Unit of language- an element of the language system, indecomposable within a certain level of text division and opposed to other units in the language subsystem corresponding to this level. Can be decomposed into lower level units.

In terms of decomposability, there are simple And complex units: simple absolutely indivisible (morpheme as a significant unit, phoneme); complex divisibles, but division necessarily reveals units of a lower linguistic level.

Sets of basic linguistic units form the levels of the language system.

Unit classification

Based on the presence of a sound shell, the following types of language units are distinguished:

• material- have a constant sound shell (phoneme, morpheme, word, sentence);
• relatively material- have a variable sound shell (models of the structure of words, phrases, sentences that have a generalized constructive meaning, reproduced in all units constructed according to them);
• units of value- do not exist outside the material or relatively material, constituting their semantic side (sema, seme).

Among the material units, based on the presence of value, the following are distinguished:

"Emic" and "ethical" units

Material units of language are characterized by simultaneous existence in the form of a set options- sound segments used in speech - and in the form of abstract invariant- lots of all options. To designate variants of units there are so-called "ethical"(from English phon etic ) terms (allophone, background; allomorph, morph), to denote invariants - "emic"(from English phon emic ) terms (phoneme, morpheme, lexeme, etc.). Both terms belong to the American linguist C. L. Pike. In most areas of linguistics, “ethical” and corresponding “emic” units belong to the same level of language.

Units of speech

Characteristics of units

Despite significant differences in the interpretation of language units within various scientific directions, it is possible to identify universal properties of units found in all languages. So, phoneme represents a class of phonetically similar sounds (however, many linguists do not consider this condition satisfactory; for example, L.V. Shcherba believed that “the unity of shades of one phoneme is due not to their phonetic similarity, but to the inability to distinguish words and forms of words in a given language”; R.I. Avanesov and V.N. Sidorov noted that “different sounds that are mutually exclusive in the same position are varieties of the same phoneme, no matter how much they differ from each other in formation and quality” ), united by the identity of functions, morpheme is a syntactically dependent bilateral unit, word syntactically independently, offer- a unit of speech consisting of words. Thus, different languages ​​can be described using the same terms.

Unit ratios

Units of language enter into three types of relationships with each other:

• hierarchical(less complex units of lower levels are included in units of higher ones).

Relations of the first two types are possible only between units belonging to the same level.

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Notes

1. Bulygina T.V. Units of language // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
2. Units of language // Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary / Ed. V. N. Yartseva. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1990. - 685 p. - ISBN 5-85270-031-2.
3. Akhmanova O. S. Units of language // Dictionary of linguistic terms. - Ed. 4th, stereotypical. - M.: KomKniga, 2007. - 576 p. - 2500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-484-00932-9.
4. Zinder L. R., Matusevich M. I. .
5. Avanesov R.I., Sidorov V.N. Essay on the grammar of the Russian literary language. Part I: phonetics and morphology. - M.: Uchpedgiz, 1945.

