Morphology and syntax as part of grammar. Units of grammar, their functions and types of relations between them in language and speech.

Morphology and syntax as part of grammar. Units of grammar, their functions and types of relations between them in language and speech.

Main units of Grammar are a word and a sentence. A word may be divided into morphemes, a sentence may be divided into phrases (word-groups). A morpheme, a word, a phrase and a sentence are units of different levels of language structure. A unit of a higher level consists of one or more units of a lower level.

Grammatical units - 2 types of relations:

- in the language system (paradigmatic relations)

- in speech (syntagmatic relations).

In the language system each unit is included into a set of connections based on different properties. F. ex., word forms child, children, child's, children's have the same lexical meaning and have different grammatical meanings. They constitute a lexeme.

Word-forms children, boys, men, books... have the same grammatical meaning and have different lexical meanings. They constitute a grammeme (a categorial form, a form class). The system of all grammemes (grammatical forms) of all lexemes (words) of a given class constitutes a paradigm.

Syntagmatic relations are the relations in an utterance.

Main grammatical units, a word and a sentence, are studied by different sections of Grammar: Morphology (Accidence) and Syntax. Morphology studies the structure, forms and the classification of words. Syntax studies the structure, forms and the classification of sentences. Morphology studies paradigmatic relations of words, Syntax studies syntagmatic relations of words and paradigmatic relations of sentences.

There is also a new approach to the division of Grammar into Morphology and Syntax. According to this approach Morphology should study both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of words. Syntax should study both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of sentences. Syntactic syntagmatics is a relatively new field of study, reflecting the discourse.

 

 

Grammatical meaning and grammatical form. Means of form-building. Synthetic and analytical forms.

The grammatical meaning and grammatical form are the basic notions of Grammar.

The grammatical meaning is a general, abstract meaning which embraces classes of words. The grammatical meaning depends on the lexical meaning. It is connected with objective reality indirectly, through the lexical meaning. The grammatical meaning is relative, it is revealed in relations of word forms, e.g. speak - speaks. The grammatical meaning is obligatory. Grammatical meaning must be expressed if the speaker wants to be understood.

The grammatical meaning must have a grammatical form of expression (inflexions, analytical forms, word-order, etc.). The term form may be used in a wide sense to denote all means of expressing grammatical meanings. It may be also used in a narrow sense to denote means of expressing a particular grammatical meaning (plural, number, present tense, etc.).

Grammatical elements are unities of meaning and form, content and expression. In the language system there is no direct correspondence of meaning and form. Two or more units of the plane of content may correspond to one unit of the plane of expression (polysemy; homonymy). Two or more units of the plane of expression may correspond to one unit of the plane of content (synonymy).

Means of form-building and grammatical forms are divided into synthetic and analytical.

Synthetic forms are built with the help of bound morphemes, analytical forms are built with the help of semi-bound morphemes (word-morphemes).

Synthetic means of form-building are affixation, sound-interchange (inner-inflexion), suppletivity. Typical features of English affixation are scarcity and homonymy of affixes. Another characteristic feature is a great number of zero-morphemes.

Though English grammatical affixes are few in number, affixation is a productive means of form-building.

Sound interchange may be of two types: vowel- and consonant-interchange. It is often accompanied by affixation: bring - brought.

Sound interchange is not productive in Modem English. It is used to build the forms of irregular verbs.

Forms of one word may be derived from different roots: go - went. This means of form-building is called suppletivity. Different roots may be treated as suppletive forms if:

1) they have the same lexical meaning;

2) there are no parallel non-suppletive forms;

3) other words of the same class build their forms without suppletivity.

Suppletivity, like inner inflexion, is hot productive in Modem English, but it occurs in words with a very high frequency.

Analytical forms are combinations of the auxiliary element (a word morpheme) and the notional element: is writing. Analytical forms are contradictory units: phrases in form and wordforms in function. In the analytical form is writing the auxiliary verb be is lexically empty. It expresses the, grammatical meaning. The notional element expresses both the lexical and the grammatical meaning. So the grammatical meaning is expressed by the two components of the analytical form: the auxiliary verb be and the affix ing. The word-morpheme be and the inflexion -ing constitute a discontinuous morpheme.

 

Structure of words. Grammatically relevant types of morphemes.

The smallest meaningful units of grammar are called morphemes. Morphemes are commonly classified into free (those which can occur as separate words) and bound. A word consisting of a single (free) morpheme is monomorphemic, its opposite is polymorphemic.

