19. The categories of person and number

The category of person is the system of two member opposition. It is available only in the

Present Tense in singular number. B. Khaimovich and Rogovskaya (22) state that “the third person

with a positive morpheme being opposed to the first person with a zero morpheme”. In the future

tense sh- of the first person is opposed to w- of the second and third persons.

A similar treatment of the problem is observed in works of L.S. Barkhudarov (2), (4), who opposes third

person to the common person (1st, 2nd persons) because “almost all the verbs in the 1st and 2nd persons have a zero

marker”.

So far as to the category of number is concerned many grammarians consider that it is in its purity

represented only in the verb “to be”, for other verbs the opposition of the 3rd person singular, to 3rd person plural

accepted (in the present-tense).

20. The aspective categories of the verb

The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of Manner of Action. It is realized through the opposition Continuous::Non-Continuous (Progressive::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.

Neutralization is most common for privative oppositions as the unmarked,

‘weak’ member has a broader and less specified meaning contains the

distinctive characteristic(s) common for both marked and unmarked members

can cover the meaning of both members in certain contextual conditions unless

distributional or other restrictions are imposed.

o Neutralization of the opposition within the category of Tense:

– Present – Future;

– Present – Past.

o Neutralization of the opposition within the category of Aspect:

– Simple of stative verbs (constant, paradigmatic neutralization caused

by the lexical meaning of the verb, an exception);

– Simple of activity verbs.

o Neutralization of the opposition within the category of Correlation:

– Past Simple – Past Perfect;

– Past Simple – Present Perfect of actional verbs;

! But no neutralization:

Past Simple – Present Perfect of activity and state verbs;

– Present Simple of hear, forget.