When determining the basic units of language, most leading experts in the field of psycholinguistics rely on the theoretical concept of “analysis of the whole by units” developed by L.S. Vygotsky (42, 45). Under the unit of this or that system L.S. Vygotsky understood “a product of analysis that has all the basic properties inherent in the whole, and which are further indecomposable living parts of this unity” (45, p. 15).
To the main units of language distinguished in linguistics and psycholinguistics include: phoneme, morpheme, word, sentence And text.
Phoneme - is the sound of speech appearing in his meaningful function that allows you to distinguish one word (as a stable sound complex and, accordingly, material carrier of meaning) from other words. Semantic (phonemic) the function of speech sounds manifests itself only when the sound is found in a word, and only in a certain, so-called. "strong" (or "phonemic") position. For all vowel sounds, this is the position in the stressed syllable; for individual vowels (vowels a, ы) - also in the first pre-stressed syllable. For consonant sounds, a common "strong position" is the position before the vowel in straight syllables; position before a consonant of the same type (voiced before voiced, soft before soft, etc.); for sonorants and voiceless sounds, another "phonemic" position is the final position in the word.
The most vividly meaningful function of phonemes is manifested in monosyllabic paronymic words that differ in one sound (phoneme), for example: onion - bough - juice - sleep etc. However, in all cases, phonemes (no matter how many there are in a word and no matter what combinations they appear in) always perform their main function as part of a word. It consists of the following: the correct pronunciation of sounds-phonemes at the external phase of the implementation of speech activity ensures the possibility of its full perception by the listener and, accordingly, adequate transmission of mental content. Moreover, the phoneme itself is neither a semantic nor a meaning-forming unit. Once again I would like to draw the attention of practicing speech therapists to the fact that the main task of working on the formation of correct sound pronunciation is the development of skills correct production of phonemes native language as part of a word. The correct pronunciation of phonemes is condition for the full implementation of the communicative function of speech.
Morpheme is a combination of sounds (phonemes) that has a certain, so-called. "grammatical" meaning. This “meaning” of the morpheme also appears only in the composition of the word, and it received this name because it is inextricably linked with the basic grammatical functions of morphemes. In linguistics, morphemes are classified in different ways. Thus, according to their place in the “linear structure of words” they are distinguished prefixes(prefixes) and postfixes(as morphemes preceding and following root morpheme); from among the postfixes stand out suffixes And inflections (endings); the root morpheme itself was named for its meaning-forming (in this case, “lexical-forming”) function. Morphemes that form the stem of a word are called affixes;“grammatical opposition” to them is inflections.
Morphemes perform a number of important functions in language (when used in speech activity):
With the help of morphemes, processes of inflection (changing words according to grammatical forms) are carried out in a language. Basically, this function is performed by inflections, and also, in some cases, by suffixes and prefixes;
Word formation processes take place in language through morphemes. The morphemic method of word formation (suffixal, suffixal-prefixal, etc.) is the main way of forming new words in the developed languages of the world, since the homonymous method of word formation has a rather limited scope of use in the language system;
With the help of morphemes, connections between words in phrases are formed (the grammatical function of inflections, as well as suffixes);
Finally, a certain combination of morphemes creates the main lexical meaning of a word, which is, as it were, a “summation” of the grammatical meaning of the morphemes included in a given word.
Based on these most important linguistic functions of morphemes, as well as from the fact that, in their diversity and quantitative composition, morphemes form a fairly extensive layer of language, we can draw the following methodological conclusion in relation to the theory and methodology of correctional “speech” work: complete language acquisition by students impossible without mastering its morphological structure. It is no coincidence that in the best methodological systems of domestic specialists in the field of preschool and school speech therapy, such great attention is paid to the formation in students of linguistic knowledge, ideas and generalizations associated with the acquisition of the system of morphemes of the native language, as well as the formation of appropriate linguistic operations with these units of language (T.B. Filicheva and G.V. Chirkina, 1990, 1998; R.I. Lalaeva and N.V. Serebryakova, 2002, 2003; L.F. Spirova, 1980; S.N. Shakhovskaya, 1971; G.V. Babina , 2005, etc.).
The basic and universal unit of language is word. This unit of language can be defined both as a stable sound complex with meaning, and as a “fixed”, “closed” combination of morphemes. The word as a unit of language appears in several of its qualities or manifestations. The main ones are the following.
A word as a unit of language is a lexical unit (lexeme) with a certain number of meanings. This can be represented as a "mathematical" expression:
Lex. units = 1 + n (values), for example, for the Russian language this numerical formula looks like 1 + n (2–3).
The word includes at least two components: on the one hand, it denotes an object, replacing it, highlighting essential features in it, and on the other hand, it analyzes the object, introduces it into a system of connections, into the corresponding category of objects based on a generalization of its content. This word structure suggests the complexity of the process nominations(name of the object). For this, two main conditions are necessary: 1) the presence of a clear differentiated image of the object, 2) the presence of a lexical meaning for the word.
The word as a unit of language acts as grammatical unit. This is manifested in the fact that each lexeme word belongs to a specific grammatical category of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, etc.). Belonging to one or another grammatical class, a word has a set of certain grammatical features (or, as is usually defined in linguistics, - categories). For example, for nouns these are the categories of gender, number, case (declension), for verbs - the categories of aspect and tense, etc. These categories correspond to various grammatical forms of words (word forms). Word forms “formed” by morphemes provide the widest possibilities for various combinability of words when constructing speech utterances; they are also used to convey in speech (SD) various semantic (attributive, spatial, qualitative, etc.) connections and relationships.
Finally, the word as a linguistic unit acts as a “building” element of syntax, since syntactic units (phrase, sentence, text) are formed from words, based on one or another variant of their combined use. The “syntactically formative” function of a word manifests itself in the corresponding function of the word in the “context” of a sentence, when it appears in the function subject, predicate, object or circumstances.
The specified functions of the word as the basic and universal unit of language should be subject analysis for students both in remedial classes and in general developmental classes.
Offer represents a combination of words that conveys (expresses) a thought in its complete form. Distinctive features offers are semantic and intonation completeness, as well as structure(presence of grammatical structure). In linguistics offer refers to the number of “strictly normative” linguistic units: any deviations from the linguistic norms of sentence construction associated with non-compliance with its above-mentioned basic properties are considered from the point of view of “practical grammar” as an error or (using the terminology of speech therapy) as “agrammatism” (140, 271, etc.). This is especially true for the written form of speech activity, although for oral speech agrammatism (especially “structural” or “syntactic”) is a negative phenomenon.
Offer just like the word, it is defined in psycholinguistics as the basic and universal unit of language (133, 150, 236, etc.). If the word is a universal means of displaying in the human mind the objects of the surrounding reality, their properties and qualities, then the sentence acts as the main means of displaying the subject of speech-mental activity - thoughts and at the same time as the main (along with text) means of communication.
The unit of implementation of speech activity (in speech psychology - a unit of speech) is a speech utterance. In typical (linguistic) In the RD implementation variant, the speech utterance is “embodied” in the form of a sentence. Based on this, it is completely legitimate and methodologically sound from a psycholinguistic point of view to separate educational work “on the word” and “on the sentence” into separate, independent sections of “speech work”.
Text defined in linguistics as macrounit of language. The text represents a combination of several sentences in a relatively expanded form revealing a particular topic1. Unlike a sentence, the subject of speech (a fragment of the surrounding reality) is displayed in the text not from any one aspect of it, not on the basis of any one of its properties or qualities, but “globally,” taking into account its main distinctive features. If the subject of speech is any phenomenon or event, then in a typical version it is displayed in the text, taking into account the main cause-and-effect (as well as temporal, spatial) connections and relationships (9, 69, 81, etc.).
Distinctive features text as units of language are: thematic unity, semantic and structural unity, compositional structure And grammatical coherence. The text (as a linguistic “form of expression” of an expanded utterance) is “extended” by the main distinctive features of the latter: compliance with the semantic and grammatical connection between fragments of a speech message (paragraphs and semantic-syntactic units), the logical sequence of displaying the main properties of the subject of speech, logical-semantic organization messages. Various means play an important role in the syntactic organization of a detailed speech utterance. interphrase connection(lexical and synonymous repetition, pronouns, words with adverbial meaning, etc.).
Thus, text(in “semantic terms”) is a detailed speech message transmitted by means of language. With its help, the subject of speech (phenomenon, event) is displayed in speech activity in the most complete and complete form. In global speech communication in human society, text as macro unit language plays a decisive role; It is precisely this that serves as the main means of “recording” information (regardless of its volume and even the conditions of speech communication) and transmitting information from one subject of RD to another. Taking into account the above, it is quite reasonable to define text as well as the basic and universal unit of language.
According to another linguistic classification language units include all linguistic structures that have meaning: morphemes, words, phrases, sentences (phrases), texts as expanded coherent statements.
Structures that have no meaning, but only significance(i.e., a certain role in establishing the structure of linguistic units: sounds (phonemes), letters (graphemes), expressive movements (kinemas) in kinetic speech are defined as elements of language(166, 197, etc.).
The basic units of a language form the corresponding subsystems or levels in its general system, which form the so-called level or “vertical” structure of the language system (23, 58, 197, etc.). It is presented in the diagram below.
The above diagram of the level (“vertical”) structure of language reflects its “hierarchical” structural organization, as well as the sequence and stages of “speech work” for the formation of linguistic ideas and generalizations in a child or adolescent. (It should be noted that this sequence does not have a strictly “linear” character; in particular, the assimilation of a language system does not imply an option in which the assimilation of each subsequent (“superior”) subsystem of the language occurs only after the previous one has been completely assimilated) . The assimilation of different components of language can take place simultaneously during certain periods of “speech ontogenesis”, the formation of “higher” structures of the language can begin before the “basic” structures are fully formed, etc. At the same time, the general “order” of the formation of the main subsystems language, of course, is maintained in the ontogenesis of speech, and the same general sequence in work on the various components (subsystems) of language must be observed in the structure of “speech work” on the acquisition of the language system. This is due to the “structural “hierarchy” of linguistic units, the fact that each unit of a higher level is created, formed on the basis of a certain combination of units of a lower level, just as the higher level itself is created by lower (or “basic”) levels.
Language “knowledge” and ideas formed during the study of linguistic units of the “basic” levels of language constitute the basis and prerequisite for the assimilation of linguistic ideas about other, more complex subsystems of language (in particular about categorically grammatical and syntactic sublevels). From the analysis above scheme a methodological conclusion follows: Full assimilation of a language is possible only on the basis of the complete and lasting assimilation of “linguistic knowledge” in relation to all its structural components, on the basis of the formation of appropriate linguistic operations with the basic units of language. This is of fundamental importance in terms of continuity in the work of correctional teachers (primarily speech therapists) of preschool and school educational institutions.
Language- a tool, a means of communication. This is a system of signs, means and rules of speaking, common to all members of a given society. This phenomenon is constant for a given period of time.
Speech- manifestation and functioning of language, the process of communication itself; it is unique for every native speaker. This phenomenon varies depending on the person speaking.
Language and speech are two sides of the same phenomenon. Language is inherent to any person, and speech is inherent to a specific person.
Speech and language can be compared to pen and text. Language is a pen, and speech is text written with this pen.
The main functions of the language are as follows:
- Communication function Language as a means of communication between people. Thought-forming function a means of thinking in the form of words.
- Cognitive (epistemological) function Language as a means of understanding the world, accumulating and transmitting knowledge to other people and subsequent generations (in the form of oral traditions, written sources, audio recordings).
Speech communication is carried out through language as a system of phonetic, lexical and grammatical means of communication. The speaker selects the words necessary to express a thought, connects them according to the rules of the grammar of the language, and pronounces them using the speech organs. any language exists as a living language because it functions. It functions in speech, in statements, in speech acts. The distinction between the concepts of “language” and “speech” was first put forward and substantiated in a clear form by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, then these concepts were further developed by other scientists, in particular academician L. V. Shcherba and his students.
Language is thus defined as a system of elements (linguistic units) and a system of rules for the functioning of these units, common to all speakers of a given language. In turn, speech is specific speaking, occurring over time and expressed in audio (including internal pronunciation) or written form. Speech is understood as both the process of speaking (speech activity) and its result (speech works recorded in memory or writing).
Language is the property of the entire speech community. Being an instrument of communication, it can perform this function only when it is in relative stasis, that is, does not undergo fundamental changes. Language is distinguished by its systematicity, that is, the organization of its units.
Basic units of language and speech. Traditionally, there are 4 basic units of language: sentence, word (lexeme), morpheme, phoneme. Each language The unit has its own special function and has special qualities. characteristics, then each unit from the point of view of this quality is manifested. minimum (maximum). It is a generalization (abstraction) from many linguistic factors. Phoneme - smallest unit sound structure of the language, which itself does not matter, but Spanish. for the formation, recognition and discrimination of meaningful units. language: morphemes and words. Ch. f-i phonemes - distinguishes meaning. Morpheme - minimum significant eat. language, highlighted as part of a word, i.e. dependent, and Spanish. for word-formation or word-formation (form-formation). Token - the smallest independent significant unit. language with a nominative (nominal) function and having. lexical and grammatical know Offer - the minimum communicative unit, which is built according to the gram. laws of a given language and expresses relates. a complete thought. A linguistic unit correlates with a unit of speech as an invariant (combined variants) and a variant. Speech unit is the implementation of a linguistic unit in specific speech conditions. A phoneme corresponds in speech to an allophone (a variant of a phoneme). Morphemes appear in speech in the form of allomorphs (morphemes in their specific version in a specific word). A lexeme is a word in all the combinations of its meanings and forms. In speech, a word exists as a word form.
Sound(phoneme)* is the smallest unit of language. It has a plane of expression (form), but no plane of content (meaning). So, for example, we can pronounce a sound, hear it, but it doesn’t mean anything.
It is customary to assign 2 functions to sounds: function perception And meaningful(for example, [ball] - [heat]).
*Sound is what we hear and pronounce. This is a unit speeches.
A phoneme is an abstract unit abstracted from a specific sound. This is a unit language. In Russian there are 37
consonant phonemes and 5
vowel phonemes (according to academic grammar). 
The Leningrad phonological school identifies 35 consonant and 6 vowel phonemes (long and’
,w’
are not considered (for example, in[and'and’]and, dro[and'and']And), A s stands out as an independent phoneme). The Moscow linguistic school identifies 34 consonant phonemes (k’, g’, x’ are considered as allophones of the phonemes k, g, x). 
Morpheme- a two-plane unit of language (there is both a plane of expression and a plane of content, i.e. meaning). The meaning of a morpheme is not recorded in dictionaries, like the meaning of words. But, moving from word to word, morphemes retain their meaning and indicate the difference between words in meaning.
