Adjectives and statives реферат
Обновлено: 02.07.2024
Form: Some adjectives have degrees of comparison, other adjectives are unchangeable.
Function: used in the sentence in the functions of a predicative or an attribute. They combine with nouns, verbs and adverbs.
E.g. The book is very interesting. This matter is very important.
According to the lexical meaning and the grammatical character adjectives are usually divided into two subclasses: qualitative and relative adjectives.
Qualitative adjectives denote properties directly.
1) They denote colour, size and quality.
2) They have degrees of comparison: E.g. big-bigger-the biggest; beautiful-more beautiful-the most beautiful.
3) They have corresponding adverbs derived from them by means of the suffix -ly.
E.g. warmly, beautifully.
4. They may have the functions both of an attribute and of a predicative.
E.g. He was a clever boy. The boy was clever.
5. Qualitative adjectives combine with adverbs:
E.g. The boy was very clever. The book was extremely interesting.
The properties of relative adjectives are quite different. Relative adjectives denote properties of things indirectly. They denote properties through relations
- to materials: e.g. wooden, silver;
- to place: European, African, Eastern:
-of time: daily, weekly;
-to some action (preparatory –подготовительный, defensive-оборонительный);
Relative adjectives as a rule have no corresponding adverbs formed from them by means of the suffix –ly. We cannot say woodenly.
Relative pronouns have degrees of comparison. These adjectives have only one function in the sentence – an attribute (silver watch). They are not used in the function of a predicative. But when relative adjectives are used figuratively, they get the properties of qualificative adjectives.
E.g. I have never seen such a wooden expression of a face. Her face never had a more wooden expression.
Leaden - свинцовый. The sky is quite leaden (=looks like lead).
Some linguists distinguish one more (the third class of adjectives). They refer to subclass such words as alive, afire (в огне), abloom (в цвету). They call such adjectives predicative adjectives because the words like afire are used only in the function of a predicative. Other linguists call these words “statives”, because they are different from other parts of speech from the point of view of their meaning, form and function. They denote a passing state, unchangeable (form), used in the function of the predicative in the sentence. In dictionaries (even in native ones) the words like alive are characterized as predicative adjectives (p.a) or adjectives predicative (a.p.).
There is also a point of view that within the adjective we find on the first level the opposition between the adjectives proper and stative adjectives, and within the proper adjectives we find the opposition between qualitative adjectives and relative adjectives.
Adjectives are subdivided into
Adjectives proper Stative adjectives
/ \ alive, abloom, afire
Good, fine silver
II. The degree of comparison of adjectives
The degree of comparison is the form which expresses the comparison of one object (or objects) with another in respect to a certain property. The category of degrees of comparison is found only in qualitative adjectives. There are three degrees of comparison: (1) the positive; (2) the comparative; (3) the superlative.
The degrees of comparison are formed in three different ways:
A) one-syllable and two-syllable adjectives form their degrees of comparison by means of overt morphemes: -er, -est. They form their degrees synthetically.
B) Other adjectives form their degrees of comparison analytically by means of the words more and most.
C) A few adjectives form the degrees of comparisons by means of the suppletive morpheme: e.g. good – better - the best; bad –worse - the worst.
There are adjectives which have two forms of comparison: e.g. Old – older –the oldest / elder – the eldest; far –farther-the farthest/ further-the furthest.
The forms elder-eldest are used while speaking about the family; further-furthest are used to express that something will follow.
In some cases Old English forms of comparative and superlative degrees have become in Modern English separate words:
e. g. They have two sons, Peter and Nick. The former is ten years old and the latter is already a student.
The adjective latter was originally the comparative degree of an Old English adjective late, and the adjective last was originally the superlative degree of the same adjective.
The adjective in the superlative degree is always used with the definite article (the quickest, the most important). So it has become an integral part of the superlative degree.
Sometimes we have such examples as a most interesting/important i.e. the phrase most+adjective is used with the indefinite article. In this case the adjective expresses a very high degree of a property without implying any comparison. In the sentence “It’s a most interesting book” the word most doesn’t form the superlative degree. It is used to show a high degree of a quality possessed by the noun and it is equivalent to the word extremely, exceedingly.
It is a most interesting book.Это весьма (очень) интересная книга.
In the first sentence the word most is not a part of the sentence. It helps to form the Superlative degree of the adjective interesting. In the second sentence the word most is an adverb, it is a part of the sentence, it has the function of an adverbial modifier of degree.
Statives are introduced by A. Vostokov (Rus. L-ge), B. Ilyish (EL).
