- Different approaches to the classification of the parts of speech.
The parts of speech are classes of words, all the members of these classes having certain characteristics in common which distinguish them from the members of other classes.
The problem of word classification into parts of speech still remains one of the most controversial problems in modern linguistics. The attitude of grammarians with regard to parts of speech and the basis of their classification varied a good deal at different times. Only in English grammarians have been vacillating between 3 and 13 parts of speech.
There are four approaches to the problem:
Functional
This approach to the problem was introduced in the XIX century by Henry Sweet. He took into account the peculiarities of the English language. This approach may be defined as functional. He resorted to the functional features of words and singled out nominative units and particles. To nominative parts of speech belonged noun-words (noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund), adjective-words (adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participles), verb (finite verb, verbals – gerund, infinitive, participles), while adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection belonged to the group of particles. However, though the criterion for classification was functional, Henry Sweet failed to break the tradition and classified words into those having morphological forms and lacking morphological forms, in other words, declinable and indeclinable.
Distributional
A distributional approach to the parts to the parts of speech classification can be illustrated by the classification introduced by Charles Fries. He wanted to avoid the traditional terminology and establish a classification of words based on distributive analysis, that is, the ability of words to combine with other words of different types. At the same time, the lexical meaning of words was not taken into account. According to Charles Fries, the words in such sentences as 1. Woggles ugged diggles; 2. Uggs woggled diggs; and 3. Woggs diggled uggles are quite evident structural signals, their position and combinability are enough to classify them into three word-classes. In this way, he introduced four major classes of words and 15 form-classes. Let us see how it worked. Three test frames formed the basis for his analysis:
Frame A - The concert was good (always);
Frame B - The clerk remembered the tax (suddenly);
Frame C – The team went there.
It turned out that his four classes of words were practically the same as traditional nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. What is really valuable in Charles Fries’ classification is his investigation of 15 groups of function words (form-classes) because he was the first linguist to pay attention to some of their peculiarities.
All the classifications mentioned above appear to be one-sided because parts of speech are discriminated on the basis of only one aspect of the word: either its meaning or its form, or its function.
Classical (logical-inflectional)
The classical parts of speech theory goes back to ancient times. It is based on Latin grammar. According to the Latin classification of the parts of speech all words were divided dichotomically into declinable and indeclinable parts of speech. This system was reproduced in the earliest English grammars. The first of these groups, declinable words, included nouns, pronouns, verbs and participles, the second – indeclinable words – adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The logical-inflectional classification is quite successful for Latin or other languages with developed morphology and synthetic paradigms but it cannot be applied to the English language because the principle of declinability/indeclinability is not relevant for analytical languages.
Complex
In modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated according to three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. This approach may be defined as complex. The semantic criterion presupposes the grammatical meaning of the whole class of words (general grammatical meaning). The formal criterion reveals paradigmatic properties: relevant grammatical categories, the form of the words, their specific inflectional and derivational features. The functional criterion concerns the syntactic function of words in the sentence and their combinability. Thus, when characterizing any part of speech we are to describe: a) its semantics; b) its morphological features; c) its syntactic peculiarities.
2. Complex approach to classifying parts of speech: meaning, form and function. Notional and functional parts of speech.
In modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated according to three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. This approach may be defined as complex.
The semantic criterion presupposes the grammatical meaning of the whole class of words (general grammatical meaning).
The formal criterion reveals paradigmatic properties: relevant grammatical categories, the form of the words, their specific inflectional and derivational features.
The functional criterion concerns the syntactic function of words in the sentence and their combinability.
Thus, when characterizing any part of speech we are to describe:
a) its semantics;
b) its morphological features;
c) its syntactic peculiarities.
The linguistic evidence drawn from our grammatical study makes it possible to divide all the words of the language into:
- those denoting things, objects, notions, qualities, etc. – words with the corresponding references in the objective reality – notional words
- those having no references of their own in the objective reality; most of them are used only as grammatical means to form up and frame utterances – function words, or grammatical words
It is commonly recognized that the notional parts of speech are nouns, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adjectives, adverbs; the functional parts of speech are articles, particles, prepositions, conjunctions and modal words.
The division of language units into notion and function words reveals the interrelation of lexical and grammatical types of meaning. In notional words the lexical meaning is predominant. In function words the grammatical meaning dominates over the lexical one. However, in actual speech the border line between notional and function words is not always clear cut. Some notional words develop the meanings peculiar to function words - e.g. seminotional words – to turn, to get, etc.
Notional words constitute the bulk of the existing word stock while function words constitute a smaller group of words. Although the number of function words is limited (there are only about 50 of them in Modern English), they are the most frequently used units.
5, 6. The article as a functional part of speech. Articles as determiners, the theme and rheme markers, generalizers and concretizers.
