Seminar 1 The Basic Assumptions of Theoretical Grammar

1.Why do we have to stratify language and speech?

Stratifying language and speech is essential because it recognizes their distinct but
interconnected roles in communication and helps professionals, researchers, and
educators address communication challenges more effectively and precisely.

2.What is the difference between primary and secondary levels?

1. Primary Level (Language):

 Language refers to the core system of communication that includes

vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and semantics.

 At the primary level of language, we focus on fundamental linguistic

elements, such as words, sentence structure, and meaning.

 It deals with how we organize and convey ideas and information

through symbols (e.g., words and grammar rules).

2. Secondary Level (Speech):

 Speech pertains to the physical production of sounds used in

communication.

 The secondary level of speech involves the articulation of sounds,

pronunciation, intonation, and other aspects related to the physical act
of speaking.

 It addresses how we produce and convey language through the vocal

apparatus, including the lips, tongue, vocal cords, and airflow.

The primary level in language and speech focuses on the fundamental aspects of
language structure and meaning, while the secondary level deals with the physical
production and expression of language through speech sounds.
3.How many basic or primary levels are there in language and speech?

The most wide - spread opinion is that there are five language (speech) levels, they
are: phonetic/phonological; morphological; lexicological, syntax - minor
(sentence) and syntax – major (text).

4.What's the difference between language levels and speech levels?

The difference between language levels and speech levels is that language levels
refer to different stages or aspects of a language, such as phonology, morphology,
syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, while speech levels refer to variations in speech
delivery, such as pitch, tone, and formality. Language levels are concerned with the
structure and meaning of language, while speech levels deal with how language is
spoken or expressed verbally.

5.Are there special terms for language and speech levels?

Yes, there are special terms for different language levels and speech levels:

Language Levels:

1. Phonology: The study of speech sounds and their patterns.

2. Morphology: The study of word structure and formation.

3. Syntax: The study of sentence structure and grammar.

4. Semantics: The study of meaning in language.

5. Pragmatics: The study of language use in context.

Speech Levels:

1. Prosody: The rhythm, intonation, and stress patterns in speech.

 2. Pitch: The highness or lowness of a person's voice.

3. Register: The level of formality or informality in speech.

4. Articulation: The clear and distinct pronunciation of speech sounds.

These terms help linguists and speech professionals describe and analyze different
aspects of language and speech.

6.What does phonetical - phonological level study?

The phonetic-phonological level studies the sounds (phonetics) and sound patterns
(phonology) of a language, including the articulation, acoustic properties, and
organization of speech sounds within that language. It focuses on how speech
sounds are produced, perceived, and used to convey meaning in linguistic
communication.

7.What does morphological level study?

Morphology is the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to
other words in the same language. It analyzes the structure of words and parts of
words such as stems, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

8.What does lexicological level study?

The lexicological level studies vocabulary and the organization of words within a
language, including word meanings, word forms, and how words are used in
sentences. It is concerned with the structure, meaning, and usage of words in a
language.
9.What does syntax - minor study?

Syntax - minor deals with simple sentences, with a smaller unit than the simple
sentence i.e. word combinations and with the bigger unit than the simple sentence
– composite sentences.

10.What does syntax - major study?

The unit of this level is text -the highest level of language and speech. "Syntax-
major" represents both language and speech levels due to the absence of separate
term as well as "text" is used homogeniously for both language and speech units

11.Do the levels function separately in speech or they function as one body?

The levels in speech do not function separately but instead work together as an
integrated system to facilitate effective communication. Each level contributes to
the production and comprehension of speech, and they are interconnected and
interdependent in natural language use.
 Seminar 2 Types and Kinds of Systemic Relations of the Language units

1.What do you understand by “grammatical structure of a language”?

Grammatical structure in English language is simply the arrangement of words,

phrases, and clauses in a sentence. Naturally, this definition brings to mind the
parts of speech in English language which is like the building block of grammar
and sentence structure.

2.What is the difference between synthetic and analytical languages?

A language is called 'synthetic' if it adds (bound) morphemes (i.e. inflectional

morphemes) to words in order to indicate grammatical relationships. On the other
hand, if a language indicates grammatical information through unbound
morphemes or syntactical constructions, it is called 'analytic'.

3. Compare the grammatical structure of English with the grammatical structure

of Ukrainian language?

English and Ukrainian have distinct grammatical structures, but here are some key
points of comparison:

Cases:

English: Lacks a case system, and word order plays a crucial role in determining
grammatical relationships.

Ukrainian: Has a rich case system with seven cases which indicate the grammatical
roles of nouns and pronouns.

Verb Conjugation:
English: Verb conjugation is relatively simple, with few changes based on person
and tense (e.g., "I eat," "He eats").

Ukrainian: Verb conjugation is more complex, with changes based on person,

number, tense, mood, and aspect (e.g., "Я їм," "Він їсть").

Articles:

English: Uses definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) articles to specify or generalize
nouns.

Ukrainian: Generally lacks articles, so noun endings and context determine

specificity.

4.What is the difference between lexical and grammatical meanings?

Lexical meaning is dominant in content words, whereas grammatical meaning is

dominant in function words, but in neither is grammatical meaning absent.
Grammatical words include prepositions, modals and auxiliary verbs, pronouns,
articles, conjunctions, and some adverbs.