Probably the most consistent and explicit exposition of the part-of-speech interpretation of statives has been given by B. S. Khaimovich and B. I. Rogovskaya:
1) the statives, called by the quoted authors "ad-links" are allegedly opposed to adjectives on a purely semantic basis, since adjectives denote "qualities", and statives-adlinks denote "states",
2) statives-adlinks are characterized by the specific pre-fix a-,
3) they allegedly do not possess the category of the degrees of comparison,
4) the combinability of statives-adlinks is different from that of adjectives, they are not used in the pre-positional attributive function, i.e. are characterized by the absence of the right-hand combinability with nouns.
The re-consideration of the stative on the basis of comparison with the classical adjective inevitably discloses the fundamental relationship between the two, — identity on the part-of-speech level, though, naturally, providing for their distinct differentiation on the subclass level (L. S. Barkhudarov - the traditional view).
1) the adjective as a whole signifies "property", which is categorially divided into "substantive quality" and "substantive relation". In this respect, statives do not fundamentally differ from classical adjectives. Moreover, common adjectives can express the same properties.
· the psychic state of a person (afraid, ashamed, aware);
· the physical state of a person (astir, afoot);
· the physical state of an object (afire, ablaze, aglow);
· the state of an object in space (askew, awry, aslant).
Meanings of the same order are rendered by pre-positional adjectives.
Eg. the burning house — the house afire,similar cases — cases alike
2) statives are not used in attributive pre-position, but, like adjectives, they are distinguished by the left-hand categorial combinability both with nouns and link-verbs
Eg. The household was all astir. - the household was all excited
3) basic functions of the stative are the predicative (predominant function) and the attribute. The similarity of functions leads to the possibility of the use of a stative and a common adjective in a homogeneous group.
Eg. Launches and barges moored to the dock were ablaze and loud with wild sound.
4) statives do not take the synthetical forms of the degrees of comparison, but they are capable of expressing comparison analytically
Eg. Of us all, jack was the one most aware of the delicate situation in which we found ourselves.
The Connectors (Conjunctions and Prepositions)
The Conjunction is a part of speech which denotes connections between objects and phenomena. It connects parts of the sentence, clauses and sentences. They have no grammatical categories.
According to their morphological structure conjunctions are divided into the following groups:
1) Simple conjunctions (and, or, but, till, that, so, etc.)
2) Derivative conjunctions (until, unless, etc.)
3) Compound conjunctions (however, whereas, wherever, etc.)
4) Composite conjunctions (as well as, as long as, in case, for the reason that, etc.).
Some conjunctions are used in pairs: both…and, either…or, neither…nor, etc.
Eg. Both Peter and Mary went there. Neither Peter nor Mary went there.
Conjunctions are never used alone in the sentence, nor do they have an independent function there.
As to their function conjunctions are divided in two classes:
1) Coordinating C.
2) Subordinating C.
Coordinating conjunctions
They join coordinate clauses in a compound sentence, or homogeneous parts in a simple sentence, or homogeneous subordinate clauses in a complex sentence, or independent sentences.
There are 4 kinds of coordinating C.:
1) Copulative (and, as well as, both…and, neither nor). Denote that one fact is simply added to another.
Eg. I saw Peter and Mary.
2) Disjunctive (or, either…or, or else, else). Offer some choice btw two statements.
Eg. Either Peter or Mary went there.
3) Adversative (but, while, whereas). Show one fact is contrasted with/against another.
Eg. Peter went there but Mary did not.
4) Causative-consecutive (so, for). One fact is inferred/proved from another.
Eg. Peter went there so Mary shouldn’t.
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The adjective expresses the categorial semantics of property of a substance. It means that each adjective used in the text presupposes relation to some noun the property of whose referent it denotes, such as its material, colour, dimensions, position, state, and other characteristics both permanent and temporary. It follows from this that, unlike nouns, adjectives do not possess a full nominative value. Indeed, words like long, hospitable, fragrant cannot effect any self-dependent nominations; as units of informative sequences they exist only in collocations showing what is long, who is hospitable, what is fragrant.
Adjectives are distinguished by a specific combinability with nouns, which they modify, if not accompanied by adjuncts, usually in pre-position, and occasionally in postposition; by a combinability with link-verbs, both functional and notional; by a combinability with modifying adverbs.
In the sentence the adjective performs the functions of an attribute and a predicative.
When used as predicatives or post-positional attributes, a considerable number of adjectives, in addition to the general combinability (сочетаемость) characteristics of the whole class, are distinguished by a complementive (дополнительный) combinability with nouns. The complement-expansions of adjectives are effected by means of prepositions. E.g. fond of, jealous of, curious of, suspicious of; angry with, sick with; serious about, certain about, happy about; grateful to, thankful to, etc. Many such adjectival collocations render essentially verbal meanings and some of them have direct or indirect parallels among verbs. Cf.: be fond of — love, like; be envious of — envy; be angry with — resent; be mad for, about — covet; be thankful to — thank.
Statives
Among the words signifying properties of a nounal referent there is a lexemic set which claims to be recognised as a separate part of speech, i.e. as a class of words different from the adjectives in its class-forming features. These are words built up by the prefix a- and denoting different states, mostly of temporary duration. Here belong lexemes like afraid, agog, adrift, ablaze.
Notional words signifying states and specifically used as predicatives were first identified as a separate part of speech in the Russian language by L. V. Shcherba and V. V. Vinogradov. The two scholars called the newly identified part of speech the "category of state" (and, correspondingly, separate words making up this category, "words of the category of state"). Here belong the Russian words mostly ending in -o, but also having other suffixes: тепло, зябко, одиноко, радостно, жаль, лень, etc. Traditionally the Russian words of the category of state were considered as constituents of the class of adverbs, and they are still considered as such by many Russian scholars.
On the analogy of the Russian "category of state", the English qualifying a-words of the corresponding meanings were subjected to a lexico-grammatical analysis and given the part-of-speech heading "category of state". This analysis was first conducted by B. A. Ilyish and later continued by other linguists. The term "words of the category of state", being rather cumbersome from the technical point of view, was later changed into "stative words", or "statives".
All the adjectives are traditionally divided into two large subclasses: qualitative and relative.
Relative adjectives express such properties of a substance as are determined by the direct relation of the substance to some other substance. E.g.: wood — a wooden hut; mathematics — mathematical precision; history — a historical event; table — tabular presentation; colour — coloured postcards; surgery — surgical treatment; the Middle Ages — mediaeval rites.
The nature of this "relationship" in adjectives is best revealed by definitional correlations. Cf.: a wooden hut — a hut made of wood; a historical event — an event referring to a certain period of history; surgical treatment — treatment consisting in the implementation of surgery; etc.
Qualitative adjectives, as different from relative ones, denote various qualities of substances which admit of a quantitative estimation, i.e. of establishing their correlative quantitative measure. The measure of a quality can be estimated as high or low, adequate or inadequate, sufficient or insufficient, optimal or excessive. Cf.: an awkward situation — a very awkward situation; a difficult task — too difficult a task; an enthusiastic reception — rather an enthusiastic reception; a hearty welcome — not a very hearty welcome; etc.
DEGREES OF COMPARISON
2 Intensification: high: very, most, extremely, extra, seriously (stupid); medium: quite, rather, pretty, fairly (cool).
3 Attenuation (ослабление): slightly (better), a little (different), a bit salty; not very (good), hardly (likely).
4 Quantification (определение количества): exact: one-mile; a mile (long); 2-foot-thick; 2 feet thick; 3-year-old; 3 years old; non-exact: not that long; this big.
5 Description (описание): by adjs: pale green, dark blue, deep red; by advs: strangely silent, cheerfully confident; by nouns: pitch black, paper-thin, world-wide.
6 Submodification: just as easy, really quite angry, far too expensive, quite old enough.
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Key terms: direct (indicative) mood forms, oblique (subjunctive) mood forms, imperative mood, time-retrospect shift, causal-conditional sentences, subjunctive I (pure spective), subjunctive II (stipulative conditional), subjunctive III (consective conditional), subjunctive IV (modal spective)
The adjective as a word denoting the property of a substance. Its formal and functional characteristics. The category of comparison. Synthetical and analytical forms of the degrees of comparison; the problem of their grammatical status. Absolute and elative superiority. Direct and reverse comparison. Grammatically relevant semantic subclasses of adjectives: qualitative and relative adjectives. Functional subdivision of adjectives: evaluative and specificative adjectives. The correlation of the two subdivisions. The problem of “category of state” words. The problem of substantivized adjectives; full and partial substantivation (adjectivids).
Formally, adjectives are characterized by a specific set of word-building affixes, e.g.: hopeful, flawless, bluish, famous, decorative, accurate, inaccurate, basic, etc. As for word-changing categories, the adjective had a number of reflective categories in Old English: it agreed with the noun in number, case and gender; all these forms were lost in the course of historical development and today the only morphological category of the adjective is the immanent category of comparison.
