- •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.
§ 104. Suppletive opposemes are few in number but of very frequent occurrence.
E. g. good — better — best
bad — worse — worst
The quantitative pronominal adjectives or adjective pronouns (see § 179) many, much and little form opposites of comparison in a similar way.
m any
more — most
much
little — less — least
§ 105. Some authors treat more beautiful and (the) most beautiful not as analytical forms, but as free syntactical Combinations of adverbs and adjectives. One of their arguments is that less and least form combinations with adjectives similar to those with more and most, e. g. more beautiful — less beautiful, the most beautiful — the least beautiful.
The similarity, however, is but superficial. Let us compare nicer and more beautiful. In order to prove that more beautiful is an analytical form of the comparative degree, we have to prove that more is a grammatical word-morpheme identical with the morpheme -er in spite of the utter difference in form. Hence we are to apply the criteria of § 12.
1. More and -er are identical as to their meaning of "a higher degree".
2. Their distribution is complementary. Together they cover all the adjectives having the degrees of comparison, yet those adjectives which have comparative opposites with the suffix -er have usually no parallel opposites with more, and vice versa. Beautiful has no other 'comparative' opposite but more beautiful (* beautifuller is impossible), and the comparative opposite of nice is nicer, not * more nice 2.
This is not the case with less:
1. Less and -er have different, even opposite meanings.
2. The distribution of -er and less is not complementary. One and the same lexical morpheme regularly attaches both less and -er: prettier — less pretty, safer — less safe.
E. g. 1 feel less safe than I have ever done in my life. (Gilbert).
A comet usually has a bright centre and a l e s s bright tail. (Hornby)
Besides, unlike more, less is regularly replaced by not so: less pretty — not so pretty.
These facts show that more in more beautiful is a grammatical word-morpheme identical with the morpheme -er of the 'comparative degree' grammeme. Hence more beautiful is an analytical form. The word less is not a word-morpheme and less beautiful is not an analytical form.
The meanings of less "to a smaller extent'' contains the lexical meaning "to a small extent" common to all the words of the lexeme little — less — least and the grammatical meaning of "the comparative degree". So less is an ordinary word and less beautiful is a combination, of words.
_______________________________________
2 But see § 29, Note 2. In some cases prettier and more pretty are in free alternation.
§ 106. The same holds true with regard to (the) most beautiful and (the) least beautiful. But here a new objection is raised. In the expression a most interesting theory the indefinite article is used, whereas * a prettiest child is impossible. Thus there seems to be some difference between the synthetic superlative and the analytical one.
One must not forget that more and most are not only word morphemes of comparison. They can also be notional words. Moreover, they are polysemantic and polyfunctional words, One of the meanings of most is "very, exceedingly". It is in this meaning that the word most is used in the expression a most interesting book.
The notional word more in the meaning "to a greater extent" can also be used to modify adjectives, as in It's more grey than brown (Hornby). More grey is here a combination of words. It is not the comparative opposite of grey.
§ 107. As we know (§ 61), with regard to the category of the degrees of comparison adjectives fall under two lexico-grammatical subclasses: comparables and non-comparables. The nucleus of the tatter is composed of derived adjectives like wooden, Crimean, mathematical, etc., denoting some relation to the phenomena the basic stems refer to. Thus, -a wooden house is 'a house of wood', Crimean weather is 'weather typical of the Crimea', etc. These adjectives are called relative as distinct from all other adjectives called qualitative.
Most qualitative adjectives build up opposemes of comparison, but some do not:
a) Adjectives that in themselves express the highest degree of a quality.
E. g. supreme, extreme, etc.
b) Those having the suffix -ish which indicates the degree of a quality.
E. g. reddish, whitish.
c) Those denoting qualities which are not compatible with the idea of comparison.
E. g. deaf, dead, lame, perpendicular.
Naturally, all the adjectives which have no comparative and superlative opposites are outside the category of comparison, but they are united by the oblique or lexico-gram-matlcal meaning of the positive degree. (See § 44)
§ 108. The positive degree does not convey the idea of comparison. Its meaning is absolute. It is, as it were, the initial stage, the norm of some quality. As Jespersen puts it, the positive degree is, as a matter of fact, negative in relation to comparison.
E. g. A nice girl, a witty remark.
The comparative degree and the superlative degree are both relative in meaning. If we say Peter is older than Mary, it, by no means, implies that Peter is old (he may be five years old, whereas Mary is four), it only indicates that Peter has more of this quality (being old) that Mary. James is the oldest boy in our class does not signify that James is advanced in years, it just shows that he has the highest degree of this quality as compared with the rest of the class.
