Structure and system of language. Systemic organization of language

System is a set of interconnected and interdependent elements and relationships between them.

Structure is the relationship between elements, the way the system is organized.

Any system has a function, is characterized by a certain integrity, has subsystems and is itself part of a higher-level system.

Terms system And structure often used as synonyms. This is inaccurate because although they denote interrelated concepts, they do so in different aspects. System denotes the relationship of elements and a single principle of their organization, structure characterizes internal organization systems. The concept of a system is associated with the study of objects in the direction from elements to the whole, with the concept of structure - in the direction from the whole to its component parts.

Some scientists give these terms a specific interpretation. Thus, according to A.A. Reformatsky, a system is the unity of homogeneous interdependent elements within one tier, and structure is the unity of heterogeneous elements within the whole [Reformatsky 1996, 32, 37].

The language system is hierarchically organized, it has several tiers:

· Phonological

· Morphological

· Syntactic

· Lexical

The central place in the language system is occupied by the morphological layer. The units of this tier - morphemes - are elementary, minimal signs of language. Units of phonetics and vocabulary belong to the peripheral tiers, since phonetic units do not have the properties of a sign, and lexical units enter into complex, multi-level relationships. The structure of the lexical tier is more open and less rigid than the structures of other tiers; it is more susceptible to extralinguistic influences.

In the Fortunat school, when studying syntax and phonology, the morphological criterion is decisive.

The concept of system plays an important role in the typology. It explains the relationship between various phenomena of language, emphasizes the expediency of its structure and functioning. Language is not a simple collection of words and sounds, rules and exceptions. The concept of a system allows us to see order in the variety of facts of language.

No less important is the concept of structure. Although the principles of structure are common, the languages of the world differ from each other, and these differences consist in the uniqueness of their structural organization, since the ways of connecting elements can be different. This difference in structure precisely serves to group languages into typological classes.

The systemic nature of language allows us to highlight the core on which the entire linguistic typology is built - the morphological tier of the language.

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All topics in this section:

Goals and objectives of typological linguistics
Being part of general linguistics, typological linguistics has as its goal such a study of various languages of the world that would allow us to identify structural types and laws in all their diversity.

The subject of linguotypology and aspects of its study
The subject of linguistic typology is the comparative (including contrastive, taxonomic and universal) study of the structural and functional properties of languages, regardless of x

And their application in linguistics
The Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary interprets typology as a method of scientific knowledge, which is based on the division of systems of objects and their grouping using a generalized idea

Matching material
The basic units of phonology are phonemes and syllables. In language, phonological units are acoustic-articulatory images of sounds and syllables; in speech, they are actually sounding physical units

Comparison criteria
The phonological systems of different languages can be compared according to the following characteristics: · Total number phonemes; · The presence of certain classes of phonemes (for example, aspirated consonants,

Universal and typological features in phonology
Among the phonological universals are the following: · A language can have at least 10 and no more than 80 phonemes; · If the language has a combination of smooth + nasal, then there are combinations

Systems of Consonantism
There are 33 consonant phonemes in the Russian language: 24 noisy and 9 sonorant. Sonorants include /th/ and paired softness-hardness /m, n, p, l/. The remaining consonants are noisy.

Vocalism systems
In Russian, vowels are distinguished by two differential features - row and rise. The vocal system includes 5 phonemes. Phonemes /у, о/ are labialized, the rest are non-labialized

Matching material
The subject of comparative morphology is the grammatical structure of languages. The focus of linguists involved in this section is the relationship between units of the grammatical tier, i.e.

Comparison criteria
When morphologically comparing languages in morphological classification, the following criteria are used: the nature of the morphemes (independence, standardity, number of meanings, gender

The grammatical structure of the language
The grammatical structure is a system of morphological categories, syntactic categories and constructions, as well as methods of word production. The grammatical structure is the basis without cat

Inflectional type of languages
The main feature of inflectional languages is that the forms of individual independent words are formed using inflection. Inflection is an inflectional affix that must

Affixes, in turn, are divided into
· inflectional (inflections); · word-forming (derivatives). By place in a word relative to the root in inflectional languages, the following are distinguished: prefixes (affixes that stand in

I will, you will, there will be
Spanish he, hemos (I, we had – auxiliary verb of the complex past tense). The main property of function words is the grammatical nature of the meaning of their roots. These words are

Agglutinative type of languages
The main feature of the agglutinative type is that the forms of independent words are formed with the help of unambiguous affixes freely attached to the original form. The term ag-glu-tinatio is etymological

Incorporating languages
Incorporating languages are identified based on the design feature their grammatical structure, which consists of organizing the utterance as a single morphological whole. In p

Isolating languages
Isolating languages are characterized by the absence of inflectional forms. The grammatical relationships between words in a sentence are expressed in these languages by word order, function words and intonation. Track

Signs of language morphology
Most of the morphological universals established by linguistics characterize the interdependence of phenomena in the language system. So, for example, B.A. Uspensky established the following universals:

Typology of morphological categories
The grammatical structure of a language is created not only by forms, but also by morphological categories. Categories, as mentioned above, are systems of forms with meanings opposed to each other

Spatiotemporal categories
Spatial values express the following categories: deixis; · localization; · orientation Ι; · orientation ΙΙ. Dyke category

Quantitative categories
Among the inflectional categories expressing quantity, I.A. Melchuk distinguishes 4 classes: - numerical quantification of objects; - numerical quantification of facts; - non-numeric

Quality categories
Inflectional categories expressing qualities can characterize: - participants in the described facts; - the facts themselves; - relationships between participants in facts

Syntactic peak
This class includes only two categories: · finiteness; · predicativeness. The category of finiteness, which expresses the role of the verb as a syntactic vertex

Syntactic master
This class includes categories that mark the role of the verb as a syntactic host: - concordant categories; - category of syncategorematicity; - category is objective

Syntactically dependent element
The syntactically dependent role of the verb is expressed by: mood category; · series category; · category of coordination. The first two categories express subordinating

