Topic 1

Topic 1

Vowels and consonants

Vowels and cons.are the 2 major types of sounds. There are 2 views on them-a phonetic and phonological view. According to the phonetic view vowels are sounds in which there is no obstrucuion to the flow of air from the lungs to the mouth; consonants are sounds in the production of which it is difficult or impossible for the air to pass b/c there is an obstacle on its way through the vocal tract. The phonological view is based not on the way they are produced but on the position they occur.Vowels typically function as central elements in syllables while consonants are marginal.

For every vowel its important to determine lip position spead lips, neutral, rounded lips. Vowels in Engl. Differ in length( bid-bead/I/-/i:/). The length difference is accompanied by diff. In quality which is of primary importance and is indicated by the different shape of I and i: . Another possible way is by /i/and/ i:/ different vowel quantity. Both the qualitative and quantitative difference in words like bid and bead are important and should be shown in the transcription. In BG we do not have long or short vowels . Long or short vowel classification is more important in BBC English , in GA-tense /lax vowel classification with the tense v. the muscles of the tongue and lips are more tightened for lax v.- relaxed v. In BBC we can separate 20 diff. Vowel phonemes which can be divided into 12 monophtongs and diphtongs. The monophtongs can be further subdivided into 7 short and 5 long v. In BG we have 6 distinctive vowels in stressed position. BG vowels are a little longer tham the EG short ones but shorter than the long. We have no diphtongs but something like them./vowel+ a/ but these are not phonemes. In phonetic terms th BG vowels on the horizontal axis- front and back; on the vertical close, mid-open, for example : bulgarskoto a is much frontier than the EG back vowel a, so we better transcribe it like bulgarskoto a. Low and mid-vowlel in BG are often reduced in an unstressd position which is called reduction.

The frontest and closest of EG vowels is the long i: ( the front of the tongue is raised , tense and the lips are spread; /I:/ can appear everywhere. Its often very noticeable as a glide from a more central and mid position (esp. in a final position- see /Ii/ diphtongization; i : in front of fortis voiceless consonants ( bead- beat/ i:/).With /I/ the lips are spread , the tongue is relaxed . Its found very often in unstressed syllables. It can alternate with // which is a tendency to become a norm. positive /pztv/. With e the tongue is involved , the lpis are loosely spread, a short vowel. BG e is very close to the EG in terms of quality. With the front of the tongue is raised just above the bottom position. In EG no word can have a syllable ending in short vowel e, ,,,I, - when stressed must be followed by a consonant. EG has 4 distinct front vowels in BG 2 and thats why we have problems pronouncing some of the EG vowels. The dots are the centre of a space in which quality can vary. With u: (food, good) the tongue is tense, the lips are moderately rounded. The relalation b/n /u:/ and / / is similar to the one b/n : /i:/ and /I/; (u)is typical for a final position (shoe); can be in both stressed and unstressed position but not in syllable initial position or in front the velar of the nasal //; /:/ (short, sport) isnt fully back but with medium lip rounding . Compared with //it has much more rounding of lips. The most open vowel of EG is /a:/ (part) . Its the least susceptible to duration changes in front of fortis voiceless consonant. When / /is final its either half open or fully open. In non final position its between half close and half open. In EG the whole of the vowel space has to be divided into two regions while in BG only six-very much articulatory precision is needed. See handout 1, p.3

The way in which the air flow is obstructed is a type of classification of consonant-manner of articulation. The first basic manner of articulation is closure. There are 2 possibilities the soft palate raises and shuts the nasal cavity for example /p/ and /b/ at the beginning of a word or the soft palate does not shut up the nasal cavity. But the lips are closed. The BG /r/ the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge; very short vibrations (a sound called thrill). Tap/ flap closure isn not a series of brief closures but only one. Another way to obstruct the air flow is the narrowing . Two organs of speech approximate each other to such an extent that the air flow passing through the narrowing becomes turbulent- friction. Fricatives are nine distinctive consonants: /f/-/v/ are labio-dentals; thing-this ( //-//), the tongue makes a narrowing with the teeth (dental); /s/ and /z/ -alveolar; /j/ and // are post alveolar: the tip and the blade are involved (ship and rouge); /h/ is a a glottal fricative (hot). In BG we have the labio-dental , not dentals; /s/ and/z/ are alveo-dental, pronounced b/n dental and alveolar. Our /h/ is quite different, not articulated with the vocal folds out with the back of the tongue plus soft palate. BG /h/ is velar fricative. In BG there are 7 fricatives. Another difference is the force of articulation. In EG the fricatives are divided into strong ( fortis) and weak (lenis). Fortis are always voiceless / , f, , s/. With the lenis /, , z, / a smaller amount of muscular energy is involved. They tend to be voiced but in some positions they may become partially or fully devoiced. In BG there is not such devision b/n fortis and lenis. The EG /h/ cant be compared with another consonant b/c it does not pair with any other sound but it is voiceless.

/V/ is partially devoiced b/c it takes some time for the folds to start vibrating; /z/ is partially devoiced b/c of the expectation of the pause after it; only // is fully voiced. In BG in final position only voiceless consonants occur. The EG fortis consonants influence the duration of the preceding sound (live, life) . The fortis voiceless fricatives tend to shorten a preceding sound (rise/raiz/- rice/rais/).

EG has two affricates, both of which are post-alveolars. They are produced with the same organs of speech homorganic sounds: /t/ tends to shorten the preceding vowel; /d/ tend to be devoiced in final position. In plosives , fricatives, affricates, we need a certain destruction for the sound to be articulated. The 3rd form for a group called obstruents.In terms of place of artucaltion plosives can be divided into bilabial /p,b / alveolar /t, d/, velar /h,g/; p, t, and k are always voiceless, no vocal fold vibration; b,d, and g are fully voiced when they occur b/n vowels in initial and final position before a pause a part of b,d,g tend to be devoiced.

Resonants/ sonorants comprise the nasals , the laterals, the approximants. In BG we have 2 more fricatives- , . In some older books tr.and dr are included in the group of EG fricatives.

In the articulation of nasals, theres not obstruction acoustically, perceptually there are very much like vowels but functionally they belong to the consonants. Nasals resemble plosives in terms of the full obstruction. Theyre produced with vocal fold-vibration. The nasals comprise distinctive sounds in RP-m,n, ( only occurs after a vowel). In some parts of England ( midlands ) always a gork sound after /sig/. In these accents // isnt considered a separate nasal. In BG phonemically we distinguish only /m/ and /n/(Anka, Angel)- virtually the same as //. So in BG // is an allophone of /n/, not a separate phoneme;- ing /In/ playin- it is thought that people at the bottom of society would avoid using // while those at the top would use it regularly.

In certain positions /m/,/n/ can be syllabic without an accompanying vowel-e.g. rhythm /rIm/, button /btn/. In BG we dont have syllabic consonants. In EG therere words such as bank /bk/-/k/ is always pronounced but if /n/ is followed by a /g/ its not always pronounced. Sing /si/, singer /si/ route + suffix; singing /sii/ route +suffix; finger /fig/ route.If the -ng is a final morpheme then the /g/ is not pronounced but if ng is in the middle of a morpheme, /g/ is pronounced. But long /l/, longer /lg/. When you add er/-est they are morpheme final but the /g/ is pronounced. The lateral /l/ has 2 major allophones-clear /l/ and dark/l/. The clear /l/ always occurs in front of vowels. The dark /l/ -in final postion or before a consonant (self). Clear l -/l/,dark l- . The devoiced /l / occurs after voiceless consonants, for ex. play/plei/. Approximants resemble vowels to a large extent, no obstruction is needed for articulating them. In the past they were called semi-vowels yet /jet/, wet /wet/. They function like other consonants-occur marginally and they are not capable of making syllables. With /w/ the lips are rounded- its bilabial and velar; /j/ is palatal approximant-the tip moves towards the hard palate. In BG there is only one such sound- //. In GA we have retroflex /r/ -rhotic accent. In BG /r/ is not different. It is not an approximant but a trill.