5.What operation is called "morphemic analysis?"

Morphemic analysis is the process of identifying the individual units of meaning,

called morphemes, within a word. Morphemes can be prefixes, suffixes, or root
words, and they each have their own meaning. Language acquisition often begins
with a study of root words, or morphemes, that form a base of a word.
6.What are the procedures for revealing morphemes suggested by Z. Harris and
Ch. Hockett?

Zelling Harris and Charles Hockett suggested the following procedures for
revealing morphemes in a language:

Distributional Analysis: This involves examining the distribution of a particular

sound or sequence of sounds in various words to identify potential morphemes.

Morphophonemic Analysis: This focuses on the variations in the way morphemes

are pronounced due to phonological rules.

Minimal Pairs and Morphophonemics: Comparing minimal pairs, which are

pairs of words that differ by only one sound, can help identify morphemes by
highlighting how changes in sounds can change the meaning of a word.

These procedures are used in morphological analysis to identify and study the
morphemes within a language, helping linguists understand word formation and
structure.

7. Paradigmatic relations in Grammar. Types of paradigms.

Paradigmatic relation is concerned with the way words are grouped together into
categories, like nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. Words in the same group, or word
class, can be exchanged for each other in a sentence.

Types of paradigms in communicative grammar.

Functional paradigm. The same proposition can be presented by different types

of utterances: declarative, interrogative, imperative, emotional utterance.

Situational paradigm. It reflects the degree of completeness of information about

the definite communicative situation.
Modality paradigm. The members of this paradigm reflect the situation as real or
unreal. The difference in attitude rangers from assurance and certainty up to
complete distrust of what has been said.

These notions are expressed in different ways:

by modal auxiliaries,

by a sentence with introductory it and a that-clause,

by an adverbial.

4. Emotional paradigm. We distinguish sentences according to the degree of

intensification and emotionality.

5. Communicative paradigm.

8. Syntagmatic relations in Grammar, their types.

Syntagmatic relation is a type of sematic relations between words that co-occur in

the same sentence or text.

There are four main types of notional syntagmas: predicative (the combination of a
subject and a predicate), objective (-/- a verb and its object), attributive (a noun and
attribute), adverbial (a modified notional word, such as a verb, adjective, or adverb,
with its adverbial modifier).

9. Grammatical meaning. Types of grammatical meaning.

Grammatical meaning is the meaning conveyed in a sentence by word order and

other grammatical signals.
The grammatical meaning may be explicit and implicit. The implicit grammatical
meaning is not expressed formally (e.g. the word table does not contain any hints
in its form as to it being inanimate). The explicit grammatical meaning is always
marked morphologically – it has its marker. In the word cats the grammatical
meaning of plurality is shown in the form of the noun; cat’s – here the grammatical
meaning of possessiveness is shown by the form ‘s; is asked – shows the explicit
grammatical meaning of passiveness.

10. Grammatical category. Grammatical form.

A grammatical category is a class of units (such as noun and verb) or features (such
as number and case) that share a common set of characteristics.

Grammatical form can be described as “what a word, phrase, or clause looks like.”

Seminar 3 Methods of linguistic analisis.

1. General methods in linguistics.

General methods are methods that apply to all aspects of the social sphere. In
particular, the methods of analysis from general to specific, from private to
general, analysis-synthesis, from simple to complex are used in almost all areas.

In modern linguistics, the following methods are used for linguistic analysis;

• part of speech method;

• historical-comparative method;
• substitution (substitution) method;

• distributive method;

• method of disassembly;

• transformation method;

• statistical analysis method;

• Method of meaning scale analysis.

2. The “Parts-of-the sentence” method.

The method of fragmentary speech has been used since the early days of
linguistics. According to this method, sentences are divided into parts. It is based
on the function of the word in the sentence. The analysis of the passages is as
follows.

1. The main parts of speech (possessive and participle) are divided into secondary
parts (complement, determiner, case).

2. The function of the parts of speech determines which phrase is used.

3. The grammatical forms (morphological categories) of the words that come as a

part of speech are explained.

This method only works in the syntax section. The complexity of using this
method is observed in almost all languages.
3. The distribution method. Positive and negative sides of the distributional
method.

The distribution method is a method of linguistic research in which the

classification of linguistic units and the study of their features are carried out on
the basis of the distribution of the units in question in the spoken chain, i.e. on the
basis of their combinability.

Positive sides of the distributional method in linguistics include its effectiveness in

uncovering patterns and relationships in language use, aiding in the identification
of morphemes and their meanings, and providing insights into language structure.

Negative sides of the distributional method may include limitations in identifying

certain types of morphemes, difficulty in handling homophones (words with the
same pronunciation but different meanings), and potential challenges when applied
to languages with complex morphological systems.

4. The Immediate Constituents method. (IC-method).

This method was elaborated by the head of American Descriptive Linguistics

Leonard Bloomfield.The Immeadiate Constituents method aims at describing any
complex form ranging from long sentences to multi-element words in terms of
their constItuents.
5. The Transformational method (T-method).

The transformation method is the most perfect of all modern methods. This method
is characterized by the ability to explain the syntactic process in language.

6. The method of componential analysis.

Componential analysis is thus an attempt to describe the meaning of words in

terms of a universal inventory of semantic components and their possible
combinations.