- •Теоретическая грамматика английского языка
- •§ 2. The phoneme, the morpheme, the word and the sentence are units of different levels of language structure. The phoneme is a unit of the lowest level, the sentence — of the highest.
- •§ 5. The structure, classification and combinability of phonemes is studied by a branch of linguistics called phonology.
- •Morphology
- •Introduction
- •§ 10. The morphemes book- and -s differ essentially:
- •§ 13. Besides lexical and grammatical morphemes there exist some intermediate types.
- •§ 18. In accordance with their structure the following four types of stems are usually distinguished:
- •§ 25. All the words of a lexeme, both synthetic and analytical, are, as defined (§ 19), united by the same lexical meanings.
- •§ 26. Analytical words are closely connected with synthetic ones.
- •§ 28. As shown by a. I. Smirnitsky, words derived from different roots may be recognized as suppletive only under the following conditions:
- •§ 29. The above-mentioned criteria serve to prove the identity of lexical morphemes in spite of their difference in form. The same criteria can be used to prove the identity of any morphemes.
- •§ 30. We have already spoken (§§ 14, 15, 18) about lexico-grammatical morphemes and their functions as stem-building elements. Now we are to see their role in building up classes of words.
- •§ 31. Let us compare the following columns of words:
- •Parts of speech
- •§ 39. Lexemes united by the genera! lexico-grammatical meaning of "substance" are called nouns. Those having the general lexico-grammatical meaning of "action" are called verbs, etc., etc.
- •§ 43. It must be borne in mind, however, that not all the lexemes of a part of speech have the same paradigms.
- •§ 44. The influence of the category of number is obliquely felt even in a case like milk. The word milk is closer to the "singular" member of a number opposeme than to the "plural" one.
- •§ 48. In accordance with the principles described above it is possible to distinguish the following parts of speech in English:
- •§49. Many linguists point out the difference between such parts of speech as, say, nouns or verbs, on the one hand and prepositions or conjunctions, on the other.
- •§ 51. A similar distinction can be drawn between notional and semi-notional lexemes within a part of speech (see § 194) and between notional and semi-notional parts of speech.
- •§ 57. A. I. Smirnitsky defines conversion as a type of word-building in which the paradigm is the only means of word-building.
- •§ 63. The relations between these variants remind us of conversion:
- •§ 64. As follows from our previous discussion of the parts of speech in English, the noun may be defined as a part of speech characterized by the following features:
- •§ 66. Many nouns are related by conversion1 with lexemes belonging to other parts of speech:
- •§ 70. A noun may be used in the function of almost any part of the sentence, though its most typical functions are those of the subject and the object. (See Syntax.)
- •§ 79. Nouns like police, militia, cattle, poultry are pluralia tantum, judging by their combinability, though not by form 3.
- •§ 80. Sometimes variants of a lexeme may belong to the same, lexico-grammatical subclass and yet have different forms of number opposemes.
- •§ 82. Case is one of those categories which show the close connection (a) between language and speech, (b) between mor-phology and syntax.
- •§91. Nouns representing 'plural' grammemes may denote:
- •§ 92. Nouns representing 'common case' grammemes express a wide range, of meanings, the exhaustive examination of which is hardly feasible. Here are some of them.
- •§ 93. As we have seen, 'possessive case' nouns occur a great deal less frequently than their opposites1.
- •§ 97. In the Russian language a noun in the genitive case may be adnominal and adverbial, I. E. It can be attached to a noun and to a verb.
- •§ 100. Let us compare the-English noun with its Russian counterpart. The five properties we use as criteria for distinguishing parts of speech will serve as the basis of comparison.
- •§ 101. Adjectives are a part of speech characterized by the following typical features:
- •§ 104. Suppletive opposemes are few in number but of very frequent occurrence.
- •§ 113. In certain speech environments adjectives can bе used to communicate meanings in some respect different from those of the grammemes they belong to.
- •§ 115. Following is a brief comparison of the basic features of English and Russian adjectives.
- •§ 116. The adverb is a part of speech characterized by the following features:
- •§ 123. Quantitative adverbs like very, rather, too, nearly, greatly, fully, hardly, quite, utterly, twofold, etc. Show the degree, measure, quantity of an action, quality, state, etc.
