Word Classes in Grammar

Outline:
Traditional parts of speech
Criteria for their distinguishing.
The system of parts of speech in English.
Notional and formal words.
Other classifications

Parts of speech

Tradional and conventional term
part
speech
language
?

Origin of the term
Ancient Greece - 2nd century B.C.

A word class is a group of words, which, from a grammatical point of view, behave in the same way.
(D. Crystal, 1995)

A part of speech is a type of word differing from other types in some grammatical point. (B.A.Ilyish, 1971)
V vs. N => tense is a distinctive feature
*What is the past tense of the word ‘city’ ?

Three Criteria for Distinguishing Parts of Speech
form
meaning
function,
position

Part of speech criteria
O. Jespersen (1933, 2007).
Three criteria from Russian linguistics:
V.V. Vinogradov,
L.V. Scherba
A.I. Smirnitsky
B.A. Ilyish
Interrelated criteria (E.Kubryakova 1979)

Part of Speech Criteria
Semantic – conceptual categorial aspect, generalized abstract meaning common to a class of words:
noun - substance
adjective – property, quality
verb– process /action / state
adverb – aspect of quality, action or state
Generalized grammatical meaning is based on lexical meanings of words.

Part of speech criteria
2. Morphological – every part of speech has its own system of grammar forms:
noun – common and possessive case, singular and plural number
verb – mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), tense and aspect, voice (active-passive), person, number
adjective – degrees of comparison
adverb - indeclinable
Formal criterion provides for the exposition of the paradigmatic inflectional and specific derivational features of the class.

Part of speech criteria
3. Syntactical - function as part of a sentence and position in the sentence :
noun - subject (SV)
- object (VO)
verb – predicate (primarily)
adjective – attribute (Adj + N)
adverb – adverbial modifier
The functional criterion concerns the syntactic role of words in the sentence typical of a part of speech and word combinability.

e.g., noun
Semantic criterion:
Morphological criterion:
Syntactical criterion:
Substance, thingness
Singular –plural
common – possessive case
Suffixes: -ness, -tion, -er…
Functions: Subject, object, predicative
Modification by an adj

adjective
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
Property (qualitative and relative)
Degrees of comparison (for qualitative adj)
Suffixes: -al, -y, -ish
Function: attribute, predicative
Adj + N

verb
Semantic criterion:
Morphological criterion:
Syntactical criterion:
Process
Mood, tense, aspect, voice, person, number
Finite- non-finite forms
Suffixes: -ize, -ate
Predicate for finite forms; mixed (V + N/Adj) for verbals
V + Adv

adverb
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
Secondary property (property of a process or another property)degrees of comparison for qualitative adv
Suffix: -ly
Adverbial modifier
Adv+V; Adv+Adj

interjection
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
Express feelings
Invariable
Parenthesis

pronoun
Semantic criterion:
Morphological criterion:
Syntactical criterion:
Indication (deixis) (pointing to things or properties without naming them)
Some – number, case, person
Substantival and adjectival functions

Linguistics abroad:

numeral
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
Number (cardinal) or place in a series (ordinal)
Invariable
-teen, -ty; -th
Numerical attribute or numerical substantive
Num+N

Criticism of parts of speech
Unevenness of the classificatory criteria
Transition of parts of speech
Homophony
No universal categories within a class

Unevenness of the classificatory criteria
The criteria are partially contradictory and overlapping
E.g., numeral: meaning = quantity
thousands of people => noun
many people => pronoun

Adjective is a word modifying a noun.
N
Here is a toy car. ?
Adj

Adverb - indeclinable
well – better – best
a catch-all class that includes words with many different functions
-ly is an adverb marker, but early, friendly, ugly are adjectives;
tomorrow, fast, crosswise = adv

Not all three criteria are applicable to all parts of speech. Some of them may fail.
E.g. , semantic:
N vs. V = substance : process
We had a walk.

Transition of parts of speech
Conversion:
Water, break, outlaw, laser, microwave and telephone
N or V ?
We must look to the hows and not just the whys.

Homophony
I hear a loud sound.
They sound like bells.
I have a sound reason.

No universality within a class
Not all nouns have possessive case
Not all verbs have a passive voice form
Not all adjectives have comparison forms

Are there English words that are not included in any part of speech?
Yes. No.

Classifications of parts of speech

traditional
Parts of speech are lexico-grammatical (A.Smirnitsky) classes that differ by their general semantic features, morphological forms, and syntactical functions.