According to their meaning and function morphemes are subdivided into lexical (roots),-lexico-grammatical (word-building affixes) and grammatical (form-building affixes, or inflexions).

Morphemes are abstract units, represented in speech by morphs. Most morphemes are realized by single morphs: unselfish. Some morphemes may be manifested by more than one morph according to their position. Such alternative morphs, or positional variants of a morpheme are called allomorphs: cats, [s], dogs [z], foxes [iz].

Morphemic variants are identified in the text on the basis of their cooccurence with other morphs, or their environment. The total of environments constitutes the distribution.

There may be three types of morphemic distribution: contrastive, non-contrastive, complementary. Morphs are in contrastive distribution if their position is the same and their meanings are different: charming - charmed. Morphs are in non-contrastive distribution if their position is the same and their meanings are the same: learned - learnt. Such morphs constitute free variants of the same morpheme. Morphs are in complementary distribution if their positions are different and their meanings are the same: speak s - teach es. Such morphs are allomorphs of the same morpheme.

Grammatical meanings may be expressed by the absence of the morpheme: book - books. The meaning of plurality is expressed by the morpheme -s. The meaning of singularity is expressed by the absence of the morpheme. Such meaningful absence of the morpheme is called zero-morpheme.

The function of the morpheme may be performed by a separate word. In the opposition work - will work the meaning of the future is expressed by the word will. Will is a contradictory unit. Formally it is a word, functionally it is a morpheme. As it has the features of a word and a morpheme, it is called a word morpheme. Word-morphemes may be called semi-bound morphemes.

 

The category of tense.

3 basic categories of the verb: aspect, correlation and voice. They are constituted by 2 forms of the verb – analytical and non-analytical. The categories of mood, tense and person are basically different. They are characteristic of only finite forms of the verb. The category of tense, being a predicative category, differs from other categories in its structure, grammatical meaning and its syntactic function because it is connected with the essence of the speech act, with interpersonal relations.

The opposition of past and present is not the opposition of just 2 verbal forms but the opposition of 2 systems of forms:

Present:	Past:
works	worked
is working	was working
has worked	had worked
has been working	had been working
is going to work	was going to work
is to work	was to work

Functionally all the forms, entering these two systems, are the same. They’re used in the syntactic function of the predicate in the sentence. But in speech in the plane of communication the present forms reveal their specific character: they reflect facts and evens as actual, immediately related to the participants of the speech act. On the contrary, the forms of the past reflect something that is already the past, history, not immediately related to the participants of the speech act. What is represented by the past forms is of some cognitive interest to the addressee.

If we admit that the tense forms of the present express reality and make the information actual for the participants of the speech act, it is possible then to account for the rule ‘in clauses of time and condition forms of the present are used instead of the future’ (though the verb expresses a future action). The same is relevant for the use of the forms of the present in object clauses after the verbs with the meaning know, learn, find, imagine, see (that), look, take care, mind, etc.:

The problem of the future tense: will+Infinitive.

- An instant or spontaneous decision to do something.

- Predictions of a general character

- Requests, promises, threats, offering help, etc.Other ways to express a future action: Present Continuous, going to.

 

 

The category of order.

In Modern English there are also special forms for expressing relative priority - perfect forms. Perfect forms express both the time (actions preceding a certain moment) and the way the action is shown to proceed (the connection of the action with the. indicated moment in its results or consequences). So the meaning of the perfect forms is constituted by.two semantic components: temporal (priority) and aspeetive (result, current relevance). That is why perfect forms have been treated as tense-forms or aspect-forms (come - has come; is coming - has been coming).

Members of these oppositions are not opposed either as tenses or as aspects (members of each opposition express the same tense and aspect). These oppositions reveal the category of order (correlation, retrospect, taxis).

Tense and order are closely connected, but they are different categories, revealed through different oppositions: comes – came; comes - has come. The fact that the verbals have the category of order (to come - to have come, coming - having come) and have no category of tense also shows the difference of these categories.

The meaning of perfect forms may be influenced by the lexical meaning of the verb (limtive/unlimitive), tense-form, context and other factors.

 

The category of order.

In Modern English there are also special forms for expressing relative priority - perfect forms. Perfect forms express both the time (actions preceding a certain moment) and the way the action is shown to proceed (the connection of the action with the. indicated moment in its results or consequences). So the meaning of the perfect forms is constituted by.two semantic components: temporal (priority) and aspeetive (result, current relevance). That is why perfect forms have been treated as tense-forms or aspect-forms (come - has come; is coming - has been coming).

Members of these oppositions are not opposed either as tenses or as aspects (members of each opposition express the same tense and aspect). These oppositions reveal the category of order (correlation, retrospect, taxis).

Tense and order are closely connected, but they are different categories, revealed through different oppositions: comes – came; comes - has come. The fact that the verbals have the category of order (to come - to have come, coming - having come) and have no category of tense also shows the difference of these categories.

The meaning of perfect forms may be influenced by the lexical meaning of the verb (limtive/unlimitive), tense-form, context and other factors.

 

The category of voice.

The category of voice is revealed through the binary opposition “active - passive” (love - is loved). Voice denotes the direction of an action as viewed by the speaker.

Voice is a morphological category but it has a distinct syntactic, significance. Active voice has obligatory connections with the doer of the action. Passive voice has - with the object of the action.

In the active construction the semantic and the grammatical subject coincide. In the passive construction the grammatical subject is the object of the action.

The direction of the action may be also expressed lexically, and the lexical and the grammatical meaning may or may not coincide.

The category of voice characterizes both finite forms and verbals: to love - to be loved; loving - being loved.

Participle I may be also opposed to participle II: loving - loved (active - passive). But participle II may also have perfect meaning: writing - written (non-perfect - perfect). Meanings rendered by participle II depend on transitivity/intransilivity and teminativity/durativity.

The category of voice is closelv connected with lexico-syntectic properties of verbs. According to the number and character of valencies verbs fall into subjective and objective, the latter being transitive and intransitive. In English all objective verbs havejhe category of voice. Transitivity in English it is a property of the lexico-semantic variant of the verb.

The main difficulty in defining the number of voices in modern English is the absence of direct correspondence between meaning and form. Three more voices have been suggested in addition to active and passive:

1. Reflexive: He hurt himself.

2. Reciprocal: They greeted each other.

3. Middle: The door opened.

Passive constructions in English are used more frequently than in Russian. In English not only transitive but also intransitive objective verbs have the category of voice. Here belong:

1. Ditransitive verbs with 2 direct objects.

2. Ditransitive verbs with the direct and the indirect object.

3. Verbs taking a prepositional object.

4. Phraseological units of the type to take care of, to set fire to, to lose sight of.

4. Some intransitive subjective verbs followed by prepositional phrases.

5. The combination be + participle II may denote a state as a result of the previous action.

A.I.Smirnitsky: passive constructions have corresponding active constructions: Tables are usually made of wood. - People, usually make tables of wood. But the sentence “The table is made of wood” has no parallel active construction. The combination be+participle II, denoting state, is a compound nominal predicate. Likewise the combination get (become) + participle II is a compound nominal predicate and not the form of the passive voice: got married, became influenced.

 

The category of mood.

The category of mood denotes modality or the relation of the contents of the utterance to reality as viewed by the speaker. Modality is a wide notion which characterises every sentence.

Means of expressing modality: lexical (modal verbs), lexico-grammatical (modal words), morphological (mood), syntactic (structure of the sentence), phonetic (intonation). Linguists distinguish between objective modality (expressed by mood-forms) and subjective modality (expressed by lexical and lexico-grammatical means). The category of mood is proper to finit forms of the verb. It is closely connected with the syntactic function of the predicate. The category is revealed both in the opposition of forms and syntactic structures. So the category of Mood has a strong syntactic significance.

Linguists distinguish from 2 to 16 moods in Modem English. The reasons are as follows:

1. The category of mood is in the state of development. Some forms have a limited sphere of use (he, be), new forms are coming into the system (let).

2. There is no direct correspondence of meaning and form. There are no special forms for expressing unreal actions (with the exception of the forms he be, he were). The same forms are used to express facte and non-facts: should/would do, did. They are treated either as homonymous or as polysemantic.

3. It is difficult to distinguish between mood auxiliaries and modal verbs: may, let.

All the scholars recognize the opposition of 2 moods: indicative and imperative.

Indicalive is represented by a system of categories, (tense, order, aspect, voice, etc.). It is a fact-mood or a direct mood. Imperative is represented by one form, which is used in sentences with implied subject.