- •§ 124. Circumstantial adverbs serve to denote various circumstances (mostly local and temporal) attending an action. Accordingly they fall under two heads:
- •§127; Circumstantial adverbs are mostly used in the function of adverbial modifiers of time and placer
- •§ 130. The numeral as a part of speech is characterized by
- •§ 131. The lexico-grammatical meaning of 'number' is not to be confused with the grammatical meaning of 'number'.
- •§ 133. In our opinion, the pair ten — tenth forms an oppo-seme of the grammatical category of numerical qualification.
- •§ 135. As to their stem structure English numerals fall into
- •§ 136. Numerals are easily substantivized, acquiring noun features. •
- •§ 144. The personal pronouns are the nucleus of the class. They are: I (me), thou (thee)1, he (him), she (her), it, we (us), you, they (them).
- •§ 157. Self-pronouns are often used in apposition for emphasis. Dickson's view on the Middle Ages themselves would have to wait until another time. (Amis).
- •§ 159. Demonstrative pronouns can be:
- •§ 162. The pronoun who is the only interrogative pronoun which has a case opposite, whom, as in Whom did you meet?
- •§ 180. Most quantitative pronouns form opposemes of comparison:
- •§ 181. Here belong other (others, other's, others'), another (another's) and otherwise.
- •§ 182. The pronoun one stands somewhat apart, outside the classification discussed above.
- •§ 183. As an indefinite pronoun it is usually a pro-adjective with the meaning "a certain" and refers to both living beings and inanimate things.
- •§ 184. As an indefinite or generalizing personal pronoun one indicates only a person. It is a pro-noun. It has a case opposite one's and is correlated with the reflexive pronoun oneself.
- •§ 186. Summing up, we may say that the pronouns are hot united by any morphological categories, or syntactical functions. So they cannot be regarded as a part of speech.
- •§ 188. As a part of speech the verb is characterized by the following properties:
- •§ 194. Semantically verbs divide into notional and semi-notional (see § 50).
- •§ 196. Modal verbs are characterized:
- •§ 198. Verbs are divided into subjective and objective, depending upon their combinability with words denoting the subjects and the objects of the actions they name (see § 191).
- •§ 200. As usual, variants of a verb lexeme may belong to different subclasses (see § 62).
- •§ 201. Verbs can be classified in accordance with the aspective nature of their lexical meanings into terminative and non-terminative.
- •§ 202. As usual, variants of the same lexeme may belong to different subclasses. When meaning '(to) engage in physical or mental activity', the verb (to)work is non-terminative.
- •§ 208. Participle II may have left-hand connections with link-verbs.
- •The Category of Order (Time Correlation)
- •§ 213. Linguists disagree as to the category the 'perfect' belongs to.
- •§ 216. Let us take an extract from j. Galsworthy's novel To Let:
- •§ 219. The problem of aspect is controversial in English grammar. There is but little consensus of opinion about this category in Modern English.
- •§ 222. Besides those properties that characterize the verb as a whole, the finites possess certain features not shared by the verbids.
- •§ 224. Mood is the grammatical category of the verb reflecting the relation of the action denoted by the verb to reality from the speaker's point of view.
- •§ 229. The indicative mood is the basic mood of the verb. Morphologically it is the most developed system including all the categories of the verb.
- •§ 233. The correlation of time and tense is connected with the problem of the absolute and relative use of tense grammemes.
- •§ 236. In Modern English the category of person has certain peculiarities.
- •§ 240. The development of the modal verbs and that of the subjunctive mood — the lexical and morphological ways of expressing modality1 — have much in common.
- •§ 243. The 'passive voice' and 'continuous aspect' meanings are expressed much in the same way as in the indicative mood system.
- •§ 245. The difference between the two sets of opposemes
- •Verb Grammemes in Speech
- •§ 252. The systems of different moods, as we know, contain different grammemes. We shall therefore discuss the grammemes of the indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods separately.
- •Indicative Mood Grammemes
- •§ 254. The action it denotes may either coincide with the moment of speech or cover a more or less lengthy period of time including the moment of speech.
- •§ 255. In a context showing that reference is made to the past, the present non-continuous non-perfect may be used to denote past events, mostly presented as the speaker's reminiscences.
- •§ 274. The present non-continuous perfect is regularly found in adverbial clauses of time and condition when the connotation of priority is implied.
- •§ 275. What makes the present non-continuous perfect fundamentally different from the past non-continuous non-perfect can be briefly summarized as follows:
- •§ 276. As a unit of the language system it presents an act in the past (past tense) unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and preceding some situation (perfect order).
- •§ 277. When used with terminative verbs it may acquire a distinct connotation of resultativity, as in
- •§ 278. The past non-continuous perfect may be inclusive in meaning if supported by the context.
- •§ 280. As a part of the verb system it presents a future action (future tense), unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and prior to some situation in the future (perfect order).
- •§ 285. The past continuous perfect has much in common with the present continuous perfect, the main difference between them being that of tense.
- •§ 286. Like the present continuous perfect it may be inclusive if supported by the context or else exclusive as in
- •§ 287. The future perfect continuous is actually nonexistent.
- •Voice Grammemes
- •§ 292. It has often, been claimed that passive structures can be regarded as transforms of certain active structures 1.
- •§295. Representatives of subjunctive I grammemes can be distinguished from their indicative and imperative mood homonyms as follows.
- •§ 296. Following are some types of clauses in which should grammemes and their synonyms are regularly used.
- •Imperative Mood Grammemes in Speech
- •§ 303. Besides the features common to the English verb as a whole (see § 188) the verbids have certain features of their own distinguishing them from the finite verb.
- •§ 306. The verbids do not possess many of the categories of the finite verb, such as number, person, tense and mood.
- •§ 307. Here is a table presenting the paradigms of the verbids.
- •§ 308. The combinability of the verbids is of mixed nature. Partly, as we have seen, it resembles that of a finite verb. But some models of combinability are akin to those of other parts of speech.
- •§ 311. The infinitive is a verbid characterized by the following features:
- •§ 317. The participle is a verbid characterized by the following properties:
- •§ 319. As we have already mentioned, the adjectival and the adverbial features of the participle are connected with its combinability.
- •§ 321. The gerund is a verbid characterized by the following features:
- •§ 324. The gerund, which is a peculiarity of the English language, is very extensively used as the centre of complexes (nexuses) synonymous with subordinate clauses. Compare:
- •§ 326. In compliance with the system adopted we shall now work out the comparison of the basic features of the English verb with those of the Russian verb.
- •The adlink (the category of state)
- •§ 327. In Modern English there exists a certain class of words such as asleep, alive, afloat, which is characterized by:
- •The modal words (modals)
- •§ 329. As a part of speech the modals are characterized by the following features:
- •§ 331. The relatively negative combinability of modal words manifests itself in various ways.
- •§ 332. Functioning as a parenthetical element of a sentence, a modal word is usually connected with the sentence as a whole.
- •§ 333. The usage of modals depends upon the type of sentence. They are found almost exclusively in declarative sentences, very rarely in interrogative and almost never in imperative sentences.
- •§ 334. The response-words yes and no are characterized as a separate class by
- •§ 335. Practically every notional word can alone make a sentence in a certain situation of speech.
- •§ 336. Their lexical meanings are those of 'affirmation' and 'negation'. Their lexico-grammatical meaning is that of 'response statement'. They confirm or deny a previous statement.
- •§351. The combinability of at in the last example resembles, to some extent, that of an adverb. Cf. To be laughed away (off).
- •§ 359. The combinability of subordinating conjunctions is somewhat different from that of coordinating ones.
- •§ 360. The division of conjunctions into coordinating and subordinating ones is chiefly based on their lexical meanings and the types of units they connect.
- •§ 361. According to their meanings coordinating conjunctions are divided into
- •§ 362. Though for and so are considered coordinating conjunctions, they are in fact intermediate between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
- •§ 363. The conjunctions are not numerous, but of very frequent occurrence in speech.
- •§ 364. The two words a(n), the form a separate group or class characterized by
- •§ 367. Some grammarians speak of the 'zero article' 1 or the 'zero form of the indefinite article' 2. We are definitely against these terms.
- •§ 369. In accordance with its meaning 'one of many' the indefinite article is used to denote one thing of a class and is therefore a classifying article.
§ 57. A. I. Smirnitsky defines conversion as a type of word-building in which the paradigm is the only means of word-building.
We quite agree that the paradigms of doctor (n.) and doctor (v.) characterize them as two separate lexemes belonging to different parts of speech and thus the change of paradigm is really a means of lexeme-building. But do these lexemes differ from each other only in their paradigms? Hardly so.
Out of the five features that may characterize a lexeme as belonging to a certain part of speech they Jack only one: stem-building elements.
Thus the two lexemes are characterized by the remaining four features:
-
doctor (n.)
doctor (v.)
1. General lexico-grammatical meaning
Denotes a substance.
Denotes an action.
2. Paradigm
Has number and case opposemes.
Has opposemes of tense, person, mood, etc.
3. Combinability
Attaches articles, prepositions, etc.
Attaches adverbs, etc.
4. Function
Subject, object.
Predicate.
Consequently, the creation of the verb doctor on the basis of the noun doctor has been achieved not only by means of changing the paradigm but also by changing the general lexico-grammatical meaning, combinability and function. All these changes have brought about the creation of a new lexeme, i. e. all of them serve as lexeme-building means.
Moreover, the paradigm in Modern English is very often much less significant than the other features:
1. There are very many lexemes in English (both nouns and adjectives and lexemes of other parts of speech) which consist of only one word, e. g. meat, bread, hatred, dead, deaf, alive, must, etc.
2. English paradigms (save those of the verb) are mostly poor, and forms of different words very often coincide. Even in our example the noun forms doctor, doctors coincide with the verb forms doctor, doctors.
Thus, unlike stem-building elements (prefixes, suffixes, stress, etc.) which characterize each word of a lexeme as belonging to a given part of speech, the paradigm in English distinguishes only some of the words of a lexeme, whereas the general lexico-grammatical meaning, combinability and function characterize every word of every lexeme as belonging to a certain part of speech and must, therefore, be considered the most universal features of a part of speech.
So conversion might be defined negatively as a way of lexeme-building without stem-building elements 1.
The positive definition would be more lengthy:
Conversion is a way of forming new lexemes from already existing ones by means of changing the paradigm, the lexico-grammatical meaning, the combinability and the function, or only the last three features.
T his definition covers not only cases like the one discussed above (doctor n. doctor v.) but also changes of the type break v. break п., smooth a. smooth v., native a. native п., home n. home adv., down adv. down v., down adv. down п., down adv. down prep., etc. In cases like down adv. down v. the basic lexeme has no paradigm, and the derived lexeme has a developed paradigm. In down adv. down prep both lexemes are without paradigms and are distinguished only by their lexico-grammatical meanings, combinability and functions.
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1 This is how Donald W. Lee defines it: "Functional change is the process whereby a word conies to be used in a new grammatical function with no salient change of form, i. e. without the addition or subtraction of a derivative syllable or other similar element." (Functional Change in Early English. Diss, Wisconsin, 1948).
§ 58. Some linguists do not regard the substantivization of adjectives (native a. native n.) and the adverbialization of nouns (home n. home adv.) as types of conversion on account of their slow progress, as distinct from the instantaneous nature of changes like doctor n. doctor v. The so-called 'partial substantivization of adjectives' (see § 109) can be used as an argument in favour of such views. The adjective native was first partially substantivized, then fully. But we may also have partial substantivization in cases like to smoke a smoke (in to have a smoke) where the change was instantaneous.
A nyhow, in cases of full substantivization the results do not differ from those of other kinds of conversion. We might call changes of the type doctor n. doctor v. the verbalization of nouns, break v. break n. — the substantivization of verbs, better a. better n. — the verbalization of adjectives, etc.
§ 59. Summing up, we may say that lexeme-building is closely connected with the division of lexemes into parts of speech, the characteristic features of the latter discharging the functions of lexeme-building means.