Topic 2

Principles of EG spelling

Transcription is a useful tool in the description of speech sounds. Its a method of writing down speech sounds in systematic and consistant way. The name means re-write/Latin/. It represents sounds visually by symbols. The International Phonetic Alphabet stands for the body of linguists and it was put forward by the International Phonetic Association. There are different of transcription. The most import. division depends on whether the motivation is primarilly phonological or phonetic. Phnologically motivated way of transcription includes the so- called phonemic and allophonic transcription. With the phonemic the attention is focused on the system of phonemic contrast on the accents transcribed. The choice of symbols is limited for one symbol per distinctive sound. A phonemic symbol can consist of one character /^ / and //. A symbol may also consist of a diagraph - /t/ ( 2 written characters). The same symbol is used to represent the given phoneme in all environments it occurs. In the case of all allophonic transcription the focus is on the different realization of the phoneme in different environments. Example p,t and k (aspirated). In phonemic transcription the focus is on the distinctice character of the p, i, n. /pIn/, in the allophonic /p/ is realized as aspirated and its there where the focus is / pIn/. They both constitute generalizations of given accents and can be regarded as types of systematic transcriptions of speech. The phonetically motivated transcription pays no attention to the phonological value of the sound transcribed- not systematic. They are called impressionistic transcriptions and try to register as much detail as we can detact impressionistically. With the phonemic transcription little attention is being payed to the subtlities of pronunciation. It is important to identify in the broader terms the distinctive sounds (not interested how /p/ or /i/ is pronounced but it is impotrant to identify the number of the sounds)-broad transcription. Allophonic and general phonetic transcription try to show more or less narrowly how sounds are articulated in the flow of speech, for example titles phonemically /tItlz/, phonetic ttz}- /t/dark fully voiced, // dark devoiced, // aspiration and affixation. Narrow transcription is typically used in pathological speech and in the early stages of phonological investigation (ex. new language). We also have qualitative and quantitative transcription bit is different from beat (/I/ qualitative /i/; /i/ quantitative /i:/). Sometimes we have diactrics (on the top of the Roman letters-small added marks t).

Another distinction is with the names. There is intralingual transcription. It is used for scientific research in dictionaries. It is common for a particular language. The interlingual transcription is when :ex.-the EG name has to be rendered into another one. There are 3 ways of rendering EG names: translation-ex. Great Britain Velikobritania; transliteration graphemes from one languade with the respective graphemes of another one /-sh (Engl), ch (France)/. The same sound can be rendered for one or more graphemes /A, a, -allographs of the same grapheme/.The guiding principle with transcription is that the BG rendition should reflect as closely as possible the pronunciation of the name in EG. The source language is EG and the receptor/target language BG. The phonetic criteria are not sufficient. The model consists of several components . It comrises morephological, lexical and phonetical subcomponent which make the liguistic component. There is also the sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic component.

As transcription is the guiding principle for BG reandition of EG names we have to carry out contrastive analysis of the 2 languages. We should look for phonetic similarity that is established by working with the phonetic subcomponent. We should try to establish the number of phonological oppositions and try to decide which oppositions in EG can be preserved in BG. The pronunciation and spelling norms should be observed. Sound combinations which sound and look unnatural in BG should be avoided. If there is an alternation it is better to go for it. Whenever there is hesitation b/n 2 or more variants of a name in BG , the variant facilitating back-transcription should be preferred which is called the principle of easy retrieavl (for ex: Cambell- Kembul- this transcription will lead us to the wrong name in EG Kemble). Therefore we should use the alternative which will lead to the right name in EG. We should never forget tradition or the established public usage. The principle of simplicity and economy when there are several alternatives, choose the most simple and economical one.

/e/-e;Ellis-bg: Elis

/I/-u; Jim bg: Djim

//-o; fox-bg: foks

//-y; cook-bg:kuk

//-a, e, ; Jack-bg:Djak/Djek

Most common in proper names , the model , however, suggests to render //as /a/ in BG in order to distinguish it from /e/; /^ / as // - for ex. Dublin- //-the model recommends it; butter a/; pick up truck-bg:pikap.We have the long vowel /i:/ -u/u only in syllable final position in BG. It is widely accepted in the construction consonants + /u/ +consonants though it is not to be met in BG /for ex. Beach-buch/; Pete Pit- ut; it (u-between consonants). Such a rendition is not to be found in polysylabic names (Greenburg-bg:Grinbarg). In short monosylabic words we use /u/ and in longer words for simlicity and economy we use only the /u/.However, we have renditions such as bg:Wolstrut, Springfuld-here the second component is morphologically transparent and monosyllabic so the traditions render the preservation of /u/.

/u:/-y. Some forms with /yy/ are rarely to be met b/c of psycholinguistic reasons-in BG this embarrasses the reader and seems to be considered unpleasant; /a:/- bg:Armstrong-eg:Armstrong; /:/- o Broadway-bg:Broduei. /oy/ is not to be recommended. Lawrence is wrongly rendered as bg;Loyrens; /aI/-a Times-bg:Tams; /eI/-/e/ Jane bg:Djen. (cake-bg:keks)-there is some established usage in words like Trainity, Shakespeare, cake in which the rendition in BG is with /e/. But those are exceptions./ I/ -o Joyce-bg:Djos /a/-ay (established usage) Downing street; //-one of the most problematic EG diphtongs-/oy/. GA //consistency is difficult to be achieved. In BG /o/ and /y/ are separated by a syllabic and morphological boundaries-eg: bg:poyka. But the combination /y/ does not occur in BG at all. The recommendation is in favour of the combination /oy/. Longer names are rendered only with an // -Associated Press-bg:Acoshieitid prec- that is the established usage because of simplicity and economy; /I/ -such combinations are not to be met in BG. But we have words like bg: piaand peia which are close to this diphtong. Therefore the model recommends the rendition of this diphtong as /u/; /e / -/e/-the same as /I /in terms of rendition; / / in shorter names the model recommends the usage of /y/. In larger names we use only /y/ for example: insurance-bg:inshuruns. In the case of the consonants whenever there is a sound which does not occur in the receptor language this sound is replaced by accoustically similar one. //-// -m,g Smith-bg:Cmit /Heather-bg:Xedur; /r/ is different from BG in terms of position and occurrence. The principle is to keep the /r/ where we have it in the spelling of the original name-Charles-bg:Charlz; //-corresponds to the combination ng in the spelling. So the recommendation is to render it as and . In BG we have respectively bg: Bukingam, Kipling; / d/-consistently rendered as //; /t/-/ bg:Tatcher; but simplicity and economy will tell us that this is not the preferable rendition; /ts/- / ,/ bg:Fitsdzjerald, Trifits (word finally); /t/ -/, / An, Aun- morphologically transparent name;-er- unstressed suffix-in proper names its usually rendered as p while in common nouns its rendered as ep Miller, bg Milur/ Leader, bg lidur /Mixer, bg mikser.

Very often names containing generic geograpgical terms such as beach and bridge can be translated-sunny beach- sluncgev brjag. The lexical component is also activated when a given name in the source language aquires a funny connotation in the receptor language- Gus, Lina- bg Gs Lina; some sounds have the same correspondence: e-e; a- - galata; o-o- oryahova.

The Yodised letters are rendered in this way: j,- , , ,( Yordan, Ljuba, Jana). The rendation of some consonants is : zh-, dzh- , f-, ts- , x-kc /Alexander, Max, derived forms from BG have /ks/- Maksimov; ch- / Chelopech/ bg Chelopech; sh- / Shishman, bg Shishman, sht- / Peshtera, bg Peshtera.

Topic 3

Prosodic Charactristics of English stress, rhythm and intonation

EG is said to be a stress language-every leixal word a stressed syllable.There are words where more than 1 syllable bears sress-1 of the stresses will be the main stress and the others subordinate stressed syllables. There are 3 degrees of stress primary, secondary and unstressed. The 2nd stress is weaker than the primary stress but stronger than that of an unstressed syllable. Stressed syllables characterise with absence of reduced vowels.

EG is a stress-timed lanugage-stresses occur at equal timing intervals. Stress isochrony (equality in time) is maintained by variation in the delivery rate of individual syllable. The segnment of an utterance are organized into syllable and syllable into feet. The foot is a stretch of utterance leg with a stressed syllable and including all the syllables following up to but including the next stressed syllable. Stressed syllables must be heavy while unstressed syllables may be light. Any stressed syllable must have a complex rhyme (this is a rhyme that contains at least 2 x-positions). A term that is connected with stress is ambi-syllabicity-the association of a consonant with 2 syllables at the same time. It has the effect of making stressed syllables heavy that would otherwise be light. There are no final-stressed words in EG that end in a light syllable. Nouns with final stress are rare in EG only some loan words. Verbs and adjectives with final stress are quite common. Some words have variable stress pattern which is possible where the first syllable already has some degree of stress. Also some words may shift their stress from the secondary-primary to the primary-secondary pattern in certain context for ex: EG hotelwhen said in isolation has final stress but it shifts its stress onto the first syllable when another strongly stressed syllable immediately follows it-/ho,tel management/. Stress can be shifted away from the final syllable only onto such syllable that already have some stress.There are a number of noun-verb pairs in EG that are distinguished by their stress patterns; the noun having non final and the corresponding verb final stress: /di,gest (n.)-digest (v.)/.There are words whose final syllable bears no stress despite the fact it may be heavy /discipline/. It is not compulsory for heavy syllables to be stressed but stressed syllables must be heavy. The penultimate (the last b/o the last syllable) syllable is stressed if it is heavy otherwise stress falls on the antipenultimate syllable. But eg.words such as appledont have antipenultimate syllable. Therefore stress must fall on the penultimate which is the last resort for the stress to go. There is second subclass where the penultimate syllable takes stress if it is heavy and the antipenultimate does if the penultimate is light-eg badmintonhas heavy penult. Syllable but the stress falls on the antipenultimate.