And joining the designations of facts
Within this class there is a subclass of contact derivatives that change the composition of the semantic actants of the lexeme. Contact derivatives are divided into three groups depending on

The main word-formation meanings of this class are divided into 5 groups: · identifier ‘to be something’; · habit ‘to have something’; · productive ‘to make something’;

And attached to fact designations
This class includes derivatives: · name of the figure; · object name; · name of the place; · tool name; · method name; · name of the result. Them

And attached to the designations of participants
Substantive derivatives of this type form an open set. An example of such a derivative in Russian is ‘the one who makes the object called the base function’: pool

Nominators
In French There is a variety of suffixes that form nouns from verbs and adjectives. Verbal nominalizers include suffixes: -ion, -ation, -ment

Verbalizers
In Russian, suffixes are verbalizers, for example, in the following words: attack, advise, repair. To Malagasy

Adjectivizers
Adjectivizers form relative adjectives from nouns, for example, in Russian: apple → apple, pear → pear, lemon → lemon, tank → tankovy

Adverbializers
Adverbializers of nouns are rare. IN English language(V business style) adverbs are formed from nouns using the suffix –wise with the meaning ‘relatively

Separability
In the majority English words it is easy to identify the morphs included in their composition, for example, week-s (weeks), letter-s (letters), student-s (students), general-iz-ation (general-eni) , live-li-ness (live

Standardity
Standardity is characteristic of affixes of the English language, in which the inflection of the number of the noun, the inflection of the person of the verb and the inflection of the tense of the verb have variants, the appearance of which in the word form is defined

Connection type
The English language is characterized by an agglutinative combination of morphs within a word. The addition of an affix most often does not cause morphological alternations: farm-er (farmer), dull-ness (boredom), ta

Separateness
The separateness of a word is the difference between a word and a morpheme (part of a word) and the difference between a word and a phrase. In English, many word forms in the text coincide with simple stems,

Integrity
The integrity of a word lies in its phonetic, grammatical and semantic unity. The phonetic unity of a word in Russian and English is ensured by stress, semantic unity -

Articulation
The division of a word into stem and inflection is established by comparing the word forms of one word. The articulation of the word stem is determined by comparing related words. Both languages have both

Paradigmatics
Paradigms of independent words in the English language are characterized by the presence of a small number of inflectional forms as part of the paradigm (noun – 2, verb – 4). In addition to inflectional ones, there are

Syntagmatics
Syntactic relationships between words in English are expressed using word order and prepositions. Parts of a sentence are sometimes connected by conjunctions and allied words, but more often non-union connection. Fle

Personal forms of the indicative mood of the active voice
Present Past Future Future-in-the-Past Simple I explain I explained

Passive voice
Present Past Future Simple is explained was explained will be explained

Infinitive
simple to explain progressive to be explaining perfect to have explained

Matching material
The basic communicative unit of any language is the sentence. Ready-made sentences are not contained in the language itself - they arise in speech. However, the rules for constructing a sentence are necessary

Comparison criteria
To compare the syntax of phrases, the following criteria are taken into account: 1) type of syntactic relations; 2) the way of expressing syntactic relations; 3) position behind

System- is a set of interconnected and interdependent elements and relationships between them.

Structure- this is the relationship between elements, the way the system is organized.

Any system has a function, is characterized by a certain integrity, has subsystems and is itself part of a higher-level system.

Terms system And structure often used as synonyms. This is inaccurate because although they denote interrelated concepts, they do so in different aspects. System denotes the relationship of elements and a single principle of their organization, structure characterizes the internal structure of the system. The concept of a system is associated with the study of objects in the direction from elements to the whole, with the concept of structure - in the direction from the whole to its component parts.

The language system is hierarchically organized, it has several tiers:

- Phonological
- Morphological
- Syntactic
- Lexical

In the Fortunat school, when studying syntax and phonology, the morphological criterion is decisive.

The systemic nature of language allows us to highlight the core on which the entire linguistic typology is built - the morphological tier of the language.

1. The concept of the system and structure of language

The preservation of the language is explained by the stability of its sound and grammatical structure. In other words, the stability of a language rests on its consistency And structure.

Terms system And structure often replace each other, but they do not coincide in all meanings.

In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language: word system(Greek origin, lit. “whole of components"), word structure(Latin origin, “structure, location”)

System And structure language imply that language has internal order , organizing parts into whole.

Systematicity and structure characterize the language and its units as a single whole from different sides. Under structure the unity of heterogeneous elements within the whole is understood. System is a unity of homogeneous interdependent elements.

Language is characterized by a complex structure of interconnected and heterogeneous elements. The structure of a language includes different elements and their inherent functions. It is formed by the following levels (tiers):

Ø phonetic,

Ø morphological,

Ø lexical,

Ø syntactic,

Ø ( text),

Ø ( cultural).

The idea of the last two levels/tiers was introduced into scientific use relatively recently, but not all scientists are of the opinion that these levels should be considered within the framework linguistic analysis language system. Indeed, these two levels/tiers take us beyond the boundaries of the language system itself in the traditional linguistic sense and connect language directly with the society and culture in which the language functions.

2. Units of language (elements of levels) and their functions

Units phonetic tiers are phonemes (sounds) – material embodiments of language; they implement two main functions: perceptual(perception function) and significative, or distinctive(the ability to distinguish significant elements of language - morphemes, words, sentences, cf.: that, mouth, cat, steel, table, etc.).

Units morphological tiers – morphemes – express concepts:

A) root(real), cf.: [-table-] [-ground-], etc.;

b) non-root 2 types: values signs, cf.: [-ost], [without-], [re-], and meanings relations, cf.: [-u], [-ish], etc., for example, sit-u, sit-ish, table-a, table-at.

This - semasiological function expressions concepts, but not naming. Morpheme doesn't name, only word has nominative function. By naming something, we turn a morpheme into a word. For example, the root red- expresses the concept of a specific color, but redness (noun) names a phenomenon. Therefore, it is believed that a morpheme, as the smallest meaningful unit of language, has a meaning, but this meaning is connected, it is realized only in combination with other morphemes. True, this statement is fully true for affixes, and only partially true for root morphemes (see the example above).

