve under the colours of liberty.). It is natural to say that the plural form has been lexicalized.

In comparison with many other languages, including German and Russian, the expression of number as singular and plural by mean of variant components is simple in English. As a rule, the singular is unmarked (zero). Out of five possible ways to denote plural in Old English only one (-as) has survived to be the general plural morpheme in Modern English (-(e)s) and there are only few nouns which, also for historical reasons, have other means of plural formation.

We must also consider here two types of nouns differing from all others in the way of number: they have not got the usual two number forms, but only one form. The nouns which have only a plural and no singular are usually termed pluralia tantum (which is the Latin for plural only) and those which have only a singular and no plural are termed singularia tantum (the Latin for singular only).

Among the pluralia tantum are nouns trousers, scissors, pincers, breeches, environs, outskirts, dregs. As it is obvious from these examples, they include nouns of two types. On the one hand, there are the nouns which denote material objects consisting of two halves (trousers, scissors, etc); on the other, there are those which denote a more or less indefinite plurality (e.g. environs, dregs, supplies, outskirts earnings, politics, police). If we compare the English pluralia tantum with the Russian, well see that in some cases they correspond to each other (e.g. trousers , scissors , environs ), while in others they do not (-money).

Close to this group pluralia tantum nouns are also some names of sciences, e.g. mathematics, phonetics, also politics, and some name of diseases, e.g. measles, mumps, rickets, creeps (), hysterics. The reason for this seems to be that, for example, mathematics embrace a whole series of various scientific disciplines, and measles are accompanied by the appearance of a number of separate inflamed spots on the skin. It is typical for English that some of this pluralia tantum may be accompanied by the indefinite article, and if they are the subject of a sentence the predicate verb may stand in the singular, which would be unthinkable in Russia.

The direct opposite of pluralia tantum are the singularia tantum, i.e. nouns which have no plural form. Among these we must first of all note some nouns denoting material substance, such as milk, butter, and some abstract notions peace, usefulness. Nouns of this kind express notions which are, strictly speaking, outside the sphere of number. But in the morphological and syntactical system of the English language a noun cannot stand outside the category of number. If the noun is the subject of a sentence, the predicate verb will have to be either singular or plural. With the nouns just mentioned the predicate verb is always singular.

Some nouns denoting substance, or material, may have a plural form, if they are used to denote either an object made of the material or a special kind of substance, or an object exhibiting the quality denoted by the noun. Thus the noun wine, as well as the noun milk, denotes a certain substance, but it has a plural form wines used to denote several special kinds of wine.

Certain nouns denoting groups of human beings (family, government, party, etc) and also animals (cattle, poultry, etc) regarded as a single unit are termed collective nouns.

Collective nouns fall under the following groups:

a) nouns used only in the singular and denoting a number of things collected together and regarded as a single object: foliage, machinery.

b) nouns which are singular in form though plural in meaning: police, poultry, cattle, people, gentry.

c) nouns that may be both singular and plural: family, crowd, fleet, nation.The category of case

Case is the morphological category of a noun manifested in the forms of noun declension and showing the relations of the nounal referent to other objects or phenomena.

The category is expressed by the opposition of the uninflected form called the nominative case (weak member) and the inflected form s called the possessive case (strong member of the opposition).

Four special views advanced at various times by different scholars should be considered as successive stages in the analysis of the problem.

The first view is called the the theory of positional cases (J.C. Nesfield, M. Deutschbein, M. Bryant). This theory is directly connected with the old grammatical tradition.

According to this theory, the unchangeable forms of the noun are differentiated as different cases by virtue of the functional position occupied by the noun in the sentence thus the English noun would distinguish nominative, genitive, vocative, dative and accusative, and only the genitive case is an inflexional one.

The Nominative case (subject to a verb). Rain falls.

The Vocative case (address). Are you coming, my friend?The Dative case (indirect object to a verb). I gave John a penny.

The accusative case (direct object, and also object to a preposition). The man killed a rat.

The second view is called theory of prepositional cases (G. Curme).

Here we should distinguish two cases: dative case (to + noun, for + noun) and genitive case (of + noun). These prepositions, according to Curme are inflexional prepositions, i.e. grammatical elements equivalent to case-forms.

The third view of the English noun case recognizes a limited case theory (H. Sweet, O. Jespersen, A.I. Smirnitsky, S.G. Barkhudarov). The limited case theory is based on the opposition of nominative case (weak member) and possessive (strong member of the opposition).

The limited case theory is at present most broadly accepted among linguists in our country and abroad.

The fourth theory, advanced by G.N. Vorontsova is called theory of the possessive postposition, or postpositional theory. According to Vorontsova, there are no cases at all. And s is the postpositional element, which can be transformed.Of the various reasons substantiating the postpositional theory the following two should be considered as the main ones.

First, the postpositional element s is but loosely connected with the noun, which finds the expression in its use not only with single nouns, but also with whole word-groups of various status, e.g. somebody elses daughter, the man I saw yesterdays son.Second, there is an indisputable parallelism of functions between the possessive postpositional constructions and the prepositional constructions. This can be shown by transformation of the above example: somebody elses daughter the daughter of somebody else.The category of gender Gender, in the English language, is a distinction of certain words according as they indicate sex or the lack of it.

Gender, in English, belongs only to nouns and pronouns. No other words have any distinctions of gender.

The category of gender is expressed in English by the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person.

The category of gender is strictly oppositional. It is formed by two oppositions related to each other on a hierarchical basis.

One opposition functions in the whole set of nouns, dividing them into person (human) nouns and non-person (non-human) nouns. The other opposition functions in the subset of person nouns only, dividing them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns.

As a result of the double oppositional correlation, a specific system of three genders arises, which is represented by the traditional terminology: the neuter (i.e. non-person) gender, the masculine (i.e. masculine person) gender, the feminine (i.e. feminine person) gender.

The strong member of the upper opposition is the human subclass of nouns. The weak member of the opposition comprises both inanimate and animate non-person nouns. Here belong such nouns as tree, mountain, love, cat, swallow, ant, crowd, etc. The strong member of the lower opposition is the feminine subclass of person nouns. Here belong such nouns as woman, girl, mother, bride, etc. The masculine subclass of person nouns comprising such words as man, boy, father, bridegroom, etc. makes up the weak member of the opposition.