Syntax and morphology have influence on stress. Stress is only assigned in lexical words. Function words such as articles, preposition, pronoun do not bear stress. Verbs and nouns bear stress no different positions.

Morphemes consist of prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Suffixes may be divided into 2 classes: stress-shifting and stress-neutral . Stress-neutral suffix never makes any difference to the stress pattern of their base-of the word to which they are attached. Stress-neutral suffixes are always unstressed. The behaviour of strees shifting suffix is different. The stress pattern of their base may differ from that of the base word when it occurs without a suffix ( atom / atm/ - atomic / t mIk/). Also the stress-shifting suffix can bear the main stress of the word. Inflectional suffix is always stress-neutral, derevational-either stress-neutral or stress-shifting. Here the rule of Trisyllabic Laxing is applied a tense vowle becomes lax when it is followed by 2 syllables where the 1st syllable is not stressed (divine-divinity).

Stress is a relational property. Syllabicity is found when we have a segment that is more sonorous than another one. Syllables are grouped into feet, and the 1st syllable of each foot is stressed. In kangaroo there are 2 syllables but the 1st foot is subordinate to the 2nd. Here we need another level-the word level. When we have one element that is stronger than another we need different branches to show their relation. Unite consisting of more than 2 elements must then be broken up into binary structures, where a prominence relationship is defined among any two sister nodes. All these kinds of prominence phenomena in phonology is known as Metrical Phonology. Metrical structures are strictly hierarchial-no level in the hierarchy can be skipped. There are different rules-foot level and word level rules that depend on the level of metrical structure on which they operate. Foot-level rules determine what syllable bear stress while word-level rules provide the differentiation b/n primary and secondary stresses.

Stress falls on the final syllable in nouns when the vowel is tense + diphtong. If the final syllable is not long the stress falls on the penultimate if it is heavy-aroma, horizon. We cant have both the penultimate and the last syllable stressed-only if the penultimate s light (America) but it cant go further. In this case if the penultimate si light it becomes heavy through ambisyllabicity. There are also cyclic rules they broaden the domain of the cycle all the time-if one applies we stop there but if it does not apply we go to the next one. Stress in Eg is partially predictable. There are predictably phonological properties of words but the speaker does not learn them he just acquires the rules that predict them and then assigns these properties to the words or sounds occuring in his speech.

Intonation has important semantic functions and it is a crucial and very important part of the prosody of Eg. Intonation makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey and it has different functions. First of all, intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak. This is the attitudinal function of intonation and it adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language. Another function is the accentual one. It helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be precieved as stressed. As a whole the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone unit.Intonation helps the listener to recognise the grammer and syntactic structure of what is being said by things such as the placement ot boundaries, b/n phrases, sentences. This is the grammatical function. It also indicates the difference b/n questions and statements. The use of grmmatical subordination may be indicated. The last function of intonation is the discourse one. It signals to the listener what is to be taken as new information and what is already given. It can suggest when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with information in another tone unit and during converations it can conevy to the listener what kind of a response is expected.

One and the same sentence can be said in many different ways according to what we want to express. It is necessary for a foreign learner to learn EG intonation b/c in a given situation there is a risk that s/he may be misunderstood. Many times it is clear what the speaker wants to convey by the lexical meaning of the words in the sentence. For ex. in a sentence such as Why dont you leave me alone? there can be ambiguity while if we say She is going to buy it tomorrow. the attitude of the speaker is not so clear.

Another point that should be made here is that an emotion may be expressed involuntarily or voluntarily. For ex: I can say something in a happyway due to the fact that I feel happy or just b/c I want to convey to someone the expression that I am happy. When we want to express different attitudes towards something we use different voice qualities. We may use different pitch range-narrow/wide or different keys-high key, mid key ot low key. We also use different gestures ; facial expressions but these factors tend to be ignored.

Some components of intonation as pre-heads, heads, tonic syllables and tails, pauses, tone-unit boundaries are found as elements in sequence of such elements that occur one after another (never simultaiously, that is why they are called sequential). There are also prosodic components of intonation. They are characteristics of speech-width ot pitch range, key, loudness, voice quality, speed, and we can observe them while speech is going on. Ex: wider pitch range is used in excited or enthusiastic speaking, a speaker who is tired or bored uses slower speed of speech. Within tone we also express attitude: fall (eg. Finality, deffiniteness)-stop talking; rise-in general questions (Can you help me?).

The accentual function of intonation is connected with the placement ot tonic stress. The location of the tonic syllable is of great linguistic importance. Its most common position is on the last lexical word but for contrastive perposes, however, any word may become the tonic syllable. We may place the tonic stress in other positions for the purpose of emphasis: It was very boring. (no emphasis), It was very boring .(emphasis).

The tonic syllables tend to occur on the last lexical word in the tone-unit, but it may placed earlier in the tone unit if there is a word there with greater inmportance to what is being said. This is often met especially when the last part of the tone-unit has already been given (Heres the book you asked me to bring.) The grammatical function of intonation is illustrated when in written sentences there is ambiguity which can be removed only by using different intonations. There is a tendency for tone-unit boundaries to occur at boundaries b/n grammatical units of higher order than words. Tone-unit boundaries placement can indicate grammatical structure to the listener and we often meet pair as : The students who like the proposal/ are pleased; the students (who like the proposal) are pleased. The 1st one implies that only some students like the proposal while the 2nd means that all students like it.

A component of intonation that has grammatical significance is the choice of tone on the tonic syllable. Many languages have the possibility of changing a statement into a question by changing the tone from falling to rising. In EG a rising tone is always used for questions.It is also usual to use a falling tone with wh-questions. The intonation of question tags can be different either falling or rising depending on the implied meaning.When we have a falling tone , the speaker is usually quite certain that the information is correct and s/he just expects from the listener to confirm it; with a rising tone we have a less degree of certainty.

The discourse funtion of intonation identifies too main areas: the 1st one is to focus the listeners attention aspects of the message that are most important and the 2nd is concerned with the regulation of conversational behaviour. With the attention-focus we have placement of tonic stress on the appropriate syllable on 1 particular word in the tone unit, eg: on the one that carries the info content or that with higher impotrance. Sometomes, however, it is difficult tosee whether the last lexical word is more important or the S. noun, eg.The cats on fire.

Usually the falling tone indicates new info while rising tones indicate already given info. Another use of this type of intonation is called intonational subordination. Here we consider that a particular tone unit is of comparatively importance and as a result we give greater importance to adjacent tone-units. Intonation is also important in the conversational interaction of 2 or more speakers (esp. in interaction of a rather restricted kind-eg. b/n doctor and patient. Here it is easy to identify what each speaker is actually doing in speaking-questioning , advising, disapproaving. Speakers use various prosodic components to indicate to others that they have finished speaking, that another person is expected to speak about the type ot response that is required. Intonation together with facial expressions, gestures, eye-contac is used also for establishing or confirming the status of the participants in a conversation. Rhythm of speech is based on the idea of srong beat or event occuring again and again at regular intervals of time. The duration of individual sounds is too short. There are just noticeable differences of duration-0./sec. If the event is shorter than that we cant perceive it.

Topic 4

Classification of nouns

The classification of nouns in EG and BG exhibit at one and the same time similat and dissimilar features.

The class of nouns is divided into the following subclasses:nouns can be:proper-common, countable-uncountable, concrete-abstract and mass. The catgories of numer, gender and case determine the structural charactrestic features of the class of nouns.The nouns can be classified in a different way from the point of view of their semantic structure.

In EG tha lack of morphological markers in all classes of words makes the semantic component very flexible. This refers to the class of nouns as well.In BG the heavily marked adjective and verb have great influence on the noun, no matter that the latter has markers only for gender and number.

The syntactic functions of the noun are as follows : subject, predicative, object, adverbial modifier (introduced by preposition) and head word in an ittributive phrase.

Nouns of one type can fluctuate into nouns of another type with a change in their meaning. This applies in both BG and EG though it is more frequent in EG. This shift is achieved with greater ease in EG.

