Reduction of grammatical oppositions.

During the 20^th century the theory of oppositions was developed by Bloch, etc. He laid down the subtheory of the whole theory and named it “ Reduction of grammatical oppositions”.

Reduction is usage of 1 of the members of the opposition instead of the other, when the opposition looses its distinctive force. (no difference between the members) Reduction can be of 2 kinds:

1) Neutralization of grammatical opposition

2) Transposition of grammatical opposition

Neutralization is such kind of reduction that takes place under some circumstances and only with some language units. Neutralization coincides with such language facts that are traditionally called “exceptions”. For English nouns the category of Number exists practically only for countable nouns. For abstract and mass (вещественые) nouns it is reduced. The same happens in clauses of time and condition, where the difference between Present and Future disappears and the category of Tense is reduced.

Transposition is such reduction when 1 member is substituted by the other with some additional meaning. In this case the strong member can replace the weak one and it is called “ descending opposition ”. E.g. the plural of majesty in speech of royal persons is ruled by create a special stylistic effect. The plural of great volume of smth: snows, rains = a great amount of smth.

Ascending opposition: weak member replaces the strong one

Many a man

Many a day

Reduction of grammatical oppositions contributes to the expressive means of language and very often unusual arrangement of grammatical forms gives wider opportunities to convey some desirable meaning.

 

2. GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN: ISOMORPHIC AND ALLOMORPHIC FEATURES IN THE MORPHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS OF RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH (CASES OF COINCIDENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN THE NOMENCLATURE OF CATEGORIES). TENDENCIES IN THE FORMA] ARRANGEMENT OF CATEGORICAL MEANINGS. SYNTHETIC AND ANALITICAL FORMS IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH

 

Isomorphism (term) was introduced by the Polish linguist Kurilovich. He borrowed this term from mathematics. It means similarity or even identity. It’s possible to speak of isomorphism of some elements or even microsystems of some languages and these similarities are mostly single out in the form.

Engl will\shall read Rus буду читать = isomorphism

Engl will\shall read Rus прочитаю = allomorphism

Each language includes elements of both types and their comparison is always the initial step of typological comparison.

Typology of the Morphological Systems of R and E: Typology of parts of speech

Division into parts of speech is a universal feature of all lang, but in some lang parts of speech are differentiated morphologically, but in some other they are not. In this respect Engl as any analytical language has more cases of coincidence of different parts of speech. In Rus. they differ formally. As to the nomenclature of parts of speech Engl and Rus have more isomorphic features. They have: noun, adj, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb, prepositions, conjunctions, particle, interjection. But Rus lacks article and verb link. Parts of speech classification also deals with the paradigm of the word. Paradigms of the same word differ.

The Rus noun has 6 cases, 2 numbers, 3 genders and Engl -2 cases, 2 numbers, no gender, but definiteness\indefiniteness instead.

Rus adj has degrees of comparison, agree with the noun in gender, number and case. Engl adj do not agree with the noun.

Verbs have similar categories: aspect, tense, voice, person, number, mood. In addition Engl verbs have the category of time correlation. But the Rus verbs-the category of gender.

Case denotes relations between the object and some other objects or actions or qualities. This category is expressed by the caseform flections. In most languages the use of case forms depends on the system of prepositions of this language. If there are a lot of prepositions then the case paradigm is not very wide. If there are a lot of cases, then there are not many prepositions.

In Rus case has 6 forms with corresponding inflexions = Rus is synthetic. In Engl the case paradigm is minimal - 2 forms (Common and Possessive) all the other cases are expressed in Engl by different prepositions and word order.

Number expresses the relations of quality. Most modern languages have 2 forms of numbers (Sg, Pl) In Engl singularity is always expressed by zero flection. And in Rus there are a lot of endings expressing singularity. For plurality there are also many flexions in Rus. There’s a limited number of words, expressing plurality through inner flexions (foot-feet) in Engl. In both languages there exists a group of nouns in which only a seme of plurality is expressed. (Pluralia Tantum) Some words coincide in Engl and in Rus(ножницы – scissors, джинсы, очки) In Engl there are also words that have only 1 meaning of Sg, though the form is plural (казарма = barracks, headquarters). In Rus agreement in number is important not only for nouns, but also for adj, prn, participles, ordinal numerals, verbs. In Engl only nouns have a systematic expression of number. In other parts of speech number distinctions are shown very seldom.

Gender also reveals itself in formal agreement of co-dependent words. Rus number is of formal character. Gender is expressed through the flections and all parts of speech that depend upon the noun agree with it. In Russian gender is very strong thus even borrowed words should also join this or that gender. (лото, кино) In Engl gender was present in old Engl but the loss of flexions resulted in the destruction of gender paradigm. However, there are some lexical and derivative means to emphasize gender (actor-actress, he-goat, sports(wo)man etc.)

The category of definiteness \ indefiniteness exists in most languages as an overt categoty (открытая). Most languages have 2 explicit articles ad 1 implicit. English articles are polysemantic (the=many meanings) In Rus there are no definite means of denoting def\indef and it’s possible to speak about a сovert category (скрытая) In Rus this is expressed lexically

1. a particle –то--- а фильм-то интересный
2. demonstrative pronoun этот тот
3. indefinite pronoun (какой-то некий)
4. the numeral один

and syntactically (inversion (около стены стояла девочка-девочка стояла около стены)

These means compensate for the lack of article.

Degree of quality is expressed through adjectives. In Rus adj are divided into 3 groups

• Qualitative (denote the quality)
• Relative (denote different types of relations – каменный московский весенний)
• Possessive (relations of the object to a person –сестрин, брата))

In Engl only 1 group of those is mentioned-qualitative one.

As for relative there are a few adjectives that have explicit markers (gold en, analytic al, north ern) In Rus adj are characterized by the existence of 2 forms: full and reduced. (широкая улица-улица широка: different syntactic functions) In Engl there is no such subdivision. Adj have 2 potential components of meaning: comparativity and non-comparativity. The 1^st seme is typical of qualitative adj in both lang. but it’s expressed differently.

Russian:

Comparative: (ее, ей, ше) +(более)

Superlative: (самый)

English:

Comparative: (er) +(more)

Superlative: (est)+(the most)

Aspect is closely connected and is expressed by some morphological means, but in each language aspect has specific shade of meaning. The most general meaning-the way some action is described. To aspective meanings we refer the following: iteration (повторяемость), continuity, completeness, incompleteness, etc. in Engl the primary meaning is continuity vs. factuality. In rus it is completeness vs. incompleteness. Rus aspect consists of 2 opposemes: perfective and imperfective. The perfective aspect denotes logical completeness or limit of the action. In Rus there are also related pairs of verbs with the same lexical meaning which differ only in aspect. Носил-нёс давать –дать In modern Engl aspect includes only 2 forms: indefinite and continuous. In addition to this there are also some lexical means that denote different shades of the aspect. To smoke-to have a smoke

Tense In old Rus there were 7 forms of tenses, but now there are 3. In old Engl there were 2 (present and past) Now there is a system of 3 tenses.

Voice the category exists in most European lang-s but the types of voice are different. Active and passive are most common. In Rus there are 3 voices (active passive reflective) Active and passive in Engl and Rus are similar, but reflective Is different. In rus this word comprises 3 meanings:

• reflective proper meaning(coincides with the Engl reflective. Subject coincides with the object-он умывается)
• reciprocal meaning (2 or more subjects are objects at the same time-они встречаются)
• generalized reflective meaning (the action is not directed to any object- он обрадовался)

Mood is expressed on all levels of lang. most forms in Rus and Engl coincide. The primary division of mood forms coincides. We have an opposition of reality (indicative mood) and irreality (oblique). In Rus there is only 1 oblique mood (сослагательное)-denotes some unreal action that is probable or desirable. It’s expressed analytically (verb + бы). In rus there is only 1 way to express the meaning of condition. Приди он сейчас….. In Engl there are 4 forms

1. Subjunctive 1 (means uncertainty with the shade of desirability Long live the king)
2. Subjunctive 2 (means irreality. If I were…): different forms of infinitive to express time
3. Suppositional (supposition. Expressed through analytical form – should + inf.)
4. Conditional (condition. Would + inf. Analytical form)

In both languages there is Imperative mood. (expresses will or desire)

In Rus: 3

• 1^st prs – expressed synthetically (почитаем пойдём) and analytically (будем читать, давай пойдём)
• 2^nd prs.- expressed synthetically (пиши пишите)
• 3^rd prs. –analytically (пусть он придёт)

In Engl.:

• 1^st prs. Let’s do smth (analytically)
• 2^nd prs. Write! Read!
• 3^rd prs. Let her do.

All these forms have the same meaning of inducement. But in Rus Imperative can be used in a meaning of condition (работай он на заводе…)

Person. There are 3 persons.

1^st-subject of speech

2^nd-the addressee of speech

3^rd-a non-participant of speech

In Rus the verbs take certain flections depending on the person of the subject. In Engl there is only ‘s’ in 3rd pers Sg. there are also (have\has, do/does) and (am\is\are)