Units lexical level – lexemes (words) – name things and phenomena of reality, they perform a nominative function. The lexical level of a language system is special in the sense that its units are considered the basic units of language. At the lexical level, it is most fully represented semantics. A number of linguistic disciplines study the lexical composition of a language: lexicology, phraseology, semantics, semasiology, onomastics and etc.

Units syntactic level – phrases And offers – perform communicative function, that is, necessary for communication. This level is also called constructive-syntactic or communicative-syntactic. We can say that the basic unit of this level is proposal model. Deals with issues of studying the proposal syntax.

Elements of all levels in language form a unity, which is expressed in the fact that each lower level is potentially the next highest and, conversely, each higher level consists of at least one lower one. For example, a sentence may consist of one or more words, a word may consist of one or more morphemes, and a morpheme may consist of one or more phonemes.

Linguistic units are formed at a lower level and function at a higher level.

For example, a phoneme is constructed at the phonemic level, but functions at the morphemic level as a meaningful unit.

This property of linguistic units connects the levels of language into a single system.

Within each level/tier of the language structure (phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic), its units form their own separate system, that is, all elements of a given level act as members of the system. Systems of individual tiers of linguistic structure form common system of this language.

3. Basic types of relationships between language units.

To talk about the relationships between language units, it is necessary to introduce and define the following concepts: language units, language category, level/tier, language relations.

Units of language– its permanent elements, differing from each other in structure, purpose and place in the language system.

According to their purpose, language units are divided into:

Ø Nominative – word (lexeme)

Ø Communicative – proposal

Ø Drilling – phonemes and morphemes, forms of words and forms of phrases

Language categories– groups of homogeneous language units; categories are combined based on a common categorical feature, usually semantic. For example, in the Russian language there are categories of tense and aspect of the verb, case and gender, categories of collectiveness, animacy, etc.

Level (tier ) language – a set of similar units and categories of language: phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic.

Language relations– relationships between tiers and categories of language, its units and their parts.

Main types of relationships between language units: paradigmatic, syntagmatic And hierarchical.

Paradigmatic relations (Greek paradigm - example, sample) are relations that unite language units into groups, categories, categories. Elements that are in paradigmatic relationships constitute a class of similar phenomena. Paradigmatic relationships are relationships of choice.

For example, the system of consonants, the system of declension, and the synonymic series rely on paradigmatics. When using language, paradigmatic relations allow you to select the desired unit, as well as form words and their forms by analogy with those already existing in the language, for example, case forms of one word, synonymous series.

Syntagmatic relations unite units in their simultaneous sequence. These are relationships of units arranged linearly, for example, in a stream of speech. Syntagmatic relationships are used to build morphemes as combinations of phonemes, words as collections of morphemes and syllables, phrases and sentences as collections of words, complex sentences as collections of simple sentences.

Hierarchical relations connect the levels of language with each other, these are relations of structurally simpler units to more complex ones (remember: units are formed at a lower level, and function at a higher one).

All these types of relations in the language system are not isolated; they determine each other to one degree or another.

4. Phonology. Basic concepts of phonology

Initially, speech sounds were defined as sound formations that corresponded to letters: letters were “pronounced,” they were “hard” and “soft,” “vowels” and “consonants.” With the development of linguistics in the 19th century, it became possible to take a different look at the relationship between letters and sounds, since by this time sufficient material had accumulated on comparing the sounds of modern and ancient languages, as well as the sounds of related languages.

Speech sounds have a complex nature, therefore, within the framework of linguistics, over time, separate phonetic disciplines emerged that study various aspects of speech sounds: phonetics phonology(functional phonetics).

Phonetics studies the sound structure of a language: speech sounds and the rules for combining them into words in a stream of speech, an inventory of language sounds, their systemic properties, sound laws. The area of interest of phonetics also includes syllable, stress, and intonation.

As a natural phenomenon, the sound of speech can be considered in three aspects:

Ø acoustic(being studied speech acoustics);

Ø articulatory (articulatory phonetics);

Ø functional (phonology).

Phonology studies speech sounds in their functional or social aspect. What is important here is not the physical quality of speech sounds. But their functions are in the language system.

From this point of view, speech sounds are a way of materializing morphemes and word forms, acting as a unity of sound and meaning.

The multifaceted nature of speech sound has caused ambiguity in basic phonetic terms speech sound And phoneme.

Sound of speech– an acoustic phenomenon, an articulatory complex necessary to pronounce a specific sound, a unit of the sound system of a language.

Phoneme- the smallest unit of language, it does not have its own meaning and serves only to distinguish the sound shells of words. This is the sound unit of the language, i.e. the sound of speech in the phoneme system of a given language. The number of phonemes in a language is small; in any language in the world it is limited to a two-digit number.

The description of units at the phonetic level began a long time ago, even before the formation of linguistics as a science. By now, this level of the language system can be considered extremely described. As already mentioned, the characteristics of units of the phonetic level are dealt with phonetics(acoustic and articulatory) and phonology(functional phonetics).

The creator of the doctrine of the phoneme is Ivan Aleksandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay. He laid the foundations of phonology. His teaching is based on two basic principles:

Ø phoneme – a set of articulatory and acoustic representations;

Ø phonemes themselves have no meaning, but they also perform a semantic-distinguishing function (significative).

The idea of the phoneme was taken up by other scientists. A representative of the Prague linguistic school, Russian scientist Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy wrote the book “Fundamentals of Phonology” in 1939. From this point on, phonology becomes a separate linguistic discipline.

For Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy and other scientists of the Prague linguistic school, the phoneme is a unit oppositions, capable of distinguishing morphemes or words.

The core of Trubetskoy’s phonological concept is meaningful phoneme function. Sounds are combined into phonemes not by articulatory or acoustic proximity, but by functional community. If, depending on their position in a word, sounds are pronounced differently, but perform the same function and form the same words, they are considered as varieties of the same phoneme. Hence:

Ø phoneme – the shortest linguistic unit that serves to distinguish the material shell of a word and morphemes;

Ø phoneme is a complex sound unit, a set of different acoustic and articulatory properties, which manifests itself differently in the sound chain and performs a significative function in different ways.