The basic difference b/n common and proper nouns on the surface structure is that by rule the article or any other determiner accompanies the common noun but never the proper noun. On the other hand any common noun when not accompanied by the article undergoes changes in its meaning tending towards the proper noun. Any proper noun in its term may be accompanied by the article. In such cases it also undergoes changes in its meaning towards the common.

A common noun may be concrete or abstract but never both at one and the same time.A concrete noun is always accompanied by the article or other determiner. However, it may appear without the article. In such cases it will undergo a change in its meaning towards the abstract.

A common noun can be countable or uncountable but never both at one and the same time. A countable noun is always accompanied by the article or another determiner. It may appear without the article and then it undergoes changes in its meaning towards uncountability.

In other words there is interdependence b/n the aricle and the semantic features (-nominative) (+ nominative), (+concrete)-(-concrete), (abstract),(+countable)-(-countable).The presence of the article activates the 1st features in the oppositions: (-nominative), (+concrete), (+countable).The absence of the article makes the 2nd members of the opposition active: (+nominative), (+abstract),(+uncountable). The catergory of case stands basically for a syntactic category. It refers to the specific relations of the words in the surface structure as well as to the means of realisation of these relations. In BG there are no grounds to discuss case as a morphological category. It is entirely within syntactic realtions.

In EG at 1st glance the cetegory of case seems to be grammatical since it has 2 structural exponents:an unmarked one- for the common case , and a marked one for the genitive case.However, a deeper look reveals the actula lexicalisation of this category in differenr degrees reaching cases of complete degramaticalisation.

The forms of the genitive or possessive case play basically the role of an attribute.The attributive relation is a phenomenon of the surface structures. The several types of dee structures underlying the genitive have given rise to its characteristics (possessive, qualitative, partitive, subject, object, pleonastic, group and independent).This classification is based on different criteria: semantic, syntactic and morphological.

There is a stylistic difference b/n the genitive case and the of- form. The of- form is more formal.

When it comes to the category of gender the noun in EG has no markers for gender and that is why it is not possible to guess the gender of the noun by its form. Every noun has a connotation of sex or no sex in its meaning, although this is not explicit in the form.

There is a small number of common nouns in EG marked for gender-actor/actress and tiger/tigress, duke/duchess. The semantic component of each noun plays an important role as regards the category of gender. In EG the category of gender is semantico grammatical. While in Bg the situation is more complicated due to the fact that it has markers for the sg. The nouns in the masc. are unmarked while those in the feminine are

marked.The nature of the marker is lexico grammatical since it is also a word-formative suffix.

There is a group of nouns with both semantic features for sex. They, however, cannot function simultaniously in one and the same context. When the noun is used in the sg. one of the features is active , the other remains passive , eg:The teacher entered the room. He smiled. When in plural both features may function together. There is a group of nouns , usually names of occupations that form compound nouns with one of the roots semantically marked for gender:man-servant, lady-doctor etc.

There is a group of nouns with one single semantic feature for sex either male or female- bull/cow, fox/vixen, stallion/mare, dog/bitch. However, there are nouns with 2 semantic features for sex: bear, rabbit, wolf, etc.When both features (+male) and (+female) are not active those nouns functions as neuters.

Common nouns with a semantic feature (-animate) dont have a feature for sex or rather they have a feature (-sex). For this reason they appear as neuters.

Names of countries, tools and boats appear as neuters. However, when they are personified they have the semantic feature (+female). Thus, under the influence of Greek mythology the words for sun, love, ocean, time etc, are considered to be masc., while moon, night, earth-feminine.

Every BG noun in the sg. is morphologically marked for gender. The forms of the plural are not. This applies both to proper and to common nouns.

Both in BG and EG the noun is in concord with the predicative in terms of number. O. Jesperson gives the following definition of number:In EG only 2 numbers are distinguished, singular (to denote oneness) and plural (to denote more than oneness).The nouns in EG and in BG , or at least the majority of them, have grammatical marker of number. Nouns without such marker reflect number in their semantic component. This becomes explicit in the form of the verb with which the noun is in concord in terms of number:eg.The boy is in the room./Momcheto e v staiata; plural:The boys are in the room./Momchetata sa v staiata.

There are several morphological patterns in the category of number that appear in Bg and Eg.

In English:1) nouns with 2 forms-one for plural and one for sg.2)nouns with only one form. In this group there are 3 subgroups:a)nouns in concord with the verb always in the plural (pluralia tantum)-people, kettle etc.b)nouns in concord with the verb always in the sg.(singularia tantum)-news, money, furniture, linguistics.c)nouns in concord with the verb either in the sg.or in the pl.-clergy, cabinet, board, family, etc.

In Bulgarian:1)nouns with 2 forms-one for the sg. and one for the pl.-bg:maca, kotka etc.2) nouns with only one form. Here again there are subgroups:a)nouns in concord with the verb always in the plural (pluralia tantum)-bg:xopa, kleshti, etc.b)nouns in concord with the verb always in sg.(singularia tantum)-bg.:narod, mladej.c)few nouns behaving like the EG nouns of the same subgroup-bg:klasa, semeistvo, brigada.

Both in Eg and in Bg the form for the sg. is unmarked while the form for the plural is marked. The unmarked form may include the meaning of the marked form too.The opposite is not possible.

There are different markers for plurality:-s; -n; the infix-r (brother/brethren), change of the root vowel (tooth-teeth, foot-feet). There is also zero ending (sheep). The sheep is in the yard but there are three sheep in the meadow.

Both the sg. and the pl. forms can be used with a generic connotation. Thus, we have:The horse is a domestic animal and horses are domestic animals.Sometimes a form in the sg. is used with a connotation of plurality. It has acquired the connotation of the so-called collective nouns.

There is a group of nouns in EG and in BG which have developed a secondary meaning but only in the forms of the plural. These nouns are called differentiated plurals, eg:colour-colours (flags); custom-customs (duties). Bg:kapka-kapki ( lekarstvo); drebolia-drebolii (vutreshnosti na agne).

On the whole number is a grammatical category of the noun intimately related with its semantic structure.

In BG , as in EG, abstract nouns on the whole appear only as singular tantum. But when they acquire a more concrete connotation they distinguish numerical quantity and appear in the form of plural as well.

Both in BG and in EG it is possible for personal names to appear in the plural.In BG, however, the situation is different. One can easily recognise a personal name froma a surname b/c the latter is usually marked.

Topic 5

The simple present and simple past. Futurity

In all the uses of the present tense theres a basic association with the present moment of time(the moment of speech). This element of meaning doesnt exclude the possibility of its having the actual being of a time other than the present. It can refer to past and to future time exclusive if present time in the historic present it represents past events as if they were happening now; in the future present it refers to future events regarded as already predetermined.

The unrestrictive use of the Simple Present is found with verbs expressing states.. Its so called because it pleces no limitation on the extension of the state into past and future time( eg We live in London).Limits to the duration of the state may be implied by an adverbial expression to indicate a contrast with some other period At present we live in London.

The Present Simple is suitable for employment in the expression eternal truth and so is found in scientific, mathematical, and other statements made for all time. Its also characteristic of proverbs. Geographical statement are for practical purpose without time limit- Rome stands on the river Tiber.

Yhe instantaneous use of Present Simple signifies an event simultaneous with the present moment and it occurs with verbs expressing events, not states. It occurs in sports commentaries and in the patter of conjurors and demonstrators. In exclamations like Here comes the train. The theatrical quality of the instantaneous present is affirmed in the employment in old-fashioned stage rhetoric- The bell tolls; Less dramatically , the instantaneous use is found in asseverations such as I beg you pardon: here the event and the act of speech are simultaneous because theyre identical. These performative verbs express formal acts of declaration in contrast to the Prodressive forms. We re accepting your offer which merely report to speakers present activities or future intentions. This usage is also chatacteristic of more ceremonial context, such as ship-launching.I name the ship.The distinguishing marks of declarativeacts are that theyre almost invariably in the 1st place 2nd that they permit insertion of hereby in front of the verb. There a difference b/n state and event. A state is undifferentiated and lacking in defined limits. An event has a beginning and an end, it can be viewed as a whole entity.State and event are semantic rather than grammatical terms so we should talk of state/ event meanings or uses of verbs. The 3rd use of present simple is the habitual use which is again confined to event verbs. It represents a series of individual events which as a wholw make up a state stretching back into the past and forward into the future. It combines aspects of the instantaneous and unrestrictive uses. The habitual resembles the unrestrictive present in its suitability for eternal truths of a scientific or ppiverbial nature. An adverbial expression of frequency can reinforce the notion of repetition . The simple present may refer to future time:I start work next week. It may also refer to the past- the so-called historic present. Its used in the story-telling when past happenings are portrayed or imagined as if doing on at the present time. A diff kind of historic present is found with verbs of communication. Verbs such as tell, write, say refer to the initiation of a message in the past. The verbal meanings has been transferred from the initiating end to the receiving end of the message;Joan tells me youre getting a new car

Free variation b/n Past and Present Tense occurs in cross-references from one part of book to another: The problem was/is discussed in Ch 3 above. In newspaper headlines the Pr. Simple is preferred for announcing recent events bec of its brevity. Pr. Simple is also used in photographic captions and in historic summaries.

