учебник_правка. Theoretical grammar as a brunch of linguistics
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Category of Gender Gender plays a relatively minor part in English grammar. This category does not find regular morphological expression. Linguistic scholars as a rule deny the existence of gender in English as a grammatical category and stress its purely semantic character. According to some language analysts (B. Ilyish, F. Palmer, and E. Morokhovskaya), nouns have no category of gender in Modern English. Still, other scholars (M. Blokh, J. Lyons) admit the existence of the category of gender. Prof. Blokh states that the category of gender in English is expressed with the help of the obligatory correlation of nouns with the personal pronouns of the third person. The recognition of gender as a grammatical category is logically independent of any particular semantic association. The category of gender is based on two oppositions: the upper opposition is general, it functions in the whole set of nouns and divides them into person and non- person nouns. The lower opposition is partial. It functions in the subset of person nouns only and divides them into masculine and feminine nouns. As a result of the double oppositional correlation, in Modern English a specific system of three genders arises: the neuter, the masculine, and the feminine genders. Besides, in English there are many person nouns capable of expressing both feminine and masculine genders by way of the pronominal correlation. These nouns comprise a group of the so-called “common gender” nouns (Fig. 37).  Fig. 37 There are several ways of expressing gender distinctions in Modern English (Fig. 38):
 Fig. 38 There are also some traditional associations of certain nouns with gender. These are apparent in the use of personal or possessive pronouns:
Category of Article Determination The article is a function word. It means it has no lexical meaning and is devoid of denotative function. The article is a form word that serves as a noun determiner. Since the article is a noun determiner and the noun is the headword in a noun phrase, the syntactical role of the article consists in marking off a noun or a noun phrase as part of the sentence. The morphological value of the article lies in indicating the substantivization of other parts of speech, mainly adjectives or participles, also pronouns, adverbs, numerals. In the light of the oppositional theory the system of articles in English is described as one consisting of three articles – the definite article, the indefinite article, and the zero article (Fig. 39).  Fig. 39 The article is one of the main means of conveying the idea of definiteness and indefiniteness. The indefinite article can be used in three functions (Fig. 40). Each of them is realized under specific contextual conditions.  Fig. 40 In its classifying function the article serves to refer an object to the class or group of objects of the same kind. In its generic function the indefinite article implies that the object denoted by the noun is spoken of as a representative of the class, and therefore what is said about the thing, animal, person, or notion mentioned, refers to any object of the same kind. In its numerical function the indefinite article retains its original meaning of the cardinal numeral one. The definite article implies that the speaker or the writer presents a person, a thing or an abstract notion as known to the listener or the reader, either from his general knowledge, or from the situation, or from the context. Hence, the two main functions of the definite article are specifying and generic (Fig. 41). The Definite Article Specifying e.g. Somebody moved in the room above.   Generic e.g. The lion is the king of the animals. Fig. 41 The definite article in its specifying function serves to single out an object or a group of objects from all the other objects (things, persons, animals, abstract notions) of the same kind. The specification is carried out by means of a restrictive attribute, of the preceding context, the situation or the meaning of the noun. The definite article in its generic function refers the following noun to the whole class of objects of the same kind. In most cases the zero article performs the same functions as the indefinite one. The difference is that the combinability of the latter is restricted to the group of countable nouns used in the singular form, whereas the zero article combines with uncountable nouns and countable nouns in the plural. The plural form without an article corresponds to the classifying and generic uses of the indefinite article and sometimes to the generic use of the definite article (Fig. 42). When used with the zero article, the noun loses its general grammatical meaning of thingness to a certain degree and acquires the meaning of qualitativeness. For example, the nouns “day” and “night” used with the zero article stand for “light” and “darkness” rather than time units. The Zero Article Classifying e.g. We saw men in the distance. Generic e.g. Man conquers nature. Fig. 42 SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF THE NOUN The noun can be used in the sentence in all syntactic functions but predicate. The primary substantive functions of the noun are those of the subject and the object. Its other functions are predicative, attributive and adverbial (Fig. 43).  Fig. 43 Speaking about noun combinability, we can say that it can go into right-hand and left-hand connections with practically all parts of speech (Fig. 44). Practically all parts of speech but the verb can act as noun determiners. The most common noun determiners are considered to be articles, pronouns, numerals, adjectives and nouns themselves in the common and genitive case (Fig. 45).  Fig. 44   Fig. 45 VERB AND ITS CATEGORIES CLASSIFICATIONS OF VERBS The verb is the most complex part of speech. The categorial semantics of the verb is process presented dynamically. This general processual meaning is proved by the verb valency and the syntactic function of the predicate. The processual categorial meaning of the notional verb determines its characteristic combination with a noun expressing both the doer of the action (its subject) and, in cases of the objective verb, the recipient of the action (its object). It also determines its combination with an adverb as the modifier of the action. In the sentence the finite verb invariably performs the functions of the verb-predicate, expressing the processual categorial features of predication, i.e. time, aspect, voice, and mood. From the point of view of their outward structure, verbs are characterized by specific forms of word-building, as well as by the formal features expressing the corresponding grammatical categories. The grammatical categories which find formal expression in the outward structure of the verb are, first, the category of finitude dividing the verb into finite and non-finite forms (Fig. 46). The non-finite forms (or verbals) are four in number, they are: the infinitive, the gerund, participle I and participle II. Category of Finitude Verbs   Finite Non-finite Fig. 46 Second, the categories of person, number, tense, aspect, retrospect, voice, and mood. Thus, the verb in English has eight categories (Fig. 47). The common categories for finite and non-finite forms are voice, aspect, phase and finitude. The grammatical categories of the English verb find their expression in synthetical and analytical forms. The formative elements expressing these categories are grammatical affixes, inner inflexion and function words. Some categories have only synthetical forms (person, number), others – only analytical (voice).  Fig. 47  Fig. 48 Within the class of verb various subclass divisions based on different principles of classification can be found. 1. Morphological classification includes classifications on the basis of two criteria: a) According to their stem-types all verbs fall into: simple, sound-replacive, stress-replacive, expanded, composite, phrasal (Fig. 48). Simple verbs consist of only one root morpheme. Derivative verbs are composed of one root morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes. Compound verbs consist of at least two stems. Phrasal verbs consist of a verbal stem and an adverbial particle, which is sometimes referred to as postposition. b) According to the way of forming past tenses and Participle II verbs can be regular and irregular. 2. Lexical-morphological classification is based on the implicit grammatical meanings of the verb. This classification of the verb may be undertaken from different standpoints. Grammatically important is the devision of verbs into the following classes: a) On the basis of the subject-process relation all notional verbs are divided into the following sets: actional and statal, relational and processual (Fig. 49). Actional verbs express the action performed by the subject, i.e. they present the subject as an active doer. Statal and relational verbs denote the state or relations of their subject, i.e. they either give the subject the characteristic of the inactive recipient of some outward activity, or else express the mode of its existence. The difference in their categorical meaning affects their morphological paradigm: statal and relational verbs have no passive voice. Also they are not generally used in the continuous and perfect continuous tenses. Their occasional use in these tenses is always exceptional and results in the change of meaning. Alongside of these verbal sets, another one could be distinguished which is made up of verbs expressing neither actions, nor states, but “processes”.          Fig. 49 b) According to the implicit grammatical meaning of aspective verbal semantics the following subclasses of notional verbs are singled out: limitive and unlimitive (Fig. 50).  Fig. 50 This division of verbs depends on the aspectual characteristic in the lexical meaning of the verb which influences the use of aspect forms. Limitive verbs besides their specific meaning contain the idea that the action must be fulfilled and come to an end, reaching some point where it has logically to stop. Unlimitive verbs imply that actions or states expressed by these verbs may go on indefinitely without reaching any logically necessary final point. The end, which is simply an interruption of these actions, may be shown only by means of some adverbial modifier. The last subclass comprises verbs that can function as both limitive and unlimitive. These verbs are called verbs of double aspectual meaning. Ther exist numerous minor aspective groups of the types shown above as their microcomponent sets (Fig. 51). The basis of this division is constituted by the relation of the verbal semantics to the idea of a processual limit, i. e. some border point beyond which the process expressed by the verb or implied in its semantics is discontinued or simply does not exist. c) On the basis of implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity verbs may be subdivided into transivite and intransitive (Fig. 52). Without the object the meaning of the transitive verb is incomplete or entirely different. Transitive verbs may be followed: by one direct object (monotransitive verbs); by a direct and an indirect objects (ditransitive verbs); by a prepositional object (prepositional transitive verbs). Intransitive verbs do not require any object for the completion of their meaning. There are many verbs in English that can function as both transitive and intransitive. They are called ambitransitive. 3. From the syntactic standpoint verbs fall into a number of subclasses: a) According to the nature of predication (primary and secondary) all verbs fall into finite and non-finite (Fig. 53). b) According to syntagmatic properties (valency) verbs are classified into two sets: complementive (taking obligatory adjuncts) and supplementive (taking optional adjuncts) (Fig. 54). The syntactic valency of the verb falls into two cardinal types: obligatory and optional. The subjective and the direct objective valencies of the verb are obligatory. The adverbial valency of the verb is mostly optional.  Fig. 51 Complementive and supplementive verbs fall into minor groups: complementive verbs are subdivided into predicative, objective, and adverbial verbs; supplementive verbs are subdivided into personal and impersonal verbs. The objective complementive verbs are divided into several important subclasses, depending on the kinds of complements they combine with (Fig. 55). On the upper level of division they fall into monocomplementive verbs (taking one object-complement) and bicomplementive verbs (taking two complements). The monocomplementive objective verbs fall into five main subclasses. The bicomplementive objective verbs also fall into five main subclasses.  Fig. 52            Fig. 53 Fig. 54  Fig. 55   4. According to their functional significance verbs can be notional (with the full lexical meaning), semi-notional and functional (with the partial lexical meaning) (Fig. 56). Semi-notional and functional verbs are divided into auxiliary verbs, modal verbs, link verbs, and semi-notional verbid introducer verbs (seem, happen, begin).  Link-verbs e.g. be, get Fig. 56 CATEGORIES OF THE VERB Categories of Person and Number Person and number are treated by scholars as closely related categories. In their treatment two approaches are contrasted: traditional and modern. In accord with the traditional approach, scholars point out to the existence in English of three persons and two numbers. The category of person expresses the relation of the action and its doer to the speaker, showing whether the action is performed by the speaker (the 1st person), someone addressed by the speaker (the 2nd person) or someone/something other than the speaker or the person addressed (the 3rd person). The category of number shows whether the action is performed by one or more than one persons or non-persons. In modern linguistic works on the problem it is also stressed that the categories of person and number are closely interwoven in English and should be considered together. At the same time it is particularly emphasized that these categories are spccific because they don't convey the inherently “verbal” semantics. It means that the categories of person and number have a “reflective” character: the personal and numerical semantics in the finite verb is the reflection in the verb lexeme of the personal and numerical semantics of the subject referent. Due to it the combination and strict correlation of the English finite verb with the subject is obligatory not only syntactically but also categorially. The expression of the category of person is essentially confined to the singular form of the verb in the present tense of the indicative mood and, besides, is very singularly presented in the future tense. As for the past tense, the person is alien to it, except for a trace of personal distinction in the archaic conjugation (Fig. 57). |