G.N.Vorontsova recognizes the analytical form of the imperative, expressed by let+ Infinitive.

Problematic and unreal actions are expressed by 4 sets of forms. The form (he) be/come/take, expressing a problematic action, is the only form which differs from the forms of the indicative. There is one more form of the verb to be, different from the forms of the indicative: (he) were. But this difference disappears in all other verbs, and besides, the form (he) was is now being replaced by the form (he) was. The combinations (he) should be, (he) should have been do not differ from modal phrases.

Forms expressing unreal actions are the same as the forms of the past indicative. These forms are often treated as polysemantic, i.e. forms of the indicative, which express unreal actions in certain syntactic structures (R.Quirk, L.S.Barkhudarov). Forms of the past indicative denote actions, not connected with the moment of speaking, not “relevant” for the speaker, “not real” now. That is why they may be used to denote unreality. In this case subjunctive will be represented by 2 forms of the verb to be: (he) be, (he) were and 1 form of other verbs: (he) do, come, go.

A.I.Smimitsky: these forms are homonymic, denoting real and unreal actions: they were... - real, past; if they were... - unreal, non-past. Subjunctive is represented by 4 sets of forms. In this system of 4 sets of forms, denoting different degree of unreality, there is no direct correspondence of meaning and form:

a) one meaning - different forms: I suggest you do (should do) it.

b) one form - different meanings: I suggest you should do it. In your place I should do it.

The number of oblique moods will depend on the basic principle for distinguishing between them: a) meaning; b) form; c) both meaning and form,

a) B.A.llyish treats these 4 sets of forms as forms of one mood - subjunctive. The difference of form and particular meanings is disregarded: only the common component of meaning (unreality) is taken into account.

b) A.I.Smirnitsky takes into account the difference in form and recognizes 4 oblique moods: Subjunctive I (he be), Suppositional (he should be), Subjunctive II (he were), Conditional (should/would be).

c) The system of forms, expressing different degrees of unreality, will be subdivided into 2 parts:

1. Forms, denoting problematic actions (he be, should be) may be treated as forms of one mood (Subjunctive I), the analytical form ousting the synthetic form in British English.

2. Forms, denoting unreal actions (were, should/would be) are treated as different moods, expressing independent and dependent unreality, or unreal condition and unreal consequence. But their modal meaning is the same and were - should be are not opposed as moods. This opposition reveals the category, which also exists in the system of the indicative mood.

So the wide divergence of views on the number of oblique moods can be accounted for:

a) by different approaches to the problem of polysemy/homonymy;

b) by the absence of mutual relation between meaning and form.

In the system of the indicative mood time may be denoted absolutely (tense) and relatively (order, posteriority). In the system of the subjunctive mood time may be denoted relatively (order, prospect). Perfect forms denote priority, non-perfect forms - simultaneousness with regard to other actions. The category of order may acquire the meaning of the category of tense.

 

Morphology and syntax as part of grammar. Units of grammar, their functions and types of relations between them in language and speech.

Main units of Grammar are a word and a sentence. A word may be divided into morphemes, a sentence may be divided into phrases (word-groups). A morpheme, a word, a phrase and a sentence are units of different levels of language structure. A unit of a higher level consists of one or more units of a lower level.

Grammatical units - 2 types of relations:

- in the language system (paradigmatic relations)

- in speech (syntagmatic relations).

In the language system each unit is included into a set of connections based on different properties. F. ex., word forms child, children, child's, children's have the same lexical meaning and have different grammatical meanings. They constitute a lexeme.

Word-forms children, boys, men, books... have the same grammatical meaning and have different lexical meanings. They constitute a grammeme (a categorial form, a form class). The system of all grammemes (grammatical forms) of all lexemes (words) of a given class constitutes a paradigm.

Syntagmatic relations are the relations in an utterance.

Main grammatical units, a word and a sentence, are studied by different sections of Grammar: Morphology (Accidence) and Syntax. Morphology studies the structure, forms and the classification of words. Syntax studies the structure, forms and the classification of sentences. Morphology studies paradigmatic relations of words, Syntax studies syntagmatic relations of words and paradigmatic relations of sentences.

There is also a new approach to the division of Grammar into Morphology and Syntax. According to this approach Morphology should study both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of words. Syntax should study both paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of sentences. Syntactic syntagmatics is a relatively new field of study, reflecting the discourse.