Language and Speech

Theory of Grammar
 Hometask (1)
Grammatical Grammatical meaning Grammatical form
category
Number Its meaning reflects the Singular – plural
(noun) existence of individual objects 0 - -s,
and groups of objects in the -es, en,
material world inner flexion
Gender It reflects the sex of an object Male – female – neutral
(noun) 0 (he) - -ess (she) – 0 (it)
Case It reflects the relations of the Common – genitive – (4
(noun) substances the noun name to cases)
other substances, actions, (0) – (‘s, of) – (disputable)
state, etc. in the world of
reality
Tense It shows the time of the action Present – Past – (Future)
(-s, 0) – (-ed) – (will/shall
+ verb)
Practical Grammar 2
 Hometask (2)
Grammatical Grammatical meaning
category
Time- It shows if the action is viewed
correlation as prior to, or irrespective of
other actions or situations
Aspect It shows if the action is taken in
its progress, or it is simply
stated, its nature being
unspecified
Voice It shows if the action is
represented as issuing from its
subject or as experienced by its
object
Mood It reflects the relations of the
action denoted by the verb to
reality from the speaker’s point
of view
Grammatical form
Non-perfect – perfect
(0) – (have + verb + ed)
Non-continuous –
Continuous
(0) – (to be + verb + ing)
Active – passive –
(middle)
(0) – (to be + verb + ed) -
Indicative – Imperative –
Subjunctive
(0) – bare inf – would, etc
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 Hometask (3)
Grammatical Grammatical meaning
category
Person It presents an action as
(verb) associated by the speaking
person with himself or persons (0) – (0) – (verb + s, -es)
addressed or others
Number It shows if the action is
(verb) associated with one doer or
with many
Degrees of It shows if the adjective
comparison denotes the property of some
substance absolutely or
relatively as a higher or the
highest amount of the property
in comparison with that of
some other substances
Grammatical form
1 person – 2 person – 3
person
Singular – plural
(verb + (e)s) 3 person
present – (0)
Positive – Comparative –
Superlative
(0) – (-er, more) – (-est,
the most)
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Language vs. Speech (1)

Language?
Speech?

Practical Grammar 5
 Language vs. Speech (2)

Language – a system of means of

expression
Speech – the manifestation of the
system of language in the process
of intercourse

Practical Grammar 6
 Language vs. Speech (3)
Language = material units (sounds,
morphemes, words, word-groups)
+ “rules” of the use of these units
Speech = the act of producing
utterances + the utterances
themselves (the text)
Practical Grammar 7
 Language in Linguistics
Language = the system of signs
(language proper) + the use of
signs (speech proper)

UNITY

Practical Grammar 8
 The Sign

The sign = meaningful unit /

with a potential meaning /
actualized* in speech

*made situationally significant as part of the

grammatically organized text

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 Lingual Units Relations

Syntagmatic – intermediate linear

relations between units in a
segmental sequence (string) (in
praesentia)
Paradigmatic – relations between
elements of the system outside the
strings where they co-occur (in
absentia)
Practical Grammar 10
 Syntagmatic Relation (1)
The spaceship was launched without the help of a
booster rocket:
• "the spaceship“
• "was launched“
• "the spaceship was launched“
• "was launched without the help“
• "the help of a rocket“
• "a booster rocket“
Morphemes: space/ship; launch/ed; with/out; boost/er
Phonemes within morphemes and words

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 Syntagmatic Relation (2)
The combination of two words or word-groups
one of which is modified by the other = a
syntactic "syntagma“:
• predicative (a subject + a predicate)
• objective (a verb + its object)
• attributive (a noun + its attribute)
• adverbial (a modified notional word, such as
a verb, adjective, or adverb, + its adverbial
modifier)
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 Paradigmatic Relations
• cannot be directly observed in
utterances (= in absence)
• based on the fact that each lingual unit
is included in a set or series of
connections based on different formal
and functional properties (vocabulary –
synonymy, antonymy, topical connections, word-
building dependancies)

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 Grammatical Paradigms
• present a productive series of forms each
consisting of a syntagmatic connection of two
elements: one common for the whole of the series
(stem), the other specific for every individual
form in the series (inflexion, suffix, auxiliary
word)
• express various grammatical categories
• consist of two form-stages minimum, e.g. boy -
boys

Practical Grammar 14
 Paradigm Types
• Lexical – antonyms, synonyms
• Morphological – grammatical forms
(case, number, etc.), e.g. cat – cats –
cat’s – cats’
• Derivative – groups of derivatives, e.g.
nature – natural – unnatural
• Syntactic, e.g. will meet, want to meet,
may meet, etc.
Practical Grammar 15
 Group Task
Find all syntagmatic relations and determine the
paradigmatic ones:
1. Marcellus found the luggage packed and strapped
for the journey.
2. She sat back with a sigh and softly rubbed her
knees.
3. The first bar of gold raised hopes sky high.
4. The young schoolteacher's spirits rose to a decided
height.
5. The first day's journey from Gaza to Ascalon was
intolerably tedious. 16
 Units of Language

Segmental – phonemes,
syllables, etc.
Suprasegmental – intonation,
accents, pauses, patterns of
word-order

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 Language Hierachy
Level Units
Phonemic Phonemes
Morphemic Morphemes
Lexemic Words
Signemes
Phrasemic Phrases (word-groups)
(a sign has a
Proposemic meaning) Sentences
Supra- A textual unity of separate
proposemic sentences

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