Categorial structure of the word кратко

Обновлено: 05.07.2024

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of language units. The role of F. de Saussure and I. A. Beaudoin de Courtenay in the development of linguistic theory. The notion of synchrony and diachrony.

Language levels and language units. The correlation of word, phrase, sentence, dicteme (utterance). The peculiar status of phoneme. Word and sentence as basic units of language.

QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED:

What are the determining features of a system? How do they apply to language?
What is the functional relevance of the language unit?
What conceptual correlation is the language-speech dichotomy based on?
What is the correlation of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations?
What is the difference between segmental and suprasegmental units?
What language levels are identified in the language system?
What conditions the non-overlapping of language levels?
What functions do the language units, representatives of the six language levels, perform?

MORPHEMIC STRUCTURE OF THE WORD

The morphemic structure of the word. The notions of morph, morpheme, allomorph.
The traditional classification of morphemes.
The allo-emic classification of morphemes.
The notion of distribution, types of distribution.
The principle of identifying free/bound, overt/covert, additive/replacive, continuous/discontinuous morphemes.
The notion of zero morpheme.

QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED:

What is the basic difference between the morpheme and the word as language units?
What is a morph?
What does the difference between a morpheme and an allomorph consist in?
What principles underlie the traditional study of the morphemic composition of the word?
What principles is the distributional analysis of morphemes based on?
What are the determining features of the three types of distribution?

I. Do the morphemic analysis of the words on the lines of the traditional and distributional classifications.

MODEL: Do the morphemic analysis of the word “inseparable”.

On the lines of the traditional classification the word “inseparable” is treated as a three-morpheme word consisting of the root morpheme “-separ-”, the prefix “in-” and the lexical suffix “-able”.

On the lines of the distributional analysis the root “-separ-” is a bound, overt, continuous, additive morpheme; the prefix “in-” is a bound, overt, continuous, additive morpheme; the suffix “-able” is a bound, overt, continuous, additive morpheme.

a) unmistakably, children’s (books), disfigured, underspecified, surroundings, presume, kingdom, brotherhood, plentiful, imperishable, unprecedented, oxen, embodiment, outlandish;

b) hammer, students’ (papers), sing–sang–singing–singer, really, proficient–deficient–efficient, gooseberry, unreproved, incomparable;

c) quiet, perceptions, wheaterina, bell, unbelievably, glassy, uncommunicative, inexplicable, infamy, strenuousness;

d) inconceivable, prefigurations, southernism, semidarkness, adventuresses, insurmountable, susceptibility, ineptitude, unfathomable, insufficiency, to prejudge, cranberry.

II. Define the type of the morphemic distribution according to which the given words are grouped.

MODEL: insensible–incapable

The morphs “-ible” and “-able” are in complementary distribution, as they have the same meaning but are different in their form which is explained by their different environments.

a) impeccable, indelicate, illiterate, irrelevant;

b) undisputable, indisputable;

c) published, rimmed;

d) seams, seamless, seamy.

III. Group the words according to a particular type of morphemic distribution.

MODEL: worked–bells–tells–fells–telling–spells–spelled–spelt–felled–bell

spells–spelled: the allomorphs “-s” and “-ed” are in contrastive distribution (=fells–felled);

bell–bells: the allomorph “-s” and zero allomorph are in contrastive distribution;

spelt–spelled: the allomorphs “-t” and “-ed” are in non-contrastive distribution;

worked–spelled: the allomorphs “-ed [t]” and “-ed [d]” are in complementary distribution, etc.

IV. Group the words according to a particular type of morphemic distribution:

The most general notions reflecting the most general properties of phenomena are called categories.

As for the grammatical category itself, it presents a unity of form (that is material factor), and meaning (ideal factor). In other terms it presents a unity of content and expression. The plane of content (ex. plurality) comprises the purely semantic elements contained in the language while the plane of expression (ex. boys) comprises the material (formal) units of the language. The two planes are inseparably connected, so that no meaning can be realized without some material means of expression.

The ordered set of grammatical forms expressing a category is a paradigm. Paradigms may be small and large, depending on the number of grammatical categories they express; (ex: the paradigm of the word ‘man’ consists of 4 forms: a man – men (number), man’s – men’s (case)).

Parts of speech represent larger paradigms possessing particular paradigms of case, number (noun), degrees of comparison (adjective, adverb), tense, voice, mood, person (verb), etc. Bigger paradigms after parts of speech are morphology and syntax. The biggest paradigm of a language is its grammatical structure.

