Theoretical Grammar

I. CATEGORIAL STRUCTURE OF THE WORD 1. Notion of Opposition. Oppositions in Morphology The most general meanings rendered by language and expressed by systemic correlations of word-forms are interpreted in linguistics as categorial grammatical meanings. The forms rendering these meanings are identified within definite paradigmatic series. The grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms. The ordered set of grammatical forms expressing a categorial function constitutes a paradigm. The paradigmatic correlations of grammatical forms in a category are exposed by grammatical oppositions which are generalized correlations of lingual forms by means of which certain functions are expressed. There exist three main types of qualitatively different oppositions: "privative", "gradual", "equipollent". By the number of members contrasted, oppositions are divided into binary and more than binary. The privative binary opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain feature called the "mark", while the other member is characterized by the absence of this differential feature. The gradual opposition is formed by the degree of the presentation of one and the same feature of the opposition members. The equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence or absence of a certain feature, but by a contrastive pair or group in which the members are distinguished by different positive (differential) features. The most important type of opposition in morphology is the binary privative opposition. The privative morphological opposition is based on a morphological differential feature which is present in its strong (marked) member and is absent in its weak (unmarked) member. This featuring serves as the immediate means of expressing a