Parts of speech. Principles of classification

A part of speech-grammatically relevant class of ws which is specified on the basis of gr, semantic & lexical properties.

Criteria for grouping into classes:1)Semantic(mng)-generalized mng which is an abstraction from lexical mngs of constituent ws( N-substance)

2)Formal(morphological)-inflectional(form-b feat: fights) & derivational(w-b feat: whitness) features

3)Functional(syntactic). Synt properties are: distribution(set of all possible environments of a w=> combinability: adj with N) Typical syntactic func(N-subj, obj)

POS-as a field: central elements & marginal(substantivized adj)

1-criterion classifications:

1)Morphological(Sweet):in(particles)/declinable(N-ws, adj-ws…)

2)Syntactico-distributional(Fries)-each class of ws is characterized by a set of positions in a sentence=> 4 main classes of ws(1-N, 2-V, 3-adj, 4-adv) & funct ws(15 classes)

Notional and functional classes of words

All the words of the English language are grouped into different types of classes. This classification is based on three main principles: 1) their grammatical meaning; 2) their form and 3) their syntactical characteristics.

Criteria for differentiating N & F ws: 1)the prominence of their lexical mng 2) peculiarities of their combinability 3) ability to be substituted by a w of a more general mng 4)ability to add(create new items)

N ws:1)complete nominative mng 2) self-dependent fnc, can be used in isolation 3)subst by a w with more general mng 4)open class.

F ws: 1)incomplete nominative fnc 2)obligatory combinability, linking/ specifying fnc 3)cannot be -//- 4)closed class

F ws(Fries): 1.with unilateral combinability(art, aux, modals, particles) 2.with bilateral comb(prep, conj which connect 2 or more not ws) 3. heterogeneous(interrogative ws, it/there)

The noun. The category of number.

I)Sem cr-substance & thinghs, human beings, animals

II)Morph:a)inflectional(the cat of number, case, gender, article determination) b)derivational (suffixation, compounding, conversion)

III)Func: a) left-hand prep combinability with N, adj, v, adv, casal comb( N’s +N), contact comb(N+N)-stone wall constr(speech sound), comb with art & other determiners b)syntactic: subj, obj, other funct less typical.

Ns denoting things- nucleus of the fild, marginal-process, quality, abstract notions.

Classification : common/ proper; in/animate, un/countable, concrete/abstract

Category of NUMBER. Tree ( weak form ) vs trees ( marked form)

The grammatical category of number( in all languages) depends on the physical nature of the object. The object can be: Discrete vs indiscrete

Discrete ( it has no plural number; it consists of the number of homogeneous separated by visible bounds)Nouns: à discrete ( can be count( sg and pl) and uncount.(always pl “police”) à indiscrete ( are always sg,uncount)

Plural form of the noun can be lexicalized,it develops a new lexical meaning Ex: colour<-> colours- flag à lexicalization

The noun. The category of case.

I)Sem cr-substance & thinghs, human beings, animals

II)Morph:a)inflectional(the cat of number, case, gender, article determination) b)derivational (suffixation, compounding, conversion)

III)Func: a) left-hand prep combinability with N, adj, v, adv, casal comb( N’s +N), contact comb(N+N)-stone wall constr(speech sound), comb with art & other determiners b)syntactic: subj, obj, other funct less typical.

Ns denoting things- nucleus of the fild, marginal-process, quality, abstract notions.

Classification : common/ proper; in/animate, un/countable, concrete/abstract

The category of case.Case is a gr category which shows rel of nouns towards other words in a sentence.Ex: boy ( no visible mark) vs boy’s ( reflects the syntactic function) Not every noun changes according to the case. Gen. case in En can denote the following semantic relation: -possession (general): student’s book --subjective genitive: the student’s answer -objective genetive: Napoleon’s defeatness -genitive of origin: sh’s plays --descriptive genetive: a girl’s school –genetive of measure(ten day’s journey)--social relation: Jack’s wife --part of a whole: dog’s tail

Sometimes a noun in genitive case can be used independently.it has a locative meaning. It is the case of lexicalization.: I’m going to the bacher’s( a shop).

theory of positional cases(nesfield) of the functional positions occupied by the N in the

sentence. besides the inflexional genitive case, purely positional cases: nominative, vocative, dative, and accusative(the cat caught a rat).

theory of prepositional cases (curm)combinations of N with prep in certain object and attributive collocations should be understood as morphological case forms: "dative" case (to+Noun, for+Noun) and the "genitive" case (of+Noun).

limited case theory (Sweet, O. Jespersen) : the possessive or genitive form as the strong member of the categorial opposition and the common, or "non-genitive

Post-positional case theory(Воронцова)s’-special type of postposition