A. I. Smirnitsky, following O. Jespersen, thinks that there is good, ground to speak of two forms of comparison only: the positive degree and the relative degree which exists in two varieties— the comparative degree and the superlative degree.
§ 109. In all the Indo-European languages adjectives can be substantivized, i. e. converted into nouns. In English it is easier than in other languages owing to the scarcity of stem-building elements. Cf. (a) chick (n.) — sick (a.), tender (a.) — gender (n.).
When adjectives are converted into nouns they no longer indicate attributes of substances, but substances possessing these attributes. I felt it my duty to help the sick.
Adjectives wholly converted into nouns acquire not only the lexico-grammatical meaning of nouns, but their typical morphological categories and combinability, as in a young native ' s hut where the word native not only expresses 'substantivity' but has the grammatical meanings of number and case, left-hand connections with an article and an adjective.
In "He is one of those bitter sceptical young moderns, with no real knowledge of the world" (Galsworthy) moderns is a 'plural', 'common case' noun, modified by a demonstrative pronoun, some adjectives, etc.
More frequently substantivization is but partial. Adjectives may acquire the lexico-grammatical meaning of the noun and to some extent its combinability, as in the following sentences:
She has as much faith in what the British Government's going to do for the deserving poor as the rest of us. (Gilbert). All the self-righteous are going to say he is infernally careless. (Gilbert). It means the ugly have a look in. (Galsworthy). Here the poor, the self-righteous, the ugly express 'substantivity' and are associated with the definite article, but unlike the noun native, the word poor has no case and number opposites. It may be modified by an. adverb, as in the fabulously rich. Such partially substan-tivized adjectives as the rich, the young, etc. mostly have collective force, while in earlier English substantivized adjectives were freely used to denote individuals. In contemporary English this is rare, though possible.
E. g. Many times he looked over the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw the fair face the unforgiven dead had loved. (Burnett).
Theoretically speaking, any adjective may be converted into a noun, though the conversion is often temporary, unstable, conversion "for the nonce", as in The mysterious attracted him1.
______________________________________
1 A. I. Smirnitsky does not recognize partial substantivization and treats cases like the rich, the poor as the use of adjectives without nouns, op. cit., p. 153.
Adjective Grammemes in Speech
§ 110. An English adjective lexeme may contain three words at most (strong — stronger —-strongest) representing three grammemes. The fourth grammeme contains words with the oblique meaning of the 'positive degree' (deaf, vertical, wooden, etc.). There are no oblique meanings of the 'comparative' and the 'superlative' degrees in English, i. e. words like calmer, bravest have always 'positive degree' opposites.
Note. The Latin comparatives major, minor, junior, senior, superior, inferior, etc., though retaining some of their 'comparative' meaning, differ from the words of the 'comparative degree' grammeme in not being followed by than and in being often used without real comparison, e. g. a minor injury, goods of inferior workmanship (Hornby).
The 'comparative' connotation is part of the lexical meanings of these words.
§ 111. The table below shows the relative frequency of the occurrence of the four grammemes in some literary texts of the 20th century. We have counted separately the occurrences of the synthetic and the analytical forms.
-
Grammeme
Form
Sample
Frequency (per cent)
Positive, actual
Positive, oblique
Comparative
Superlative
synth.
analyt.
synth.
analyt.
short, difficult
vertical, blind
shorter
more difficult
shortest
most difficult
82.6
8.2
4.6
1.0
1.6
1.6
As usual, the unmarked member of the opposeme, the 'positive degree' grammeme, occurs in speech most frequently.
§ 112. The combinability of the words belonging to the above-mentioned four grammemes is primarily determined by their being adjectives. Yet, each grammeme and even each form of a grammeme has some combinative peculiarities. Apart from the fact that different linking words are used with different grammemes (as long as ..., longer than ... , the longest of ...), the latter show, as it were, some preference for certain combinative models. This is reflected in the table below, where A stands for adjective, N for noun, P for pronoun, Vl for link-verb, Vn for notional verb.
-
Grammemes
Patterns
'Positive'
(both actual and oblique)
'Comparative'
'Superlative'
Synthet.
Analyt.
Synthet.
Analyt.
A + N
76
40
9.5
93.1
95.3
Vl + A
14
48
81
6.9
-
Vn + P/N + A
3
8
-
-
-
Others
7
4
9.5
-
4.7
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Note. The literary texts analysed contain adjectives.
As seen from the table, the only pattern in which words of all grammemes have occurred in our texts in A +N. However, the analytical form of the 'comparative' grammeme but seldom occurs in this model. Likewise, words of the 'superlative' grammeme (both synthetic and analytical) are found rarely, if at all, in another typical adjectival pattern, Vl + A.