Therere 2 elements of meaning involved in the use of Past Simple . The 1st is that the happening takes place before the present moment and the 2nd is that the speaker has a definite time in mind.

As the past simple tense applies completed happenings everything it refers to is in a sense an event. Theres no clear distinction b/n event and state. A difference should be made b/n the unitary past and the habitual past , describing a repeated event. Theres also a contrast b/n past events happening simultaneously and past events happening in sequence. When the happenings have only a brief duration its more natural to regard them as stages in sequence, esp. in narrative contexts. Other temporal relations b/n two consecutive P.T. forms are possible if signalled by a conjuction or adverbial expression.

P.T is used to express hypothetical meaning in dependent clauses.(eg If you loved me, you wouldnt).The P.T. is the natural form of the verb to employ in narrative whether the events narrated are true historical events of a novel. The P.T. is often used in narrativeeven when the evnts portrayed are supposed to take place in the future, as in science fiction. A 2nd special development of the normal past meaning is the use of P.T. in some contexts of everyday conversation , to refer to the present , in particular , to the present feelings or thoughts of the speaker or hearer. Often P.T has a polite connotation. The progressive past , howevwe, is frequently preferred as, it adds a further overtone of politeness to that of the P.S.( I was wondering).

The Past can also point a contrast with an unspoken present alternative (eg. I thought you were leaving). The non-present element of P.T. meaning is emphasised , and the definite time element is suppressed.

A distinction may be made b/n the historic use of the present , and its fictional use. Some writers use the Pres. In imitation of the popular historic pres. of spoken narrative . For more serious writing , transposition into the fictional present is a device of dramatic hightening it puts the reader in the place of s.o actually witnessing the events as theyre described . In some narrative contexts , its not the Past T., but the Pres. Tense. that is conventional eg. in stage directions. Instalments of serial stories ( on the radio, on TV) used to begin with recapitulation of previous instalments in the Pres. Tense. A special use of Pres.Tense is the one of the travelogue itinerary and in instruction booklet. Therere a number of ways of future time in English. One of the most important of them is the use of will and shall. They have the double function of modal aux. and aux. of the future. One reason for the confusion of future and modal uses of will and shall lies in the very nature of futurity. We cant be certain of future happenings as we are of events past and present.The will/shall future is used in a wide range of contexts in which its appropriate to make predictions.Shall expresses neutral predictive meaning only with a 1st p. pronoun as subject. With a 2nd or 3rd p. subject it has a modal meaning. Will is used with all 3 persons to express futurity. Will/ shall is particularly common in the main clause of conditional sent. The will/ shall future is suitable for prophetic statements.( In 10 years time ,the people). Will/ shall can refer to either an indefinite or definite time in the future . Frequently a sent. with will/shall is incomplete without an adverbial of definite time(eg. Itll rain). Will/ shall can be used in reference to an imaginary narrative future. Will/shall followed by the Perfect Infinitive is the usual means of expressing past in the future in English. It refers to a state or event seen in the past from a point of orientation in the future.( By next Friday , Ill have read). The time looked at retrospectively can either precede or follow the present moment. Theres a similar construction with the Perfect Progressive inf.

Another important way of expressing future time is the construction be going to+ inf. It expresses future fulfilment of the present. The future of present intention is found chiefly with human subjects and with doing or agentive verbs , which imply conscious exercise of the will. Be going to brings with it a strong expectation that the intention will be carried out( Im going to punish them is stronger than I intend to punish).The intention communicated by be going to is usually ascribable to the subject of the sentence. In passive sent. , its often the intention and the implied agent thats in question. The future of present cause is found with animate or inanimate S. as well as with human S. With it factors giving rise to the future happening are already present. as be going to is often used in reference to the immediate future.( That pile of boxes is going to fall).When the clause with be going to contains no time adverbial , immediate future is almost certainly indicated ( We are going to live in the country). Be going to is inappropriate in most future conditional sentences. Its suitable if present circumstances are mentioned in the if-clause : Were going to find ourselves in difficulty if we carry on like this. Will/shall can be replaced by be going to if the nearness of the event is signalled by an adverb , or is made clear by the situation. Be going to doesnt guarantee that the anticipating happening will actually come to pass which is illustrated by P. T. eg He was going to sue me but I persuaded him it was pointless.

The Present Progressive refers to a future happening anticipated in the pres. , but its not a pres. intention or cause but rather a present arrangement . Its a future event anticipated by virtue of a pres. plan , programme or arrangement ( She is getting married this spring- it has been fixed).The diffenrence b/n arrangement and intention is very slight one. But , still, an intention is a part of ones present state of mind , while an arrangement is sth already predetermined in the past , regardless of how the speaker feels now. The notion of fixed arrangement comes to be associated with the near rather than the distant future. The possibility remains of referring to the more remote future if its regarded as determined in advance (When I grow up, Im joining the police force.) Without an adverbial , a time in the near future rather than remoter future is generally intended. The Present Progressive is used with verbs of motion and some other verbs signifying single events.. Transitional event verbs such as arrive , die, land have an anticipatory element in their meaning when used in the Progressive aspect. The factor of plan and arrangement in the future meaning of the Present Progressive restricts its use in the main to doing verbs involving conscious human agency.(The sun is rising at 5 oclock tomorrow-it cant be predicted). It also doesnt occur with verbs such as to be thatre normally incompatible with the progressive aspect. In dependent clauses introduced by conditional and temporal conjunctions if unless ,as soon as , the future is denoted by the ordinary Pres. Tense (Ill tell you if it hurts). In the dependent clauses the happening referred to is not a prediction but a fact that is taken as given so Present Simple represents future as a fact. It attributes to the future the same degree of certainty that we normally accord to present or past events. Statements about the calendar are the most straightforward illustrations (Tomorrow is Monday). The Present Simple may signify a plan or arrangement regarded as unalterable (We start for London tonight.)In its future use the Present Simple refers to a definite future occasion in the same way as the simple past refers to a definite occasion in the past. So it must be accompanied by an adverbial referring to future time unless it occurs in a narrative sequence.

The construction will/shall be making refers to temporary situations in the future (This time next year I will be studying.) The action is typically associated with a future point of time round which it forms a temporal frame. An indipendent use of will/shall + progressive is the one which applies to a single event viewed in its entirety.(The train will be arriving at 8 oclock). This is a future-as-a-matter-of-course and indicates that a predicted event will happen independently of the will or intention of anyone concerned. This usage has grown up through the need ot have a way of referring to the future uncontaminated by factors of volition, plan, and intention. The matter-of-course meaning does not occur with state verbs. The will/shall+ progressive usage is quite common in every day speech b/c it is more polite and tactful alternative to the non-progressive form.This tense refers to the near, but not to immediate future. The progressive form is restricted when describing sudden or violent events which could not be said to happen oin the natural course of things.

Topic 6

The Progressive and the Perfect Status and Functions

The term progressive is used to designate those verb constructions in which the ing form of the verb is preceeded by a form of the verb to be (is/will be working). The most imortnat function of the progressive aspect is to refer to temporary situations or activities. The progressive present refers to temporary situation which includes the present moment in its time-span, streteching for a limited period into the past and into the future. The progressive form indicates duration which distniguishes it form non-durative instantaneous present, limited duration which distinguishes it from the unrestrictive present; indicates that the happening need not be completed which distinguishes it from the instantaneous. The progressive strethces the time-span of an event verb; but compresses the time-span of a state verbThe durative element of meaning is seen in the contrast of I raise my arm/Im raising my arm. The 1st suggests a sudden movement and 2nd a more gradual one. With the progressive tense, the event is no longer instantaneous:it stretches into the past and into the future. In describing more leisurely sports ( golf, cricket) Progressive present is preferred since in such sports it is more difficult to see the stages of the match or contest as having no duration. The difference b/n unlimited and limited duration is evident from these: I live in London(pemanent residence)/ Im living ni London (temporary residence). Along with the temporary meaning of the progressive there is often the notion that the state is actual and particular. Im enjoying the seaside would be spoken when the speaker is actually at the seaside. Tha action expressed by progressive present is not necessarily completed best illustrated by event verb which signal a transition form 1 state to another (become, get, stop). This use is more noticeable in the past tense:The man was drowning/The man drowned. The second implies that the man actually died. The progressive does not specify either the time of beginning or the time of completeion of an activity. The progressive aspect has the effect of surrounding a particular event or moment by a temporal frame.With the progressive present the point of orientation is normally identical with now, the present moment of real time. But in the progressive past some other definite point of reference must be assumed which is made explicit by an adverbial phrase or clause. The relation b/n a progressive and a past simple form is one of time-inclusion. When we arrived she made/was making some fresh coffee. The 1st example shows that the coffee making followed the arrival, the 2nd that the arrival took place during the coffee-making. When no event or point of time is in question, however, the framing effect does not occur: They were watching a football match on Sunday afternoon. Another case when there is no frame is when 2 progressive forms are put next to one another: While I was reading he was watching TV.