The article is a function word, which means it has no lexical meaning and is devoid of denotative function. Semantically the article can be viewed as a significator, i.e. a linguistic unit representing some conceptual content without naming it. If analyzed in its relation to the conceptual reality, the article proves to be an operator, i.e. a marker of some cognitive operation, like identification, classification, and the like.
There are two articles in English: the definite article “the” and the indefinite one “a”. It has become a tradition to also single out the so-called “zero” article, which is found in the contexts where neither the definite nor the indefinite article is used. It is better to speak of the zero article rather than of the absence of the article for the same reason that we ascribe the zero marker to the “unmarked” member of the opposition. We speak of zero units in situations where the grammatical meaning needs to be made explicit.
We might have to enumerate quite a few functions articles can be used in. Some of them are common for all the three articles, others are only characteristic of individual function words.
The Use of Articles as Determiners
The invariant function of all the articles (i.e. the function all of them are used in) is that of determination. Any human language has a system of devices used to determine words as parts of speech. In analytical languages the article is the basic noun determiner. In synthetic languages, like Ukrainian and russian the same function is performed by inflexions.
The Use of Articles as the Theme-and-Rheme Markers
The second function the articles can be used in is that of the theme-and rheme markers. As you know, the theme is the information already known, and the rheme is the semantic focus of the utterance, the new idea that is being introduced.
In languages like Ukrainian or russian the final position of the word in the sentence is rhematic, and the initial position is thematic. In English the same function is performed by the indefinite and the definite articles correspondingly. It is important to remember this principle when you translate something into English, for example:
**До кімнати увійшов чоловік. A man entered the room.
Чоловік увійшов до кімнати. The man entered the room.**
- The Use of Articles as Generalizers
The object denoted by the word is called the “referent”. Referents can be concrete, if something is said about a concrete object or phenomenon, and general, if what we say is true for the whole class of objects.
e.g. I have a dog at home (a concrete dog).
The dog is man's friend (any dog)
In the second sentence the definite article is used as a generalizer. The generalizing function can be performed by both the definite, the indefinite and the zero article. The zero article is used in the plural or with uncountable nouns, for example:
Iron is metal.
When concrete nouns are used in generic sense, they are usually preceded by the definite article. The indefinite article may be used when two classes of objects are compared, for example:
A dog is stronger than a cat.
It is also important to remember that different parts of the utterance have to agree with one another semantically. So the articles are mostly used in their generalizing function in utterances characterized by generic reference, for example:
**The noun is a part of speech which denotes substance.
The Use of Articles as Concretizers
The generalizing function of articles is opposed to that of concretization.
The latter is realized through some specific functions which are different for definite, indefinite and zero articles.
FUNCTIONS OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE
The indefinite article can be used in four functions:
- The classifying function
- The indefinitizing function
- The introductory function
- The quantifying function
- The classifying function of the indefinite article is realized in the so-called classifying utterances. Their invariant sentence pattern is: N + Vbe + N1. Those are:
a) structures with the verb “to be”, for example:
e.g. This is a computer.
b)exclamatory sentences beginning with “what” or such.
e.g. What a long story! He is such a nuisance!
c) sentences including an adverbial modifier of manner or comparison, for example:
e.g. You look like a rose! She works as a teacher.
- The indefinitizing function is realized when the referent of the noun is not a real thing, but it exists in the speaker’s imagination only. Those are sentences containing modal verbs or verbs with modal meaning, forms of the Subjunctive Mood, Future Tense forms, negative and interrogative sentences.
e.g. I wish I had a home like you do.
Have you ever seen a living tiger?
The introductory function
Before sharing some information about the object, we need to introduce it to the hearer. Fairy tales can be used as ideal illustrations of the use of the indefinite article in its introductory function.
e.g. Once upon a time there lived an old man. He had a wife and a daughter. He lived in a small house.
The quantifying function
The indefinite article developed from the numeral “one”. The meaning of “oneness” is still preserved when the article is used with nouns denoting measure, like “a minute”, “a year” or “a pound”.
FUNCTIONS OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
1. The identifying function
When we speak, we may want to point out to something that both us and the hearer perceive with our organs of feeling. There are five different ways of getting the information about something existing in the objective reality. We can see it (Do you like the picture?), hear it (I believe, the music is too loud), feel it (The pillow is so soft!), smell it (What is the name of the perfume?) or taste it (The soup tastes bitter).
2. The definitizing function
The object or thing denoted by the noun is presented as a part of some complex. In modern science the term “frame” is often used. The frame is a structurally organized system of images. For example, the frame “classroom” includes a window, a blackboard and a door. So if both the speaker and the hearer know what classroom they are speaking of, the constituents of the classroom don’t need any special concretization, and the indefinite article will be used.
e.g. I want to talk to the rector (even if you have never met the man).
3. The individualizing function
The object in question may be presented as a unique thing with the hearer’s attention focused on its distinguishing features, which are represented with the help of a particularizing attribute. The object is singled out from the class it belongs to. The particularizing attribute can be expressed by:
a) adjectives in the superlative degree
e.g. This is the easiest way out.
b) ordinal numerals
e.g. I have forgotten the first word.
c) attributive relative restrictive clauses
e.g. I need the book I bought yesterday.
FUNCTIONS OF THE ZERO ARTICLE
In most cases the zero article performs the same functions as the indefinite one. The difference is that the combinability of the latter is restricted to the group of countable nouns used in the singular form, whereas the zero article combines with uncountable nouns and countable nouns in the plural.
e.g. It was a large room with many windows.
The toasts were in champagne.
Still there are situations where the zero article is used in its specific functions which are different from those of the indefinite article. When used with the zero article, the noun loses its general grammatical meaning of thingness to a certain degree and acquires the meaning of qualitativeness. For example, the nouns “day” and “night” used with the zero article stand for “light” and “darkness” rather than time units.
- The problem of classification of function words.
The classification of function words is a linguistic problem that involves categorizing words based on their grammatical or syntactic function within a sentence. Function words, also known as grammatical words or closed-class words, are a class of words that serve primarily to convey grammatical relationships and structure in a language. They contrast with content words, which carry the main semantic content of a sentence.
Function words include articles (e.g., "the," "a," "an"), prepositions (e.g., "in," "on," "under"), conjunctions (e.g., "and," "but," "or"), pronouns (e.g., "he," "she," "it," "they"), auxiliary verbs (e.g., "is," "has," "will"), and other similar words that help clarify relationships between content words in a sentence.
The classification of function words can be approached from several perspectives:
Grammatical Classification: Function words can be classified based on their specific grammatical roles. For example, articles and determiners are used to specify nouns (e.g., "the car," "my book"), prepositions show relationships between nouns and other elements in a sentence (e.g., "in the house," "on the table"), and pronouns replace nouns (e.g., "he" instead of "John").
Syntactic Classification: Function words can also be classified based on their syntactic positions and functions within a sentence. For instance, conjunctions are used to connect words or phrases (e.g., "and" connects two nouns in "bread and butter"), while auxiliary verbs assist the main verb in forming verb tenses (e.g., "is" in "She is running").
Language-Specific Variations: Different languages may have different sets of function words and different ways of classifying them. For example, English has articles like "the," but some languages lack articles altogether.
Computational Linguistics: In natural language processing and computational linguistics, the classification of function words is important for various language processing tasks, including part-of-speech tagging, parsing, and machine translation. Algorithms and models are developed to automatically classify function words based on their context and syntactic patterns.
- Grammatically relevant classes of function words.
Grammatically relevant classes of function words refer to categorizations of function words based on their grammatical roles and functions within a sentence. These categories help linguists and grammarians understand how function words contribute to the structure and organization of sentences. Here are some of the most common grammatically relevant classes of function words:
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Articles: Articles are words that introduce nouns and provide information about their definiteness or specificity. In English, there are two main articles: "the" (definite article) and "a" or "an" (indefinite articles). For example, "the cat" and "a dog."
Pronouns: Pronouns are words used to replace nouns, reducing the need for repetition. Common pronouns include "he," "she," "it," "they," "we," and "you." For example, "She is reading a book."
Conjunctions: Conjunctions are words used to connect words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence. Common conjunctions include "and," "but," "or," "if," "because," and "although." For example, "I like tea, but she prefers coffee."
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Subordinating Conjunctions: These conjunctions introduce subordinate (dependent) clauses that cannot stand alone as complete sentences. They include words like "although," "because," "while," "if," and "since." For example, "Because it's raining, we will stay indoors."
Relative Pronouns: Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses that provide additional information about a noun in the main clause. Common relative pronouns include "who," "whom," "whose," "which," and "that." For example, "The person who called is my friend."
Interjections: Interjections are words or phrases used to express strong emotions or reactions. They are often used independently and do not have a direct grammatical relationship with other words in a sentence. Examples include "Wow!" "Oh!" "Oops!" and "Hooray!"
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Determiners: Determiners are a subclass of function words that provide additional information about nouns. They include words like "my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," and "their." For example, "This is my car."
Auxiliary Verbs (Modal Verbs): Auxiliary verbs, including modal verbs, help to form verb tenses, moods, and aspects. Common auxiliary verbs include "be" (e.g., "is," "am," "are"), "have" (e.g., "has," "have"), and modal verbs like "can," "will," "must," "should," and "might." For example, "She has finished her homework."
Prepositions: Prepositions establish relationships between nouns or pronouns and other elements in a sentence. They indicate location, direction, time, and more. Examples of prepositions include "in," "on," "under," "with," "at," and "between." For example, "The book is on the table."