Excerpt characterizing a unit of language

- From Eloise? - asked the prince, showing his still strong and yellowish teeth with a cold smile.
“Yes, from Julie,” said the princess, looking timidly and smiling timidly.
“I’ll miss two more letters, and I’ll read the third,” the prince said sternly, “I’m afraid you’re writing a lot of nonsense.” I'll read the third one.
“At least read this, mon pere, [father,],” answered the princess, blushing even more and handing him the letter.
“Third, I said, third,” the prince shouted briefly, pushing away the letter, and, leaning his elbows on the table, pulled up a notebook with geometry drawings.
“Well, madam,” the old man began, bending close to his daughter over the notebook and placing one hand on the back of the chair on which the princess was sitting, so that the princess felt surrounded on all sides by that tobacco and senile pungent smell of her father, which she had known for so long. . - Well, madam, these triangles are similar; would you like to see, angle abc...
The princess looked fearfully at her father’s sparkling eyes close to her; red spots shimmered across her face, and it was clear that she did not understand anything and was so afraid that fear would prevent her from understanding all her father’s further interpretations, no matter how clear they were. Whether the teacher was to blame or the student was to blame, the same thing was repeated every day: the princess’s eyes grew dim, she saw nothing, heard nothing, she only felt the dry face of her stern father close to her, felt his breath and smell and only thought about how she could quickly leave the office and understand the problem in her own open space.
The old man lost his temper: he pushed the chair he was sitting on with a loud noise, made an effort to not get excited, and almost every time he got excited, cursed, and sometimes threw his notebook.
The princess made a mistake in her answer.
- Well, why not be a fool! - the prince shouted, pushing away the notebook and quickly turning away, but immediately stood up, walked around, touched the princess’s hair with his hands and sat down again.
He moved closer and continued his interpretation.
“It’s impossible, princess, it’s impossible,” he said when the princess, having taken and closed the notebook with the assigned lessons, was already preparing to leave, “mathematics is a great thing, my madam.” And I don’t want you to be like our stupid ladies. Will endure and fall in love. “He patted her cheek with his hand. - The nonsense will jump out of your head.
She wanted to go out, he stopped her with a gesture and took out a new uncut book from the high table.
- Here’s another Key of the Sacrament your Eloise sends you. Religious. And I don’t interfere with anyone’s faith... I looked through it. Take it. Well, go, go!
He patted her on the shoulder and locked the door behind her.
Princess Marya returned to her room with a sad, frightened expression that rarely left her and made her ugly, sickly face even more ugly, and sat down at her desk, lined with miniature portraits and littered with notebooks and books. The princess was as disorderly as her father was decent. She put down her geometry notebook and impatiently opened the letter. The letter was from the princess’s closest friend since childhood; this friend was the same Julie Karagina who was at the Rostovs’ name day:
Julie wrote:
"Chere et excellente amie, quelle chose terrible et effrayante que l"absence! J"ai beau me dire que la moitie de mon existence et de mon bonheur est en vous, que malgre la distance qui nous separe, nos coeurs sont unis par des liens indissolubles; le mien se revolte contre la destinee, et je ne puis, malgre les plaisirs et les distractions qui m"entourent, vaincre une certaine tristesse cachee que je ressens au fond du coeur depuis notre separation. Pourquoi ne sommes nous pas reunies, comme cet ete dans votre grand cabinet sur le canape bleu, le canape a confidences? Pourquoi ne puis je, comme il y a trois mois, puiser de nouvelles forces morales dans votre regard si doux, si calme et si penetrant, regard que j"aimais tant et que “je crois voir devant moi, quand je vous ecris.”
[Dear and priceless friend, what a terrible and terrible thing is separation! No matter how much I tell myself that half of my existence and my happiness lies in you, that, despite the distance that separates us, our hearts are united by inextricable bonds, my heart rebels against fate, and, despite the pleasures and distractions that surround me, I I cannot suppress some hidden sadness that I have been experiencing in the depths of my heart since our separation. Why aren’t we together, like last summer, in your big office, on the blue sofa, on the sofa of “confessions”? Why can’t I, like three months ago, draw new moral strength from your gaze, meek, calm and penetrating, which I loved so much and which I see before me at the moment I write to you?]
Having read up to this point, Princess Marya sighed and looked back at the dressing table, which stood to her right. The mirror reflected an ugly, weak body and a thin face. The eyes, always sad, now looked at themselves in the mirror especially hopelessly. “She flatters me,” thought the princess, turned away and continued reading. Julie, however, did not flatter her friend: indeed, the princess’s eyes, large, deep and radiant (as if rays of warm light sometimes came out of them in sheaves), were so beautiful that very often, despite the ugliness of her whole face, these eyes became more attractive than beauty. But the princess had never seen a good expression in her eyes, the expression they took on in those moments when she was not thinking about herself. Like all people, her face took on a tense, unnatural, bad expression as soon as she looked in the mirror. She continued reading: 211

Units of language and their main characteristics.

Language levels are located in relation to each other according to the principle of ascending or descending complexity of language units. The essence of this phenomenon is the preservation of the properties and characteristics of lower-level units in a higher-level system, but in a more perfect form. Thus, the relations between the levels of the language system are not reducible to a simple hierarchy - subordination or inclusion. That's why language system fair to call system of systems.

Let's consider language units from the point of view segmentation speech flow. In this case, a unit of language is understood as something that, expressing meaning, materializes in speech segments and their features. Since the speech implementation of language units is characterized by a fairly wide range variability, then the mental one is applied to the selected speech segments identification operation, which consists in the fact that formally different speech segments are recognized as the material embodiment of the same unit of language. The basis for this is community expressed in varying units values or performed by them functions.

The beginning of segmentation of a speech stream is the identification of communicative units in it - statements, or phrases. In the language system it corresponds to syntax or syntactic model, representing the syntactic level of the language. The next stage of segmentation is the division of statements into word forms, which combine several heterogeneous functions (nominative, derivational and relative), therefore the identification operation is carried out separately in each direction.