The central concept of the teachings of Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy is phonological oppositions , sound contrasts that can differentiate the meaning of words of a given language. For example, the contrast of consonants based on voicedness/voicelessness in the Russian language.

Phonological oppositions form the phonological systems of specific languages.

In all the languages of the world there are only 12 pairs of differential features (DP). Different types of sounds are characterized by different pairs of DP. For example, vowels are characterized by rise, row, and labialization. IN different languages pairs of DPs are different; there is a certain set of DPs for the phonemes of a given national language. For example, in the Russian language DP, the longness/shortness of vowels does not “work”, i.e. is not essential, but in English this feature distinguishes meanings, i.e. is essential, cf.:

Ø Russian: voiced/voiceless, noisy/sonorant, hard/soft, front-lingual/back-lingual;

Ø English: long/short, labial/non-labial;

Ø French: nasal/non-nasal, etc.

Each phoneme is a bundle differential features , which distinguish phonemes from each other and facilitate the recognition of words and morphemes. Phonemes also have non-essentials ( non-integral) features that are not used to distinguish phonemes of a language.

The conditions under which phonemes are pronounced are called positions .

The concept of phoneme is closely related to the concept positions, i.e. the position of the sound in a word or morpheme. There are strong positions in which the phoneme realizes all its differential features, and weak positions in which some of these features are lost. The system of strong and weak positions in the Russian language can be represented as follows.

In strong position the phoneme realizes All its differential features; in a weak one, it neutralizes (loses) some of them.

Phonemes appear in options And variations.

Variation is a positional variation of the same phoneme ( m And r – f And R).

Options – these are common positional varieties of different phonemes ( ro h– ro With ).

Only in strong positions is the system of phonemes of a given language revealed.

All phonemes of a particular language form it phonological system , that is, they are interconnected, interdependent and united by a common semantic-distinguishing function.

The phonetic systems of different languages differ:

Ø number of phonemes (English – 44, Russian – 41, French – 35, German – 36);

Ø the ratio of vowels and consonants (Russian – 6 vowels: 35 consonants; English – 12 vowels: 8 diphthongs: 17 consonants; French – 18 vowels: 17 consonants; German – 15 vowels: 3 diphthongs: 18 consonants) ;

Ø specific laws of compatibility of phonemes in the flow of speech (in different languages (in Russian, despite the small number of vowel phonemes, their occurrence in speech accounts for almost half of the phonemic composition).

5. Main phonological schools

Further development of the ideas of Ivan Aleksandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay and Nikolai Sergeevich Trubetskoy in Russia led to the formation of the main phonological schools: Moscow (MFS) and Leningrad (LFS).

Representatives of the IMF (R.I. Avanesov, P.S. Kuznetsov, A.A. Reformatsky, V.N. Sidorov, etc.) consider the phoneme as the shortest sound unit, which is an element of the sound shell of significant language units (lexemes and morphemes). The concept of the IFS is based on the concept positions, i.e., the conditions for the use and implementation of phonemes in speech (see above). Here, a strong position is considered as favorable for identifying the functions of phonemes, and a weak position as unfavorable. Phonemes perform two functions: recognition (perceptual) and discrimination (significative). Depending on the function, the same weak positions will produce completely different results: perceptually weak position gives variations, and a weak sign gives variations.

LFS (L.V. Shcherba, L.R. Zinder, N.I. Matushevich, etc.) considers the phoneme as sound type, associated with specific phonetic representations. According to the LFS, a phoneme is not only a bundle of differential features, but a specific sound unit.

The theoretical disagreements between the MFS and LFS are associated precisely with this difference in the understanding of the phoneme. So, in the words oak, roses, pond, etc. Representatives of the first school will see variants of the phonemes [b], [z], [d], and representatives of the second – phonemes [p], [s], [t]. From the point of view of the MFS, soft sounds , , are not independent phonemes, since they never occur in the same hard sounds positions, and from the point of view of the LPS, these are phonemes that are acoustically different from solid ones.

However, what these two schools of phonology have in common is that they

Ø recognize the social nature of the phoneme;

Ø rely on the connection between phonetics and phonology;

Ø consider the phoneme as a unit of language;

Ø based on the presence of a phonological system of a particular language and its historical variability.

6. Grammar. Basic grammatical traditions

Morphology And syntax are parts grammar – science of grammatical structure of the language , which means:

Ø ways and means of changing lexical units (morphology);

Ø constructing sentences from lexical units in speech according to the thought being expressed.

Morphology is the study of the grammatical form of a word and its structure. Morphology deals with the study of units at the morphological level. It offers classifications of morphemes, describes their characteristics and laws of functioning in language.

Syntax– the study of the rules of compatibility of units in a sentence and the relationships between them. Studying ways of constructing phrases and sentences.

Modern provisions of grammatical theory have been greatly influenced by the Greco-Latin tradition, since ancient scientists made a great contribution to the development of grammatical problems.

Plato tried to classify parts of speech on a logical basis; he identified the noun and the verb. A verb is something that refers to actions, a name is a designation of the one who performs this action.

Aristotle studied the structure of sentences. He believed that a sentence expresses a thought. In addition, Aristotle analyzed the parts of speech: noun, verb and conjunction. He introduced the concept of case of a name or verb, by which he understood the indirect forms of these parts of speech.

In the 2nd century BC. V Ancient Greece The Alexandrian grammar school was created, whose representatives are Aristarchus of Samothrace, Apollonius Discolus, Dionysius the Thracian. The Alexandrians define a word as the smallest significant part of coherent speech, and a sentence as a combination of words expressing a complete thought. This school developed in detail the doctrine of parts of speech. Dionysius identified 8 parts of speech: name, verb, adverb, participle, pronoun, article, preposition, conjunction. Apollonius studied the syntactic properties and functions of parts of speech. But the Alexandrians had not yet come to understand the need to analyze the morphological structure of the word.

Roman grammar generally followed the rules of Greek grammar, using them to analyze the Latin language. The development of a Latin grammar became very important in the Middle Ages, when Latin became the language of religion, science and education.

In the 17th-18th centuries, developments appeared in the field of grammatical differences in European languages (English, French, German, Russian). “Russian Grammar” by Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov appeared in 1757.

In the development of linguistic thought of the 17th century, a special position is occupied by the so-called “General and Rational Grammar”, or the grammar of Port-Royal, written by the abbots of the Port-Royal monastery A. Arnaud and C. Lanslot. The philosophical basis of this grammar is the ideas of Rene Descartes, who emphasized the omnipotence of the human mind, which should serve as a criterion of truth.

The purpose of the Port-Royal Grammar was to study logical principles, which underlie all the languages of the world, i.e. the existence of language was examined from the point of view of the ability to express logically correct thoughts. The authors proceeded from the identification of logical and language categories and set as their task the identification of universal categories found in all languages.

Universal grammars, created using material from different languages, are essentially an attempt to comprehend the structure of language.

Grammar as a linguistic science studies the form and content, structure and functioning of grammatical units and categories. The complex nature of grammatical units and categories has led to the emergence of different approaches to their study. These approaches underlie the classification of grammar types. Main types of grammars:

Ø formal grammar studies, first of all, grammatical forms, their structure, groupings by parts of speech and rules of inflection (paradigms), combinations (syntactic connections). The basic units of grammar are the word-formation and inflectional model, the form of words and phrases;

Ø functional grammar studies the potential functions of linguistic units and categories and their functioning within one current state language. Functional grammar is characterized by the consideration of linguistic units in the interaction of grammatical and lexical units of a language within a schematic and real context;

Ø Abstract linguistic grammars are contrasted with speech, communicative grammars, in which the object of study is speech communication and speech activity.

7. Grammatical categories

The set of grammatical forms expressing the same or mutually opposed meanings constitutes grammatical category . For example, all cases constitute a category of cases. The sets of grammatical categories do not coincide in different languages.

Grammatical form- this is the unity of grammatical meaning and grammatical means expressing this meaning. Grammatical forms are varieties of words that, while having the same lexical meaning, differ in grammatical meaning. Grammatical forms form paradigms , representing a set of grammatical forms, established in a certain order.

8. Properties of a word. Lexicology

The vocabulary of a language is called vocabulary(gr.: lexicos - vocabulary, logos - teaching).

Lexicology- a branch of linguistics that studies the patterns inherent in the entire vocabulary of a language, as well as the characteristics of various groups of words. Since a word has many different sides, a number of branches of lexicology are distinguished.

Ø Semasiology – studies the meanings of words (structure of meaning, semantic oppositions, semantic features, etc.).

Ø Onomasiology – studies the process of naming.

Ø Onomastics – proper names. It is divided into anthroponymy (the study of people’s names), toponymy (the study of geographical names), ethnonymy, etc.

Ø Phraseology – stable phrases.

Ø Etymology – the origin of words.

Ø Lexicography is the science of methods for describing vocabulary and principles of compiling dictionaries, etc.

Lexicology can be synchronic and diachronic (historical), as well as general and specific.

The totality of all the words of a language - its vocabulary (vocabulary). In developed languages there are hundreds of thousands of words. Dictionary V.I. Dahl contains 200,000 words, the Large Academic Dictionary (BAS) - 120 thousand, the Modern Dictionary of the Russian Language - 500 thousand. Not a single person uses all the words: it stands out in the vocabulary fixed assets words (words active use). Varies for a specific person active And passive dictionary. The child's vocabulary is approx. 3 thousand words, teenager - approx. 9 thousand words, and an adult – 11-13 thousand.

The word is one of the basic units of language. Unlike other units, it has nominative function – naming function.

Many definitions of a word can be formulated, but none of them can be exhaustive. All definitions will differ depending on the aspect in which the word is considered (for example, from a graphical point of view, a word is a chain of graphemes between two spaces). In order to define a word, it is necessary to highlight its main features.

Word- This:

Ø sound unity according to the laws of phonetics of a given language;

Ø grammatical unity according to the laws of grammar of a given language;

Ø a significant unit of language that has a nominative function;

Ø has positional independence (that is, it is characterized by the absence of a rigid linear connection with neighboring words, cf.: The weather is warm today – The weather is warm today);

Ø has syntactic independence (i.e. the ability to receive syntactic function member of a sentence or a separate sentence).

Thus, a word is a phonetic, grammatical and lexical unity. Please note that these characteristics represent different aspects of the word from the point of view of different levels of the language system.

Not all words have the same ratio of these characteristics.

You can give working definition words : This a minimal relatively independent unit of language that has lexico-grammatical relevance and is freely reproduced in speech to construct a statement .

The word as a unit of language (in the system) is called lexeme . A lexeme is an “ideal word”. In speech we deal with allolexes(options for implementing a separate token), or word forms, Wed Man is man's friend(3 words, but 2 lexemes).

Every word is a unity of sound and meaning. The connection between sound and meaning is arbitrary; it is reinforced by social practice. The meaning of a word reveals the connection between language and the outside world. However, lexicology describes words, but not items the surrounding world.

Lexical meaning- this is what a given word means, this meaning correlates with the concept and relates the word to a certain section of the lexical-semantic system of the language. Grammatical meaning - this is the belonging of a word to a certain grammatical category, determines the compatibility of the word and the ways of its modification.

The core of lexical meaning is a mental reflection of a particular phenomenon of reality, an object or a class of objects. The object denoted by the word is called denotation .

Alexander Afanasyevich Potebnya spoke about the immediate and further meaning of the word, and also pointed to the dialectical unity of the linguistic and extra-linguistic content of the word.

Distinguish denotative And connotative meaning of the word. Denotative meanings are specific ( dog, green), abstract ( joy, honestly), imaginary ( mermaid). Connotative meaning is the emotional, expressive, evaluative and stylistic characteristics of a word (cf.: dog – little dog).

Lexical meanings are specific and individual, i.e. each lexical meaning belongs to one word, but in relation to the subject, each lexical meaning turns out to be generalized.

Lexical meanings are classified depending on their relationship to objects and phenomena of reality:

Ø Nominative ( house, birch) signal ( this one, he)

Ø Straight ( head, hand) portable (time runs)

Ø concrete abstract

According to the nature of the subject relevance, the meanings are own(single) and common nouns(are common).

The basis of lexical meaning is concept: a generalized thought about a given object or phenomenon. Different types of words relate to a concept in different ways, although each concept can be expressed by a word or phrase. But the word is not the same as the concept. A concept is a category logic. We can say that the meaning is broader, and the concept is deeper. For example, one word can have several meanings, i.e. relate to several concepts; one concept can be denoted by several words; the concept can be expressed by a compound name.

The relationship between sound and meaning arises by chance, but, once established, it becomes binding on all speakers of a given language.

The lexical meaning may contain internal shape (motivation , i.e. an indication of the reason why a given meaning turned out to be expressed by a particular combination of sounds (for example, onomatopoeic words, or such Lunokhod, airplane and so on.).

Not all words have the motivation preserved. Each language has its own reasons for motivation. Wed: windowsill, airplane. Over time, the word undergoes a process de-etymologization (i.e. forgetting motivation; cf. cabbage from caput– head). In the case of conjecture of motivation, a phenomenon arises such as false (folk) etymology; compare: semi-clinic, half-over, caterpillar and so on.

The entire vocabulary of a language can be considered as a system, the structure of which is determined by the types of lexical meanings and lexico-grammatical categories of words. So, all words can be classified into categories parts of speech in accordance with their lexico-grammatical relevance. Depending on the relationship of lexical meaning, they can be distinguished polysemantic words, homonyms , synonyms , antonyms , paronyms etc. From the point of view of language changes in the lexical composition, the following are distinguished: neologisms (new words that have appeared in the language are the result of various types of borrowings or changes in the semantic structure of words existing in the language - computer, dealer), historicisms (words naming realities that have gone out of use - chain mail, bast shoes), archaisms (obsolete words - eyes, cheeks).

The concept of systematic language and its structure came to the science of language at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. In this way, linguistics to some extent reflected the general tendency of the formation scientific knowledge(cf. the emergence of ideas about systematicity in other sciences: Charles Darwin’s theory of the origin of species, system chemical elements Dmitry Mendeleev, etc.).

It should be added that the language system is in a process of constant change. True, different levels of language change differently, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The lexical level turns out to be the most mobile: new words and new meanings appear, some words fall out of use, etc.

Thus, the language system, on the one hand, strives for change, and on the other hand, it must maintain integrity, otherwise the language will cease to fulfill its functions, since people will no longer understand each other. These are two opposite processes that affect the system, so it is customary to say that the language system is always in a state relative equilibrium.

ASSIGNMENTS ON TOPIC 5

Questions and practical tasks

1. Why do you think people came from understanding the connections between objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality to describing these connections in accordance with the principle of systematicity in the 19th century?

2. What examples of system description from other sciences can you give?

3. Why do they say that language is a “system of systems”?

A. Draw a diagram of the language system. Try to show in this diagram all types of relationships between language units.

B. Solve the problem.

Suggestions given

· The elephant surprises everyone with its big ears.

· He was driving the car on a dusty road.

· I knew her as a little boy.

· He was reading a book on a warm evening.

· The rocket pierced the clouds with black lightning.

· He dug up the bed with a sharp shovel

· I knew him as a little boy.

· I thought he was a total fool.

· He left Kursk by the evening train.

In these sentences, the instrumental case of the last noun has different meanings. To find out this difference, it is enough to redo (transform) these sentences so that their meaning is preserved, but instead of a phrase with the instrumental case, they contain some other grammatical construction (it is allowed to transform the entire sentence, and not just a phrase with the instrumental case).

Using these transformations, try to distinguish as many (all?) of these sentences from each other as possible.

Come up with your own suggestions for a similar task.

IN. Solve the problem.

Words given Same And Also. Find: a) a sentence with the word too, where instead of Same cannot be consumed Also(the sentence will become incorrect); b) a sentence where instead of Also cannot be consumed Same; c) a sentence where these words are interchangeable.

G. Comment on Jean Aitchison's statement. What does the author want to draw our attention to?

LITERATURE

1. Rozhdestvensky V.S. Lectures on general linguistics.

2. Khrolenko A.T. General linguistics.

3. Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary.

4. Stepanov Yu.S. Fundamentals of linguistics.

System – a set of elements and the relationships into which these elements enter.
Systems: natural and arts., technical., primary and secondary, complex and simple.
Language system = language units + structure. A language system is a set of linguistic units and those relations, which these units can enter into with each other. System language complex system, because is a system of systems, consists of levels that are themselves systems. Simple syst., because units are of the same type.

Structure– themselves relationship into which these elements enter. That is, the structure is part of the system. Structure is characteristic of all sciences. (biology, chemistry, linguistics)

20-30 – the emergence of a new direction in linguistics – structuralism. Structuralists study only the structure of language. There is Prague, London, Danish and American structuralism.

Conditions for the system:

· The system must have many elements(10^8, 10^10). The language is one of the most complex systems in terms of the number of characters.

· The system must be holistic. The integrity of the system is ensured by communications.

Thus, the system is units + structure.

Shcherba came up with a phrase with the so-called “ pure relations" (structure only) between units. This phrase uses non-existent words in order to abstract from their meanings and thus show only relationship between them. " Glokaykuzdra stekokudlanula bokra and kurdyachit bokrenok"

« Structures are stable; they define the system of language." -- F. de Saussure. Saussure also compared the language system to a chessboard. It is determined not by the material, but by the structure.

To give a complete description of the language system, it is necessary to describe:

· language inventory (language units) is a descriptive approach

· connections between units – structural approach

· functions that this system performs - functional approach

There are some other approaches to describing the system:

The stratification approach is how different parts of the system are related, by levels.
Dynamic approach - how the transition from language to speech occurs.
The semiotic approach is close to the descriptive approach.

Language is a dynamic, open system, never completely “correct,” but always striving for it.

The systematic nature of language is expressed not only at the level of meaning (plan of content), but also at all other levels (plan of expression): at the phonetic, lexical, grammatical levels. From this we can conclude that language is a system of systems.

The term " language level"appeared in the 60s. It was introduced by a French linguist Benveniste.

Level - part of a language system that unites units of the same type (homogeneous) and the same name for a given level. Units of each level perform their own functions in the language. The level-forming element is the unit itself (its presence). There is a unit, which means there is a level

There is no stylistic level, because there is no corresponding unit.

There are two types of levels: basic and intermediate (additional)

Main levels 4:

· Phonetic

· Morphological

· Lexical

· Syntactic

Each level has its own units. This unit exists in two varieties: as a unit of language and as a unit of speech. What is the difference? Linguistic units are an abstraction, a certain model, it cannot be pronounced. A linguistic unit is potential because it has countless speech analogues. However, it has its own speech analogue , i.e. speech unit - a specific speech practice with meaning, in living speech.

On phonological phoneme (signaling function), and its speech version is background/allophone/sound. The phoneme performs meaningful function, she itself doesn't matter.

On morphological level the unit of language is morpheme (string function), and its speech version is morph/allomorph.

Lexical level - token (nominative function) Speech unit – word.

Syntactic level -- offer(communicative function), speech unit – phrase or saying.

Some linguists distinguish 2 more levels:

extremely low level(level of distinctive/differential features of a phoneme – merisms(softness/hardness))
extremely high level(text level. Text does not exist as linguistic unit. The text exists only as a speech unit)

Intermediate levels:

morphophonological level (morphophoneme is an undermorpheme, it lacks meaning. For example, connective o and e)
phraseological (phraseological unit)
derivational (derived word)

What is the difference between main levels and additional levels? For units of basic levels we can dismember the entire text without leaving any trace, (the principle of non-residue divisibility of the text) but not into intermediate level units.

Relationships between units. Language structure.
Bertolanffy – structure – relationships into which units enter. In a language, not all units interact with each other. Structure - those relationships in which they can enter.

There are two types of relationships:

· interspecific (hierarchical) – between units of different levels.

· Intraspecific. They have two varieties:

Syntagmatic - relations linear and horizontal. Show how units of the same level are connected in a speech chain.
-- paradigmatic – (Saussure – associative; the term “paradigmatic” was introduced by Elmslev) – relations between units of the same level, which can occur in the same context. Sometimes units can meet in the same position, i.e. in the same environment. (I am sending to my father, I am sending a letter, I am sending by mail - the words “by mail”, “to father”, “letter” form a paradigm, since they can occur in the same context). Sometimes units form a paradigm because they cannot stand in one position. (I’m walking - you’re walking - he’s walking. I’m walking, walking, walking - they require different subjects and form a paradigm) Paradigm - vertical relationships. Violation of paradigmatic connections may indicate the presence of mental disorders.

Language is a system of signs.
Science that studies signs, called semiotics(Greek “semios” - sign). Everything that surrounds us is a sign system. Sign language, Braille, Morse language, gong language, sweet language, musical signs, animal language - all these are language systems. Human language is also one of the sign systems.

Language systems are:
- artificial (eg notes)
- natural sign systems (human language)

Human language is a special system of signs, having properties that distinguish it from all other sign systems. Human language - primary sign system. All other characters systems are secondary. The primacy of people language is manifested in the fact that everything other systems or arose from human language, or they can be explained using human language. Human language arises and develops spontaneously for thousands of years. In human language approximately 50% redundancy. Also in human language there is a lot inaccuracies. Other language systems do not have such inaccuracies and redundancies. Also human language - open system , while other systems are closed: human language is always replenished with new elements, while other sign systems are not replenished. (there are 7 notes in total, you cannot enter the 8th). Human language is a system with which you can describe any content => versatility. Language – public, it belongs to everyone. The remaining sign systems are known only to a limited circle of specialists. The language system has emotionality.

The elements of language do not exist in isolation, but in close connection and opposition to each other, i.e. in system. The interconnection of language elements lies in the fact that a change or loss of one element, as a rule, is reflected in other elements of the language (for example, in phonetic system In the Old Russian language, the fall of the reduced ones caused a restructuring of its entire system of consonantism, the formation of the categories of deafness/voice and hardness/softness).

Scientists have long been aware of the structural complexity of the language system. W. Humboldt spoke about the systemic nature of language: “There is nothing singular in language, each individual element manifests itself only as a part of the whole.” However, a deep theoretical understanding of the systematic nature of language appeared later, in the works of the Swiss scientist F. de Saussure. “No one realized and described the systemic organization of language as clearly as Saussure,” wrote E. Benveniste. Language, according to Saussure, is “a system in which all elements form a whole, and the significance of one element stems only from the simultaneous presence of others.” Therefore, concludes Saussure, “all parts of this system must be considered in their synchronic interdependence.” Each element of language must be studied from the point of view of its role in the language system. So, for example, in the Russian language, which has lost its dual number, plural began to have a different meaning than in Slovenian, where the category of dual number is still preserved.

In linguistics for a long time The terms system and structure were used interchangeably. However, later, with the development of structural linguistics, their terminological differentiation occurred. The system began to be understood as an internally organized set of elements that are in relationships and connections with each other (i.e., this definition takes into account the following basic concepts: “totality”, “element”, “function”, “connections”), and the structure - internal organization these elements, the network of their relationships. It is the system that determines the presence and organization of linguistic elements, since each element of language exists due to its relationships to other elements, i.e. the system is a structure-forming factor, because there is no system without a structural correlation of elements. Figuratively speaking, the structure of language can be likened to the human skeleton, and the system to the totality of its organs. In this sense, it is quite legitimate to talk about the structure of the system. In domestic linguistics, as well as in a number of foreign schools, the distinction between the concepts of system and structure of a language is often based on the nature of the relationships between their elements. The elements of the structure are related to each other by syntagmatic relations (cf. the word usage accepted in linguistics word structure , sentence structure etc.), and the elements of the system are connected by paradigmatic relationships (cf. case system , vowel system etc.).