The paradigms in a category are arranged in the form of grammatical oppositions. The elements of the opposition have two types of features: common features and differential features. In the opposition ‘boy-boys’ the common features is number, the differential features are singularity (boy)/plurality (boys).

The opposition along the line of one grammatical category is called an opposeme, ex. number opposeme: a table – tables.

The oppositional theory was originally formulated as a phonological theory. The qualitative oppositions are privative (b-d-g, p-t-k); gradual (постепен) - (i:-i-e-a) and equipollent (равноцен) – (m-b). By the number of members were divided into binary, ternary (тройной), quaternary (четвертной), etc. The most important type of opposition is the binary privative opposition. It is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature while the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature. The member in which the feature is present is called the ‘marked’ or ‘strong’, or ‘positive’ member, and has the symbol ‘+’ (plus); the member in which the feature is absent - the ‘unmarked’ or ‘weak’, or ‘negative’ member, (minus).

The gradual opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members and shows the degree of feature.

The equipollent opposition is formed by members which have different positive features.

The most important type of opposition in morphology, the same as in phonology, is the binary privative opposition. Ex. in the opposition ‘work-worked’ the marked member is ‘worked’ because it has the differential feature, the morpheme –ed, while the unmarked member ‘work’ has no differential feature.

Equipollent oppositions in English morphology are rare (редкий). Ex. the correlation of the person forms of the verb 'be' - am - is - are. An example of the gradual morphological opposition can be seen in the category of comparison: strong - stronger – the strongest. Both equipollent and gradual oppositions can be reduced to privative oppositions.

This kind of oppositional reduction is called neutralization of opposition. There is another kind of reduction, by which one of the members of the opposition is placed in conditions uncommon for it. This use is stylistically marked. (Ex. This man is constantly complaining of something.) This contradiction intensifies the implied disapproval of the man's behavior.

The definition of the morpheme. The word and the morpheme, their correlation in the level structure of the language. Intermediary phenomena between the word and the morpheme. Traditional classification of morphemes: positional and functional (semantic) criteria. Roots and affixes. Lexical (derivational, word-building) and grammatical (functional, word-changing) affixes. The IC-analysis of the morphemic structure. Grammatical relevance of derivational affixes; lexical (word-building) paradigms. The peculiarities of grammatical suffixes (inflexions) in English. Outer and inner inflexion. The "allo-emic" theory in morphology: morphs, allomorphs and morphemes.Distributional analysis in morphology; contrastive, non-contrastive, and complementary types of distribution. Distributional classification of morphemes: full and empty (zero morphemes), free and bound, overt and covert, segmental and supra-segmental, additive and replacive, continuous and discontinuous morphemes. The assessment of distributional morpheme types. As shown in the previous unit, the morpheme is the elementary meaningful lingual unit built up from phonemes and used to make words. It has meaning, but its meaning is abstract, significative, not concrete, or nominative, as is that of the word. Morphemes constitute the words; they do not exist outside the words. Studying the morpheme we actually study the word: its inner structure, its functions, and the ways it enters speech.

Grammatical meaning and the means of its expression. Paradigmatic correlation of individual grammatical forms. Grammatical category as a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning. Oppositional analysis of grammatical category. The theory of oppositions. The types of oppositions: binary and supra-binary (ternary, quaternary, etc.) oppositions; privative, gradual, and equipollent oppositions. Oppositions in grammar. Privative binary opposition as the most important type of categorial opposition in grammar. The strong (marked, positive) and the weak (unmarked, negative) members of the opposition, their formal and functional features. Grammatical category in communication: contextual oppositional reduction (oppositional substitution). The two types of oppositional reduction: neutralization and transposition. Synthetical and analytical grammatical forms. The types of synthetical grammatical forms: outer inflection, inner inflection, and suppletivity. The principle of identifying an analytical form; grammatical idiomatism of analytical forms. The types of grammatical categories: immanent and reflective categories, closed and transgressive categories, constant feature categories and variable feature categories. Grammatical meanings of notional words are rendered by their grammatical forms. For example, the meaning of the plural in English is regularly rendered by the grammatical suffix –(e)s: cats, books, clashes. Grammatical meanings of individual grammatical forms are established as such in paradigmatic correlations: the plural correlates with the singular (cat – cats), the genitive case of the noun correlates with the common case (cat – cat’s), the definite article determination correlates with the indefinite article determination (a cat – the cat), etc.

