ogical) meanings. These features determine the grammatical form of the word. p align="justify"> Grammatical meanings are very abstract, very general. Therefore the grammatical form is not confined to an individual word, but unites a whole class of words, so that each word of the class expresses the corresponding grammatical meaning together with its individual, concrete semantics. p align="justify"> For instance, the meaning of the substantive plural is rendered by the regular plural suffix - (e) s, and in some cases by other, more specific means, such as phonemic interchange and a few lexeme- bound suffixes. Due to the generalised character of the plural, we say that different groups of nouns "take" this form with strictly defined variations in the mode of expression, the variations being of more systemic (phonological conditioning) and less systemic (etymological conditioning) nature . Cf.: Faces, branches, matches, judges; books, rockets, boats, chiefs, proofs; dogs, beads, films, stones, hens; lives, wives, thieves, leaves; girls, stars, toys, heroes, pianos, cantos ; oxen, children, brethren, kine; swine, sheep, deer; cod, trout, salmon; men, women, feet, teeth, geese, mice, lice; formulae, antennae; data, errata, strata, addenda, memoranda; radii , genii, nuclei, alumni; crises, bases, analyses, axes; phenomena, criteria.
As we see, the grammatical form presents a division of the word on the principle of expressing a certain grammatical meaning.
The most general notions reflecting the most general properties of phenomena are referred to in logic as "categorial notions", or "categories". 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 themselves are identified within definite paradigmatic series. p align="justify"> The categorial meaning (eg the grammatical number) unites the individual meanings of the correlated paradigmatic forms (eg singular - plural) and is exposed through them; hence, the meaning of the grammatical category and the meaning of the grammatical form are related to each other on the principle of the logical relation between the categorial and generic notions.
As for the grammatical category itself, it presents, the same as the grammatical "form", a unity of form (ie material factor) and meaning (ie ideal factor) and constitutes a certain signemic system .
More specifically, the grammatical category is a system of expressing a generalised 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 the so-called "grammatical oppositions".
The opposition (in the linguistic sense) may be defined as a generalised correlation of lingual forms by means of which a certain function is expressed. The correlated elements (members) of the opposition must possess two types of features: common features and differential features. Common features serve as the basis of contrast, while differential features immediately express the function in question. p align="justify"> The oppositional theory was originally formulated as a; phonological theory. Three main qualitative types of oppositions were established in phonology: "privative", "gradual", and "equipollent". By the number of members contrasted, oppositions were divided into binary (two members) and more than binary (ternary, quaternary, etc.). p align="justify"> The most important type of opposition is the binary privative opposition; the other types of oppositions are reducible to the binary privative opposition.
The binary privative opposition is formed by a contrastive pair of members in which one member is characterised by the presence of a certain differential feature ("mark"), while the other member is characterised by the absence of this feature. The member in which the feature is present is called the "marked", or "strong", or "positive" member, and is commonly designated by the symbol + (plus), the member in which the feature is absent is called the "unmarked", or "weak", or "negative" member, and is commonly designated by the symbol - (minus).
For instance, the voiced and devoiced consonants form a privative opposition [b, d, g-p, t, k]. The differential feature of the opposition is "voice". This feature is present in the voiced consonants, so their set forms the marked member of the opposition. The devoiced consonants, lacking the feature, form the unmarked member of the opposition. To stress the marking quality of "voice" for the opposition in question, the devoiced consonants ...