The oppositional structure of the category of gender can be shown schematically on the following diagramme

According to James Fernald there are 3 genders in English

Masculine: all nouns denoting being of the mail sex

Feminine: all nouns denoting being of the female sex

Neuter: all nouns denoting objects of no sex

J. Leech gives the following classification of English genders:Gender

Human (personal) Non-human (non-personal)

-masculine

-feminine

-dual

-common

-collective

English words can be:

Morphologically marked for gender (actress - actor)

Semantically marked for gender (boy-girl, king-queen) Lexically marked for gender (boyfriend-girlfriend) LECTURE #4 PRONOUN AND ADJECTIVEThe pronoun

The definition of a pronoun as a separate part of speech has caused many difficulties. More that once in the history of linguistics the very existence of a pronoun as a part of speech has been denied. However, attempts of this kind have not proved successful and in present-day grammars, both English and Russian, pronouns are recognized as a part of speech, which have the categorical meaning of indication. The pronouns, though pointing to things cannot be modified by adjectives, cannot be connected with any article or modified by a prepositional phrase.

Classification of Pronouns (Western Approach) Personal Pronouns

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender and case.

Personal pronouns are subdivided into Subjective Personal Pronouns, Objective Personal Pronouns and Possessive Personal Pronouns.

A Subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence.

The subjective personal pronouns are I, you, she, he, it, we, they

You are surely the strangest child I have ever met.

An objective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase. The objective personal pronouns are: me, you, her, him, it, us, you and them.

Deborah will meet us in the market.

A possessive pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person. The possessive personal pronouns are: my, your, her, his, our, their; mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours and theirs.

The smallest gift is mine.2) Demonstrative pronounsA demonstrative pronoun points to and identifies a noun or a pronoun. The demonstrative pronouns are: this, that, these and those. This and that are used to refer to singular nouns or noun phrases and those are used to refer to plural nouns and noun phrases.

This must not continue.3)Interrogative pronouns.An interrogative pronoun is used to ask questions. The interrogative pronouns are: who, whom, which, what and the compounds formed with the suffix ever (whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever)

Whom do you think we should invite?4) Relative pronounsYou can use a relative pronoun to link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause. The relative pronouns are: who, whom, that and which. The compounds whoever, whomever, whichever are also relative pronouns.

The candidate who wins the greatest popular vote is not always elected.5) Indefinite pronouns

An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun referring to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. An indefinite pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or some.

The most common indefinite pronouns are: all, another, any, anyone, anybody, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something.

The office had been searched and everything was thrown onto the floor.6) Reflexive pronouns

You can use a reflective pronoun to refer back to the subject of the clause or sentence. The reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves.

The Dean often does the photocopying herself.7) Intensive pronounsAn intensive pronoun is used to emphasize its antecedent. Intensive pronouns are identical in form to reflexive pronouns.

I myself believe that aliens should abduct my sister.

The Prime Minister himself said that he would lower taxes.

They themselves promised to come to the party even though they had a final exam at the same time.

Categories in pronouns (Russian approach)Case. Some pronouns distinguish between two cases which are best termed nominative and objective. These are the following: nominative (I, he, she (it), we (you), they, who); objective (me, him, her, (it), us, (you), them, whom)The two pronouns in brackets, it and you might have been left out of the list, but we have included them because they share many other peculiarities with the pronouns I, he, she, we and they. No other pronoun, and, indeed, no one other word in the language has that kind of case system.

A certain number of pronouns have a different system. They distinguish between a common and a genitive case (or nominative / possessive). These are somebody, anybody, one, another, and a few more.

All other pronouns have no category of case (something, anything, nothing, everything, some, any, no, my, his, mine, hers, etc)

Number. The category of number has only a very restricted field in pronouns. It is found in the pronouns this/ these, that/those, other/others (if not used before a noun).

As to the pronouns I/we; he, she, it/they, it must stated that there is no grammatical category of number here. We is not a form of I, but a separate word. In a similar way, they is not a form of he, she or it, but a separate word.

A peculiar difficulty arises here with reference to the pronouns myself/ (ourself) ourselves; yourself/ yourselves; himself, herself, itself/ themselves.

If we compare the two pronouns myself and ourselves, we shall see that the difference between the first elements of two words is purely lexical, whereas the second elements differ from each other by the same suffix s that is used to form the plural of most nouns. Thus we are brought to the conclusion that ourselves is essentially a different word from myself.

There are no other grammatical categories in the English pronouns: there is no category of gender. The pronouns he, she, it and also the pronouns his, her, its; his, hers; himself, herself, itself, are all separate words. Thus, she is not a form of the word he but a separate word in its own right.The Adjective

The adjective expresses the categorical semantics of property of a substance. It means that each adjective used in the text presupposes relation to some noun the property of whose referent it denotes, such as its material, colour, dimensions, position, state and other characteristics both permanent and temporary.

I want a yellow balloon.

Adjectives are distinguished by a specific combinability with nouns, which they modify, usually in pre-position, and occasionally in post-position; by a combinability with modifying adverbs.

In the sentence the adjective performs the functions of an attribute and a predicative.

I will be silent as a grave. I will be like a silent grave.

To the derivational features of adjective belong a number of suffixes and prefixes of which the most important are: -ful (hopeful), -less (colourless), -ish (reddish), -ous (famous), -ive (demonstrative), -ic (basic), -un (unhappy), -in (inaccurate), -pre (prehistoric).

Classification of adjectives

All the adjectives are traditionally divided into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative. Relative adjectives express properties of a substance determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance, e.g. wood a wooden hut, history a historical event, colour coloured postcards, surgery surgical treatment.

Qualitative adjectives , as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances, which admit a quantative estimation. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optional or excessive. Cf: an awkward situation a very awkward situation, a difficult task too difficult task, a hearty welcome not a very hearty welcome.

Only qualitative adjectives have the ability to form degrees of comparison, eg a pretty girl a prettier girl.

The category is constituted by the opposition of the three forms known under the heading of degrees of comparison, e.g a pretty (girl) a prettier (girl), the prettiest (girl).

The category is constituted by the opposition of the three forms known under the heading of degrees of comparison; the basic form (positive degree), having no features of comparison; the comparative degree form, having the feature of restricted superiority (which limits the comparison to two elements only); the superlative degree form, having the feature of unrestricted superiority.

John was the strongest boy in the company.

Positive degree is a weak member of the opposition, comparative and superlative degrees are strong members.

Some linguists approach the number of the degrees of comparison as problematic on the grounds that the basic form of adjective does not express any comparison by itself and therefore should be excluded from the category. This exclusion would reduce the category to two members only, i.e. the comparative and superlative degrees.

Another problem is whether relative adjectives could have degree of comparison. The adjective wooden is basically related, but when used in broader meaning expressionless or awkward it acquires an evaluative force, and can presuppose a greater or less degree of denoted property.

E. g: the superintendent was sitting behind a table and looking more wooden than ever. (A. Christie).

A more complex problem in the sphere of degrees of comparison is that of the formations more difficult, (the) most difficult, i.e. the analytical forms of comparison. The first view that formations of the type more difficult, (the) most difficult are analytical degree of comparison may be supported by the following considerations:

The actual meaning of formations like more difficult, (the) most difficult does not differ from that of the degrees of comparison larger, (the)largest. Qualitative adjectives, like difficult, express properties which may be presented in different degrees, and therefore they have degrees of comparison. The second view is that the combinations more difficult, (the) most difficult are not the analytical expression of the morphological category of comparison, but free syntactic constructions. The reasons are the following: 1) the more/ most combinations are semantically analogous to combinations of less/least with the adjective which, in the general opinion, are syntactic combinations of notional words; 2) the most-combinations, unlike the synthetic superlative, can take the indefinite article, expressing not the superlative, but the elative meaning (i.e. a high, not the highest degree of the respective quality).

The speaker launched a most significant attack on the Prime Minister.

The most significant of the arguments in a dispute is not necessarily the most spectacular one.

A most significant attack in the first example gives the idea of rather a high degree of the quality, the phrase the most significant of the arguments expresses exactly the superlative degree of quality.Statives

Among the words signifying properties of a noun referent there is a lexemic set which is considered by many scholars to be a separate part of speech. These are words built up by the prefix a and denoting different states, mostly of temporary duration, e.g. afraid, adrift, ablaze. In traditional grammar these words were generally termed predicative adjectives.

Later the English qualifying a-words were subjected to a lexico-grammatical analysis and given the part- of-speech heading the category of state or statives.

The part-of-speech interpretation of the Statives is not shared by all linguists working in the domain of English.

The main meaning types conveyed by statives are:

The psychic state of a person (afraid, ashamed, aware)

The physical state of a person (astir, afoot)

The physical state of an object (afire, ablaze)

The state of an object in space (askew, awry, aslant)

Statives are not used in attributive preposition, but like adjectives, they are distinguished by the left-hand categorical combinability both with nouns and link-verbs.

The household was all astir.

The basic functions of the stative are the predicative and the attribute, e.g. He soon fell asleep (predicative). A man alive to social interests (attribute).

Statives do not take the synthetic forms of the degrees of comparison. Of us all, Jack was the one most aware of the delicate situation which we found ourselves.

The semantic and functional analysis shows that statives forming a unified set of words, do not constitute a separate lexeme class as the noun, the verb, the adverb, etc; rather it should be looked upon as a subclass within the general class of adjectives.LECTURE #5 THE VERBGrammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. It performs the predicvative function of the sentence. i.e. the functions establishing the connection between the situation namedin the utterance and reality.

The general cateforial meaning of the verb is process presented dynamically, i.e. developing in time. E.g. I do love you, really I do. The verb can be modified by the adverb and can take a different object. E.g. Mr. Brown received the vistor instantly, which was unusual.

In the sentence the finite verb performs the function of the verb-predicate, expressing the categorial features of predication, i.e. time, aspect, voice and mood. Structural classificationThe verb stems may be simple, derived, sound-replacive, stress-replacive composite and phrasal.

The original simple verb stems are not numerous, such as verbsare go, take, read, etc. But conversion of the noun-verb type, greatly enlarges the simple stem set of verbs, since it is the most productive way of forming verbs in modern English. Cf.: a cloud to cloud, a house-- to house, a man to man, a park to park, etc.

The sound-replace and stress-replaccive types of derivation are unproductive. Cf.:food to feed, 'import to im'port, transport to tras'port. Derivational verbsThe typical suffixes of the verb are: -ate (cultivate), -en (broaden), -ify (clarify), -ize (normalize). The verb-deriving prefixes are: be- (belittle, befriend), and en-/em- (engulf, embed). Some other characteristic verbal prefixes are: re- (remake), under- (undergo), over- (overestimate), sub- (submerge), mis- (misunderstand), un- (undo), etc.

The composite (compound) verb stems correspond to the composite non-verb stems from which they are etymologically derived. Here belong the compounds of the conversion type (blackmail n. - to blackmail v.) and of the back-formation type (baby-sitter n. - to baby-sit v.) The phrasal verb stems occupy an intermediary position between analytical forms of the verb and semantic word combinations. Two types

The first is a combination of the head-verb have, give, take and ocassionally some others with a noun. The combination has its equivalent as an ordinary verb. Cf: to have a smoke to smoke, to give a smile to smile, to take a stroll to stroll.

The second is a combination of a head-verb with a verbal post-position that has a specificational value (phrasal verbs). Cf: stand up, go on, give in, be off, get along, etc. Semantic and lexico-grammatical classificationThe class of verbs falls into a number of subclasses distinguished by different semantic and lexico-grammatical features. On the upper level of division two unequal sets are identified:

- the set of verbs of full nominative value (notional verbs)

- the set of verbs of partial nominative value (semi-notional and functional verbs).