В плане содержания категория степеней сравнения образует градуальную тернарную оппозицию (см. Раздел 3). Если последовательно придерживаться оппозиционного подхода к описанию грамматических категорий, категория степеней сравнения может быть сведена к двум бинарным оппозициям, которые соотносятся в виде иерархии двух уровней следующим образом:
Категория степеней сравнения
положительная степень сравнительная + превосходная степени
(отсутствие сравнения, (превосходство)
равенство/ отсутствие равенства) taller, tallest; more, most beautiful
tall; beautiful; bad worse, worst
сравнительная степень превосходная степень
(относительное, ограниченное (абсолютное, неограниченное
taller; more beautiful; worse tallest; most beautiful; worst
In the plane of content the category of comparison constitutes a gradual ternary opposition (see Unit 3). To be consistent with the oppositional approach, the category of comparison can be reduced to two binary oppositions correlated with each other in a hierarchy of two levels in the following way:
Degrees of comparison
positive degree comparative + superlative degrees
(absence of comparison, (superiority)
equality/ absence of equality) taller, tallest; more, most beautiful
tall; beautiful; bad worse, worst
comparative degree superlative degree
(relative, restricted superiority) (absolute, unrestricted superiority)
taller; more beautiful; worse tallest; most beautiful; worst
On the upper level the positive degree, as the unmarked member, is opposed to the comparative and superlative degrees, as the marked forms of the opposition, denoting the superiority of a certain referent in the property named by the adjective 5 .The weak member, the positive degree, has a wider range of meanings: it denotes either the absence of comparison, or equality/inequality in special constructions of comparison, e.g.: He is tall; He is as tall as my brother; He is not so tall as my brother. On the lower level the comparative degree is opposed to the superlative degree. The comparative degree denotes relative, or restricted superiority, involving a restricted number of referents compared, normally two, e.g.: He is taller than my brother. The superlative degree denotes absolute, or unrestricted superiority, implying that all the members of a certain class of referents are compared and the referent of the word modified by the adjective possesses the property in question to the highest possible degree, e.g.: He is the tallest man I’ve ever seen. The superlative degree at this level of the opposition is the strong member, being more concrete in its semantics
The same grammatical metaphor is used in Russian, cf.: умнейший человек, с огромнейшим удовольствием, etc.; it must be noted, though, that the Russian elative superlative is usually expressed by synthetic forms of adjectives, while in English analytical forms are most often used.
С точки зрения семантики стативы не обладают собственной категориальным значением: поскольку, как было продемонстрировано выше, прилагательные обозначают не только качества, но более широко – признаки объектов, сюда относятся и статальные признаки; стативы не являются уникальными с точки зрения значения, такое же значение может передаваться с помощью обычных прилагательных, например: casesalike=similarcases.
Они характеризуются сочетаемостью с наречиями и связующими глаголами, как и все прилагательные, например: Thecasesareabsolutelyalike.
Сходство функциональных признаков может быть продемонстрировано в группах однородных членов предложения, выраженных стативами и обычными прилагательными, например: Bothcasesareverymuchalikeandhighlysuspicious.
Как и обычные прилагательные в отдельных случаях они могут использоваться в оценочной функции и образовывать формы степеней сравнения, например: Thesecasesaremorealikethantheothers.
Префикс ‘a-’ не является достаточным основанием для выделения этих слов в отдельный класс в английском языке, поскольку в эту же группу включаются и слова без префикса, например: sorry, glad, ill, worth и др. (Суффикс ‘-o’ в русском языке тоже не является всеобъемлющим признаком для стативов, ср.: жаль, лень и др.)
Кроме того, этого довольно ограниченная, закрытая группа слов, включающая не более 50-80 слов по разным оценкам; она не обладает, как все остальные знаменательные части речи, открытостью.
Semantically the statives have no categorial meaning of their own: adjectives denote not just qualities but, as was shown above, properties of substances, and that includes stative properties too; the statives are not at all unique semantically, the same meaning can be rendered by regular adjectives, e.g.: cases alike = similar cases.
They have the same adverbial combinability and combinability with link verbs as regular adjectives, e.g.: The cases are absolutely alike.
The similarity of functions can be demonstrated in coordinative groups of homogeneous notional sentence parts expressed by statives and regular adjectives, e.g.: Both cases are very much alike and highly suspicious.
As with regular adjectives, they can be used in an evaluative function in a limited number of contexts and can even form the degrees of comparison, e.g.: ^ These cases are more alike than the others.
The prefix ‘a-’ can not serve as sufficient grounds for singling out this group of words in English, because in English there are statives which have no such prefix, e.g.: sorry, glad, ill, worth, etc. (The suffix ‘-o’ is not a unifying property of the statives in Russian either, cf.: жаль, лень, etc.)
Besides, it is a closed set of words and rather a restricted one: there are no more than 50-80 words in this group; it is not characterized by openness, like all the other notional parts of speech.