When no reference to the history of derivation is made, and no emphasis is laid on the fact that doctor n. is the basic lexeme and doctor v. has been derived by conversion, we can simply say that doctor n. and doctor v. are related by conversion.
One of the characteristic features of English is the abundance of lexemes related by conversion.
§ 60. A part of speech can usually be subdivided into smaller lexico-grammatical classes, or subclasses. This subdivision can be based on the same principles which serve to distinguish parts of speech.
Let us by way of illustration compare the nouns boy, friend, on the one hand, and boyhood, friendship, on the other. All the lexemes represented by these words have the features of English noun lexemes. Yet, these nouns are not homogeneous.
They are united by the lexico-grammatical meaning of 'substance', but boy and friend denote 'countable substances', whereas boyhood and friendship stand for 'uncountable substances'.
Boy and friend have simple stems, while boyhood and friendship have been derived by means of affixation.
The lexemes of boy and friend have four-member paradigms, whereas the lexemes of boyhood and friendship are one-member ones.
The combinability of these words, though essentially alike, is not without certain distinctions. Unlike boy and friend, for instance, boyhood and friendship do not form combinations with numerals.
Thus, within the same lexico-grammatical class of nouns these lexemes belong to different subclasses.
§ 61. So far no systematic analysis of the subclasses of parts of speech has been carried out. Before this is done, it seems feasible to subdivide the lexemes of a part of speech with regard to some leading feature. From the grammatical point of view it is most essential to classify lexemes with regard to the grammatical categories of the part of speech they belong to.
With regard to the category of number, for instance, noun lexemes can be divided into those which possess number opposemes (boy — boys, book — books) and those having no number opposemes (snow, darkness, trousers). These two subclasses are roughly covered by the terms countables and uncountables and we shall call them so, though the uncountability of trousers, tongs or nuptials is rather doubtful.
With regard to the category of case nouns are subdivided into those having case opposemes (man — man's) and those without such opposemes (table, food). The first subclass mostly contains nouns denoting living beings and the second — lifeless things. But instances like a night's rest, a mile's distance, etc. show the need for more adequate terms, possibly, declinables and indeclinables.
Similarly, adjective lexemes can be divided into those possessing opposemes of the degrees of comparison (long — longer — longest, beautiful — more beautiful — most beautiful) and those having no such opposemes (wooden, deaf). These two subclasses are to some extent covered by the terms qualitative and relative. But adjectives like deaf, blind, etc. show the inaccuracy of these terms from the grammatical point of view. It would be more in keeping with grammar to call these classes comparables and non-comparables respectively.
English verbs can also be divided into subclasses, for instance, with regard to the category of voice. Some verb lexemes contain voice opposemes (takes — is taken, wants — is wanted), others do not (sit, resemble). The two subclasses are more or less covered by the terms objective and subjective 1, though these terms refer to the combinability of the corresponding verbs, not to their paradigms.
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1See § 204.
§ 62. Different lexemes usually belong to different subclasses, but often the dividing line passes within the lexeme. One of the meanings of the noun beauty is "all those qualities that give pleasure to the mind or to the eye or ear", e. g. В e а и t у is only skin deep. In this meaning the word beauty has neither a case nor a number opposite and belongs to the subclass of uncountable indeclinable nouns, like hatred, milk, etc.
When beauty means "an example of what is beautiful" (Her smile was one of her chief beauties) it has a number opposite and belongs to the subclass of countable indeclinable nouns, like book, day, etc. When meaning "beautiful woman" (She is a real beauty) beauty has both a case and a number opposites and belongs to the subclass of countable declinable nouns, like woman, student, etc. Strictly speaking, we might regard beauty in the first meaning as a separate lexeme consisting of one word. The second meaning might be looked upon as uniting two words (beauty, beauties) in another lexeme, the third meaning, as uniting four words (beauty, beauties, beauty's, beauties') in a different lexeme. But the connection between those meanings is so close and obvious that beautyl, beauty2, beauty3 can hardly be considered homonyms. We shall rather regard them as variants of one lexeme.