Теоретическая грамматика

Лекции бабушки Шмариной...LECTURE 1.

THEME: Introduction into the science of GRAMMAR.

PLAN.

1. The object of Grammar. The property of Grammar.

2. Normative & theoretical Grammar.

3. The basic units of language.

4. Divisions of Grammar.

5. Language & speech.

6. The paradigmatic & syntagmatic relations.

1. It's generally known, that language is a system. First of all, the system of

3 constituent parts: PHONOLOGY, LEXICOLOGY & GRAMMAR.

According to the traditional point of view, phonology & grammar deal with general categories, such as vowels, consonants, nouns, words, subjects etc. That means that statements, concerning such phenomena may be related to a whole class of homogenious things. In other words, such phenomena are of the general character.

Lexicology, on the contrary, deals with individual units: words( or linguistic signs).Hence it follows that lexicological statements are of a special character, for such statements refer to every single unit of the vocabulary. E.g.: ,,Dog'' - denotes a certain domestic animal, a friend to a man. It's an individual pet. But if we use the word in the form ,,Dogs"(pl.), it becomes a general pet; that concerns the great number of other words: tigers, students... . Each of the above mentioned constituent parts of language is investigated by a corresponding linguistic discipline.

Phonology is described by the science of phonology.The lexical description of language is described by lexicology. Grammar is described by grammar. No language can exist without vocabulary, but only Grammar gives a human thought a material linguistic form, thanks to its abstract character. It's a kind ofself-tuning system. Grammar is the result of a long time abstracting work of human mind. Grammar abstracts itself from the particular & concrete and builds its rules & laws, taking into consideration only the common features of groups & words. That's why Grammar is always compared with Geometry. Abstract character is the 1st characteristic feature of Grammar. Another characteristic feature of Grammar is Stability, which manifests itself in the fact, that laws & categories of Grammar exist through ages without considerable changes, because Gr. is a product of many epochs.

2. The main object of Gr. as a science is the grammatical structure of language, i.e. the system of the laws of word changing & sentence building. The rules of Grammar govern the ways in which words are joined together to express feelings, emotions, etc. The Grammar of each language constitutes a system of its own, each element of which stands in certain relations to other elements.

There are two types of Grammar:

1. Normative.

2. Theoretical.

All the rules, according to which, people construct their speech are based on Normative Grammar.

Normative Grammar is the collection of rules of the given language, which provide the students with a manual of practical mastering the Grammar. Thus, Normative Grammar is of a prescriptive character. Theoretical Grammar is the branch of linguistics, which studies the forms of the words & their relations in sentences in more abstract way, giving the profound description of existing grammatical laws & tendencies. Every theoretical description presents the studied parts of language in an isolated form, so as to look inside into their structure & expose the mechanisms of their functioning, i.e. the mechanism of the formation of utterances out of words in the process of speaking.

The aim of Theoretical Grammar is to present a scientific description of a certain system of a certain language. Thus, Theoretical Grammar is of a descriptive character.

3. The basic units of language & speech are: the phoneme, the morpheme, the word, the sentence & the supra phrasal unity. The phoneme is the smallest distinctive unit. That means: if you take two words ,,season'' & ,,reason'', you will see, they differ in 1one phoneme formally. This

phoneme helps you to see, that these two words have different meanings. The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit. E.g.: Unhappily. The word is the smallest nominative unit. The sentence is the smallest communication unit. The sentence is an utterance, that pre-supposes the act of speech; the speaker or writer; the listener or reader; reality, as viewed by the speaker. In oral speech sentences are marked by pauses;

in written sp.--- by full stops. In language, the sentence is an abstract pattern & in speech, it's a concrete utterance.

The word group or the word combination or a phrase is a naming unit like a word. But it names not separate things, but some relations between the things.

E.g.: a new car.

The supra phrasal unity is a functional unit of speech, which consists of more than one sentence, related syntectically & semantically. In oral speech they are marked by a three unit pause; in written sp.--- by indented lines.

4. Traditionally, the course of Grammar is divided into two parts:

1. Morphology.

2. Syntax.

Morphology originates from the word ,, morpheus'' (the god of dreams). They thought the god of dreams gave shape to their chaotical visions in sleep. Morphology deals with forms of words. It includes: parts of speech & their morphological categories. Morphological categories are represented in word forms. It studies the system of forms of word change. E.g.: the case & the

number of the noun; person, number, mood of the verb etc. Syntax includes the sentence & the parts of the sentence; it makes the study of ways of connection words & word combinations in the sentences.

Morphology & Syntax are two independent parts of Grammar and have their own objects of study; they're closely connected, for the morphological characteristics of the word are realized through its syntactical relations with other words.

On the other hand, the syntactical relations of the word may effect the morphological characteristics of parts of speech in the course of development of the grammatical structure of the language. E.g.: substantivisation of adjectives.

LECTURE 2.

(Continuation).

5. The distinctions between language & speech, which were first introduced by Ferdinant de Saussure, have since become one of the corner stones of Modern Linguistics.

,, Language is a system''.

It's the phonological, lexical & grammatical system, which lies at the basis of all speaking. It's the sourse, which every speaker & writer has to draw on if he wants to be understood by other speakers of the language. Speech, on the other hand, is the manifestation of language or its practical use by various speakers & writers of the given language. Thus, what we have before

us in oral or written form as material for analysis is always a product of speech.

There is no other way for linguists to get to language than through speech. Language characterizes a certain human community. It's used in the community; it's understood by all the members of the community; so it's called a social code. And by its nature, Language is social. Speech, on the contrary, is individual, but it's based upon language which exists in the minds of all speaking community. We can't see language, neither hear it. We can get to it only through speech. As we're concerned with Grammar only, we don't have to deal with phonological

and lexical parts of language. We shall only concentrate on the system of Grammar & its manifestation. Language & Speech are closely connected & intermingled. They may come a unity. Language is realized through Speech. The life of language consists in oral & written intercourse within 2 or more people. This linguistic intercourse is manifested through connected communications chiefly in the form of sentences, though not always so complete & well-arranged. The object in teaching Grammar is not only rules, which must be obeyed if one wants to speak & write the language correctly. It also aims at finding out what is actually said & written by the speakers of the language.

According to Ferdinant de Saussure: ,, Language is a treasure, formed by way of speaking practice & preserved in the minds of the people who belong to a certain speaking community." ,, Язык -- это клад, отлагаемый в памяти всех членoв данного языкового коллектива." It's a system of 3 systems (lex., gram., phon.), potentially existing in every mind & at the same time, in the minds of the whole speaking community, for, language can't exist wholly in one individual.

6. There're certain relations within the language. They say, the language is a system of paradigmatic relations. We mean the structure of various means & the classes they form. E.g.: boy, boys, boy's, boys'. They are written down with a vertical way. Paradigmatic relations are vertical. Speech is a system of syntagmatic relations. They're always linear (horizontal).

Syntagmatic chains - we mean the combinations, the same units form in the process of communication. E.g.: voice of phoning machine.

Originally, the differentiation between paradigmatics & syntagmatics was based on recognition of the two linguistic planes: