Lecture I. Grammar as a part of the language

Содержание

Lecture I. Grammar as a part of the language

1. Language as a system.

2. Development of linguistic knowledge.

3. The nature of grammar as a constituent part of language.

4. The systemic character of language.

 

Lecture II. The noun

1. General characteristics of the noun.

2. The category of number.

3. The category of case.

4. The Problem of Gender in English.

 

Lecture III. The verb

1. General characteristics of the verb.

2. Classifications of English verbs.

3. The category of voice.

4. The category of tense.

5. The Category of Aspect.

 

Lecture IV: The Adjective

1. General characteristic of the adjective.

2. Gradable and non- gradable adjectives.

3. Substantivization of adjectives.

 

Lecture V: Sentence, as the main unit of syntax

1. General characteristics of syntax.

2. Sentence, as the main unit of syntax.

3. Word-groups. Syntactic bonds between words.

4. Communicative Structure of the Sentence (Functional Sentence Perspective).

Lecture I. Grammar as a part of the language

CONCEPT:

1. Language as a system.

2. Development of linguistic knowledge.

3. The nature of grammar as a constituent part of language.

4. The systemic character of language.

Language as a system.

 

The term «grammar» goes back to a Greek word which may be translated as «the art of writing». But later this word acquired a much wider sense and come to embrace the whole of the study of language. Now it's often used as a synonym of linguistics.

Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics defines grammar as any systematic account of the structure of a language; the patterns that it describes; the branch of linguistics concerned with such patterns. Grammar is characterized by the highest degree of abstraction: it only deals with general notion such as the abstract notions of tense, number, case, etc.

Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse. Language is social by nature; it is inseparably connected with the people who are its creators and users; it grows and develops together with the development of society.

Language incorporates the three constituent parts («sides»), each being inherent in it by virtue of its social nature. These parts are the phonological system, the lexical system, the grammatical system. Only the unity of these three elements forms a language; without any one of them there is no human language in the above sense.

The phonological system is the subfoundation of language; it determines the material (phonetical) appearance of its significative units. The lexical system is the whole set of naming means of language, that is, words and stable word-groups. The grammatical system is the whole set of regularities determining the combination of naming means in the formation of utterances as the embodiment of thinking process.

Each of the three constituent parts of language is studied by a particular linguistic discipline. These disciplines, presenting a series of approaches to their particular objects of analysis, give the corresponding «descriptions» of language consisting in ordered expositions of the constituent parts in question. Thus, the phonological description of language is effected by the science of phonology; the lexical description of language is effected by the science of lexicology; the grammatical description of language is effected by the science of grammar.

Any linguistic description may have a practical or theoretical purpose. A practical description is aimed at providing the student with a manual of practical mastery of the corresponding part of language (within the limits determined by various factors of educational destination and scientific possibilities). Since the practice of lingual intercourse, however, can only be realised by employing language as a unity of all its constituent parts, practical linguistic manuals more often than not comprise the three types of description presented in a complex. As for theoretical linguistic descriptions, they pursue analytical aims and therefore present the studied parts of language in relative isolation, so as to gain insights into their inner structure and expose the intrinsic mechanisms of their functioning. Hence, the aim of theoretical grammar of a language is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i.e. to scientifically analyse and define its grammatical categories and study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances out of words in the process of speech making.

Lecture II. The noun

CONTENT:

1. General characteristics of the noun.

2. The category of number.

3. The category of case.

4. The Problem of Gender in English.

The category of number.

 

The grammatical category of number is the linguistic representation of the objective category of quantity. The number category is realized through the opposition of two form-classes: the plural form and the singular form. The category of number in English is restricted in its realization because of the dependent implicit grammatical meaning of countableness/uncountableness. The number category is realized only within subclass of countable nouns.

The grammatical meaning of number may not coincide with the notional quantity: the noun in the singular does not necessarily denote one object while the plural form may be used to denote one object consisting of several parts. The singular form may denote:

1. oneness (individual separate object – a cat);

2. generalization (the meaning of the whole class – The cat is a domestic animal);

3. indiscreteness (нерасчлененность or uncountableness - money, milk).

 

The plural form may denote:

1. the existence of several objects (cats);

2. the inner discreteness (внутренняя расчлененность, pluralia tantum, jeans).

 

To sum it up, all nouns may be subdivided into three groups.

1. The nouns in which the opposition of explicit discreteness/indiscreteness is expressed: cat-cats.

2. The nouns in which this opposition is not expressed explicitly but is revealed by syntactical and lexical correlation in the context. There are two groups here:

1) Singularia tantum. It covers different groups of nouns: proper names, abstract nouns, material nouns, collective nouns.

2) Pluralia tantum. It covers the names of objects consisting of several parts (jeans), names of sciences (mathematics), names of diseases, games, etc.