A class of word forms, characterized by root and affixal morphemes of equal meaning, is identified as the basic unit of language - the word, or lexeme.

The vocabulary of a particular language forms a lexical level. A class of word forms that have the same word-formation meaning constitutes a word-formation type - derivative topic. The class of word forms with identical formative affixes is identified in the grammatical form - grammeme.

The next stage of speech stream segmentation is to isolate the smallest significant units - morphs. Morphs with identical lexical (roots) and grammatical (functional and affixal) meanings are combined into one language unit – morpheme. The entire set of morphemes of a given language forms a morphemic level in the language system. The segmentation of the speech stream is completed by identifying minimal speech segments in morphs - sounds. Sounds, or backgrounds, different in their physical properties, can perform the same meaning-distinguishing function. On this basis, sounds are identified into one linguistic unit - phoneme. Phoneme is the minimal unit of language. The system of phonemes forms the phonological level of language.

Thus, identifying a level or subsystem of a language is allowed in the case when: the subsystem has the basic properties of the language system as a whole; the subsystem meets the requirement of constructibility, that is, the units of the subsystem serve to construct the units of the subsystem of a higher organization and are isolated from them; the properties of the subsystem are qualitatively different from the properties of the units of the underlying subsystem that construct it; a subsystem is defined by a language unit that is qualitatively different from the units of adjacent subsystems.

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:

1. Communication function Language as a means of communication between people. Thought-forming function a means of thinking in the form of words.
2. 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.

Functions of language and their implementation in speech.

The term “function” in linguistics is used in several meanings:

1) the purpose, the role of language in human society, 2) the purpose of the role of language units.

In the first case, they talk about the functions of language, in the second – about the functions of linguistic units (phonemes, morphemes, words, sentences).

The functions of language are a manifestation of its essence. Language researchers do not agree on the number and nature of functions. However, the core basic features make everything stand out. The main functions include communicative and cognitive.

The communicative function is manifested in the purpose of language to serve as a tool, a means of transmitting information, exchanging thoughts and communicating about experienced emotions. Of course, along with verbal language (verbal), we also use means of non-verbal communication (gestures, facial expressions, postures), which complement auditory speech, expressing a feeling or encouraging action. However, they cannot express dissected concepts and coherent thoughts.

The cognitive (thought-forming) function is closely related to the first.

The basic functions of language are manifested in particular ones: emotive, aesthetic, metalinguistic, appellative, contact-establishing, in the function of storing and transmitting national identity, traditions, history of the people and some others.

The emotive function is manifested in the expression of moods and emotions through the selection of words and the use of a certain type of intonation: He has such a face!

The metalinguistic function is discovered when the need arises to explain an incomprehensible word or some linguistic fact: A syllable is the minimum pronounceable unit.

The appellative function is observed in cases where the speaker encourages the listeners to take some action: Take the pen, please.

The contact-establishing function is the function of creating and maintaining contact between interlocutors. It is usually expressed in words and phrases of speech etiquette: Hello! How are you doing? All the best.

The aesthetic function is manifested in the aesthetic impact of the language of fiction on the reader.

The function of storing and transmitting national experience is found in many linguistic phenomena, and in particular in the meanings of words and in phraseological units such as caftan, heavy Monomakh's hat.

In speech, particular functions can be combined.

Language as a system. Basic units of language. Language as a system

Language is a material means of communication between people, or, more specifically, a secondary material or sign system that is used as a tool or means of communication. Without language there can be no communication, and without communication there can be no society, and thus no person.

Language is the product of a number of eras, during which it is formed, enriched, and polished. Language is associated with human production activity, as well as with any other human activity in all areas of his work.

It should be noted that there are many opinions regarding the definition of the concept “language”, but all these definitions can be reduced to some general idea. Such a general idea is the idea that language is a functional material system of a semiotic, or sign, nature, the functioning of which in the form of speech is its use as a means of communication.

Language, as an extremely complex entity, can be defined from different points of view depending on which aspect or aspects of language are emphasized. Definitions are possible: a) from the point of view of the function of language (or functions of language): language is a means of communication between people and, as such, is a means of forming, expressing and communicating thoughts; b) from the point of view of the structure (mechanism) of language: language is a set of certain units and rules for using these units, that is, a combination of units, these units are reproduced by speakers at the moment; c) from the point of view of the existence of language: language is the result of a social, collective skill of “making” units from sound matter by pairing some sounds with some meaning; d) from a semiotic point of view: language is a system of signs, that is, material objects (sounds) endowed with the property of denoting something that exists outside of themselves; e) from the point of view of information theory: language is the process by which semantic information is encoded.

The above definitions complement each other and partially overlap and duplicate each other. Since it is hardly possible to give a sufficiently complete description of the language in a single definition, therefore, it is necessary to rely on the most general definition, specifying it as necessary with certain special characteristics that are universal. One of the universal characteristics is the systematic nature of the language.

Language as a secondary material system has a structure, understood as its internal organization. The structure of the system is determined by the nature of the relationships between elementary objects, or elements of the system. The structure of a system can be defined differently as a set of intrasystem connections. If the concept of a system refers to a certain object as an integral formation and includes elements of the system and their relationships, then the concept of the structure of a given system includes only intra-system relationships in abstraction from the objects that make up the system.

Structure is an attribute of some system. Structure cannot exist outside the substance or elements of the system.

The elements of language structure differ qualitatively, which is determined by the different functions of these elements.

sounds are material signs of language, and not simply “audible sounds.”

Sound signs of a language have two functions: 1) perceptual - to be an object of perception and 2) significative - to have the ability to distinguish higher, significant elements of language - morphemes, words, sentences.

Words can name things and phenomena of reality; This is a nominative function.

Sentences serve to communicate; This is a communicative function.

In addition to these functions, language can express the emotional states of the speaker, will, desire, directed as a call to the listener.

Basic units of language:

morpheme (part of a word)-- the shortest unit of language that has meaning. The central morpheme of a word is the root that contains the main lexical meaning of the word. The root is present in every word and can completely coincide with its stem. The suffix, prefix and ending introduce additional lexical or grammatical meanings.

There are derivational morphemes (forming words) and grammatical (forming forms of words). The word krasnovaty, for example, has three morphemes: the root krasn- has a characteristic (color) meaning, as in the words red, blush, redness; the suffix -ovat- denotes a weak degree of manifestation of the characteristic (as in the words blackish, rude, boring); the ending -й has the grammatical meaning of masculine, singular, nominative case (as in the words black, rude, boring). None of these morphemes can be divided into smaller meaningful parts.

Morphemes can change over time in their form and in the composition of speech sounds. Thus, in the words porch, capital, beef, finger, the once prominent suffixes merged with the root, simplification occurred: derived stems turned into non-derivative ones. The meaning of the morpheme can also change. Morphemes do not have syntactic independence.

Word -- the main significant, syntactically independent unit of language, which serves to name objects, processes, properties. A word is the material for a sentence, and a sentence can consist of one word. Unlike a sentence, a word outside of a speech context and speech situation does not express a message.

A word combines phonetic (its sound shell), morphological (the set of its constituent morphemes) and semantic (the set of its meanings) characteristics. The grammatical meanings of a word materially exist in its grammatical form.

Most words are ambiguous: for example, the word table in a particular speech stream can denote a type of furniture, a type of food, a set of dishes, or an item of medical equipment. The word can have variants: zero and zero, dry and dry, song and song.

Words form certain systems and groups in a language: based on grammatical features - a system of parts of speech; based on word-formation connections - nests of words; based on semantic relations - a system of synonyms, antonyms, thematic groups; from a historical perspective - archaisms, historicisms, neologisms; by area of ​​use - dialectisms, professionalisms, jargons, terms.

Phraseologisms, as well as compound terms (boiling point, plug-in construction) and compound names (White Sea, Ivan Vasilyevich) are equated to the word according to its function in speech.

Word combinations are formed from words - syntactic constructions consisting of two or more significant words connected according to the type of subordinating connection (coordination, control, adjacency).

Collocation along with the word, it is an element in the construction of a simple sentence.

Sentences and phrases form the syntactic level of the language system. A sentence is one of the main categories of syntax. It is contrasted with words and phrases in terms of formal organization, linguistic meaning and functions. A sentence is characterized by an intonation structure - the intonation of the end of the sentence, completeness or incompleteness; intonation of message, question, motivation. A special emotional connotation, which is conveyed by intonation, can turn any sentence into an exclamation.

Offers there are simple and complex ones.

A simple sentence can be two-part, having a subject group and a predicate group, and one-part, having only a predicate group or only a subject group; may be common or uncommon; can be complicated, containing homogeneous members, circulation, introductory, plug-in construction, separate circulation.

A simple two-part unextended sentence is divided into a subject and a predicate, an extended one into a subject group and a predicate group; but in speech, oral and written, there is a semantic division of the sentence, which in most cases does not coincide with the syntactic division. The proposal is divided into the initial part of the message - the “given” and what is stated in it, the “new” - the core of the message. The core of a message or statement is highlighted by logical stress, word order, and ends the sentence. For example, in the sentence The hailstorm predicted the day before broke out in the morning, the initial part (“given”) is the hailstorm predicted the day before broke out, and the core of the message (“new”) appears in the morning, the logical emphasis falls on it.

A complex sentence combines two or more simple ones. Depending on the means by which the parts of a complex sentence are connected, compound, complex and non-conjunct complex sentences are distinguished.

4. The concept of literary language and language norms The Russian language in the broadest sense of the word is the totality of all words, grammatical forms, and pronunciation features of all Russian people, that is, everyone who speaks Russian as their native language.

The Russian national language is heterogeneous in its composition. Among the varieties of the Russian language, the Russian literary language clearly stands out. This is the highest form of the national language, determined by a whole system of norms. In linguistics, norms are the rules for the use of words, grammatical forms, and pronunciation rules in force during a given period of development of a literary language. The norms cover all its aspects: written and oral varieties, spelling, vocabulary, word formation, grammar. For example, in literary language you cannot use forms such as “you want”, “my last name”, “they ran away”; you have to say: “you want”, “my last name”, “they ran”; you should not pronounce e[g]o, skuk[h]no, but should pronounce e[v]o, skuk[sh]no, etc. The norms are described in textbooks, special reference books, as well as in dictionaries (spelling, explanatory, phraseological, synonyms, etc.).

The norm is approved and supported by the speech practice of cultural people, in particular, writers who draw treasures of speech from the language of the people.

Literary language, written and oral, is the language of radio and television, newspapers and magazines, government and cultural institutions.

The Russian literary language is divided into a number of styles depending on where and for what it is used.

So, in everyday life, when communicating with loved ones, we often use words and sentences that we would not use in official business papers, and vice versa. For example, in a statement, in an explanatory note, the following phrase is quite appropriate: Due to the lack of the required number of vehicles, the unloading of arriving wagons with construction materials was delayed for one day.

When addressing work colleagues, the same thought is expressed, for example, like this: There were few cars today. There was a day delay in unloading the wagons.

The speech of a cultured, educated person should be correct, accurate and beautiful. The more correct and precise the speech, the more accessible it is to understanding; the more beautiful and expressive it is, the stronger its impact on the listener or reader. To speak correctly and beautifully, you need to follow the norms of your native language.

5 Dictionaries of the Russian language. A dictionary is a book in which information is organized into small articles, sorted by title or topic.

With the development of computer technology, electronic dictionaries and online dictionaries are becoming more common.

Typology of dictionaries

L. V. Shcherba was the first in Russian science to address the problem of dictionary typology. He proposed a classification of dictionaries based on 6 opposites:

Academic type dictionary - reference dictionary. An academic dictionary is normative, describing the lexical system of a given language: it should not contain facts that contradict modern usage. In contrast to academic dictionaries, reference dictionaries can contain information about a wider range of words that go beyond the boundaries of the standard literary language.

Encyclopedic Dictionary - general dictionary. Contrasting encyclopedic (describe a thing, reality) and linguistic dictionaries (describe words)

Thesaurus is a regular (explanatory or translation) dictionary. Thesauruses are dictionaries that list all the words that appear in a given language at least once.

An ordinary (explanatory or translation) dictionary is an ideological (ideographic) dictionary. In an ideological dictionary, words must be in order

Explanatory dictionary - translation dictionary

Historical dictionary - non-historical dictionary

Particularly noteworthy is the distinction between linguistic (primarily explanatory) and encyclopedic dictionaries, which, first of all, lies in the fact that in encyclopedic dictionaries concepts are described (depending on the volume and addressee of the dictionary, more or less detailed scientific information is given), in explanatory ones - linguistic meanings. There are many dictionary entries in encyclopedic dictionaries in which the heading word is proper nouns.

The following dictionaries can be considered the largest dictionaries of the Russian language in terms of vocabulary composition:

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language (Dal) - approx. 200,000 words.

Consolidated dictionary of modern Russian vocabulary - approx. 170,000 words.

Russian spelling dictionary (Lopatin) - approx. 200,000 words.

Word-formation dictionary of the Russian language (Tikhonov) - approx. 145,000 words.

Dictionary of modern Russian literary language (large academic dictionary) - approx. 120,000 words.

Large explanatory dictionary of the Russian language (Kuznetsov) - approx. 130,000 words.

Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, in 3 volumes (Efremova) - approx. 160,000 words.

(is in the testing stage) Large Russian dictionary-directory of synonyms (Trishin) - St. 500,000 words and approx. 2 million synonymous connections.

6. The concept of speech culture, its social aspects Speech culture is part of a person’s general culture. By the way a person speaks or writes, one can judge the level of his spiritual development, his internal culture. A person’s mastery of speech culture is not only an indicator of a high level of intellectual and spiritual development, but also a unique indicator of professional suitability for people of various professions: diplomats, lawyers, politicians, school and university teachers, radio and television workers, journalists, managers, etc. Speech culture is important for everyone who, by the nature of their work, is connected with people, organizes and directs their work, teaches, educates, conducts business negotiations, and provides various services to people.

What does the concept of “speech culture” mean?

The phrase “culture of speech” is used in three main meanings:

1. Speech culture is a branch of philological science that studies the speech life of society in a certain era and establishes, on a scientific basis, the rules for using language as the main means of communication between people, a tool for the formation and expression of thoughts. In other words, the phrase “culture of speech” in this meaning is the doctrine of the totality and system of communicative qualities of speech.

2. Speech culture is some of its signs and properties, the totality and systems of which speak of its communicative perfection.

3. Speech culture is a set of human skills and knowledge that ensures the expedient and easy use of language for communication purposes, “mastery of the norms of oral and written literary language (rules of pronunciation, stress, word usage, grammar, stylistics), as well as the ability to use expressive means of language in various communication conditions in accordance with the goals and content of speech.”

The first meaning of the phrase “culture of speech” determines the subject of study of a certain branch of philology. The second and third meanings define speech culture as a set and system of its normative communicative qualities, knowledge and mastery of which is the goal of students studying this discipline. In this sense, “culture of speech” is identical to the concept of “cultured speech”, “good speech”.

Researchers identify three aspects of speech culture: normative, communicative and ethical. The first, most important aspect is normative. A linguistic norm is the central concept of speech culture. The culture of speech, first of all, presupposes compliance with the norms of the literary language, which are perceived by its speakers, speakers or writers, as an “ideal”, a model. The norm is the main regulator of people's speech behavior. However, this is a necessary but insufficient regulator, because compliance with the norms alone is not enough for oral or written speech to be completely good, that is, to satisfy all communication needs. One can cite a large number of texts of varied content, impeccable from the point of view of literary standards, but not achieving the goal. This is ensured by the fact that the norm regulates to a greater extent the purely structural, symbolic, linguistic side of speech, without affecting the most important relations of speech to reality, society, consciousness, and behavior of people. Therefore, the second important quality of speech culture is communicative expediency - this is the ability to find an adequate linguistic form in the language system to express specific content in each real situation of speech communication. The choice of linguistic means necessary for a given purpose and in a given situation is the basis of the communicative aspect of speech.

The third aspect of speech culture is also closely related to communicative expediency. Communicative expediency as a criterion of speech culture concerns both the form of expression of thought and its content. The ethical aspect of the culture of speech prescribes the knowledge and application of the rules of linguistic behavior in specific situations in such a way as not to humiliate the dignity of the participants in communication. Ethical standards of communication include compliance with speech etiquette. Speech etiquette is a system of means and ways of expressing the attitude of those communicating towards each other. Speech etiquette includes speech formulas for greetings, requests, questions, thanks, congratulations, addresses to “you” and “you”, choice of a full or abbreviated name, address formulas, etc. The ethical component of speech culture imposes a strict ban on foul language in the process of communication and other forms that offend the dignity of participants in communication or surrounding people. All of the above allows us to accept the definition of speech culture proposed by E. N. Shiryaev: “Speech culture is such a choice and organization of linguistic means that, in a certain communication situation, while observing modern language norms and communication ethics, make it possible to ensure the greatest effect in achieving the set communicative tasks.”

A characteristic feature of speech culture as an expression of a certain level of social culture is that it always affects the consciousness, behavior and activities of people.
Social aspects of speech culture (age, level of education, gender, profession, social status), along with other aspects of speech culture, are of equal importance for the communicative improvement of speech, since they have a decisive impact on speech behavior as the process of choosing the best option for building a socially correct statements.
First of all, various units of speech etiquette are used depending on the social roles assumed by the participants in communication. Here, both the social roles themselves and their relative position in the social hierarchy are important. When communicating between two students; between student and teacher; between superior and subordinate; between spouses; between parents and children - in each individual case, etiquette requirements can be very different.
These aspects of speech behavior are also influenced by differences in the use of units of speech etiquette among representatives of different social groups. These groups can be distinguished according to the following criteria: age, education and upbringing, gender, membership in specific professional groups.