At the beginning of this Unit the possibility of substantivation of adjectives was mentioned: some adjectives can transgress the border between the two classes and can acquire some features of the noun. Strictly speaking, substantivation is a type of conversion - a lexical word-building process of zero-derivation. When adjectives are fully substantivized, they make a new word, a noun, which is connected with the adjective only etymologically. Conversion of this type often takes place in cases of one-word ellipsis in stable attributive word-combinations, e.g.: a private a private soldier, a native a native resident. These nouns acquire all the forms of constitutive substantive categories: number, case, article determination, e.g.: privates, natives, private’s, native’s, a private, the private, etc. (Cf.: similar substantivation cases in Russian: рядовой, больной, etc.)
There is also a group of partially substantivized adjectives which are characterized by mixed (hybrid) lexico-grammatical features: they convey the mixed adjectival-nounal semantics of property; in a sentence they perform functions characteristic of nouns; and they have deficient paradigms of number and article determination (they are not changed according to the category of number and are combined only with the definite article). They include words denoting groups of people sharing the same feature – the rich, the beautiful, the English, and words denoting abstract notions – the unforgettable, the invisible, etc. The former resemble the pluralia tantum nouns, and the latter the singularia tantum nouns. They make up a specific group of adjectives marginal to the nouns and can be called “adjectivids” by analogy with “verbids”.
Название работы: THE STATIVE
Предметная область: Иностранные языки, филология и лингвистика
Описание: Unlike such clsses of words s nouns djectives verbs nd dverbs the number of sttives functioning in English is limited. There re bout 30 stble sttives used both in colloquil nd in forml style: frid live like.Semnticlly sttives fll into five groups describing vrious sttes of persons or nonpersons:1.^ From the point of view of their morphologicl composition the clss of sttives is homogeneous tht is ll of them hve specil mrker the prefix : sleep live lone fire etc.
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§ 235. The stative denotes a temporary state of a person or a non-person. Unlike such classes of words as nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs the number of statives functioning in English is limited. There are about 30 stable statives, used both in colloquial and in formal style:
Afraid, alive, alike. alone
and about 100 unstable ones, which are seldom used even in formal style and never in colloquial:
ashudder, atwist, atremble, agleam, etc.
Semantically statives fall into five groups describing various states of persons or non-persons:
1. Psychological states of persons:
afraid, aghast, ashamed, aware, agog.
2. Physical states of persons:
alive, awake, asleep.
3. States of motion or activity of persons or non-persons:
afoot, astir, afloat, adrift.
4 . Physical states of non-persons:
afire, aflame, alight, aglow, ablaze.
5 . The posture of non-persons:
askew, awry, aslant, ajar.
From the point of view of their morphological composition the class of statives is homogeneous, that is all of them have a special marker, the prefix a-: asleep, alive, alone, afire, etc.
fond, glad, ill, sorry, well.
Their grammatical status is intermediate between that of stative and adjective.
As regards their structure, statives with the marker a- fall into two groups: those that can be divided into morphemes (the prefix a- and the stem of a noun, a verb, or an adjective) a-sleep, a-fire, a-glow, and those that cannot be devived because the part following a- does not correspond to any noun, verb, or adjective stem, as in a-loof, a-ware, a-fraid.
Statives do not change their form to express concord with the word they refer to.
There are other words besides statives with the prefix a-:
across, along (adv. and prep.), amidst (prep.), anew (adv.) arise (verb), aloud (adj.), amount (noun), etc.
^ . Statives may have three functions in a sentence: that of predicative in a compound nominal or a double predicate (the most common function), that of objective predicative, or occasionally that of attribute.
When used in the function of predicative statives describe the state of the person or non-person denoted by the subject and are connected with the subject by means of a link verb or in some cases by a notional verb.
^ Statives as predicatives within a compound nominal predicate:
He was terribly afraid of his father.
Statives as predicatives within a double predicate:
He sat quite alone on that large verandah of his.
For a moment she stood aghast, looking at the door.
When they have the function of objective predicative, statives describe the state of the person or non-person denoted by the object:
First of all have the fire alight in the drawing room.
^ Dont keep the door ajar.
Leave me alone, you fool.
Although the function of attribute is not characteristic of statives, some of them may have this function (either detached or undetached attributes).
Statives as undetached attributes are always postmodifying:
No man alive could have done it.
When used as detached attributes, statives may be either post- or premodifying:
The microphone, already alive, was waiting for him.
He stood, alert and listening, while the noise from the reef grew steadily around him.
Aloof on her mountain-top, she considered the innumerable activities of men.
In all these cases the stative retains its predicational force.
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