Key terms: significative (meaning), intermediary phenomenon (phenomena), root, affix, lexical (derivational, word-building) affix, grammatical (functional, word-changing) affix, stem, outer inflexion, inner inflexion, suppletivity, the IC analysis, allo-emic theory, morph, allomorph, distribution (complementive, contrastive, non-constrastive), distributional analysis, full and empty morphemes, free and bound morphemes, overt and covert morphemes, segmental and suprа-segmental morphemes, additive and replacive morphemes, continuous and discontinuous morphemes

Grammatical meaning and the means of its expression. Paradigmatic correlation of individual grammatical forms. Grammatical category as a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning. Oppositional analysis of grammatical category. The theory of oppositions. The types of oppositions: binary and supra-binary (ternary, quaternary, etc.) oppositions; privative, gradual, and equipollent oppositions. Oppositions in grammar. Privative binary opposition as the most important type of categorial opposition in grammar. The strong (marked, positive) and the weak (unmarked, negative) members of the opposition, their formal and functional features. Grammatical category in communication: contextual oppositional reduction (oppositional substitution). The two types of oppositional reduction: neutralization and transposition. Synthetical and analytical grammatical forms. The types of synthetical grammatical forms: outer inflection, inner inflection, and suppletivity. The principle of identifying an analytical form; grammatical idiomatism of analytical forms. The types of grammatical categories: immanent and reflective categories, closed and transgressive categories, constant feature categories and variable feature categories.

The generalized meaning rendered by paradigmatically correlated grammatical forms is called “categorial”. Category is a logical notion denoting the reflection of the most general properties of phenomena. Categorial meanings in grammar are expressed by grammatical paradigms. For example, within the system of the English noun the generalized, categorial meaning of “number” is expressed grammatically through the paradigmatic correlation (or, opposition in a paradigm) of two members, of two grammatical forms, each with its own grammatical meaning: the singular (e.g., cat) and the plural (cats).

Thus, the definition of grammatical category is as follows: grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalized categorial meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms. In other words, it is a unity of a generalized grammatical meaning and the forms of its expression.

Помимо различий в форме, между членами привативных оппозиций существуют регулярные семантические отличия: значение слабого члена оппозиции всегда является более общим и абстрактным, а значение сильного члена оппозиции – более конкретным. Именно поэтому слабый член оппозиции используется в более широком диапазоне контекстов, чем сильный, и даже может регулярно замещать его в некоторых контекстах. Например, форма единственного числа существительного может использоваться в родовом значении для обозначения всех элементов некоторого класса объектов: The rose is my favourite flower = (All) Roses are my favourite flowers.

On the basis of various combinations of common and differential features, several types of oppositions are distinguished. The prevalent type in English grammar is a binary privative opposition. The term “binary” means, that the opposition consists of two members, or forms; besides binary oppositions, there are oppositions, that may include more than two members (‘ternary’, ‘quaternary’, etc.). The term “privative” means that the members of the opposition are characterized by the presence/absence of a certain differential feature, which serves as the formal mark of one of its members; in the example above, cat – cats, the ending of the plural is its formal mark. The member of the opposition characterized by the presence of the differential mark is called “marked”, “strong”, or “positive” (commonly designated by the symbol +). The other member of the opposition, characterized by the absence of the differential feature, is called “unmarked”, “weak”, or “negative” (commonly designated by the symbol -). In the category of number the strong, marked member is the plural form, because it possesses a special formal mark (either the productive suffix -(e)s, or other formal means, such as -en in children, etc.), the weak, unmarked member of the opposition is the singular form, which possesses no special mark. To stress the negative marking of the weak member it is also defined in oppositional theory with “non-”terms: e.g., the singular is referred to as “non-plural”.

Besides the differences in the form, there are also regular semantic differences between the members of the privative oppositions: the meaning of the weak member is always more general and more abstract, while the meaning of the strong member is always more particular and concrete. Due to this difference in meaning, the weak member of the opposition is used in a wider range of contexts than the strong member and it can even regularly substitute the strong member in certain contexts. For example, the singular form of the noun can be used generically to denote all the objects belonging to a certain class: The rose is my favourite flower = (All) Roses are my favourite flowers.

Besides privative oppositions, there are gradual and equipollent oppositions, which are minor types in morphology. Gradual oppositions are formed by a series of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a differential feature, but by the degree of it. A gradual morphological opposition in English can be identified only in the plane of content in the category of comparison, cf.: big – bigger - biggest. Equipollent oppositions are formed by members, which are distinguished by a number of their own features. An equipollent morphological opposition in English can be identified in the plane of expression in the paradigms of suppletive forms, for example, in the correlation of the person and number forms of the verb be: am – are – is (was – were).

Analytical grammatical forms are prevalent in English; modern English is an analytical type of language.

Читайте также: