D) Complex approach

The problem of and approaches to the parts of speech classification

The parts of speech are classes of words, all the members of these classes having certain characteristics in common which distinguish them fr om the members of other classes. The problem of word classification into parts of speech still remains one of the most controversial problems in modern linguistics. The attitude of grammarians with regard to parts of speech and the basis of their classification varied a good deal at different times. Only in English grammarians have been vacillating between 3 and 13 parts of speech. There are four approaches to the problem:

1. Classical (logical-inflectional)
2. Functional
3. Distributional
4. Complex

A) Classical approach

B) Functional approach

C) Distributional approach

d) Complex approach

e) The field nature of parts of speech

2. The notional:: functional parts of speech

Notional parts of speech perform certain functions in the sentence whereas functional express relations between the words. Functional parts of speech never change their form.

Notional Parts of Speech	Functional parts of speech
Noun - существительное Verb - глагол Adjective - прилагательное Adverb - наречие Numeral - числительное Pronoun - местоимение	Preposition - предлог Conjunction - союз Particle - частица Interjection - междометие

Noun [существительное] - is a word or group of words that refers to a person, place, or thing. There are common nouns [имена нарицательные] that refer to things and proper nouns [имена собственные] that refer to names of places or people.

E.g house [дом], river [река], bridge [мост], Jessica [Джессика], parents [родители], London [Лондон]...

Verb [глагол] - is a word or group of words in a language that serve to indicate the occurrence or performance of an action, the existence of a state or condition, etc. One can also distinguish such nonfinite forms of a verb as participle [причастие] and adverbial participle [деепричастие].

E.g. to run [бегать], to dance [танцевать], to live [жить], to be [быть], to sing [петь]....

Adjective [прилагательное] - is a word or group of words that impute a characteristic to a noun or pronoun.

E.g. beautiful [красивый], orange [оранжевый], smart [умный], long [длинный]...

In the dictionary all Russian adjectives are of masculine gender.

Adverb [наречие] - a word or group of words that serves to modify a whole sentence, a verb, another adverb, or an adjective.

E.g. probably [возможно], easily [легко], very [очень], happily [счастливо]....

Some English adverbs have exactly the same form as adjectives whereas in Russian these are two different words.

E.g. She runs fast. - Она быстро бегает.

She is a fast runner. - Она быстрая бегунья.

Numeral [числительное] - a word or a group words that express a number. We can usually recognize cardinal numerals [количественные числительные] which denote the quantity of objects,like, one, two, three, один, два, три, collective numerals [собирательные числительные] which signify that several persons or things are taken definitely and unitedly together, in the sense of — both, all three, all four, etc and ordinal numerals [порядковые числительные] which denote the serial order in which an object stands.

Pronoun [местоимение] - one of a class of words that serves to replace a noun phrase that has already been or is about to be mentioned in the sentence or context.

E.g. he [он], she [она], her [её], our [наш]

Pronouns can be subdivided into 9 subgroups in Russian. In my Russian 101 class we talk about:

- Personal pronouns [личные местоимения] as "he, she, I, you, we";

- Possessive pronouns [притяжательные местоимения] as "your, my, ours, theirs, her, his";

- Demonstrative pronouns [указательные местоимения] as "this, that"; and

- Interrogative pronouns [вопросительные местоимения] as "who, what, which, whose".

The other types of pronouns are

- Reflexive pronouns [возвратные местоимения] as "oneself [себя]";

- Negative pronouns [отрицательные местоимения] as "nobody [никто], nothing [ничто]";

- Indefinite pronouns [неопределённые местоимения] as "somebody [кто-то], something [что-то]";

- Definitive pronouns [определённые местоимения] as "every [каждый], any [любой]" and

- Relative pronouns [относительные местоимения]. Relative pronouns have exactly the same forms as the interrogative pronouns; however, they are used not to ask a question but to connect clauses. Thus in the sentence: " Кто пришёл" [Who has come?] the pronoun кто is interrogative, whereas in the sentence: "Я не знаю, кто пришёл" [I don't know who has come] кто is relative.

Preposition [предлог] - a word or group of words used before a noun or pronoun to relate it grammatically or semantically to some other constituent of a sentence.

E.g. on [на], in [в], about [о], with [с]...

Conjunction [союз] - any word or group of words, other than a relative pronoun, that connects words, phrases, or clauses.

E.g. and [и], but [но], while [в то время как]...

Particle [частица]- a function word, esp (in certain languages) a word belonging to an uninflected class having suprasegmental or grammatical function

E.g. not [не]

Interjection [междометие] - a word or phrase that is characteristically used in syntactic isolation and that usually expresses sudden emotion; expletive

E.g. Wow!, Oh!, Ну! Ой-ой-ой

It's essential to know parts of speech when studying a foreign language. One can compare it to knowing the difference between your vegetables and your fruit, your grains and your nuts, your dairy and your water. So please take a moment to learn your parts of speech and be proud of yourself that you did:)

Generally speaking, the problem of words’ classification into parts of speech is far from being solved. Some words cannot find their proper place. The most striking example here is the class of adverbs. Some language analysts call it a ragbag, a dustbin (Frank Palmer), Russian academician V.V.Vinogradov defined the class of adverbs in the Russian language as мусорная куча. It can be explained by the fact that to the class of adverbs belong those words that cannot find their place anywhere else. At the same time, there are no grounds for grouping them together either. Compare: perfectly (She speaks English perfectly) and again (He is here again). Examples are numerous (all temporals). There are some words that do not belong anywhere - e.g. after all. Speaking about after all it should be mentioned that this unit is quite often used by native speakers, and practically never by our students. Some more striking examples: anyway, actually, in fact. The problem is that if these words belong nowhere, there is no place for them in the system of words, then how can we use them correctly? What makes things worse is the fact that these words are devoid of nominative power, and they have no direct equivalents in Russian. Meanwhile, native speakers use these words subconsciously, without realizing how they work.

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