IV. Synthetic means of expressing grammatical meaning and their role in the modern English

The means used for building up member-forms of categorial oppositions are traditionally divided into synthetical and analytical, accordingly, the grammatical forms themselves are classed into synthetical and analytical. Synthetical gr.forms are realized by the inner morphemic composition of the word.

The number of morphemes used for deriving word-forms based on synthetic method are very few in English, as compared to Russian or German, and even French. They are called bound morphemes, as they can’t be used as separate words. In every language there is a limited list of bound morphemes, which express the grammar categories, functioning in this language. Though limited, this list is extremely big for a synthetic language like Russian (conjugation of verbs of different types, declension of nouns and adjectives, participles), but the morphological system of English is very narrow, which makes it possible to describe English as not synthetic, but analytical language. The list of bound morphemes in English is complicated by the relations of homonymy:

- (e)s – the plural of nouns, the possessive case of nouns, the third person singular present of verbs;

- (e)d – the past and past participle of verbs;

- ing – the gerund and present participle;

- er, -est – the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs.

This is the complete list of productive word-changing morphemes, which can be used for making synthetic forms of new words, which appear in the language. Whereas non-productive morphemes (-en in the plural of nouns, -ght in the past of the verbs) are used for a limited number of words and can never be applied to new words (microchip – microchips, pasteurize – pasteurized).

One of non-productive synthetical forms is suppletivity, based on correlation of different roots as a means of paradigmatic differentiation. Though the forms don’t have a common root, they function as members of opposition within their category (degrees of comparison), ‘better’ is in the same opposition of meanings to ‘good’ as ‘bigger’ is to ‘big’. This allows us to consider them suppletive forms of one word, but not different words.

5. By sound alternations we mean a way of expressing grammatical category by changing a sound inside the root (man-men; sing-sang-sung). The morphemes are called replacive. In some words those morphophonemic alternations are combined with affixation: leave-left, feel-felt, sell-sold, tell-told, man-men-men’s. These morphemes are also non-productive.

6. English affixes add grammar meaning not only to one word, but also to a group of words: a black cat – black cats, his daughter Mary – his daughter Mary’s arrival.

Glossary of Linguistic Terms

1. Opposition – противопоставление двух или нескольких грамматических форм, объединенных в одну грамматическую категорию.

2. synthetic form – синтетическая флома, образованная путем слияния основы и формообразующих аффиксов.

3. productive/non-productive forms – продуктивные (широко используемые для образования новых слов и форм)/непродуктивные (не производящие новые слова и формы)

4. bound morpheme – связанная морфема, которая может употребляться только как часть слова, а не самостоятельно

5. homonymy – омонимия, употребление одинаковых по форме морфем для образования разных грамматических форм

6. suppletive form – супплетивная форма, форма одного и того же слова, образованная от другого корня.

7. sound alternations – чередование звуков, сопровождающее образование грамматических форм

8. replacive morphemes – чередующиеся морфемы, который служат для образования грамматических форм путем замены одной или нескольких букв в корне.

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