General Information

SYNTAX OF THE SENTENCE

Sourses

Blokh M.Y. A Course in Theoretical English Grammar. M., 2000, p. 254-262.

Alexandrova O.V. Modern English Grammar: Morphology and Syntax. M.: “Academy,” 2007, p. 161-167.

Худяков, А.А. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка: учебное пособие / А.А. Худяков. – М.: Академия, 2005. – С. 68-77, 89-99

General Information

The sentence is the central object of study in syntax. It can be defined as the immediate integral unit of speech built up by words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose.

The correlation of the word and the sentence shows some important differences and similarities between these two main level-forming lingual units. Both of them are nominative units, but the word just names objects and phenomena of reality, while the sentence is at the same time a nominative and predicative lingual unit. A sentence can consist of only one word, as any lingual unit of the upper level can consist of only one unit of the lower level (Why? Thanks). But nevertheless it expresses various connections between the situation described and the actual reality.

Another difference between the word and the sentence is as follows: the word exists in the system of language as a ready-made unit, which is reproduced in speech; the sentence is produced each time in speech, except for a limited number of idiomatic utterances.

The sentence is distinguished by a relevant intonation: each sentence possesses certain intonation pattern, including pauses, pitch movements and stresses, which separate one sentence from another in the flow of speech.

But speech presents only one aspect of language, which combines the system of language (language proper (“langue”)) and the immediate realization of it in the process of intercourse (speech proper (“parole”)). The sentence as a unit of communication also includes two sides inseparably connected with each other: fixed in the system of the language are typical models, generalized sentence patterns, which speakers follow when constructing their own utterances in actual speech. The number of actual sentences, or utterances, is infinite; the number of “linguistic sentences” or sentence patterns in the system of language is definite, and they are the object of study in grammar.

The definition of the category of predication shows a connection between the named objects and actual reality. It can be defined as syntactic modality, expressed by the sentence.

The center of predication in the sentence is the finite form of the verb – the predicate; the main predicative meanings, actual evaluations of the event, are expressed through the verb’s forms of tense, mood, and voice. L. Tesnière, who introduced the term “valency” in linguistics, described the verbal predicate as the core around which the whole sentence structure is organized according to the valencies of the predicate verb; he subdivided all verbal complements and supplements into so-called “actants”, elements that identify the participants in the process, and “circonstants”, or elements that identify the circumstances of the process. Besides the predicate, other elements of the sentence also help express predication: for example, word order, various functional words and, in oral speech, intonation. In addition to verbal time and mood evaluation, the predicative meanings of the sentence include the purpose of communication (declaration – interrogation – inducement), affirmation and negation and other meanings.

Predication is the basic differential feature of the sentence, but not the only one. There is a difference between the nominative function of the word and the nominative function of the sentence. The nominative content of a syntagmatically complete average sentence, called a proposition, reflects a processual situation, an event that includes a certain process (actional or statal) as its dynamic center, the agent of the process, the objects of the process, and various conditions and circumstances of the realization of the process. The situation is reflected through the nominative parts (members) of the sentence, but no separate word, no matter how many stems it consists of, can express the situation-nominative semantics of a proposition.

To some extent, the nomination of situational events can be realized by expanded substantive or nominal phrases. The transformation of a sentence into a nominal phrase is known as “nominalization” (His father arrived unexpectedly; his father’s unexpected arrival; the unexpected arriving of his father, etc). When a sentence is transformed into a “nominalized” phrase, it loses its processual-predicative character. This, first, supports once again the idea that the content of the sentence is a unity of two mutually complementary aspects: of the nominative aspect and the predicative aspect; and, second, this specifies the definition of predication: predication should be interpreted not simply as referring the content of the sentence to reality, but as referring the nominative content of the sentence to reality.

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