Traditional classification
Eight major classes of words (Plato & Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax; 18th century):
noun
verb
adjective
adverb
interjection
preposition
conjunction
pronoun

Russian linguists (B.A. Ilyish, V. Zhigadlo, I. Ivanova, L. Iofik) add:
numerals,
statives,
modal words, and
particles.
not distinguished
internationally

Stative: asleep, afire, afraid or Adj?
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
State (not property)
Invariable
Prefix a-
Predicative, attrib.
Be+Stative; N+S (a man asleep in his chair)

Particles: only, even, just (or Adv?)
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
Subjective emphasis or limitation
Invariable
Combine with any part of speech
No syntactic function

Modal words: perhaps, possibly (or Adv?)
1. Semantic criterion:
2. Morphological criterion:
3. Syntactical criterion:
The speker’s evaluation of the relation btw an action & reality
Invariable
Parenthesis

Notional and functional
parts of speech

deictic

Notional parts of speech are words with lexical meaning; they have nominative function.
pronoun
numeral

Functional (formal, structural) parts of speech serve to show relations between notional words.
interjection
Modal word

Functional (formal, structural) parts of speech

Functional parts of speech (form)
Invariable
Phonetically weak

Functional parts of speech (meaning)
The book is on the desk.
The book is under the desk.
She did not speak because she was tired.
She did not speak though she was tired.
E. Kubryakova (1979): function words also have a nominative function = relating to an extra-linguistic element. They reveal place of objects and actions in time and space.

Functional parts of speech
Article
Preposition
Conjunction
Particle
Modal words
Interjections
Expresses specific limitation of the substantive function
Expresses (inter)dependencies of substantive referents
Expresses connections of phenomena
Unites functional words of specifying or limiting meaning
Expresses the attitude of the speaker
Signal emotions
Part of speech
Role (meaning) in the sentence

Disputable: notional or functional?
Modal verbs
Auxiliary verbs
I.P. Ivanova (1981):
Functional parts of speech vs. functional words

Disputable: notional or functional?
Modal verbs
Auxiliary verbs
I.P. Ivanova (1981):
Functonal parts of speech vs. functional words

I.P. Ivanova:
Functional words are notional words that have lost, under certain conditions, their lexical meaning and have maintained only grammatical function.
Cf. I have a new TV set.
I have lost my gloves.

Deictic function of pronouns
Take it away!
Where is the sales assistant who sold me these shoes?
Deictic
(situational)
Anaphoric
(contextual)

Deictic words
Deictic words (Grk. deixis “indicate”) refer to the personal, temporal, or spacial aspect of an utterance act. Their designation is, therefore, dependent on the context of the speech situation.–
pronouns
adverbs

Other classifications

Morphological classification
H.Sweet:
declinables (nouns, adj, verbs)
Indeclinables (adverbs, prepositions, conjuncts, interjections)

Enlarging classes
Connectors (W. Plotkin) / connectives (L.Barkhudarov & D. Shteling) / conjuncts (D.Crystal):
Prepositions
Conjunctions
Determinatives (L.Barkhudarov & D. Shteling), determiners (D.Crystal, CGE)
Adjectives
Articles
Pronouns

Open and closed classes
(R. Quirk, S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, J. Svartvik, 1972, 1982)
N
Adj
Adv
V
Article
Pronouns
Prepositions
Conjunctions
Interjections
Open classes
Closed classes (ab. 150)

Narrower principle of identification
Syntactico-distributional classification (L. Bloomfield, Z. Harris, Ch. Fries)
No criterion of meaning (Woggles ugged diggles.)
Study of word combinability by means of substitution testing
4 main positional (notional) classes (frames): N, V, A(dj), D (adv)
Words outside the “positions” are functional – 15 groups:
Specifiers of nouns, verbs, adj, adv.
Relation determiners (prep, conj)
Referring to the sentence as a whole (how, which; lets, please; attention-getters; yes, no; introductory it & there)

Field theory
(V. Admoni, 1968; G.Schur, 1974, 2007)
Nuclear (words possessing all the properties of a certain part of speech) and periphery
E.g., nouns with the meaning of process (walk, run) are in the margin of the noun field, in the overlapping sector with the verb field.
There is no strict borderline between parts of speech, they are able to converge.

Three little words you often see
Are ARTICLES: a, an, and the.
A NOUN's the name of anything,
As: school or garden, toy, or swing.
ADJECTIVES tell the kind of noun,
As: great, small, pretty, white, or brown.
VERBS tell of something being done:
To read, write, count, sing, jump, or run.
How things are done the ADVERBS tell,
As: slowly, quickly, badly, well.
CONJUNCTIONS join the words together,
As: men and women, wind or weather.
The PREPOSITION stands before
A noun as: in or through a door.
The INTERJECTION shows surprise
As: Oh, how pretty! Ah! how wise!
The whole are called the PARTS of SPEECH,
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

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Literature