 

3. The nouns with homogenous number forms. The number opposition here is not expressed formally but is revealed only lexically and syntactically in the context: e.g. Look! A sheep is eating grass. Look! The sheep are eating grass.

The category of case.

 

Case expresses the relation of a word to another word in the word-group or sentence (my sister’s coat). The category of case correlates with the objective category of possession. The case category in English is realized through the opposition: The Common Case, The Possessive Case (sister - sister’s). However, in modern linguistics the term «genitive case» is used instead of the «possessive case» because the meanings rendered by the «`s» sign are not only those of possession. The scope of meanings rendered by the Genitive Case is the following:

1. Possessive Genitive: Mary’s father – Mary has a father.

2. Subjective Genitive: The doctor’s arrival – The doctor has arrived.

3. Objective Genitive: The man’s release – The man was released.

4. Adverbial Genitive: Two hour’s work – X worked for two hours.

5. Equation Genitive: a mile’s distance – the distance is a mile.

6. Genitive of destination: children’s books – books for children.

7. Mixed Group: yesterday’s paper.

 

To avoid confusion with the plural, the marker of the genitive case is represented in written form with an apostrophe. This fact makes possible disengagement of –`s form from the noun to which it properly belongs. E.g.: The man I saw yesterday’s son, where -`s is appended to the whole group (the so-called group genitive). It may even follow a word which normally does not possess such a formant, as in somebody else’s book.

There is no universal point of view as to the case system in English. Different scholars stick to a different number of cases.

1. There are two cases. The Common one and The Genitive.

2. There are no cases at all, the form (`s) is optional because the same relations may be expressed by the ‘of-phrase’: the doctor’s arrival – the arrival of the doctor.

3. There are three cases: the Nominative, the Genitive, the Objective due to the existence of objective pronouns me, him, whom.

4. Case Grammar. Ch. Fillmore introduced syntactic-semantic classification of cases. They show relations in the so-called deep structure of the sentence. According to him, verbs may stand to different relations to nouns. There are 6 cases:

1) Agentive Case (A) John opened the door.

2) Instrumental case (I) The key opened the door; John used the key to open the door.

3) Dative Case (D) John believed that he would win (the case of the animate being affected by the state of action identified by the verb).

4) Factitive Case (F) The key was damaged (the result of the action or state identified by the verb).

5) Locative Case (L) Chicago is windy.

6) Objective case (O) John stole the book.

Lecture III. The verb

CONTENT:

1. General characteristics of the verb.

2. Classifications of English verbs.

3. The category of voice.

4. The category of tense.

5. The Category of Aspect.

The category of voice.

 

Voice is a grammatical category of the verb which indicates the relation between an action and its agent. It shows whether the agent expressed by the subject is the doer of the action or the recipient of the action (John broke the vase - the vase was broken). The objective relations between the action and the subject or object of the action find their expression in language as the grammatical category of voice. Therefore, the category of voice reflects the objective relations between the action itself and the subject or object of the action.

The category of voice is realized through the opposition Active voice, Passive voice. The realization of the voice category is restricted because of the implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity. In accordance with this meaning, all English verbs should fall into transitive and intransitive. However, the classification turns out to be more complex and comprises 6 groups:

1. Verbs used only transitively: to mark, to raise.

2. Verbs with the main transitive meaning: to see, to make, to build.

3. Verbs of intransitive meaning and secondary transitive meaning. A lot of intransitive verbs may develop a secondary transitive meaning: They laughed me into agreement; He danced the girl out of the room.

4. Verbs of a double nature, neither of the meanings are the leading one, the verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively: to drive home - to drive a car.

5. Verbs that are never used in the Passive Voice: to seem, to become.

6. Verbs that realize their passive meaning only in special contexts: to live, to sleep, to sit, to walk, to jump.

 

Some scholars admit the existence of Middle, Reflexive and Reciprocal voices. Middle Voice" - the verbs primarily transitive may develop an intransitive middle meaning: That adds a lot; The door opened; The book sells easily; The dress washes well. "Reflexive Voice": He dressed; He washed - the subject is both the agent and the recipient of the action at the same time. It is always possible to use a reflexive pronoun in this case: He washed himself. "Reciprocal voice”: They met; They kissed - it is always possible to use a reciprocal pronoun here: They kissed each other.

We cannot, however, speak of different voices, because all these meanings are not expressed morphologically.

The category of tense.

 

The category of tense is a verbal category that reflects the objective category of time. The essential characteristic of the category of tense is that it relates the time of the action, event or state of affairs referred to in the sentence to the time of the utterance (the time of the utterance being "now" or the present moment). The tense category is realized through the oppositions. The binary principle of oppositions remains the basic one in the correlation of the forms that represent the grammatical category of tense.Generally speaking, the major tense-distinction in English is undoubtedly that which is traditionally described as an opposition of past and present. But this is best regarded as a contrast of past and non-past. Quite a lot of scholars do not recognize the existence of future tenses, because what is described as the 'future' tense in English is realized by means of auxiliary verbs will and shall. Although it is undeniable that will and shall occur in many sentences that refer to the future, they also occur in sentences that do not. And they do not necessarily occur in sentences with a future time reference. That is why future tenses are often treated as partly modal.

The Category of Aspect.

 

The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of Manner of Action. It is realized through the opposition Continuous and Non-Continuous (Progressive and Non-Progressive). The realization of the category of aspect is closely connected with the lexical meaning of verbs.

There are some verbs in English that do not normally occur with progressive aspect, even in those contexts in which the majority of verbs necessarily take the progressive form. Among the so-called ‘non-progressive’ verbs are think, understand, know, hate, love, see, taste, feel, possess, own, etc. The most striking characteristic that they have in common is the fact that they are ‘stative’ - they refer to a state of affairs, rather than to an action, event or process. It should be observed, however, that all the ‘non-­progressive' verbs take the progressive aspect under particular circumstances. As the result of internal transposition verbs of non-progressive nature can be found in the Continuous form: Now I'm knowing you. Generally speaking the Continuous form has at least two semantic features - duration (the action is always in progress) and definiteness (the action is always limited to a definite point or period of time). In other words, the purpose of the Continuous form is to serve as a frame which makes the process of the action more concrete and isolated.

Lecture IV: The Adjective

CONTENT:

1. General characteristics of the adjective.

2. Gradable and non- gradable adjectives.

3. Substantivization of adjectives.

Содержание

Lecture I. Grammar as a part of the language

1. Language as a system.

2. Development of linguistic knowledge.

3. The nature of grammar as a constituent part of language.

4. The systemic character of language.

 

Lecture II. The noun

1. General characteristics of the noun.

2. The category of number.

3. The category of case.

4. The Problem of Gender in English.

 

Lecture III. The verb

1. General characteristics of the verb.

2. Classifications of English verbs.

3. The category of voice.

4. The category of tense.

5. The Category of Aspect.

 

Lecture IV: The Adjective

1. General characteristic of the adjective.

2. Gradable and non- gradable adjectives.

3. Substantivization of adjectives.

 

Lecture V: Sentence, as the main unit of syntax

1. General characteristics of syntax.

2. Sentence, as the main unit of syntax.

3. Word-groups. Syntactic bonds between words.

4. Communicative Structure of the Sentence (Functional Sentence Perspective).

Lecture I. Grammar as a part of the language

CONCEPT:

1. Language as a system.

2. Development of linguistic knowledge.

3. The nature of grammar as a constituent part of language.

4. The systemic character of language.

Language as a system.

 

The term «grammar» goes back to a Greek word which may be translated as «the art of writing». But later this word acquired a much wider sense and come to embrace the whole of the study of language. Now it's often used as a synonym of linguistics.

Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics defines grammar as any systematic account of the structure of a language; the patterns that it describes; the branch of linguistics concerned with such patterns. Grammar is characterized by the highest degree of abstraction: it only deals with general notion such as the abstract notions of tense, number, case, etc.

Language is a means of forming and storing ideas as reflections of reality and exchanging them in the process of human intercourse. Language is social by nature; it is inseparably connected with the people who are its creators and users; it grows and develops together with the development of society.

Language incorporates the three constituent parts («sides»), each being inherent in it by virtue of its social nature. These parts are the phonological system, the lexical system, the grammatical system. Only the unity of these three elements forms a language; without any one of them there is no human language in the above sense.

The phonological system is the subfoundation of language; it determines the material (phonetical) appearance of its significative units. The lexical system is the whole set of naming means of language, that is, words and stable word-groups. The grammatical system is the whole set of regularities determining the combination of naming means in the formation of utterances as the embodiment of thinking process.

Each of the three constituent parts of language is studied by a particular linguistic discipline. These disciplines, presenting a series of approaches to their particular objects of analysis, give the corresponding «descriptions» of language consisting in ordered expositions of the constituent parts in question. Thus, the phonological description of language is effected by the science of phonology; the lexical description of language is effected by the science of lexicology; the grammatical description of language is effected by the science of grammar.

Any linguistic description may have a practical or theoretical purpose. A practical description is aimed at providing the student with a manual of practical mastery of the corresponding part of language (within the limits determined by various factors of educational destination and scientific possibilities). Since the practice of lingual intercourse, however, can only be realised by employing language as a unity of all its constituent parts, practical linguistic manuals more often than not comprise the three types of description presented in a complex. As for theoretical linguistic descriptions, they pursue analytical aims and therefore present the studied parts of language in relative isolation, so as to gain insights into their inner structure and expose the intrinsic mechanisms of their functioning. Hence, the aim of theoretical grammar of a language is to present a theoretical description of its grammatical system, i.e. to scientifically analyse and define its grammatical categories and study the mechanisms of grammatical formation of utterances out of words in the process of speech making.