The problem of the subject matter of Syntax. Basic syntactical notions. The phrase and the sentence.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 850.

The definition of the sentence still remains one of the most difficult problems of general linguistics. It remains unsolved up to this date. Professor Ilyish avoids giving the definition of the sentence, he gives the following characteristic futures of the sentence: 1) It must state the relation of the sentence as a unit of language to the thought. 2) It must take into account the specific structure of the language. 3) It must leave room, as for many variants as it's possible, Though the definition of the sentence has a long system, it still remains one of the most debatable theoretical problems and it still remains unsolved to this day.

But syntax deals not only with the sentence, but also with the word group, the word combination or the phrase. What is the difference between the sentence and the phrase? To answer this question professor Smirnitsky compares 2 word combinations: ‘The doctor's arrival' and ‘the doctor arrived'. The 1^st word combination doesn't communicate anything. It's not a unit of communication. In the 2^nd word combination the same phenomenon of objective reality is represented as connected with reality. The indication of the connection of our communication with reality is called predication. Thus, predication expresses the reference of the contents of speech to reality. Therefore, the sentence is the shortest unit of communication , which is characterized by predication, modality, relative completeness of its meaning and intonation.

The phrase or word group is a grammatically organized unit of speech, consisting of 2 or more words, denoting a certain notion.