Курсовая теория на тему The article as a semantic operator in English

Содержание:

Introduction 7
Chapter I. Theoretical aspect of articles in English 10
1.1The history of formation of articles in English 10
1.2. The origin of articles 12
Summary on the first chapter 17
Chapter II. The significance of articles in English 18
2.1 The category of articles determination 18
2.2 Articles with Nouns in Apposition 24
2.3 Stylistic function of articles 26
Summary on the second chapter 28
Conclusion 29
References 33
Appendix 36

Введение:

The problem of the article system in English has long interested many linguists. This theme is one of the most difficult. There is no consensus about the function and semantic of the article. It is known that there is a connection between the noun and the article. This connection defines the value of a noun and plays an important stylistic role in the sentence. It is realized in two possible ways: either by the violation of the combinability of the morphemes in the word or by violation of the common usage of the forms of noun in the sentence.
The article system of English is considered in the works of Poutsma (1914) and Jespersen (1924), Kruisinga (1932), Christophersen (1939), and continuing up to the present time Chafe (1969, 1972), Quirk (1972), Kirsner (1979), DuBois (198O), and Celce-Murcia, Larsen-Freeman (1983) and others. In these studies scientists described the complexity of the use of articles by English speakers.
The question of the peculiarities of functioning of the article arose in early English descriptive grammars of the XVI century and is being extensively studied at present. XVI-XVIII centuries are distinguished by the fact that the article was seen as a sign of a noun that is allocated among other parts of speech primarily on the basis of a kind of adjective as an independent part of speech, as a property of the noun as determinant and particles.
The next stage is the XVII-XVIII centuries during which the majority of scholars of grammar have the role of indefinite article allocated as the key indefinitely and classifying the value of collateral – quantitative, definite article as attached index value. In the eighteenth century a number of linguists have not limited the description of linguistic facts, sought to establish linguistic norms, rules; the article was presented as an independent part of the fragments of the narrative text, the emerging situation in the case of an indefinite article or a formed — in the case of the definite article.[17]
In the nineteenth century, many Grammatik’s adhered to the view of the article as a separate part of speech, parallel to this article included in the class of pronouns or adjectives: in some grammars, the word is treated as a defining adjective, on the other hand as an adjective emitting or index, in the third as a limiting adjective.
In XX century the linguists continue to refer the article to independent parts of speech, and the use of articles is considered in connection with the classification of nouns and attributed to them the function of generalization.
So, in relation to the topic of our research article is considered a grammatical element projecting in the language as a word or affix that serves to express the certainty or uncertainty of the category or type of reference.[8, 45-46]
The theme of studying the function of the articles is quite actual, that is why the article in most languages and its status is regarded as:
— function word, segment, particle, determiner, auxiliary grammatical unit and the formal sign of the word or attribute group;
— the determinants of either marker in relation to the noun;
— the element of category limitatively;
— the phenomenon of many meanings, but devoid of polysemy;
-the element that has the functions of distinguishing, limiting, defining, generalizing, identifying, distributive determining and marking the division of the value of the noun.
The relevance of the topic of this course work due to the fact that lately there is a tendency to the omission of the definite article in written and oral English speech. The study of the semantic of articles will help English learners to see the patterns related to the use / omission of article for more intelligent design of speech.
As object of study we consider the semantic features of articles in English.
The subject of this research is the article and its specific use of the English language.
The aim of this work is to study the article as a semantic operator in English. On the basis of the aim were formulated the following research tasks:
— to give the characteristic of concepts «article»;
— to identify the ways of using articles;
— to identify the functions of different types of articles.
A methodological framework and the theoretical base of the research consist of scientific-methodological conception of grammar of the English language, revealing the nature of the research object.
To solve the tasks is used different methods and techniques: study and analysis of the scientific literature on English grammar, systemic-structural approach, the elements of component analysis, a descriptive method.
The structure of the work is determined by the specifics of the chosen topic and features selected for study material: introduction, two chapters, conclusion, and list of references. The introduction sets goals and tasks of the study, the actuality of the topic, defines the object and subject of study and the structure of the study.
The first chapter is devoted to the definition of the essence of the article, ways of its use.
The second chapter examines the morphological, syntactic and stylistic functions of the definite article in English.
In conclusion are presented the summarized results of the work.

Заключение:

Summarizing the above giving material, it will be noted, that English belongs to the «article» system. The article is a determiner of a noun and can be replaced by a pronoun.
The articles in the language are not a formal element of grammar structures. The use of definite or indefinite article in some structures dues to their substantial satisfaction.
To the theoretical issues of the article include the definition of its functions in language, syncretism of its values, the ambiguity and difficulties associated with its use.
The article is a grammatical element that acts in language in the form of words, used to express numbers, and a special category of determination).
According to many linguists, the main function of the definite article is a morphological function, which is used to express the category name.
The morphological function of the article can be defined as a measure of the number, and syntactic function, as the designer of the nominal group in the sentence.
The concept of definiteness and indefiniteness may be expressed by lexical means and grammatical by articles and determiners.
The indefinite article expresses the uncertainty of the named object. The definite article expresses the definiteness of the object named and distinguishes it from a class of similar objects.
The absence of the article is also constructive and occurs when we expect that the indefinite article is used with abstract nouns and nouns in the plural, with which the indefinite article is not used because it is associated with the idea of “unity”.
The article itself can’t define or categorize the noun. In accordance with article there are two main views.
1) The article is a word (possibly a separate part of speech) and the combination ‘article + noun’ is the phrase.
2) The article is a form element in the system of the noun. Thus a kind of morpheme and article’s combination ‘+ noun’ is a morphological formation.
This article is intended to define the noun. From this point of view, the article can be divided into 3 classes: 1) the definite article (The); 2) the indefinite article (a/an); 3) the zero article.
The function of the definite article is the detalisation, classification and generalization (nomination). Most uses of the article «the» show that the speaker know that the listener/reader) know who/what he is referring to or whether it is a specific person or thing.
Once a topic has been introduced, a speaker or writer can use the article «the» to mean people or things that are normally present in that situation.
— If someone is talking about a company they visited or work at, they can say
«the employees, the office, or the boss» without having to be specific as to which employees, which office or which boss.
It should be noted that such as functions as particularizing, versatility, demonstrative does not bring by the article itself, but by the context or situation.
2.The indefinite article a, is the normal or neutral way of referring to one thing. In other words the speaker or the writer has no specific thing in mind when making the statement.
3) The indefinite article is sometimes used with nouns which name unique things or abstract notions.
It may be called the aspective or stylistic function of the indefinite article. In its aspective function the indefinite article may be used with proper names as well.
4) The indefinite article is also used for the introduction of “new” in the message.
All of the above named functions of the indefinite article can exist alone or in combination with each other.
The functions of the definite article:
1) Limit function.
The definite article is also used with names of detail (sun, moon, earth, air, world, space, etc.).
The definite article singles the object named out of a class of similar objects.
2) Sometimes the definite article is used with a noun that stands for the whole class of such objects. The telephone was invented by Bell l in the 19th century.
This can be called a generic function of the definite article.
3) The definite article is usually used with a noun to express «the known» in the message. The door opened and a man entered the room.
The absence of the article before a material or abstract noun has the function of nomination. E. g. Life goes on.
Zero article is often used with uncountable nouns: for example, «chocolate», «glass» or «wine».
The second one suggests that it is one type of wine from Marlborough and that there are others.
Some uncountable nouns have quite a specific meaning when used with the definite article a. Nouns with geographical names follow no clear pattern and are difficult to predict.
The rules relating to their use just have to be learnt, together with the nouns with which they are used. Syntactic function of the articles:
1) The article defines the left border of attributive word-combinations. In this case, the article is usually replaced by any other index name.
The word usually joins sentences in context, while the noun that it modifies, can be mapped to some word or group of words from the previous text.
The indefinite and zero articles similar perform functions which lie in the different nature of the external structure to name a noun of the object and its quantitative characteristics, without highlighting them as something concretely given or clearly allocated.
The definite article denotes the cash, definitely allocated or known to the interlocutors, due to other circumstances, the object (group of objects).
The definite article has multiple semantic functions, which are based on the total value of instructions to:
• emit,
• descriptive,
• generalizing function.
Highlighting function (Defining the Function). This function of the definite article is a means of determining the subject, the phenomenon denoted by the noun, by reference to individual traits of the subject, the phenomenon. The definite article in the emit function is opposed to the leading function of indefinite article – naming or considering.
The definition of individual characteristics of the object denoted by the noun, which is the article, is carried out via a restrictive definition expressed in a word, group of words or attributive clause sentence. Articles are a means of implicit expression in the content, subtext. The indefinite article is widely used in the creation of a generalized imagery, and the definite article — in the personalized imagery.

Фрагмент текста работы:

Chapter I. Theoretical aspect of articles in English
1.1The history of formation of articles in English
In nowadays world English is an international language. In recent decades, English has become an international means of communication; it has acquired the status of «global language». As the intermediate language in the modern world the English language plays the role of the language of intercultural interaction and enrichment. This is largely due to the fact that for a long time the English language tends to borrow vocabulary. This results in the formation of new types of English language and changes the forms and structures of the «standard» English.
In English grammar a key role plays word order, prepositions and articles instead of the old inflectional endings and prefixes.
Words in English Grammar are divided into notional and functional, which reflects their division in the earlier grammatical tradition into changeable and unchangeable.
To the notional parts of speech of the English language belong the noun, the adjective, the numeral, the pronoun, the verb and the adverb.
To the basic functional series of words in English belong the article, the preposition, the conjunction, the particle, the modal word, the interjection. The article expresses the specific limitation of the substantive functions.
Nouns in English and Russian can be used in speech in a variety ways, general or specific. But in Russian this difference cannot be issued, and in English to express this diversity is need articles.
The question of value, location and structure of the article were considered in the research of many linguists. According to Bulakova, the article posed a problem. He noted, refers to the definition of A. Gardiner, «the article is nothing more than «useless ballast» and «old rubbish»». [14, 32]
In English there is no single point of view on the definition of the term «article» some linguists believe it as the notional part of speech and consider it as a separate word; others define the article as a morpheme, grammatical particle when