Notional verbs undergo the three main grammatically relevant categorizations. The first is based on the relation of the subject of the verb to the process denoted by the verb (subject-process relation). The second is based on aspective characteristics of the process denoted by the verb (aspective verbal semantics). The third is based on the combining power of the verb in relation to other notional words in the utterance (valency).

On the basis of the subject-process relation, all the notional verbs can be divided into actional and statal.

Actional verbs express the action performed by the subject, i.e. they present the subject as an active doer, e.g. do, act, perform, make, go, read, learn, discover, etc. Statal verbs denote the state of their subject, e.g. live, survive, suffer, worry, stand, see, know, etc.

On the basis of aspective verbal semantics two subclasses of verbs should be recognised in English: limitive and unlimitive. To the subclass of limitive belong such verbs as arrive, come, leave, find, start, stop, conclude, aim, drop, catch, etc. Here also belong phrasal verbs with limitive postpositions, e.g. stand up, sit down, get out, be off, etc. To the second subclass belong such verbs as move, continue, sleep, work, behave, hope, stand, etc, presenting a process as not limited by any border point.

According to valency the notional verbs should be classed as complimentive and uncomplementive. Uncomplementive verbs fall into two unequal subclasses of personal and impersonal verbs. The personal uncomplementive verbs refer to the real subject of the denoted process (work, start, pause, hesitate, act, function, materialize, laugh, grow, etc). The subclass of impersonal verbs is small and strictly limited. Here belong verbs mostly expressing natural phenomena (rain, snow, freeze, drizzle, thaw, etc). Complementive verbs are divided into the objective and adverbial sets. The objective complimentive verbs are divided into monocomplimentive verbs (taking one object-compliment) and bicomplimentice verbs (taking two compliments). The examples of monocomplimentive verbs are have, take, forget, enjoy, look at, point to, belong to, relate to, etc. The bicomplimentive objective verbs are explain, mention, devote, say, forgive, cooperate, apologize for, pay for, remined of, tell about.

Adverbial complimentive verbs include two main subclasses. The first is formed by verbs taking an adverbial compliment of place or time (be, live, stay, go, ride, arrive). The second is formed by verbs taking an adverbial compliment of manner (act, do, keep, behave, get on). Semi-notional and functional verbs serve as markers of predication in the proper sence, they show the connection between the nominative content of the sentence and reality. They include auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, semi-notional verbid introducer verbs and link-verbs. Auxiliary verbs are be, have, do, shall, will, should, would, may, might. Modal verbs are used with the infinitive as predicative markers expressing relational meanings of ability, obligation, permission, advisability, ets. The modal verbs are can, may, must, shall, will, ought, need, used (to), dare. The verbs be and have in the modal meanings be planned, be obliged and the like are considered by many modern grammarians as modal verbs and are included in the general modal verb list. Semi-notional verbid introducer verbs are seem, happen, turn out, try, fall, manage, begin, continue, stop, etc. compare They began to fight and They began the fight. The verb in the first sentence is a semi-notional predicator, the verb in the second sentence is a notional transitive verb normally related to its direct object. Link verbs introduce the normal part of the predicate (the predicative) which is commonly expressed by a noun, an adjective or a phrase of a similar semantico-grammatical character. Two types1. Pure link-verb be2. Specifying link-verbs

The specifying link-verbs fall into two main groups: those that express perception and those that express non-perceptional, or factual link-verb connection. The main perceptional link-verbs are seem, appear, look, feel, taste; the main factual link verbs are become, get, grow, remain, keep. Person and NumberThe categories of person and number are closely connected with each other. The expression of the category of person is confined to the singular form of the verb in the present tense of the indicative mood and, besides presented in the future tense. In the present tense the expression of the category of person is divided into three peculiar subsystems. The first subsystem includes the modal verbs that have no personal inflexions: can, may, must, shall, ought, need, dare. So, in the formal sense, the category of person is wholly neutralized with these verbs, it is left unexpressed. The second subsystem is made up by the unique verb be, which has three different suppletive personal forms: am for the 1st person singular, is for the 3rd person singular. Are can't be taken for the specific positive mark of the second person for the simple reason that it coincides with the plural all-person marking.

The third subsystem presents the regular, normal expression of person. The personal mark is confined here to the third person singular (e)s [-z, -s, -iz], the other two persons (the first and the second) remaining unmarked, e.g. comes-come, blows-blow, stops-stop, chooses-choose. The expression of grammatical number by the English finite verb from the formally morphemic point of view is hardly featured at all. The more or less distinct morphemic featuring of the category of number can be seen only with the forms of the unique be, both in the present tense and in the past tense. (am-are, was-were). LECTURE #6 THE TENSES AND ASPECTS OF THE VERBThe immediate expression of grammatical time, or tense (Lat Tempus), is one of the typical functions of the finite verb. The category of tense reflects the objective category of time and expresses the relations between the time of the action and the time of the utterance. In English there are three tenses (past, present and future) represented by the forms wrote, writes, will write.

Some doubts have been expressed about the existence of a future tense in English. Otto Jespersen denied the existence of a future tense in English, because according to Jespersen the verbs shall and will preserve their original meaning (shall an element of obligation and will an element of volition). Thus, in Jespersen's view, English has no wau of expressing pure futurity free from modal shades of meaning. However, this reasoning is not convincing. Thought the verbs shall and will mau in some context preserve their original meaning, as a rule there are free from these shades of meaning and express mere futurity in numerous examples. I am afraid I will have to go back to the hotel.

So the three main divisions of time are represented in the English verbal system by the three tenses. Each of them may appear in the common and in the continuous aspect. Thus we get six tense-aspect forms. Besides this six, there are two more, namely future-in-the-past and future-continuous-in-the-past. They don't easily fit into a system of tenses represented by a straight line running out of the past into the future.

A different view of the English tense system has been put forward by Prof. N. Irtenyeva. According to this view, the system is divided into two halves: that of tense centring in the present and that of tehse centring in the past. The former comprises the present, present perfect, future, present cintinuous and present perfect continuous. The letter comprises the past, past perfect, future-in-the-past, past continuous, and past perfect continuous.