For example, morphemes in words arrived And flew away point to:
- zoom in/out (using the prefixes pri- and y-),
- movement through the air (this meaning is concentrated in the root of the word -let-),
- and grammatical suffixes and endings communicate parts of speech(the suffix -e- indicates a verb), time(-l- - past tense suffix), gender and number(Ø is masculine, singular, and the ending –a indicates feminine, singular).
The functions of a morpheme are determined by the role it plays in a word:
- so, at the root - the semantic core of the word - real value;
- prefixes, most suffixes and postfixes (-to, -ili, -ni, -sia, etc.), changing the meaning of a word, perform word-formation function;
- at endings, as well as at grammatical suffixes and postfixes (they change the grammatical form of a word: gender, number, case, tense, mood, etc.) grammatical, inflectional function.
Word(lexeme) is the central unit of language: sounds and morphemes exist only in words, and sentences are built from words. A word represents the unity of lexical meaning (the plane of content) and grammatical meaning (the plane of expression, i.e. form).
The lexical meaning is individual, it is inherent in a specific word, and is recorded in the explanatory dictionary. Grammatical meaning is abstract and unites entire classes of words. For example, words house, cat, table have different lexical meanings, but a common grammatical meaning.
Lexical meaning: house – ‘place of residence’, cat – ‘pet’, table – ‘piece of furniture’.
Grammatical meaning: all words belong to one part of speech (noun), to one grammatical gender (masculine) and are in the form of one number (singular).
The main function of the word is nominative(nominative). This is the ability of words to name objects of the real world, our consciousness, etc. 
§ 1. Language as a system of means of forming thoughts and exchanging thoughts in the process of communication includes a huge set of elements of the most diverse specificity, combining with each other in complex functional interaction as part of texts - products of people’s speech activity. These elements are usually called “language units”. A.I. Smirnitsky, defining the concept of a language unit, pointed out that such a unit, standing out in speech, must satisfy two requirements: firstly, it must preserve the essential common features of the language; secondly, no new features should appear in it that introduce a “new quality” into it. According to the first requirement, a unit of language, like language as a whole, must be two-sided, that is, represent a unity of form and meaning. According to the second requirement, a unit of language must be reproduced in speech, and not act as a “work” created by the speaker in the process of communication. Based on the first requirement, according to A.I. Smirnitsky, the phoneme as a one-sided unit, as well as elements of accentuation and rhythm that do not have meaningful functions, are excluded from the composition of language units. Based on the second requirement, the sentence is excluded from the language units (see above).
The fundamental difference between phonemes, on the one hand, and sign elements, on the other, is the most important feature of the “natural” human language, in contrast to various artificial sign systems created on the basis of natural language. This difference is reflected by the linguistic concept of “double division” of language, that is, the division of the entire set of its constituent elements into sign and non-sign (“pre-sign”) parts.
But due consideration of the cardinal importance for the language as a whole of its phonetic part, which constitutes its separate “structure” within the framework of the tripartite division of the language system (phonetic system - lexical system - grammatical structure), does not allow us to exclude the phoneme from the general scope of the concept of a language unit. On the contrary, since language is a property of a people and since its phonetic appearance is the primary feature that distinguishes each specific language of a people from all other languages of the world that belong to other peoples, the isolation of a phoneme into a special unit of language is dictated by linguistic reality itself.
In order to consistently divide two kinds of linguistic elements, namely, signed and non-signed, according to their functional content, we introduce two new terms into conceptual linguistic use: the first is “cortema” (from lat. cortex); the second is “signema” (from lat. signum). The concept of corteme will cover all units of the material form of language that are “pre-sign” or “unilateral”, and the concept of signeme will cover all sign units of language that are “bilateral”. In the accepted conceptual illumination, which facilitates the work of the linguist in the context of the ongoing theoretical dispute about the two-sidedness or one-sidedness of a sign, the phoneme acts as a special case of the corteme, which we will discuss below.
According to their material structure, all units of language are divided into those that are formed by phonemes, appearing in the form of chains or “segments,” and those that accompany the segments as accompanying means of expression. The smallest segment of language is the phoneme. A morpheme, a word, a sentence constitute segmental meaningful units (signemes), each with its own set of functions. The accompanying means of expression, identified as integral units with their own functions, include significant models of intonation (intoneme), stress, pauses, and word order configurations. All these units are terminologically combined under the name “supersegmental”. The functions they perform are displayed in the form of corresponding modifications of the content of segmental units that carry the primary functional load in text formation.
§ 2. All segmental units of language are related to each other in such a way that large segments are divided into a number of smaller segments, and this division reveals a rank or tiered character.
The indicated nature of the relationship between language segments serves as the basis for considering language in the form of a hierarchy of levels - such that the units of each higher level are formed from units of the lower level.
This level representation of language is opposed by the concept of “isomorphism”, which arose as a result of highlighting the most abstract properties of the formal relations of linguistic units of different levels.
