Different approaches to the number and kinds of aspects
The noun. The Category of Case.
The definition of the category. Different views on the number of cases (the theory of positional cases, the theory of prepositional cases, the theory of limited number of cases, the theory of no cases). The -'S sign. Meanings conveyed by it. Subjective possessive, objective possessive, absolute possessive, group possessive, etc.
Case is the morphological category of the noun manifested in the forms of noun declensions & showing their relations of the nounal referent to other objects & phenomena.
There are several theories.
1) The theory of positional cases (Mansfield, Deutschbein).
They follow the pac of classical grammar & distinguish nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative.
Since there are no special marks to distinguish them in Eng the cases are differentiated by the functional position of the noun in the sentence.
E.g. nominative case corresponds with the subject, accusative – direct object, dative – indirect object, vocative – address.
2) The theory of prepositional cases (Curme).
They treat the combinations of nouns with different prepositions as analytical forms of the case.
Nominative – no prep.
Dative – to, for.
Genitive – of.
Instrumental – with, by.
Accusative – no prep.
They see the system of cases in Eng as comprising the regular inflectional case. They also comprise some elements of positional theory.
3) The theory of limited number of cases. (Henry Sweet, Otto Jesperson)
This theory is based on the oppositional presentation of the category. The category of case is expressed by the opposition of 2 forms – the genitive (the strong member of the opposition marked by the ‘s) & the common case (the weak unmarked member of the opposition).
The category of cases is realized in full in animate nouns & restrictedly in inanimate nouns.
4) The theory of no cases (Vorontzova, Muhin).
Acc to this theory the category of case don’t exist in modern Eng.
The main arguments are the following:
1. the postpositional element ‘s is not used only with nouns but also with the units larger than a single word, i.e. word-combinations & even sentences.
E.g. His doctor Mary’s arrival.
2. it may be used with no noun t all but with the pronoun.
E.g. Somebody else’s car.
3. the same meaning of possession is rendered in Eng by prepositional of-phrases.
E.g. the chairman’s decision – the decision of the chairman.
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Noun + ‘s is not a case form but a purely syntactical construction & there is no longer the morphological cat of case in Eng.
One of the additional argument is the following – the general case of noun in the plural is undistinguishable by ear from its possessive case form & it is homonymous to its ‘s.
E.g. boy – boys – boy’s
Semantic types of possessive case
The possessive case of the noun is a rather polysemantic phenomenon. Within the general semantics of possessiveness the following subtypes of the case can be distinguished.
1) the Genitive of possessor: Tom’s toy.
2) the Genitive of the whole: Tom’s hand.
3) the Genitive of agent: Tom’s actions.
4) the Genitive of patient: the hostage’s release.
5) the Genitive of destination: women’s underwear.
6) the Genitive of qualification: a girl’s voice.
7) the Genitive of comparison: a cock’s self-confidence.
8) the Adverbial Genitive: yesterday’s talks.
9) the Genitive of quantity: a three mile’s distance from here.
As a separate type of genitive the so-called absolute genitive is distinguished when noun in the genitive case is used independently not …
E.g. at the baker’s, at the dentist’s.
These are the cases of lexicalized ellipsis in word-combinations: at the baker’s shop, at the dentist’s place.
Group possessive: Mary & John’s house, three mile’s distance.
The Verb. The Category of Aspect.
The definition of the category. Different approaches to the number and kinds of aspects. Aspect and themanner of action. (Aktionsart). The problem of differentiating between grammatical and semantic categories. Aspect and the aspective character of the verb. The problem of differentiating between grammatical and lexico-grammatical categories. The essence of the category of aspect. The number of aspects in English. The problem of the perfect forms in English (different approaches).
The general meaning of the category of aspect is …
Aspect is closely connected with time semantics showing the distribution of the action in time. Aspect can be expressed both by lexical & grammatical means. It is the feature in which it differs from Russian where there 2 aspect – делать – сделать.
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In Eng the aspective semantics may be rendered as g ….
The aspectual meanings … go (unlim) – come (limitive).
But in Eng verbs easily migrate from one subclass into another: He went out.
Different approaches to the number and kinds of aspects
1) The aspective meaning may be realized through the paradigmatic oppositions of continuous & non-continuous forms, where continuous is marked & strong member of the opposition.
The grammatical meaning has been treated traditionally as denoting a process going simultaneously with another process, i.e. expressing temporal relations. And this temporal interpretation of the continuous form was treated by Jespersen.
2) Ivanova treated the continuous as rendering a blend of temporal & aspective semantics as denoting an action in progress simultaneous with another action or time point.
3) The majority of layers today is … The meaning of continuous is purely aspective, i.e. action in progress.
The weak member of the opposition is Indefinite & the strong member is Continuous.
Continuous
Temporal Aspective
(simultaneous action) Ivanova (action in progress)
The Perfect form
Some linguists (Smirnitsky) put forward the idea that the Perfect form is a special category and they suggested a name for it – the category of time correlation.
However other linguists consider the opposition Perfect – non-Perfect as the aspective category & they called it the category of retrospective coordination.
The strong member of the opposition is the Perfect form & the weak – non-Perfect form.
Aspect
Non-grammatical Grammatical
limitive & unlimitive continuous & non-continuous (=common)
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Perfect & non-perfect
The traditional treatment – the Perfect is treated as the tense form (Sweet, Curme, Deutschbein, Vorontsova).
Another treatment – Ivanova treats this category as expressing both temporal & aspective meanings.
Smirnitsky – he put the idea that the Perfect form expresses purely aspective meanings – the category of time correlation.
3. The Verb. The Category of Voice.
The definition of the category. The correlation between the units of the syntactic and semantic levels of language. Transitivity/intransitivity of verbs and voice. Meanings rendered by the passive form in English. The active and passive forms compared. The compound nominal predicate and the passive voice. Actualizers of the passive meaning.
The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards their participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic structure of a sentence.
The opposition – the Passive voice (strong and marked member) & the Active voice (the weak & unmarked member).
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Besides Passive and Active voice construction there are 3 medial voice – reflexive (the action is done by the subject & action is done over the subject E.g. He dressed himself quickly), reciprocal (взаимный) and middle.
In reciprocal constructions the subject received …
E.g. They kissed each other.
Middle voice – The book sells good. = The book is sold good.
The first thing to do. = The first thing to be done.
The problem of differentiation btw Passive voice & the compound nominal predicate.
She is upset. They are tired.
to be + Part II
If there is an indication to the doer of the action it is Passive.
E.g. They are tired by the sun.
Do what she wants or she’ll be upset.
The door is closed. (Comp. nom. pred.) – The door was closed by a loud bang (Passive). – pseudo-Passive or semi-Passive constructions.
Переходные и непереходные глаголы в Passive voice.
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