§ 19. In modern linguistics, the concept of a linguistic sign is often confused with the concept of a linguistic unit, or unit of language; the corresponding terms in the specialized literature are quite often used as equivalent, as absolute synonyms. These concepts and the terms denoting them should be strictly distinguished. These concepts are in generic-specific relationships: a linguistic sign is a specific concept in relation to a linguistic unit, and vice versa, a linguistic unit is generic in relation to the sign. In other words, every sign of a language is a linguistic unit, but not every unit of a language is a linguistic sign. Thus, the concept of a linguistic unit is broader than the concept of a linguistic sign. If a sign is a sensually perceived material entity that expresses a certain meaning, i.e. possessing content, or a signified, then a unit of language is usually understood as any linguistic device that performs one or another linguistic function, regardless of the degree of participation in the expression of meaning.

According to some linguists, “the identification of language units is associated with the division of the flow of speech (and text).” In accordance with this, certain segments of sounding speech, speech flow, such as sound or phoneme (i.e. sound as a distinguisher of significant units of language) are most often considered as linguistic units; morph, or morpheme ("meaningful part of a word"); a word or lexeme (i.e. a word in all its grammatical forms and other formal and semantic modifications); a phrase sometimes called syntagma; offer . Some scientists refer to this type of unit of language (speech) as a statement, which can consist of one or more sentences. "Verbal communication takes place in the form statements(messages, questions and answers, requests, orders, etc.). An individual utterance constitutes the basic unit of communication, the basic unit of speech." Such units, primarily phonemes, morphemes, words and sentences, are sometimes called the basic units of language.

Units of language also include some other segments, or segments, of the speech stream. In a number of languages, along with individual, single sounds, or monophthongs, so-called polyphthongs (combinations of different vowels in one syllable) are used - diphthongs, triphthongs, tetraphthongs (for more information about them, see § 50). They perform the same functions as sounds, or phonemes, and are also units of language. Sometimes among linguistic units of this kind is called a syllable. Linguistic units can be considered such parts of words as connecting vowels, so-called interfixes (sound insertions between the base and the suffix) and some others.

In addition to the above-mentioned units, which represent certain segments of the speech flow, linguistic units are often called such phenomena that do not have a sound expression: stress, intonation, alternation of sounds, word order in a sentence, if they are associated with the expression of linguistic meaning.

Linguistic units are considered to be all kinds of patterns, diagrams, or models of the construction of certain material units of language, represented by certain segments of spoken speech, for example: grammatical categories, grammemes, inflectional types, models of phrases, sentences (see about them in the next chapter, in § 179, etc.), word-formation categories, word-formation models, types (see § 169), types and models of syllables (see § 53) and many others.

As a special type of linguistic units, the so-called units of meaning are considered, for example semes, which represent the semantic, ideal side of formal, materially expressed units, “elementary reflections in the language of the sections, aspects and properties of designated objects and phenomena of reality.”

Finally, a linguistic unit often refers to such a phenomenon as the absence of one or another material element of a language system in the composition of a materially expressed unit in the presence of a correlative element (elements) in the composition of other similar formations. In other words, zero units are recognized. In the Russian language, there are so-called zero sounds, bullet vowels (i.e., fluent vowels in word forms like day – day, sleep - sleep), zero morphemes (usually endings and suffixes), zero words, or more precisely, zero connectives. Recently, some linguists have recognized zero connecting vowels, or zero interfixes, for example in complex words like Leningrad, Tsar Cannon, Walk-Pole, organophosphorus .

Obviously, it is necessary to distinguish between linguistic units in the broad and narrow meaning of this term. In a broad sense, all of the above types of units can be considered as linguistic units, except for the so-called zero ones (calling its absence a unit seems illogical) and such phenomena as the alternation of sounds, the order of words in a sentence (they should be called by their proper names). Linguistic units in the narrow sense include those units that have one or another material, sound expression, for example, individual sounds of speech, or phonemes, diphthongs, syllables, morphemes, connecting vowels, interfixes, words, phrases, sentences. According to V. M. Solntsev, the term “unit of language” in a broad sense refers to “a wide range of heterogeneous phenomena that are the object of study of linguistics,” namely: units that have a constant sound shell (for example, phonemes, morphemes, words, sentences), models of the structure of units expressed by sounds (for example, words, phrases, sentences), units of meaning (for example, semes); units of language in the narrow sense are called collections of basic units that “form certain “levels” of the language system, for example, phonemes - phonemic level, morphemes - morphemic level, etc. .

