The Participle

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 506.

§ 317. The participle is a verbid characterized by the fol­lowing properties:

1. Its dual lexico-grammatical meaning of a qualifying action.

2. The categories of voice, order (see paradigm on p. 186).

3. Special suffixes: -ing (participle I), -(e)d, -t, -(e)n (participle II). Participle II is sometimes characterized by internal inflexion (written) or by a zero suffix (put).

4. Its peculiar combinability partly resembling that of the verb (the participle is associated with adverbs, with nouns and pronouns denoting the object of the action), and partly that of the adjective (it modifies nouns) and of the adverb (it modifies verbs).

5. Its most characteristic syntactical functions of attrib­ute, adverbial complement, etc.

6. The participation in analytical forms like is asking, is asked, has asked, is being asked, etc.

§ 318. As to the verbal features of participle I they do not differ in the essential from those of the infinitive and the gerund. The grammeme traditionally called 'past parti­ciple' (participle II) stands somewhat apart (see § 207). It possesses a number of peculiar features which are worth considering in detail.

Subjective verbs (see § 198) such as to exist, to die, to lie (лежать), etc. which do not admit, as a rule, of being used in the passive voice, have no participles II used independently (i. e. not as parts of analytical words). There are but a few exceptions to this principle such as runaway, fallen, couched, collapsed, vanished, gone, come, faded, withered, retired.

E. g. A fallen idol, vanished civilizations, dream come true, etc. Sweet also mentions such combinations as a learned man, a drunken man. In most of the examples given above the idea of action is suppressed, whereas the notion of quality is made prominent, and we may say that these participles (e. g. learned, drunken, faded, retired, etc.) either have become adjectives or are in the process of adjectivization.

Participle II has no opposite of order, but in speech it denotes simultaneousness or priority depending on the lexical meaning of the lexeme it belongs to and the context it occurs in. If the verb happens to be a terminative one, the participle mostly expresses priority, unless the context shows the con­verse. If the verb is a durative one, the participle usually shows simultaneousness. Cf.: She looked at the broken cup ... (where broken — participle II of a terminative verb — denotes priority), and This old man loved and respected by all his friends is a teacher (where loved and respected denote actions simultaneous with that of the finite verb).

Thus, the difference in meaning between loving (a child loving his mother) and loved (a child loved by his mother) is only that of voice; whereas in case of terminative verbs — such as to break — the semantical difference may also be that of order, as breaking mostly denotes simultaneity, broken — priority.

Since these distinctions between participle I and participle II depend on the lexical meanings, they can hardly be regarded as members of a grammatical opposeme of ____ or order. The participle loving has a voice opposite to loved and an order opposite having loved.

§ 319. As we have already mentioned, the adjectival and the adverbial features of the participle are connected with its combinability.

Participle II is mostly used to modify nouns.

E. g. My forgotten friend ... Marlow was dead and buried.

As to participle I, the combinability of different gram­memes is different.

The non-perfect active participle may modify both nouns and verbs.

E. g. His smiling eyes; smiling slyly, he stretched out his hand.

The non-perfect passive usually modifies verbs, but occasionally (when the verb is durative) nouns. -

E. g. Not being invited there, I chose to stay at home. It would be advisable to achieve agreement on measures to discontinue the war propaganda being conducted in certain states. (Daily Worker).

The other grammemes are used only to modify verbs.

E. g. Having been detained by the flood, he came late.

§ 320. English participles like those of Russian, Ukrainian and other languages, may sometimes develop into adjectives, the idea of quality gradually overshadowing that of action, as in standing water — стоячая вода, a charming woman — очаровательная женщина, written work — письменная (контрольная) работа. They may develop into nouns, the idea of substance outweighing that of action — the wounded —раненый, the accused — обвиняемый, the deceased — покойный etc. Both adjectivization and substantivization involve the сhange of combinability and function, i. e. they are cases of conversion (see § 57).