A Course of Contrastive Grammar of English and Ukrainian (Extra-mural department)

by L.I.Taranenko, 2016/2017
GLOSSARY
Grammar (from the Greek word grammatikē, meaning “the art of writing”) is traditionally defined as a
systematic description and characterization of the structure of a particular language (comprising its
morphology and syntax).
Practical grammar is a description of grammar rules which are necessary to understand and formulate
sentences; it gives practical rules of the use of the linguistic structures.
Theoretical grammar is the explanation of these rules; it presents a theoretical description of the language
grammatical system, analyses and defines its grammatical categories, studies the mechanism of
grammatical formation of utterances consisting of words; it gives an analysis of the structures in the light
of general principles of linguistics and the existing schools and approaches. In a wider sense theoretical
grammar deals with the language as a functional system.
Morphology deals with morphemes (i.e. with the internal structure of words, in particular with the analysis of
words as composed of various morphemes such as roots and affixes); parts of speech (the grammatical
classes and groups of words) as well as their grammatical categories and systems of forms in which these
categories actually exist. In morphology, the basic units under investigation are the morphemes of a
language.
Syntax deals with the way words are combined to form sentences. It is concerned with the external functions of
words within linearly ordered units (word groups, sentences, texts).
Language is a symbolic system consisting of a set of rules for relating sound and meaning used by human
beings to communicate. It is a collective body of knowledge; it is a set of basic elements, but these
elements can form a great variety of combinations. The number of these combinations is endless.
Grammar is associated with language as it studies a set of rules.
Speech is closely connected with language as it is the result of using the language, the result of a definite act of
speaking. Speech is individual, personal, while language is common for all individuals speaking the
language.
The word is the basic linguistic unit or sign. It is of a double entity (bilateral), that is, it unites a concept (or
meaning, which is directly unobservable) and a sound image (or form, which is directly observable).
Accordingly, we distinguish the content side/plane (план змісту) and the expression side/plane (план
вираження) in a linguistic unit.
The grammatical structure of a language is the system of means used to organize linguistic units into
communicative ones (units of language into units of speech), as well as the rules of regulation of their
functioning. Such means are: inflections, affixation, word-order, phonological means, functional words,
etc.
Analytic languages are those languages in which word forms do not change, and in which grammatical
functions are shown by word order and the use of function words (I have eaten an orange). These
languages are also called the languages of the external level. Most grammatical meanings and relations
are expressed with the help of words (will go, has gone). The English language has analytical forms as
prevailing.
Synthetic languages are languages of the internal grammar of the word. The majority of grammatical meanings
and grammatical relations of words are expressed with the help of inflexions. That is, words consist of
stem and affixes which often mark several grammatical categories simultaneously (the form of a word
changes to show a change in meaning or grammatical function: mouse – mice, arrive – arrived). In
Ukrainian synthetic devices are dominant.
Lexical meaning is the individual meaning of the word (referential meaning).
Grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole class or a subclass of words, e.g., the class of nouns has the
grammatical meaning of thingness. The grammatical meaning may be explicit and implicit. The implicit
grammatical meaning is not expressed formally (e.g. the word table does not contain any hints in its
form as to it being inanimate). The explicit grammatical meaning is always marked morphologically.
In the word cats the grammatical meaning of plurality is shown in the form of the noun; is asked – shows
the explicit grammatical meaning of passiveness. The implicit grammatical meaning may be of two
types: general and dependent. The general grammatical meaning is the meaning of the whole word-
class, or a part of speech (e.g., nouns have the general grammatical meaning of thingness). The
dependent grammatical meaning (зв’язане) is the meaning of a subclass within the same part of
speech (e.g., any verb possess the dependent grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity,
terminativeness/non-terminativeness, stativeness/non-stativeness).
Grammatical form of a word is defined as a combination of its grammatical meanings and formal means which
express them in a definite context. The term “grammatical form” shows that the word is a carrier of
grammatical information, for example, the word speaks shows the present tense third person singular, it
can be identified in such a way exclusively due to the existence of opposed forms: speak, spoke, is
speaking, etc. contrasted to speaks. The lexical meaning of the word is irrelevant for the detection of the
type of grammatical form. A grammatical form of a word may be analytic by structure, which means that
it consists of more than one word (e.g. has spoken) or synthetic.
Grammatical category is the most general notion that comprises a number of identical (similar) grammatical
meanings being expressed by a certain system of grammatical forms. In other words, the grammatical
category is realized in a definite grammatical meaning and its form. Any grammatical category must be
represented by at least two grammatical forms (e.g. the grammatical category of number is represented
by singular and plural forms). The relation between two grammatical forms differing in meaning and
external signs is called opposition (book::books – unmarked member::marked member). A grammatical
category is definable only on the basis of oppositions (e.g. the grammatical category of number is
realized through the opposition of singular:plural). Means of realization of grammatical categories may
be synthetic (near – nearer) and analytic (beautiful – more beautiful).
Morpheme is the minimal indivisible meaningful unit which participates in the formation of the word and its
forms (the morpheme is not аn autonomous unit, it occurs in speech only as а constituent of the word and
its forms). The syllable as а unit of sound has, in English, no correspondence with the morpheme as a
meaningful unit. For example, the word 'parson' has two syllables, but consists of one morpheme while
the word 'parting' has two syllables and two morphemes. The morpheme is а language unit which is
realized in speech as the morph. Morphs аrе the smallest meaningful successions of phonemes into
which words аrе broken uр. For example, in the words paint, раint-s, раint-еd, раint-ing, раint-еr the
morphs аrе paint, -s, -ed. -ing, -еr. As all other language units morphemes are signs of a double nature
which have the plane of content and the plane of expression. Thus morphemes may have а definite
meaning: -lexical (teach – er, un – like – able), -grammatical (write – s, cross – ing, play – ed), -lexical-
grammatical (happi – ness, lоve – ly). Classification of morphemes: (1) according to their semantics,
morphemes сan bе classified into lexical (roots), grammatical (inflections), lexical-grammatical
(affixes); (2) according to the form, morphemes саn bе classified into free (roots) and bound (affixes); (3)
on the basis of linear characteristics (distribution), continuous (linear) and discontinuous morphemes are
distinguished. Continuous morphemes are expressed uninterruptedly. Discontinuous morphemes can be
found in grammatical units which consist of an auxiliary word and a grammatical suffix, for example: be
-ing (for the continuous forms), have –en (for the perfect forms), be – en (for the passive forms).
Allomorphs are the variants of the same morpheme, (i.e. allomorphs manifest in speech the same morpheme).
For example, the English plural morpheme can appear as [s] as in cats, [z] as in dogs, or [iz] as in
churches. Each of these three pronunciations is said to be an allomorph of the same morpheme -s.