Acccording to A. Korsakov English tenses are subdivided into absolute and anterior, static and dynamic tenses. By dynamic tenses he means what we call tenses of the continuous aspect, and by anterior tenses what we call tenses of the perfect correlation. The category of time correlationThe category of time correlation is based on the opposition non-perfect/perfect. The main approaches* The category of perfect is a peculiar tense category, a category which should be classed as the categories present and past. This view was held by Jesperson.

* The category of perfect is a peculiar aspect category. The opposition is common aspect, perfect aspect or retrospective aspect. This view was held by Prof. G. Vorontsova.

* The category of perfect is neither one of tense nor one of aspect, but a specific category different from both. This view was expressed by Prof. A. Smirnitsky who introduced a special term time correlation.

* The perfect form presents an action as prior to some other action (point, a period of time); it is the strong member of the opposition.

* The non-perfect form denotes either a simultaneous or a posterior action. But we cannot say that a perfect form always precedes another action: the present perfect form can be used in sentences which contains no mention of any other action.He has broken a cup.

On the other hand, the use of a non-perfect form doesn't necessarily imply that the action did not precede some moment in time. I remember seeing you. The category of voiceThe category of voice expresses the relations between the subject and the object of the action. He invited his friends. He was invited by his friends. The grammatical category of voice is represented by the opposition of active and passive voices (invites - -is invited; is inviting is being invited; invited was invited; has invited has been invited; should invite should be invited). The passive form is the strong member of the opposition. In colloquial speech the role of the passive auxiliary may be performed by get or become. Arguable question:

* At various times the following three voices have been suggested in addition:

- the reflexive, as in He dressed himself,

- the reciprocal, as in They greeted each other, and

- the middle voice, as in The door opened.The category of aspect

The category of aspect is a grammatical category showing the manner in which the action is either performed or represented. In English this category consists of two constituents, the common and the continuous aspect. They form a binnary opposition, the unmarked member of the opposition (common aspect) being opposed to the marked member (continuous aspect): call - ------ +be calling. The categorial meaning of aspect indicates that the speaker wants to attract attention to the process/state described in the sentence itself. The strong member of the opposition is a continuous form, which presents an action as a process developinf at a certain moment or a limited period of time: These flats are being built so fast that they are changing the profile of the city. The common aspect just names the action: Look at the way he walks. As a rule the contionuous form is not used with verbs, denoting abstract relations, such as belong, and those denoting sense perception or emotion, e.g. see, hear, hope, think, love. But there are numerous examples of their usage in the continuous form. In this case they change the meaning of the verb which comes to denote either an activity (I am thinking of him. I think, you're right) or the temporary character of the state. (You're being silly!).

G.O. Curme (A Grammar of the English Language) distinguish 4 aspects: durative aspect, point-action aspect which he subdivided into ingressive anf effective, terminative aspect and iterative aspect. Durative aspect represents the action as continuing. He is eating. Point-action aspects call attention, not to an act as a whole, but to only one point, either the beginning or the final point. The ingressive type is often expressed by begin, start, in connection with the infinitive or get, grow, fall, turn, become, run, set, take in connection with a predicate adjective, participle, noun or a prepositional phrase. He awoke early. He often gets sick. Effective type of point-action aspect directs the attention to the final point of the activity or state. The two friends fell out. He knocked him out. Terminative aspect indicates an action as a whole. He handed me a book. I overlooked this item in my calculation. Iterative aspect indicates an indefinitely prolonged succession. He pooh-poohs at everything. He threw his head back and haw-hawed. The category of moodMood shows the degree of reality or possibility of an action. The verbal category of mood serves to express the speaker's attitude towards the factuality of a state-of-affairs as real, existing in fact, or as hypothetical, i.e. not necessarily real. The definition given by Academician V. Vinogradov is the following : mood expresses the relation of the action to reality, as stated by the speaker. Generally two groups of moods are distinguished: the real or fact moods and the unreal or non-fact, oblique moods. The indicative is the only real mood in the English language. It represents an action as a real fact. The forms of the Indicative mood are the tense-aspect forms of the verb. There are two non-fact moods in English: the Imperative and the Subjunctive. The Imperative mood is represented by one form only, without any suffix or ending. It expresses advice, request, recommendation, order and so on. Leave me alone! The Subjunctive mood represents an action as unreal. I wish I had known it.

Another approach is that the category of mood consistrs of three constituents, the Indicative and the Subjunctive I and II. They form a binary apposition, the unmarked member (indicative) being opposed to the marked member, which appears in two variants (subjunctive I and II):

call - -------- + call 0 (no -s/tense, correlation, aspect)

call -ed

The categorial meaning of mood indicates the hypothetical nature of the states-of-affairs described as seen from the speaker's point of view.

The boss insisted that Tom arrive at eight sharp. (Subj I)

She suggested that I be the cook. (Subj I)

It's time John went on a diet. (Subj II)

I wish I had thought of him before. (Subj II)

The function of the unmarked form negates this categorial meaning in that it indicates the reality of the state-of-affairs.

Prof. Smirnitsky proposed a system of six moods.Indicative. He came there. The sun rises in the East. Imperative. Read the letter. Go there. Subjunctive I (be/go for all persons). I suggest that he go there. If it be so. Subjunctive II (were for all persons, and forms knew, had known). I wish I were present. If I knew... If I had known...Suppositional (analytical forms should/would + infinitive) Should you meet him, tell him to come. I suggest that he/you should go there.

Conditional (analytical forms should/would + infinitive in the main clause of unreal condition sentences) What would you answer if you were asked?OTHER WAYS OF EXPRESSING MODALITY.Lexical-syntactic means combination of modal verbs may/might, can/could, must, should, will/would, ought to, etc with the infinitive. (Don't wait up for me, because I might be late. If anything could happen I can take care of myself). Lexical means modal words maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably (Perhaps he has something on his conscience, and wants advice) and the other words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) of modal semantics, which introduce subordinate clauses and acts as predicators (wish, it's time, possible, probable, change, possibility, etc). It's time we were moving. It's possible there might be large changes around here. Syntactic types of sentences and subordinate clauses (imperative, clauses introduced by conjunctions as if/as though, conditional, etc) Take it easy! She really looks sometimes as if she isn't all there. Different combinations of the above means.

Intonation, prosody. LECTURE #7 Syntax. Phrase

Syntax (from Greek syntaxis arrangement) is a study of the arrangement, or connection of words. Here we should distinguish two levels: that of phrases (or word-groups) and that of sentences.

No unity in opinion

Accoerding to Russian linguists the term word-combinatin can be applied to such groups of words which contain at least two notional words, forming a grammatical unit, e.g. fine weather, to speak English fluently, etc.

Western scholars have a different view of the problem. They consider every combination of two or more words which constitutes a unit to be a phrase. They don't limit the term phrase to combination of notional words only and draw a sharp distinction between the two types of word groups such as: wise men and in the morning.

According to H.Sweet when words are joined together grammatically and ogically without forming a full sentence, we call the combination a word-group. According to Pr. Ilyish, a phrase is any combination of two or more words which is a grammatica unit but not a n analytical form of some word (as, for instance the perfect forms of verbs). The constituent element of a phrase may belong to any part of speech.

Difference between a phrase and sentence

A sentence is a basic unit of communication. A phrase is a unit of nomination.

A pharse has no intonation just as a word has none. Intonation is one of the most significant features of a sentence, which distinguishes it from a phrase.

A classical word-group is a non-predicative unit, because a word-group does not carry predication (only sentence can carry it).

A word group is a static explanation, a sentence carries some dynamic force.

Each component of a phrase can undergo grammatical changes according to grammatical categories represented in it. In the phrase write letters the first component can change its tense or mood and the second component its number.

With the sentence things are entirely different. A sentence is a unit wih every word having is definite form. A change in the form of one or more words would produce a new sentence.

Classification of phrases

According to Henry Sweet the most general relation between words in sentences from a logical point of view is that of adjunct-word and head-word, or we may also express it of modifier and modified. Thus in the sentences tall men are not always strong, all men are not strong, tall and all are adjunct-words modifying the meaning of the head-word men.

This distinction between adjunct-word and head-word is only a relative one: the same word may be a head-word in one sentence or context, and an adjunct-word in another, and thw same word may even be a head-word and an adjunct-word at the same time. Thus in he is very strong, strong is an adjunct-word to he, and at the same time head-word to the adjunct-word very, which again, may itself be a head-word, as in he is not very strong.

E. Kruisinga's classification

In Kruisinga's grammar we find an elaboration of the same principle in his theory of close and loose word-groups (a Handbook of Present-Day English). We speak of a close group when one of the memebers is syntactically the leading element of the group. We speak of a loose group when each element is comparatively independent of the other members (men and women).

Close groups are subdivided according to their leading member into:

verb groups (you can go; finished undressing; to hear a noise; he goes);

noun groups (a village church, Mary's dress);

adjective groups (very beautiful);

adverb groups (very well);

prepositional groups (in the morning).

Loose syntactic groups are subdivided into linking groups (five and twenty) and unlinked groups (a low soft breathing). O. Jespersen's classification

Syntactic theory of Otto Jespersen comprises the concept of junction and nexus (i.e. of attributive and predicative relations) as we as the theory of ranks, applied both to relations between the members of a word-group and he parts of a sentence. In a junction the joining of the two elements is so close that they may be considered as one composite name.

A silly person fool

The warmest season - summer

A very tall person - a giant.

The nexux is indipendent and forms a whole sentence, i.e. give a complete bit of information. The door is red. The dog is barks.

We can also establish different ranks of words according to their mutual relations as defined or defining. In the combination extremely hot weather the last word weather, which is evidently the chief idea, may be called primary; hot which defines weather secondary and extremely, which defines hot, tertiary.

M. Bloch's classification

Prof. Bloch singes out three types of phrase:Notional phrases: traffic rules, to go fast, John and Mary, he writes, etc. Formative phrases: at the table, with difficulty, out of sight, etc. Functional phrases: from out f, so that, up to, etc.

S.G. Barkhudarov's classificationAccording to Barkhudarov a phrase is a combination of two or more notional words, connected by means of subordination, coordination and predicative relation if it cannot function as a sentence. He distinguished coordinate word groups, subordinate word groups and predicative word groups. Coordinate word groups are groups of words, which have the same function, they are joined together either syndetically or asyndetically (you and me, Mary and Peter, The spidery, dirty, ridiculous business!).

Subordinate word gropus always have the head and tha adjunct. They are further classified according to the way the headword is expressed into: Nounal word groups (mild weather, a country doctor)Adjectival word groups (dark red, very strong, very nice)Verbal word groups (to hear a noise, to write a letter)Adverbial word groups (very wel, pretty easiy, very suddenly).

A predicative word group is a special kind of word group with predicative relations between the nominal and the verbal parts (not the general predication of the sentence but a secondary one is meant). Here belong five main types of complexes:

The Complex Object (I want you to do smth)

The Complex Subject

The For-phrase

The Gerundial Complex

The Absolute Nominative Participial ConstructionL. Bloomfield's classificationLeonardi Bloomfield (April 1, 1887 April 18, 1949) distinguishes two main classes of phrases: endocentric phrases (containing a head: word or centre) and exocentric phrases (non-headed).

Phrase Endocentric (headed)Exocentric (non-headed)

Subordination Poor JohnCoordinationMary and PeterSyntacti predicate relationsJohn ran awayMorphological prepositional phrasebeside John

The difference between endocentric and exocentric phrases

The head word of an endocentric phrase can stand for the whoe phrase in a larger construction.

In the sentence Poor John ran away, the noun John may substitute for Poor John. In the sentence Mary and Tom ran away, both Tom and Mary may stand for the whole phrase: Mary ran away, Tom ran away. Thus, the phrases Poor John and Mary and Tom are endocentric.

The constituents of exocentric phrases can't stand for the whole group in a larger structure: John ran, beside John.

In the sentence Poor John ran away you can omit either John or ran.