The progressive aspect varies its effects according to the type of meaning conveyed by the verb. Verbs such as kick, jump, nod, hit are called momentaryas they refer to the happenings so momentary that it is difficult to think of them as having duration. When attributing duration to them , one thinks of a series of events rather than of a single event (He nodded/was nodding.) Transitional event verbs (die, fall, leave, arrive) used with progressive indicate an approach to the transition, rather than the transiton itself. He died shows the actual moment of transition , the completetion of the process , while He was dying indicates the process which ends in death. Activity verbs (drink, eat, play) occur with the progressive as they refer to a continuing though bounded activity. What the verb tells is that something is going on (Im writing a letter). Verbs sush as grow, changeare progress verbs. They have duration but not indefinite duration. There are some classes of verbs which are noramally incompatible with the progressive. The most important of these verbs is the verb to be. We say :He is ill but not He is being ill.Verbs that are not used with progressive tense are those of inert perception (feel, hear, see, smell): I could feel something hard under my foot. The could form denotes a state whereas the past simple form denotes an event. I could hear a door slamming indicates a continuing and repeated noise while I hear a door slam indicates a single momentary percussion. The verbs of inert cognition (believe, forget, hope, know) are passive in meaning like the verbs of perception. We say I think that they are coming not Im thinking that .Feel can be both a verb of cognition and a verb of perception. Verbs such as read, tell, find, refer to the result of communication and may also be placed in this class- see and hear can be used in the cognitive sense I see you are having a house built. Know is characteristically followed by the progressive in sentence like: I like a man who knows what he is doing, where the state of knowledge and the activities of talking and doing are concurrent . State verbs of having and being (be , belong, have, own) are not used with the progressive. I own this house not Im owning.. There is , however, an activity where have occurs freely with the progressive aspect Im having breakfast/a bath. Verbs of bodily sensation can occur either with or without the progressive without change of meaning (ache, feel, hurt).

The verbs feel, taste. Smell can be used to indicate not only inert perception but also active perception. Then they belong to the activity cathegory and may freely take the progressive form. I (can) smell the perfume/ Im smelling. The verbs see and hear are not used in the active sense b/c they are separate verbs-look at and listen to that are available for that function. When the type of perception expressed is inert rather than active, the progressive is exculded. This is for the verbs for which the grammatical S is the O of perception That sounds like Toms voice.

Verbs such as think, imagine can be used in the progressive when they function as activity verbs: Im thinking about what you said-here we have thinking perceived as a kind of work or mental exertion. The progressive is also more tentative, more polite method of expressing a mental attitude so we may have Im hoping youll give us some advice. This is appropriate to a request which will put the listener to a considerable risk of inconvenience. State verbs of having and being can combine with the progressive if an activity meaning is supplied to them: She is being kind ( she is acting kindly towards somenone). He is being sorry/ afraid/happy could mean he is pretending to be sorry/afraid. Other verbs such as resemble,cost, matter may take the progressive when accompanied by an expression like more and more:She is resembling her mother more and more as the years go by. Apart from the major use of the progressive aspect to refer to single temporary happenings, there are four other less important uses. 1st , there are 2 separate habitual uses of the progressive. When we say Im taking dancing lessons this winter we have habit in existence over a limited period. With this use we usually have adverbial expressions-this winter.The 2nd habitual meaning is repetition oif events of limited duration. Whenever I visit him he is mowing his lawn. Here the notion of limited duration is applied to the individual events of which the habit is composed. The progressive present may, like the present simple, refer to anticipated happenings in the future: We are visiting grandmother tomorrow. Happenings anticipated in the past may be expressed by the progressive past tense.There is also a special ideomatic meaning of the progressive marked by the absence of the temporary element of the normal progressive meaning:in Day by day we are getting nearer to death we have the sense of persistent or continuous activity. Here the durational element of meaning overrides the temopary element. The uninterrupted nature of the activity is usually underlined by the presence of adverbs or adverbial phrases such as always, forever, constantly.

The perfect cannot be fitted into the simple series, b/c besides the purely temporal element it contains the element of result. It represents the present state as the outcome of past events and may be called retrospective variety of the present which can be seen by the fact that the adverb now can stand with it:Now Ive eaten enough. Also Have you written the letter? is a question about the present time. To express the perfect meaning compounds with have were formed:Ive driven/ read. In quite recent times one of these combination has become a pure present: I have got English does not allow the use of the perfect if a definite point in the past is meant , whether this is expressly mentioned or not. Sentences containg words like yesterday or in 1980 require past simple and also sentences about people who are dead. However, when something is stated as the present effect of their doings we need the present perfect. Newton has explained the movements of the moon. A retrospective past time, bearing the same relation to some period in the past as the perfect does to the present is called past perfect- had written. Very often we need to speak of something belonging at once to the past and to the present time. Then 2 tenses may be combined : I was (then) and am (still) an admirer of Mozart/ Ive been and am . But if an indication of duration is added we can combine the two into what might be called an inclusive past-and-present.

There are some adverbials that are specifically associated with the perfect. These are the adverbial clauses and phrases beginnig withsince- Since Monday, since we met.They indicate the starting point of the period of time. Adverbials beginning with for are often used perfect forms but they are not restricted to them. The perfect is used when the activity has results in the present: Ive cut my finger. Here the action is observable at the present. The perfect indicates a period of time preceding but continuing up to a later point of time (present or past).Ive seen John this morning. The same could be reported by past tense as well which shows that the period of time indicated by the present perfect or the past overlap, and that an action performed in the past may be included in either of them. Present perfect is used when we have a period of time that includes the present and there are features of the present that directly link it to the past activity. The temporal situation that is envisaged by the speaker is one that includes the present: Ive bought a new dress ( the new dress may be displayed at the time of speaking). Very often it is only the choice of the adverbial that determines the choice b/n present perfect and past. There is no question of current relevance but only whether the period of time being indicated includes the present moment or not. So we may say Ive seen him 3 times today but I saw him 3 times yesterday. The fundamental difficulty about current relevance is that it is not easy to define what is and what is not relevant. It is unusual to use the perfect when talking about the death Queen Victoria has visited Brighton but the perfect is all right- Brighton has been visited by Queen V.

The use of the progressive prefect does not necessarily imply that the activity continues throughout the relevant period of time, buy merely that it has duration within the period. Someone has been moving my books shows a period of time that began in the past and continued up to the present. This period of time rather than a wholly past period is chosen b/c the present disorderly state of the books is linked to the past activity.

The perfect may express very recent activity which is indicated by just- Ive just seen her. Just means a brief period of time preceding but up to the present moment. Just may function as today. The perfect with accent on the auxiliary is used to refer to past experiences-I have read pride and prejudice.Here past experiences ar shown as part of a persons present make up-this book is among the experiences that make me what I am. With the perfect and followed by to the verb to be has the meaning of having gone and returned. He has been to France but Hes gone to France means he is still there.

