6. Notional and functional classes of words

Both the traditional and the syntactico - distributional classifications divide parts of speech into notional and functional.

Criteria for differentiating:

1. the prominence of their lexical meaning

2. peculiarities of their combinability

3. ability to be substituted by a word of a more general meaning

4. ability to create/add new items

Notional words

1. Complete nominative force

2. Self-dependent functions in a sentence

3. Can be used in isolation

4. Can be substituted by a word of a more general meaning

5. Open classes (new items can be added to them, they are indefinitely extendable)

Functional words

1. Incomplete nominative force

2. Non-self-dependent mediatory functions: linking or specifying

3. Obligatory combinability

4. Cannot be substituted

5. Closed classes (closed systems, including a limited number of members. As a rule, they cannot be extended by creating new items)

The main notional parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Members of these four classes are often connected by derivational relations: strength — strengthen;- strong — strongly.

Functional parts of speech are prepositions, conjunctions, articles, particles.

Pronouns constitute a class of words which takes an intermediary position between notional and functional words. On the one hand, they can substitute for nouns and adjectives, on the other hand, pronouns are used as connectives and specifiers.

Groups of functional words (function words - Ch. Fries)

• With a unilateral combinability – articles, auxiliaries, modals, particles

• With a bilateral combinability – prepositions and conjunctions which connect 2 or more notional words or word- groups

• Heterogeneous subclass uniting introductory it/there, interrogative words, interjections etc

There may be also groups of closed-system items(functional words) within an open class notional words)- e.g. notional, functional and auxiliary verbs.

A word in English is very often not marked morphologically and it is easy for words to pass from one class to another (round as a noun, adjective, verb, preposition). Such words arc treated either as lexico-grammatical homonyms or as words belonging to one class.

7.The noun. The category of number

Noun as a part of speech:

1. Semantic – a part of speech which categorial meaning is thingness

2. Formal – a) form-building – the category of number, the category of case, the category of gender, the category of article determination

b) derivational – typical word-building patterns: suffixation, compounding, convertion (to walk – a walk)

3) Functional – a) combinability: left-hand prepositional combinability with another N/V/Adj./Adv. [+ prep.Noun],casal combinability [N's+N]( .: the speech of the President — the President's speech), contact comb-ty [N+N]- stone-wall constructions, take an intermediary position between compound nouns and noun phrases (stone wall, car roof, speech sound), comb-ty with articles and other determiners [art./det. + N]

b) Syntactic functions – subject, object, other functions are less typical

Nouns fall into several subclasses which differ as to their semantic and grammatical properties: common — proper, concrete — abstract, countable — uncountable (count — non-count, count — mass), animate — inanimate, personal — non-personal (human — non-human).

Lexico- semantic variants of nouns may belong to different subclasses: paper — a paper, etc.

The class of nouns can be described as a lexico-grammatical field. Nouns denoting things constitute the centre (nucleus) of the field. Nouns denoting processes, qualities, abstract notions (predicate nouns) are marginal, peripheral elements of the field.

• Nucleus and periphery are distinguished on the basis of lexico-semantic properties and morph. characteristics – subclasses of Nouns

• The nucleus -> common- concrete-countable- animate Nouns

• The periphery -> abstract – material- uncountable Nouns

The category of number

The only category of nouns, which is generally accepted, is the category of number. Many scholars think that the notion of case applies to English pronouns, but not to nouns. Gender distinctions are not marked morphologically.

The category of number - is a semantically rooted morphological category ,

• depends on how the referent is perceived: as a discrete, hence countable entity, one or more than one, OR as an indiscrete indivisible, hence uncountable entity

• this semantic contrast is revealed through lexical and morphological means which are accompanied by syntactic marking

Lexical ( lexico-syntactic) means:

• The process of lexicalizing semantic contrast consists in denoting a discrete countable entity by one word – a meal and an indiscrete uncountable entity – by another – food.

We made a journey – we made a travel

Lexico- grammatical means:

-s – news – singularia tantum, goods – pluralia tantum, marked through syntactic patterning – the form of the predicate verb, use of articles and corresponding pronouns

Lexicalization of the plural form (the process when a word requires a new name, a word already having a meaning gets a new one)

Colours - > flag, pains -.> efforts

Grammatical means:

The morph. Category of Number is realized through inflectional marking (categorial forms) and/or syntactic patterning

Form: the category of Number is constituted by the inflectional opposition of 2 categorial forms of Noun:

Non-pl.(sg.) - Pl⁺ binary, privative opposition

Dog⁻ dogs⁺ ⁺ -a strong marked member, marked through the inflexion, ⁻- zero morpheme.

Sg. – no positive mark, zero inflexion, a weak unmarked member, many a river

Pl. – morpheme of plurality – (e)s, represented by:

• the allomorphs ( variants of 1 morpheme) books (s), boys(z), boxes(iz)

• by some other allomorphs ex. oxen

• internal inflexion – sound interchange mouse-mice

• zero inflexion (NB! – only in grammar) – sheep, means

Meaning of their category of Number and its members the foundation is laid by the opposition

Discreteness – non- discreteness which embraces countable and uncountable nouns

Discrete counts form the inflexional opposition

Non-pl.- pl. dog⁻-dogs⁺

Non-pl. – a single object having distinct outer boundaries

Pl. – a set of homogeneous objects having distinct inner and outer boundaries

Indiscrete uncounts constitute the lexico-gram. opposition of subclasses of nouns:

Sg. Only – pl. only

Sg. only – indiscrete entities having no boundaries ->mainly abstract and material uncounts

Pl.only (see pract. Grammar)

THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER

Discreteness Non-discreteness

morphological c. lexico-gram. subclass

Non-pl.(oneness) Sg. only

- a single discrete entity - indiscrete entities, no boundaries

Pl.(more –than- oneness) Pl. only

- multiplicity of discrete entities <…>

Bloh Pl only

The characteristic of the uncountable nouns which denote objects consisting of two halves (trousers, scissors, tongs, spectacles, etc.), the nouns expressing some sort of collective meaning, i.e. rendering the idea of indefinite plurality, both concrete and abstract (supplies, outskirts, clothes, parings; tidings, earnings, contents, politics; police, cattle, poultry, etc.), the nouns denoting some diseases as well as some abnormal states of the body and mind (measles, rickets, mumps, creeps, hysterics, etc.). As is seen from the examples, from the point of view of number as such, the absolute plural forms can be divided into set absolute plural (objects of two halves) and non-set absolute plural (the rest).