§ 20. Units of language differ and can be classified according to different criteria. The most striking differences between them are found in the way they are expressed. On this basis, among the units of language (in the broad sense) two main groups can be distinguished - material and ideal units. Material are all units perceived sensually, by ear (sounds, syllables, morphemes, words, sentences, stress, intonation, etc.). TO perfect units refer to units of meaning. A special, intermediate position between the material and ideal units of language is occupied by the so-called “relative-material” units, which include various samples, schemes, models of certain material units (grammatical categories, word-formation types, sentence models, etc.). Being ideal as abstract schemes, they at the same time represent the corresponding material units, their various aggregates, associations, or complexes and therefore are sometimes called complex units of language.

The material units of language differ, first of all, by the nature of their material shell. On this basis, linear and nonlinear units are quite clearly opposed to each other, or, in other terminology, segmental and nonsegmental (suprasegmental, suprasegmental, supersegmental, suprasegmental). Linear, or segmental, are called such language units that represent certain segments (segments) of sounding speech, speech flow, i.e. sounds or combinations of sounds, as if lined up in certain rows or lines. “Linear units are understood as the sounds of a language or their combinations, located one after another.” Linear units usually include such units of language as sounds (phonemes), syllables, morphemes, phrases and others. Nonlinear, or non-segmental, language units “differ from linear units in that they cannot exist on their own, separately from speech sounds (segments)... They are, as it were, superimposed on linear segments: a linear segment can be isolated, pronounced separately, and a supersegmental segment - only together with him" . Nonlinear units include, first of all, phenomena such as stress and intonation. Both stress and intonation are inextricably linked with certain segmental units of language and are inseparable from them. Linguists who consider such phenomena as alternation of sounds and word order in a sentence as linguistic units also classify them as nonlinear units.

As noted above, language units perform certain functions. Depending on what functions these units perform, they are divided into communicative, nominative and constructive, or combat. Communicative are called units of language that are capable of independently transmitting a message, this or that information. The basic communicative unit of language is the sentence. Nominative are called units that denote individual objects, concepts, ideas, relationships, etc. Such units are words and phrases. Constructive These are the units that are used to construct and formalize nominative and communicative units. These include units such as phonemes, morphemes, and various grammatical forms of words.

In linguistics, different forms of the existence of language are distinguished, most often such as language itself (a system of linguistic signs, or, more broadly, linguistic units) and speech (a system of linguistic units in action, in communicative application). In this regard, many linguists distinguish between units of language and units of speech (see about this in § 241).

Units of language differ significantly in their relationship to signs. When explaining the concept of a language unit, it was said that not all language units are signs. This means that among them there are only a few iconic, or bilateral, i.e. having a plan of expression (materially expressed) and a plan of content (expressing a certain meaning), and unfamiliar, or unilateral, i.e. without a content plan. In this regard, the question of which language units are symbolic, i.e., seems relevant. the question of distinguishing between signed and non-signed units of language. Linguists have differing opinions on this issue.

Typically, units of language that express certain linguistic meanings are considered iconic, and units that do not express such meanings are considered non-sign. However, in linguistics there is no generally accepted understanding of linguistic meaning, which makes it difficult to distinguish between these types of linguistic units. In linguistic literature, words and morphemes are most often cited as examples of sign units. Along with these units of language, more complex units - phrases and sentences - are often classified as symbolic. Sometimes morphemes, words and sentences are considered as symbolic units of language. Some linguists (for example, representatives of the Prague School of Linguistics) also consider such units as phonemes to be symbolic.

Of the listed types of linguistic units, the word is considered an indisputable linguistic sign; its iconic character is not disputed by anyone. The words clearly represent the plane of expression (in the form of sound complexes or individual sounds); Each word necessarily expresses a specific linguistic meaning or series of meanings.

• Maslov Yu. WITH.
• See for example: Stepanov Yu. S. Fundamentals of general linguistics. P. 226; Fedorenko L. P. Patterns of Russian speech acquisition. M., 1984. P. 6.
• Maslov Yu. S. Introduction to linguistics. 1975. P. 27.
• See for example: Barannikova L. I. Basic information about the language. P. 59; Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. P. 149.