Modern approach to the classification of the phraseAccording to the modern approach phrases are subdivided into headed and non-headed. Headed phrases have the head and the anjunct. They are futher classifies according to:

1) the distribution of the anjunct into: progressive (right-hand distribution of the adjust), e.g. to write a letter, a candidate to the prize and regressive (left-hand distribution of the adjunct), e.g. a country doctor, mild weather.

2) the way the head-word is expressed into:Nounal or sunstantival, e.g. sport eventAdjectival, e.g. very beautifulVerbal, e.g. to write a letterAdverbia, e.g. very wellNon-headed phrases are divided into:

1) independent (the constituents are relatively independent), e.g. Mary and John, he writes and dependent (the constituents depend on the context), e.g. my own (dog), his old (friend).

2) one-class (constituents belong to the same part of speech), e.g. Oxford and Cambridge and different-class phrases (the constituents belong to different parts of speech), e.g. I see.

Syntactic relations between words (components) of a word group

The main syntactic reations between components of a phrase are coordination, subordination, interdependenc and cummuation.

In coordination the constituents of a phrase are interdependent of each other and we can change their paces, e.g. Mary and John (John and Mary), boys and girls (girls and boys).

In subordination we have the head and the adjunct, and the adjunct is subordinated to the head. Such syntactic reations are found in a headed phrases, e.g. beautiful girl, county doctor.

Interdependenc is reations between subject and predicate. The constituents are interdependent; the subject depends on a predicate and visa versa, e.g. he smies, I knew. The forth main type of syntactic reations in a phrase is cummuation, which can be found in non-headed dependent phrases, e.g. my old (friend), his own (dog). The difference between cummulation and coordination is that in coordination you can change the places of the constituents but in cummulation you cannot do that.

To additional types of syntactic reations in a phrase refer agreement, government, and enclosure.

By agreement we mean a method of expressing a syntactical reationship, which consists in making the subordinate word take a form simiar to that of the word to which it is sunordinate. In Modern English this can refer only to the category of number: a subordinate word agrees in number with its head-word. It can be found in two words only this and that, which agree in number with their headword.

The verb agrees in number with a noun or pronoun in the 3rd person singular. He studies Grammar. But not aways. The United Nations is an international organisation, or My family are early risers. Such sentences prove that there is no agreement of the verb with the noun.

By government we understand the use of a certain form of the subordinate word required by its head word, but not coinciding with the form of the head word itself.

The role of government in Modern English is almost insignificant. The only thing that may be termed government in Modern English is the use of the objective case of personal pronoun and of the pronoun who when they are subordinate to a verb or follow a preposition (invite him, saw him).

There is another means of expressing which plays a significant part in Modern English. Is may be called enclosure. The most widey known case of enclosure is the putting of a word between an article and noun to which this refers to. A beautifu girl, the country doctor.

LECTURE 8. Pragmatics

Pragmatics is a systematic way of explaining language use in context. It seeks to explain aspects of meaning which cannot be found in the plain sense of words or structures, as explained by semantics. As a field of language study, pragmatics is fairly new. Its origins lie in phylosophy of language and the American philosophycal school of pragmatism. As a discipline within language science, its roots lie in the work of (Herbert) Paul Grice on conver5ational implicature and the cooperative principle, and on the work of Stephen Levinson, Penelope Brown and Geoff Leech on politeness.

Pragmatics includes:speech act theory

felicity conditions

conversational implicature

the cooperative principle

conversational maxims

relevance

politeness

phatic tokens

deixis.

Speech actsWe use language all the time to make things happen. We ask someone to pass the salt or marry us. We order a pizza or make a dental appointment. Speech acts include asking for a glass of beer, promising to drink the beer, threatening to drink more beer, ordering someone else to drink some beer, and so on. Some special people can do extraordinary things with words, like baptizing a baby, declaring war, awarding a penalty kick, sentencing a convict.

Linguists have called these acts speech acts and developed a theory called speech act theory to explain how they work. Merely saing the words doesn't accomplish the act. Judges (unless they are also referees) cannot aword penalty kicks, and football referees (unless they are also heads of state) cannot declare war. Speech act theory is not the whole of pragmatics, but is perhaps currently the most important establised part of the subject.

The philisopher J.L. Austin (1911-1960) claims that many uterances (things people say) are equivalent to actions. When someone says I name this ship... or I now pronounce you man and wife, the utterance creates a new social or phsychological reality. Speech act theory broadly explains these utterances as having three parts or aspects: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts.

Locutionary acts are simply the speech acts that have taken place.

Illocutionary acts are the real actions which are performed by the utterance, where saying equals doing, as in betting, plighting one's troth, welcoming and warning.

Perlocutionary acts are the effects of the utterance on the listener, who accepts the bet or pledge of marriage, is welcomed or warned.

Some linguists are attempted to classify illocutionary acts into a number of categories or types. J.R. Searle gives five such categories: representatives, directives, commissives, expressives and declarations.

Representatives: here the speaker asserts a proposition to be true, using such verbs as: affirm, believe, conclude, deny, report.

Directives: here the speaker triesto make the hearer do something, with such words: ask, beg, challenge, command, dare, invite, insist, request.

Commissives: here the speaker commits himself to a (future) course of action, with verbs such as: guarantee, pledge, promise, swear, vow, undertake, warrant.

Expressives: the speaker expresse an attitude to or about a state of affairs, using such verbs as: apologize, appreciate, congratulate, deplore, detest, regret, thank, welcome.

Declarations: the speaker alters the external status or condition of an object or situation, solely by making the utterance: I now pronounce you man and wife, I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you be dead, I name this ship...

Pragmatic types of sentences according to O.G. Pocheptsovconstative

directive

guestion

promissive

menacive

performative.

Felicity conditionspreparatory conditions

conditions for execution

sincerity conditions

They take their name from a Latin root felix or happy. They are conditions needed for success or achievement of a speech act. E.g. only certain people are qualified to declare war, baptize people or sentence convicted felons.

Preparatory conditions the status or authority of the speaker to perform the speech act, the situation of other parties and so on. e.g.

In the UK only monarch can dissolve parliament.

In the case of marrying, there are other conditions that neither of the couple is already married, that they make their own speech acts, and so on.

Conditions for execution

External circumstances must be suitable, e.g. Can you give me a lift? requires that the hearer has a motor vehicle, is able to drive it somewhere and that the speaker has a reason for request.

Sincerity conditionsIn some cases, the speaker must be sincere (as in apologizing or vowing).

Conversational implicature

In a series of lectures at Harvard University in 1967, the English language philosopher H.P. (Paul) Grice outlined an approach to what he termed conversational implicature how hearers manage to work out the complete message when speakers mean more than they say. e.g. Have you got any cash on you? where the speaker really wants the hearer to understand the meaning: Can you lend me some money? I don't have much on me.

The conversational implicature is a message that is not found in the plain sense of the sentence. The speaker implies it. The hearer is able to infer (work out, read between the lines) this message in the utterance, by appealing to the rules governing successful conversational interaction. P. Grice proposed that implicatures like the second sentence can be calculated from the first, by understanding three things:

1. the usual linguistic meaning of what is said.

2. contextual information (shared or general knowledge)

3. the assumption that the speaker is obeying what P. Grice calls the cooperative principle.Conversational maxims and the cooperative principle

The success of a conversation depends upon the various speakers' approach to the interaction. The way in which people try to make conversations work is sometimes called the cooperative principle.

Paul Grice proposes that in ordinary conversation, speakers and hearers share a cooperative principle. Speakers shape their uterances to be understood by hearers. The principle can be explained by four underlying rules or maxims which are called conversational maxims or Gricean maxims.

They are the maxims of quality, quantity, relevance and manner. Quality: speakers should be truthful. They should not say what they think is false, or make statements for which they have no evidence. Quantity: a contribution should be as informative as is required for the conversation to proceed. It should be neither too little, nor too much. Relevance: speakers' contributions should relate clearly to the purpose of the exchange. Manner: speakers' contributions should be clear, orderly and brief, avoiding obscurity and ambiguity.

The politeness principle

The politeness principle is a series of maxims, which Geoff Leech has proposed as a way of explaining how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. Leech defines politeness as forms of behavior that establish and maintain comity. That is the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in an atmosphere of relative harmony.

Leech's maxims

Tact maxim (in directives and commissives): minimise cost to other; [maximise benefit to other]Generosity maxim (in directives and commissives): minimise benefit to self; [maximise cost to self]Approbation maxim (in expressives and representatives): minimise dispraise of other; [maximise praise of other]Modesty maxim (in expressives and representatives): minimise praise of self; [maximise dispraise of self]Agreement maxim (in representatives): minimise disagreement between self and other; [maximise agreement between self and other]Sympathy maxim (in representatives): minimise antipathy between self and other; [maximise sympathy between self and other]

Phatic tokens

These are ways of showing status by orienting comments to oneself, to the other, or to the general or prevailing situation (in England this is usually the weather). Self-oriented phatic tokens are personal to the speaker: I'm not up to this or My feet are killing me. Other-oriented tokens are related to the hearer: Do you work here? or You seem to know what you are doing. A neutral token refers to the context r general state of affair: Cold, isn't it? or Lovely flowers.

DeixicAccording to Stephen Levinson: Deixic concerns the ways in which languages encode...features of the context of utterance... and thus also concerns ways in which the interpretation of utterances depends on the analysis of that context of utterance.

The linguistic forms of this pointing are called deictic expressions, deictic markers or deictic words.

Deictic expressions include such lexemes as:

personal or possessive pronouns (I, you, mine, yours)

demonstrative pronouns (this, that)

spatial/temporal adverbs (here, there, now)

other pro-forms (so, do)

articles (the).

Deixis refers to the world outside a text.

LECTURE 9. Composite sentence

The modern approach to the composites is that it is a syntactic unit having more than one predicative line (s predicate groups). The term composite was introduced by H. Poutsma, thus we got the thrichotomic division of sentences into simple? Compound and complex (together the composite).

Compound sentence

One of the usual approachesto a compound sentence is that it is a sentence, whoseparts are independent to such an extent that Ch. Fries considers a compound sentence just a matter of intonation and pronounciation, and the difference between a simple sentence and a part of a compound sentence is just punctuational. The parts of the composite sentences are clauses.

The compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more independent clauses connected by means of coordination, e.g.She was tired and we decided to stay at home.

The clauses of a compound sentence may be connected syndetically (by means of coordinating conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs) and asyndetically (without any conjunction or adverbs).

There are four types of syndetic cordination in a compound sentence1) copulative ()

and, not only...but, both, neither...nor, norI neither want to stay at home, nor do I want to go to the mountains. 2) disjunctive ()

or, either...or, or else, otherwiseEither I do it or I'll punish you! 3) adversative ()but, yet, still, however, nevertheless, whereas, whileShe was tired yet she helped me. 4) causative-consecutive (-)

for (.., ), therefor, so, accordingly, then, henceI don't see anything for it is dark. Complex sentence

A complex sentence consists of a principal clause and one or more subordinate clauses. Clauses in a complex sentence may be linked in two ways:

1) syndetically, i.e. by means of subordinating conjunctions or connectives.

There is a difference between a conjunction and a connective. A conjunction only serves as a formal element connecting separate clauses, whereas a connective serves as a connecting link and has at the same time a syntactic function in the subordinate clause it introduces. More and more, she become convinced that some misfortune had overtaken Paul (conjunction).All that he had sought for and achieved seemed suddenly to have no meaning (connective).

2) asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or connective. I wish you had come earlier.

A subordinate clause may follow, precede, or interrupt the principal clause. His steps quickened as he set out for the hotel. As the family had no visitors that day, its four members dined alone together.

It was dull and dreary enough, when the long summer evening closed in, on that Saturday night.

A complex sentence may contain two or more homogeneous clauses coordinated with each other. They were all obstinately of opinion that the poor girl had stolen the moonstone, and that she had destroyed herself in terror of being found out.

A subordinate clause may be subordinated to the principal clause or to another subordinate clause. Accordingly we distinguish subordinate clauses of the first, second, third, etc. degree of subordination. I think I have noticed that they have an inconsistent way of speaking about her, as she had made some great self-intere