Topic 7

Modality

There are some lexical ways of expressing modality in English. The 1st one is through nouns such as chance, hope, intention, and determination. Also through adjectives such as likely, obvious, sure; through adverbs (hardly, perhaps).Another way is through verbs, which can be main verbs like think, doubt, permit and modals such as shall, should, will, would, can ,could, may, might,must and ought. Modality does not only occur individually but can also be combined in the same sentence in various ways. Example : through two more or less synonimous expressions of modality (perhaps they might have built it). We can also have two modal elements which are not equivalent in meaning (certainly he might have built it)-here the effect is cumulative. These two types of combination have also been termed as modally harmonic and modally non-harmonic respectively. Very often expressions of modality also combine with tense forms in such a way that a new modal meaning results. This is the case with the past forms should, would, could, and might when they appear in a non-past context (you should see a doctor). This is called secondary modality which is often described in terms of tenativeness or politeness. Certain interrogative sentence can also express different kind of modality to indicate the expectations of the speaker. The term modality comrises expressions of volition, ability, various degrees of likelihood, obligation, wishes and permission. They will therefore be refered to as modalities. Their formal and syntactic characretistics differ from those of other verbs. We can talk of modals as being subjunctive equivalents when a modal can be exchanged for a subjunctive form in the same syntactic position and when the two express the same meaning. We can talk of root and epistemic senses of modals. The roots are: Necessity, Permission, Volition, and Ability; the epistemic : Certainty and Possibility. The syntactic environment favours the one or the other interpretation and this makes clear what the sense is. The surface subject of a root modal is normally animate. A root modal normally exculdes the presence of the perfect. Interrogative structures favour a root interpretation. The root sense of a modal qualifies the subject of the modal in the active sentence. It specifies what the S is obliged, permitted, determined or able to do. The epistemic senses do well with the perfect (Possibility:He may have gone outside to play) and takes the progressive. However, they are excluded in if-conditional clauses and they characterise the truth value of the sentence generally. They represent it as certain , predictable or possible. Adverbs may be used to express different degrees of likelihood (It may possibly happen.) English modals may be said to express degrees of evidential modality. The order from the uncertain to the certain is: might, may, could, can, should, ought to, would, will,must. Modalities that are inherent in their surface S are called internal. When we have something outside the S that decides what the S is obliged or permitted to do or be , we have external modalities.

According to Von Wright there are four modes. The 1st in the Alethic modality but it has little place in ordinary language. Epistemic modality refers to the use of the modal auxiliary may and must. This mode relates to an inference by the speaker. Deontic modality is used to express what is obligatory, permitted or forbidden. Like the epistemic modality it is usually subjective b/c the speaker is the one who obliges, permits ot forbids. The existential mode is a matter of quantificational logic and is more concerned in ordinary language with some, any, all, than the expression of modality.

A distinction is made b/n mood and modality. Mood is a grammatical term while modalityis a semantic term relating to the meanings that are usually associated with mood. Mood is usually reserved for inflectional cathegories that exhibit modality-the subjunctive , the optative, as opposed to indicative.

Lyons points out that it is possible to treat tense as a modality. The modal verbs will/shall are used to indicate future time as well as modality. The modal verbs even in their present forms often refer to future events. Could and would can be used for past time reference.

There are formal criteria that clearly distinguish will, shall, can, may, must, and ought to, and to a lesser extent used to, dare, need, and is to, as modal verbs. They place the modals in the same class as the primary auxiliaries be , have, and do. They are:1) Invertion with the S (May I come?); 2) Negative form with nt (cant); 3)code (he can swim and so can she); 4) Emphatic affirmation (he will be there). There are further specifically modal criteria : no s form for 3rd p.sg.; absence of non-finite forms; no cooccurrence (He may will come). Will, shall, may, can, must and ought to fit all these criteria with the exception that may has no nt form in the present. Must and ought to have no past form while ought to in the only one that requires to. Dare, and need occur both as non modal (with do) and as modals with the 1st 2 of the nice properies( Dare he go.He darent go but not He dare go.) Is to has the nice properties but this is also true of the verb be when it is not an auxiliary.

The negative not of modals can mean two very different things b/c each sentence containing a modal can be broken down into the modal statement itself and the statement on which the modal statement comments. Sometimes the insertion of notafter the modal auxiliary negates the modal statement which is external negation and in other cases (He may not be serious- it is possible [that he is not serious]), the other statement is negated-internal negation. When the meaning of may not is permission the stress normally falls on not;when the meaning is possibilty the stress falls on may. Internal and external negations are combined in the case of double negation-I cant not tell her about it.= It is impossible for me not to tell her about it.

As a whole can/could; may/might express possibility, ability and permission. Must has the meaning of (logical) necessity ( You must be feeling tired.); obligation or compulsion ( You must be back by ten.) where must implies self-obligation, have (got) to implies obligation by external forces. Ought to and should express tentative inference (The sea should be visible from here) and obligation (you should do as he says). Will/would have the meaning of prediction and volition (intention , willingness, insistence). Shall expresses prediction and volition. The past tense modals could, might, would, and should are used as past tense equivalents of can ,may, will ,shall, but they can also be used in the hypothetical (or unreal) sense of the past tense in both main and subordinate clauses. (If united could win this game, they might become league champions). Often the past forms could, might, and would add a note of tentativeness or politeness (tentative permission-Could I see your passport?, volition Would you lend me a dollar?) The moods in EG are indicative, subjunctive, imperative. Moods express certain attitudes of the mind of the speaker towards the conents of the sentence through a form of a verb. Mood is a syntactic cathegory not a notional one. The imperative is a will-mood in so far as its chief use is to express the will of the speaker and it is meant to influence the behaviour of the hearer. Imperatives thus are requests which range from the strictest command to the humblest prayer. They also can mean permission (Take that if you like). They also express condition and occur in connection with a ?preterit? Some imperatives have become prepositions or conjunctions-imaginary imperative (Suppose he were to come, what then?) Moods denote cathegories of meaning not of form. The indicative is used to represent something as a fact. It is frequently used in conditional clauses (if he is ill) and after wish. The indicative is generally used in relative clauses and clauses introduced by local and teporal conjunctions. (Where, when, while) the subjunctive is non-committal mood.When something is mentioned with a certain hesitation or doubt. Subject is most often required if impossibility is implied. The indicative is also required when the two ideas are not really meant as conditioning and conditioned but as equally true (If he was rich, he was open-handed too). Mood, like tense, is frequently realised by inflecting the verb or by modifying it by means of auxiliaries. It is defined in relation to an unmarked class of sentence which express simple statements of fact. The term for this unmarked mood is indicative.

Two classes of sentences stand apart from all others by virtue of their modality and the imperative sentences express commands or instructions. The central class of imperative sentences are associated with the 2nd person. The interrogative sentences are associated with the employment of various interrogative particles or pronouns, with a difference of word order or with intonation. They are quite clearly modal and may be characterised by additional modalities which indicate the expectation of the speaker. Three scales of modality are relevant here: the one of wishand intention; of necessity and obligation; of wish and necessity.

The inresection of tense and mood should be mentioned. Sentence with will/shall dont necessarily refer to the future. We may have the putativeuse of will (He will be quite a big boy now.)There are sentences with would, should, which have no reference to the past time.Past combines with mood to introduce a more tentative,remote or polite sense. Tense here is converted to a secondary modality.

The S is the mood of subordination. It rarely occurs except in subordinate clauses, where its occurrence is very largely determined by the type of sentence of which the clause is a constituent , by the selection of a particular main verb, by negation. The indicative and the subjunctive forms of the verb are in almost complementary distribution. The distribution of a set of forms , A and a set of forms B may be partly complementary and partly overlapping and the distinction b/n them , in the contexts in which they contrast may be modal. The occurrence of either A or B in subordinate clauses may correlate with a difference of modality which is also indicated elsewhere in the sentence. Also, there may be no correlation at all b/n the occurrence of 1 set of forms rahter than another and the modality of the context by which they are determined. In this case the difference b/n A and B would not be described as modal. As a whole , the term subjunctive carries no implication of modality.

Topic 8

Voice

The term voice is used to describe a major verb category that distinguishes an active verb phrase (eg ate) from a passive one ( was eaten). The passive construction appears in final position in the verb phrase and Voice is a category which concerns not only verb phrases but other constituents in the clause.

Voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in either of two ways without a change in the fact reported: The butler murderesd the detective( active); The detective was murdered( passive). The activo-passive relation involves two gramm. levels- the verb phrase and the clause. The construction obligatory consists of 3 structural elements . The S in most cases is a noun having the semantic feature ( - Animate) but it can also be a noun marked ( + Animate). Predicate is a verb in the active voice and in 1 of the simple tenses present, past or future. An important feature is the intransitive use of trans. verb. The adverbial modofies the verbal action with respect to measure (manner or degree).

Changing from the active to the passive involves rearrangement of of two clause elements , and one addition. The active Subject becomes the passive Agent ; the active Obj becomes the passive S; the preposition by is introduced before the agent . The prepositional phrase of passive senteneces is generally an optional element.

Although the corresponding active and passive sent. appear to be radically different , the relations of meaning b/n their elements remain the same eg. John helped Mary and Mary was helped by John has the same truth value and in both cases J is the performer of the action , even though structurally J has a very different position and function in each. The active voice gives agents primary focus and themes secondary focus while the passive gives the theme primary focus. In the verb phrase the difference b/n the two voice categories is that the passive adds a form of the auxiliary be followed by the past participle of the main verb. Theres also inversion of the nouns signifying the agent and the theme with respect to S and Obj position in the sentence.