Thus, in American descriptive linguistics, for a long time, the postulate was accepted that the actual linguistic quality of phonemes and morphemes - the two main (according to the views of this direction of research) level-forming types of language segments - is entirely determined by the identical (isomorphic) patterns of their “distribution” ( distribution in the text) relative to other segments, respectively, its own and adjacent levels. Descriptivist scientists placed special emphasis on the laws of distribution as an expression of the nature of the elements of language because, as we noted above, they set out to construct a description of language on a “strictly formal” basis, in abstraction from the meanings expressed by language [Basic directions of structuralism, 1964, p. . 177–211]. But it is impossible to describe language in abstraction from the meanings it expresses for the simple reason that meanings themselves are an integral part of language; and if we not only do not get distracted, but, on the contrary, consistently take into account the meanings and functions conveyed and performed by the elements of language that fall within the scope of analysis, then we inevitably come to the conclusion that the concept of linguistic isomorphism is very relative.
There is undoubtedly a certain commonality in the structure of different levels of language. It is directly dependent on the very function of language as a means of forming thoughts and exchanging thoughts in the process of communication. It is reasonable to see such a commonality in the fact that at all levels of language the unity of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations that defines the language as a whole is revealed. This unity is specifically revealed in the fact that each higher level represents the sphere of functional output of units of the lower level, with the ensuing complex phenomena of inter-level interaction (see: [Levels of language and their interaction, 1967; Units of different levels of the grammatical structure and their interaction, 1969 ]; see also: [Yartseva, 1968; Arutyunova, 1969; Shchur, 1974]). On the other hand, units of each level have their own properties of form and function, which do not allow them to be reduced to the properties of units of other levels, and this formal-substantive definition of the types of language units, correlated with their unifying properties to enter into syntagmatic and paradigmatic connections in their parts of the system, as once again serves as a justification for the very idea of a level division of the segmental composition of a language.
§ 3. The lower, initial level of segments constitutes a set of phonemes.
The specificity of units of the phonemic level is that they form a material form or “shell” of overlying segments, without being symbolic units in themselves. Phonemes form and differentiate morphemes, and the specific implementers of their distinctive function are linguistically relevant “distinctive features”, more precisely, the substantial content of these features - the material properties of sounds on which their differentiation in a particular language is based. These properties or features are no longer segments in themselves, and therefore it would be unjustified to talk about the “level of phonological distinctive features” in the accepted sense.
A phoneme, as established above, is a special case of a corteme - a unit of the material form of language. In cortemics (the general set of linguistic elements of a material form), as well as in signemics (the general set of sign language elements), segmental units and suprasegmental units are distinguished. Supersegmental cortex includes non-sign accentuation, rhythm, and a certain part of the “overtones” in intonation patterns. Segmental cortemic, in addition to phonemics, includes the syllabic structure of a word, that is, “syllabemics.” Thus, from a material and physical point of view, the area of segmental cortex is subject to hierarchical division into the level of phonemes and the level of syllabems, and the total composition of language units is distributed over two hyperlevels - corthematic and signematic, respectively.
On the other hand, it should be taken into account that the direct word-building (more precisely, morpheme-building) function is carried out by phonemes with their distinctive features. This gives us the right in the present description to talk about the generalized phonemic level of linguistic segments, directly contrasted with the extensive hierarchy of sign segments. As for syllabeme syllables, forming their own sublevel in the segmental cortemic, taken in isolation, they act as components of a special field of linguistic rhythmics, crossing the signematic level of morphemes closest to the phonemic one: syllabification and morphological division of a word, subject to different principles of organization, are incongruent.
Language can be represented not only orally, but also in written form, which occupies the most important place in modern human communication. However, the primary matter of language is sound, not graphics; The function of language graphics is to represent the sound of a language. Since letters and their combinations (in writing of the phonological type, which is used by most languages) directly or indirectly represent (“denote”) phonemes and their combinations, they are, strictly speaking, signs, but signs of a completely different kind than the supra-phonemic sign segments of the language - signems .
To maintain uniformity in terminology, a letter as a generalized graphic type that identifies a set of corresponding linguistically relevant graphic features can be called a “litereme”, and its specific implementations, respectively, “letters”.
The letter unit of a written language is sometimes called a “grapheme,” but it is hardly advisable to use this term in this meaning. In fact, the linguistic concept of “graphics” with which it correlates goes far beyond the alphabet and covers all graphic means of language related to both the cortex and signem areas. Consequently, in the developed system of representations, a litereme should act as a special case of a grapheme, which is elevated to the rank of a type unit of a completely generalizing nature: the semantic scope of the concept of a grapheme, in addition to a litereme, also includes such graphemes as punctuation, signs, accent marks, diacritics, font highlights, underlining, etc.
Directly above the phonemic segmental level of language lies the level of morphemes, the morphematic level.
A morpheme is defined as the elementary meaningful part of a word. It is built by phonemes, and the simplest morphemes include only one phoneme.
The functional specificity of the morpheme is that it expresses abstract, abstract (“significative”) meanings, which serve as material for the formation of more specific “nominative” meanings of words (embodied in speech in very specific “denotative” or “referential” meanings). In other words, the semantics of a morpheme, from the point of view of its functional purpose in the language, can be defined as “sublexemic”.
Above the morphematic level of language lies the level of words, or lexematic level.
A word (lexeme) serves, as we have just noted, as a nominative unit of language; its function is to directly name objects, phenomena and relations of the external world. Since the elementary components of a word are morphemes, the simplest words contain only one morpheme. Wed: I; here; many; and. At the same time, in the case of single-morphemic words, as in the case of single-phonemic morphemes, the fundamental principle of level non-overlapping remains valid (clarified, but not canceled by the separation of basic and transitional levels, as discussed below). In other words, a one-morpheme word is precisely a word consisting of one morpheme, but not a morpheme acting as a word. This is especially clearly seen in the examples of the occurrence of a (phonetic) word with a single-morpheme base form in different lexical classes (lexico-grammatical categories). Compare, for example, different lexical classes represented by the form but (conjunction, preposition, contact-establishing particle, restrictive adverb, relative pronoun, singular and plural noun): last, but not least; there was nothing but firelight; but it"s what you like; those words were but excuses; there are none but do much the same; that was a large but; his repeated butts are really trying.
Lexemes, when combined with each other, build phrases, or phrasemes. A phrase is usually considered as a combination of full-valued words, serving as part of a sentence as a complex name for objects, phenomena and relationships in the surrounding world (see: [Vinogradov, 1972, p. 121]).
The question arises: should the level of phrasemes (phrasematic level) be distinguished as a level directly above the level of words (lexematic level)?
To answer this question, it is necessary to take into account the fundamental law of the structural relationship between segmental levels of language, which consists in the fact that a unit of each higher level is built from one or more units of the immediately lower level. Consequently, the desired level-forming unit, located higher than the word (standing out directly above the word in the level hierarchy of the language), must be built by one or more words (lexemes) and at the same time perform some function higher than the function of the word taken as an element of the vocabulary (i.e., as a unit of the lexical level with its own nominative function). We find such a unit in the person of a member of a sentence - an element of language, constructed by one or several words with a denotative (context-specific) function. Adhering to the selected emic terminology, we call this unit “denoteme”, and the selected level, accordingly, “denotematic”. As for the phraseme as such, when included in a sentence, it turns out to be nothing more than a type of denoteme.
As is known, among phrases there are, on the one hand, stable phrases (phraseological units), and, on the other hand, free (“syntactic”) phrases. Phraseological units constitute a special subject of study in the phraseological section of lexicology, and free combinations are studied in the lower section of syntax. However, grammar does not pass by phraseological units, comparing them according to their internal grammatical properties and relationships with free combinations. Wed: good for nothing – good for the job; in the lap of Providence – in the lap of the nurse; to take the upper hand –to take the longer pencil (of the two); to come down handsome –to come down safe, etc.
For the convenience of distinguishing between two types of phrases in descriptions, it is possible to propose calling phraseological combinations “phraseomas.”
Basic phrases in the English language, realized by combining full-valued words, are formed by one or more syntagmas around the substantive (or equivalent), verbal, adjective and adverbial centers [Barkhudarov, 1966, p. 44 et seq.]. In this case, adjectival and adverbial combinations, as a rule, are included in substantive and verbal ones as their phrasal components. Wed: the previous night; something very affectionate and intimate; the others, far less responsible; to delay the departure; to turn the mind to the suggested subject; to radically improve one's position, etc.
Some scientists object to limiting the concept of phrases only to compounds of full-meaning words and also include here combinations of a full-meaning word with a function word [Ilyish, 1971, p. 177 et seq.]. If we adhere to the formal content of the concept (that is, the proper content of the term), then we will have to admit that such combinations should also receive the rank status of phrasemes (cf. the above-described concept of formative syntagm), since they are also “complex names.” Moreover, the distinction between function and significant words involves layers of transition. Wed: ought to return; only to recommend; all but one; the very best; at one time; on arriving, etc.
However, taking into account the nature of the nominative function performed by the phrase, nominative combinations should be separated into the basic part of the phrasematic level. In fact, phrasemes perform the function of “polynomination” (transformed in a sentence into the function of “polydenotation”), differing in this from the “mononomination” of a word in its own level sense. It is the polynomial nature of the phrase that gives modern linguists the basis to isolate the doctrine of the phrase itself into a separate section of syntax, sometimes called “small syntax” in contrast to the “large syntax” of the higher level of segments.
In the field of phrasemics, there is a heated debate on the issue of whether it is legal or illegal to distinguish the combination of subject and predicate as a “predicative phrase” [Sukhotin, 1950; Vinogradov, 1950; 1975 a; 1975 b; Ilyish, 1971, p. 179–180]. It seems that this discussion was complicated by a terminological misunderstanding. Indeed, if a phrase, like a word, is endowed with the fundamental function of nomination (transformed into denotation as part of a sentence), then the combination of a subject with a predicate cannot fall into the class of phrases (phrases) by definition, since the function of predication (a predication that is expressed by combining a subject and predicate) highlights not a word or a phrase, but a sentence.
Another thing is the concept of “predicative syntagma” in its application to the combination of subject and predicate. The cognitive value of this concept follows from the fact that, within the aspect of linear connections of linguistic units, it stands above the concepts of phrases and sentences, without replacing either one or the other.
But not every combination of a noun and a verb makes a sentence. A sentence is constructed only by combining a personal verb with a substantive subject. Along with such compounds, there are combinations of an impersonal verb with a noun or its equivalent, which, although they represent a paradigmatic correlate of a sentence, are not predicative in the full sense of the word (cf.: the defendant's bluntly rejecting the accusation - for the defendant to bluntly reject the accusation – The defendant bluntly rejected the accusation). These combinations, even when derivational raised to the corresponding sentences, are naturally included in the sphere of phrasemes, receiving here a marginal status.
Above the denotematic level lies the level of sentences, or the “proposematic” level.
The specificity of a sentence (“proposemes”) as a symbolic unit of language is that, naming a certain situation, it simultaneously expresses predication, that is, it reveals the relationship of the objective part of the situation to reality. In this sense, a sentence, unlike a word and a phrase, is a predicative unit, and its sign nature seems to bifurcate, reflecting the nominative and predicative aspects of the prepositive content. Being a unit of a specific message (speech), a sentence enters the language system as a generalized construction - a typical structural-functional model that expresses a whole complex of communicative meanings. In this capacity, the sentence exists in the language in the form of many simple and complex segment-constructions, between which a network of its own level relationships is established.
It is known that the language has a certain number of fixed sentences in the form of elements of a “ready quotation”. These sentences, along with stable phrasemes (phraseomes), constitute the subject of phraseology. Wed: Live and learn. Let us return to our muttons. You may rest assured. God bless my soul! etc.
Continuing the terminological line adopted in this study, we can call a fixed speech like the above “proposeoma.” Proposeomas, being predicative units, have clear specificity and require, like phraseomas, to be separated into a special section of the linguistic description.
But the sentence as a level-forming unit is not yet the upper limit of the “size” of a segmental linguistic sign. Above the proposematic level lies the “supraproposematic” (“supra-sentential”) level, which is formed by syntactic combinations of independent sentences.
Associations of independent sentences were, in various terms, described as special syntactic units relatively recently, and the foundations of the theory of these associations were laid by domestic linguists (starting with the works of N.S. Pospelov and L.A. Bulakhovsky). Such associations were called “complex syntactic wholes” (N.S. Pospelov) or “superphrasal unities” (L.A. Bulakhovsky).
Superphrasal unity is formed by the concatenation of several independent sentences by means of connecting (cumulative) connections. These connections distinguish superphrasal unity from a complex sentence, which is built by “addition” connections (coordinating, subordinating). The meanings of superphrasal unities express various relationships between simple and complex situations.
Some scientists interpret superphrasal unity as a speech unit that coincides with a paragraph of monologue speech. However, it must be taken into account that the paragraph, being in a certain sense correlative with super-phrase unity, is primarily a compositional unit of a book-written text, while super-phrase unity - a syntactic sequence of independent sentences with a broad situational semantics - is distinguished by its universal character and stands out in all varieties of language, both written and spoken.
On the other hand, it should be noted that a direct element of the structure of the text as a whole can be not only super-phrase unity, that is, a combination of sentences, but also a separate sentence placed by the sender of the message in a meaningful position. Such a special informational status of a sentence may lead to its isolation into a separate paragraph of a monologue written text. The text as a whole, being the final sphere of output of the functions of language elements in the process of speech formation, represents a sign-thematic formation: the text reveals a certain topic, which unites all its parts into an informational unity. In the thematizing role (through “microthematization”) one should see the own functional nature of the segment that lies above the sentence in the level hierarchy of the language.
So, directly above the proposematic level, which is the level of predication, there is also a level of thematization, within which the text is created as a finished (spontaneous or specially composed) work of the speaker-writer. The constitutive unit of this level, that is, the unit of thematization, taking into account its speech-creative nature, we call the term “dicteme”. Accordingly, the entire selected upper level of language segments is called “dictematic”.
Since the dicteme as a unit of thematization is typified by its own structural features (including the dicteme-long pause), the concept of thematization itself should be included in the conceptual-categorical system of grammar along with the fundamental concepts of nomination and predication. We examine this issue in the last part of this work.
§ 4. So, we have identified six segmental levels of language, connected, at least from the point of view of the form of the elements that compose them, by successive (from bottom to top) relations of inclusion.
It is clear that units of all levels in a language system are equally necessary for this system; they constitute its integral structural components with their structural and semantic properties: the systemic status of none of them is possible without the systemic status of the others. At the same time, taking into account the grammatically organized distribution of these units in hierarchical order, it is natural to pose the question: what is the weight of each level in the language system in terms of the degree of independence of its function? Among the described levels, is it possible to single out some as defining ones, and others to play the role of accompanying or intermediate ones?
Consideration of the functional specificity of the units forming segment levels, from the point of view of text formation as the ultimate goal of the functioning of the language as a whole, shows that the places occupied by different segment levels in the language system are not equivalent to each other.
