Grammatical categories. Method of opposition (A.I. Smirnitsky).

Grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms. Traditional categories are: the category of gender, number, person, case, tense, mood, voice.

The set of grammatical forms constitutes a paradigm. The paradigmatic relations of grammatical forms in a category are exposed in the so-called grammatical opposition. In other words, grammatical category is some total of all the oppositions of words.

E.g. the category of number. The opposition of 2 forms: pen – pens (z). The correlated members of the opposition must possess 2 types of features: common features (the basis of the contrast) and differential features (immediately express the function in question): pen (weak memeber) – pens (strong member).

Oppositions can be classified into qualitative types:

- privative: one member has a certain distinctive feature; this member is called marked, or strong ( + ); the other member is characterized by the absence of this distinctive feature. This member is called unmarked, or weak (-): (study (-) - studied (+),

- gradual: members of the opposition differ by the degree of certain property: (large - larger - largest),

- equipollent: Both members of the opposition are marked (am⁺ - is⁺ - are⁺),

Most grammatical oppositions are privative. The marked (strong) member has a narrow and definite meaning. The unmarked (weak) member has a wide, general meaning.

In certain contexts the difference between members of the opposition is lost, the opposition is reduced to one member. Usually the weak member acquires the meaning of the strong member: We leave for Moscow tomorrow. This kind of oppositional reduction is called neutralization. The strong member may be used in the context typical for the weak member. This use is stylistically marked: He is always complaining. This kind of reduction is called transposition.

By the number of opposemes - into binary, ternary, quaternary, etc.

Types of categories:

- notional (of quantity, agent);

- semantic (of gender, modality);

- morphological (number and case of nouns; degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs; tense, voice, aspect, correlation, mood of verbs);

- syntactical (of predicativity, of agent).

Grammatical categories may be influenced by the lexical meaning. Such categories as number, case, voice strongly depend on the lexical meaning. They are proper to certain subclasses of words.

As grammatical categories reflect relations existing in objective reality, different languages may have the same categories. But the system and character of grammatical categories are determined by the grammatical structure of a given language.

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<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Structure of words. Grammatically relevant types of morphemes.	\|	Parts of speech as lexico-grammatical classes of words. 3 principles of classifying words into parts of speech.

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