Although rarely active and passive sentences may differ in meaning especially when they contain numerals or quantifiers eg. Everyone in the room speaks 2 languages ( any 2 languages per person)/ Two languages are spoken by everyone in the room( two specific languages that everyboly speaks).

There are active voice sentences that dont have a passive equivalent since the verbs are not truly transitive-eg Mike has a car / A car is had by Mike. Likewise, therere passive sentences in English that have no active voice variant Tom was born in London someone born Tom in London.

The passive auxiliary is normally be. Its only serious contender is get, which however is not , by most syntactic criteria , an auziliary at all. Moreover, get tends to be limited to constr. without an expressed animate agent John got beaten last night. The get passive is avoided in formal style and even in informal English its far less frequent than the be passive( The house is getting rebuilt). Get is much more common as a resulting copula in sentence like My mother is getting old and its met in sentences which look superficially like passives but which could not be expanded by an agent-eg. I have to get dressed before 8. Get is a dynamic conclusive verb and the participles in the sentencevis stative(dressed means in a state of wearing clothes, as in Jane is already dressed). The get-passive often reflects an unfavourable attitude towards the action: How did that window get opened?

Although its a general rule that transitive verb sentence can be either active or passive, there are a number of exceptions where the active and passive sent. are not in systematic correspondence. All the verbs that belong to the stative class of verbs of being and having dont occur in the passive ( the example with have). With some constructions, however,only the passive is possible( John was said/reputed to be a good teacher) and the example with be born. In English , prepositional verbs can often occur in the passive but not so freely as in the active. These prepositional verbs are verbal idioms consisting of a lexical verb followed by a preposition such as look at: They eventually arrived at the splendid stadium./ The splendid stadium was eventually arrived at, but They eventually arrived at the expected result/ The expected result was eventually arrived at. In these sentences its clear that the difference in acceptability can be stated in terms of concrete / abstract passive S. Its only in the abstract, figurative use that prepositional verbs such as go into, arrive at, look into accept the passive.

Transitive verbs can be followed either by phrasal or by clausal objects. With clauses as Obj, however , the passive transformation is to a greater or lesser degree restricted in use. John thought that she was attractive/ That she was attractive was thought by John. The passive often becomes acceptable , however, particularly when the Obj is a finite clause, if the clausal object is extraposed and replaced by the anticipatory pronounit- It was thought that she was attractive ; or if the S of the object clause is made the S of a passive superordinate clause She was thought to be Correference b/n a S, and a noun phrase object blocks the passive correspondence. This constraint occurs with reflexive pronouns , reciprocal pronouns and possessive pronouns when coreferential to the S- John could see himself in the mirror/ Himself could be seen in ; The woman shook her head/ Her head was shaken.

Unlike the active S , the agent-by-phrase is generally optional. This omission occurs especially when the agent is irrelevant or unknown as in: The Prime Minister has often been criticized recently . However, we dont omit the Agent if its a proper name designating an artist , inventor , discoverer , whos too important to omit in the context. The Mona Lisa was painted by da Vinci. We also dont omit the Agent when its a indefinite noun phrase, eg. new info, that is retained to provide the listener or reader with the new info- While Jill was walking down the street , her purse was snatched by a young man. The agent can also be an inanimate noun phrase which is retained because its unexpected. Therere different kinds of passives. Sentences like This violin was made by my father is called central or true passive. It has a personal agent. Sentence like This difficulty can be avoided in several ways exemplifies the most common type of passive, that which has no expressed agent (agentless passive) and so leaves the S of the active counterpart undetermined. Sentence like We are encouraged to go on with the project and Ema was interested in linguistics represent a mixed or semi-passive class whose members have both verbal and adjectival properties. Their adjectival properties include the possibility of coordinating the participle with an adjective , modifying the participle with quite , rather, more, etc. and replacing be by a lexical copular verb such as feel or seem( We feel rather encouraged and content.) In such adjectival uses of the past participle, its rare to have a by phrase expressing the agent , but blends often occur: I feel rather let down by his indifference. Even ed Adj which have no corresponding active infinitive or finite verb forms may occassionally have agent by- phrases: We were impressed by his attempts.

Therere several prepositions which can introduce agent-like phrases: I was a bit surprised at her behaviour/ Her behaviour surprised me a bit; You wont be bothered with me any more/ I wont bother you any more. These agent-like phrases may sometimes cooccur with an active subject and so be interpreted ambiguously when in the passive: Emma was interested in linguistics/(so) interested Emma in linguistics. Sentences like: The building is already demolished. and The modern world is getting more highly mechanized. Have neither an active transform nor a possibility of a agent addition. Theyre called pseudo-passives since its chiefly only their superficial form of verb+ ed part. that recommends them for consideration as passives. The active sentence corresponding to the 1st example is: (So) has already demolished the building, not (So) already demolishes the building.

Passive voice can be used with modals and perfect tenses as many other auxiliary elements can precede the passive marker: More hospitals could be built ( for making suggestions)/ More hospitals could have been built( for the past).

We should use the passive when the agent is redundant- Oranges are grown in California, when the writer wants to emphasize the receiver or result of the action- Six people were killed by the tornado ; when the writer wants to make a statement sound objective without revealing the source of info-Its assumed that hell announce his candidacy soon; when the writer wants to be tactful or evasive by not mentioning the agent: M. was given some bad advice about, sometimes the passive is more appropriate than the active( esp. in complex sentences). We also use it when the theme is given info and the agent is new info What a lovely dress./ Thank you.It was given to me by Pam. Passive is also used when the writer wishes to retain the same grammatical subject in successive clauses, even though the function of the noun-phrase changes from agent to theme: Groreman beat Joe Frazier, but he was beaten by Muhammad Ali.

Topic 9

A model of the English sentence as a three-structure unity (Functional Grammar). Sentence paradigm in English.

The functional description of the language involves identifying on the one hand all the various functions that incorporated into the grammar , and on the other hand all the different configurations by which these functions are defined- that is all the possible structures which serve to express some meaning in the language. In nearly all instances a constituent has more than one function at a time. For example in : The boys throw stones, boys is actor but the item has other functions in the sentence besides this one. It is also Subject, for example. On the other hand its theme as well.

In general items are multifunctional. Most of the constituents in any construction higher than a word enter into more than one structural configurations. Thus, subject as a label is something that is reserved for a grammatical function. There seems to be sth in common, as regards their status in the sentence. But it is not easy to say exactly what this is. Instead, various interpretations have grown up around the subject notation , which can be summarized as follows: a) that which is the concern of the message; b) that of which sth is being predicated (on which rests the truth of the argument); c) the doer of the action.

These three definitions , however, are defining different concepts. So ,we are faced with the question whether its possible for the category of subject to embrace all these different meanings at one and the same time.

For ex. in the sentence: The princess gave orders to the maid , the princess serves all three functions, so there would be no problem in identifying and explaining the subject..We could use the term to refer to the sum of these three definitions and assign the label subject to whichever element which fulfils all the functions in question. But this means that in every sentence theres just one element in which all three functions are combined. But this is not the case. Many sentences dont contain such elements that embody all three functions at the same time.For example in: The orders were given to the maid( by the princess). What has happened in this sentence is that the different functions have been split up among the constituents of the clause. The princess is still the doer of the action but but the message is now a message containing the orders. When these different functions came to be recognized as distinct , they were at first labelled as if they were three different kinds of subject. In the 19th century the terms were called psychological subject , grammatical subject and logicals. In sentence like: The boys throw stones the functions of psychological, grammatical and logical subject coincide. But we have to take into account of natural living language , and of the different kinds of variation that occur in it, in which the order of elements can vary, passive can occur as well as actives, and so on. Its not possible to base an analysis on the assumption that these three concepts merely different aspects of one and the same general notion. They have to be interpreted as three separate and distinct functions. Theres no such thing as a general concept of subject of which these are different varieties.

The psychological S is theme, the grammatical S is subject and the logical one is actor. Thus, in : The princess gave orders to the maid., the roles of theme, actor and subject are all combined in one element the princess. In The orders were given to the maid all 3 are separated.

The theme functions in the structure of the sentence as a message.A sentence has meaning as a message , a piece of info. The theme is the point of departure for the message. It.s the element the speaker selects for grounding what he is going to say. The subject functions in the structure of the sentence as an exchange. A sentence has meaning as an exchange, a transaction b/n speaker and listener. Its the element the speaker makes responsible for the validity of what hes saying.

The actor functions in the structure of the sentence as a representation. A sentence has a meaning as a represent