The idea of a systematic language was developed in different linguistic schools. The Prague Linguistic School played a major role in the development of the doctrine of the systematic nature of language, in which the language system is characterized primarily as a functional system, i.e. as a system of means of expression used for a specific purpose. The Prague Linguistic School also put forward the thesis about language as a system of systems. This thesis subsequently received different interpretations: according to one point of view, the language system is a system of language levels, each of which is also a system; according to another - the system of language is a system functional styles(sublanguages), each of which is also a system.

A significant contribution to the development of the idea of systematic language was made by domestic linguistics, which developed the doctrine of language units, their systemic connections and functions, the distinction between statics and dynamics in language, etc.

Modern ideas about the systematic nature of a language are associated primarily with the doctrine of its levels, their units and relationships, since a language system, like any other, has its own structure, the internal structure of which is determined by the hierarchy of levels.

Language levels are subsystems (tiers) of the general language system, each of which has a set of its own units and rules for their functioning. Traditionally, the following main levels of language are distinguished: phonemic, lexical, morphological and syntactic. Some scientists also distinguish morphonological, word-formation and phraseological levels. There are, however, other points of view on the system of language levels. According to one of them, the level organization of language is more complex; it consists of such tiers as hypophonemic, phonemic, morphemic, lexeme, sememe, etc. According to others, it is simpler, consisting of only three tiers: phonetic, lexicogrammatical and semantic. And when considering language from the point of view of the “plane of expression” and “plane of content”, it consists of only two tiers: phonological (plane of expression) and semantic (plane of content).

Each of the language levels has its own, qualitatively different units that have different purposes, structure, compatibility and place in the language system. In accordance with the law of the structural relationship between the levels of language, a unit of a higher level is built from units of a lower level (cf. morphemes from phonemes), and a unit of a lower level realizes its functions in units of a higher level (cf. morphemes in words).

In most languages of the world, the following language units are distinguished: phoneme, morpheme, word, phrase and sentence. In addition to these basic units, in each of the levels (tiers) there are a number of units that differ in the degree of abstraction and complexity, for example, on the phonetic tier - a phonetic syllable, a phonetic word, speech beats, phonetic phrases, etc. The sound units of language are one-sided and insignificant. These are the shortest units of language obtained as a result of the linear division of the speech stream. Their function is to form and distinguish the sound shells of bilateral units. All other units of linguistic tiers are two-sided and significant: they all have a plane of expression and a plane of content.

In structural linguistics, the classification of language units is based on the sign of divisibility/indivisibility, and therefore there are limiting (hereinafter indivisible) units of language (for example, phoneme, morpheme) and non-limiting ones (for example, group phonemes, analytical forms of words, complex sentences).

Specific representatives of the same unit of language are in paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships with each other. Paradigmatic relationships- these are relationships in the inventory, they allow you to distinguish one unit of this type from all others, since the same unit of language exists in the form of many variants (cf. phoneme/allophone; morpheme/morph/allomorph, etc.). Syntagmatic relations - these are combinatory relationships established between units of the same type in a speech chain (for example, the flow of speech from a phonetic point of view consists of phonetic phrases, phonetic phrases - from speech beats, speech beats - from phonetic words, phonetic words - from syllables, syllables - from sounds; the sequence of words in a speech chain illustrates their syntagmatics, and the combination of words into various groups- synonymous, antonymic, lexical-semantic - is an example of paradigmatic relations).

Depending on their purpose, the functions in the linguistic system of language units are divided into nominative, communicative and drill. Nominative units of language(word, phrase) are used to designate objects, concepts, ideas. Communicative units of language(sentence) are used to report something; with the help of these units, thoughts, feelings, expressions of will are formalized and expressed, and people communicate. Building units of language(phonemes, morphemes) serve as a means of constructing and formalizing nominative, and through them, communicative units.

Units of language are interconnected by various types of relationships, among which the most common are paradigmatic, syntagmatic and hierarchical. Moreover, the relations between units of one tier of language and different tiers are fundamentally different from each other. Units belonging to the same tier of language enter into paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships, for example, phonemes form classes of functionally identical sounds, morphemes - classes of functionally identical morphs, etc., i.e. This is a type of paradigmatic variant-invariant relationship. At the same time, in a linear sequence, phonemes are combined with phonemes, morphemes with morphs. In modern linguistics, syntagmatic relations are often compared with logical relations of conjunction (relations And ~ And), and paradigmatic ones - with logical disjunction relations (relations or ~ or). In hierarchical relationships (such as “consists of” or “includes in”) there are units of different linguistic levels, cf.: phonemes are included in the sound shells of morphemes, morphemes - in a word, a word - in a sentence and, conversely, sentences consist of words, words - from morphemes, morphemes - from phonemes, etc.

The levels of language are not isolated tiers; on the contrary, they are closely interconnected and determine the structure of the language system (cf., for example, the connection of all levels of language in a unit such as a word: with its different sides it belongs simultaneously to the phonemic, morphemic, lexical and syntactic levels ). Sometimes units of different levels may coincide in one sound form. A classic example illustrating this point was the example of A. A. Reformatsky from the Latin language: two Romans argued who would say the shorter phrase; one said: “Eo rus” ‘I’m going to the village’, and the other answered: “1” ‘go’. In this Latin i sentence, word, morpheme and phoneme coincide, i.e. it includes all levels of language.

The linguistic system is a constantly evolving system, although its different levels develop at different speeds (the morphological level of language, for example, in general turns out to be more conservative than the lexical one, which quickly responds to changes in the life of society), therefore a center is distinguished in the language system ( morphology) and periphery (lexicon).