Indeed, while the quality of some units is determined by internal features that are relatively closed at the appropriate level (such as a phoneme, distinguished by a set of phonological distinctive features and not carrying a sign function; a word, distinguished by features of a nominative function; a sentence, distinguished by features of a predicative function), the quality of other units is determined only in the necessary and direct correlation with units of adjacent levels. Thus, a morpheme stands out as an obligatory component of a word with a sign function, mediated by the nominative sign function of the word as a whole. A denoteme (expressed by a significant word or phraseme) stands out as a mandatory component of a sentence with a sign function determined by the situational-predicative (prepositive) function of the sentence as a whole. As for the dicteme, it is a contextual thematic combination of sentences, planning the exit of a sentence into a detailed, coherent speech.
Thus, among the identified segmental levels of language, one should distinguish between basic and transitional.
The main levels include phonemic, lexematic and proposematic. Transitional levels include morphematic (transition from phoneme to word) and denotematic (transition from word to sentence). The dictematic level is essentially the level at which a sentence enters the text. It should be taken into account that the phonemic level forms the basis of the sign part of the language, being the bearer of its material form. Consequently, within the framework of the doctrine of the levels of language, the central concepts of grammatical-linguistic concepts remain the concepts of word and sentence, which are considered by the theory of grammar in two traditionally distinguished sections - morphological (grammatical doctrine of the word) and syntactic (grammatical doctrine of the sentence).
Without breaking with the sentence, but relying on the analysis of its nominative and predicative structure, the theory of grammar emerges as a detailed text, thematized by dictemes, as the final product of people’s speech-creative activity.
Linguists have found that language is not a jumble of words, sounds, rules, but an ordered system (from the Greek systema - a whole made up of parts).
When characterizing language as a system, it is necessary to determine what elements it consists of. In most languages of the world the following units are distinguished:
- phoneme (sound),
- morpheme,
- word,
- phrase
- and a proposal.
Language units are heterogeneous in their structure. There are relatively simple units, say phonemes, and there are also complex ones - phrases, sentences. Moreover, more complex units always consist of simpler ones.
Since a system is not a random set of elements, but an ordered collection of them, in order to understand how the language system is “structured,” all units must be grouped according to the degree of complexity of their structure.
Structure and classification of language units
The simplest unit of language – phoneme, an indivisible and in itself insignificant sound unit of language, which serves to distinguish minimal significant units (morphemes and words). For example, the words sweat - bot - mot - cat differ in the sounds [p], [b], [m], [k], which are different phonemes.
Minimum Significant Unit – morpheme(root, suffix, prefix, ending). Morphemes already have some meaning, but cannot yet be used independently. For example, in the word moskvichka there are four morphemes: moskv-, – ich-, – k-, – a. The morpheme moskv-(root) contains, as it were, an indication of the area; – ich- (suffix) denotes a male person – a resident of Moscow; – k– (suffix) means a female person – a resident of Moscow; – a (ending) indicates that the word is a feminine singular noun in the nominative case.
Has relative independence word- the next most complex and most important unit of language, which serves to name objects, processes, signs or indicates them. Words differ from morphemes in that they not only have some meaning, but are already capable of naming something, i.e. word- This minimal nominative (nominal) unit of language. Structurally, it consists of morphemes and represents “building material” for phrases and sentences.
Collocation- a combination of two or more words between which there is a semantic and grammatical connection. It consists of a main and a dependent word: a new book, staging a play, each of us (the main words are in italics).
The most complex and independent unit of language, with the help of which you can not only name an object, but also communicate something about it, is offer – basic syntactic unit, which contains a message about something, a question or an incentive. The most important formal feature of a sentence is its semantic design and completeness. Unlike a word - a nominative (nominal) unit - a sentence is unit of communication.
It is very important to clearly understand the structure of the language, i.e. language levels.
Relations between units of language
Units of language can be interconnected
- paradigmatic,
- syntagmatic (combinable)
- and hierarchical relationships.
Paradigmatic relationships
Paradigmatic are the relations between units of the same level, due to which these units are distinguished and grouped. Units of language, being in paradigmatic relationships, are mutually opposed, interconnected and thereby interdependent.
Units of language are opposed due to their certain differences: for example, the Russian phonemes “t” and “d” are distinguished as voiceless and voiced; The forms of the verb I write - wrote - I will write differ as having meanings of present, past and future tense. Units of language are interconnected because they are combined into groups according to similar characteristics: for example, the Russian phonemes “t” and “d” are combined into a pair due to the fact that both of them are consonants, front-lingual, plosive, hard; the previously mentioned three forms of the verb are combined into one category - the category of time, since they all have a temporary meaning.
Syntagmatic (combinable) relations
Syntagmatic (combinable) are called the relations between units of the same level in the speech chain, by virtue of which these units are connected with each other - these are the relations between phonemes when they are connected in a syllable, between morphemes when they are connected into words, between words when they are connected into phrases. However, in this case, units of each level are built from units of a lower level: morphemes are built from phonemes and function as part of words (i.e., they serve to construct words), words are built from morphemes and function as part of sentences.
Hierarchical relationships
Relationships between units at different levels are recognized hierarchical.
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