Syntactic paradigm of the English active verb cut (based on The Economist magazine)

Abdullabekova Umsalimat Bagautdinovna PhD in Philology Docent, Dagestan State University of National Economy 367008, Russia, Republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala, Jamaludin Atayev str., 5 irma-uma@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The aim of the study is to analyze the active verb cut in English. The article defines the models forming the synparadigma of the active verb cut, describes the semantic features of the verb, analyzes the verb cut from the point of view of its morphological categories.Currently, linguists are of the opinion that all linguistic units are connected by two types of relations: syntagmatic and paradigmatic (or associative), therefore, the object of any linguistic (including syntactic) research should be linguistic units in their syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations ^{[1, p. 12]}.

The concept of syntactic paradigm differs significantly from the concept of morphological paradigm. The morphological paradigm assumes a strict set of regular formal modifications of almost any word belonging to a particular grammatical class. The syntactic paradigm that determines the uniqueness of a particular functional-semantic category is formed on the basis of a group of words characterized by a common lexical meaning ^{[2, p. 92]}.

The concept of syntactic paradigm was a logical continuation of the idea of the possibility and necessity to combine syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, which was determined by the desire to describe language as a functional dynamic structure. There are a large number of points of view about which range of phenomena the concept of synparadigma covers and what is the composition of the categories significant for it. In linguistics, there is no precise definition of the synparadigma, it is not clear which structures are its members, which relations unite the units of the syntactic paradigm, where its boundaries are ^{[3, p.20]}.

Linguists who define a synparadigma as a complex of correlating syntactic structures differing in at least one morpheme include both a sentence and a phrase in it. Some scientists argue that only sentence paradigms should be recognized as syntactic in nature, and "paradigms of phrases, obviously, would not be syntactic paradigms in the strict sense, but rather only combinations of morphological paradigms" ^{[2, p. 93]}.

In linguistics, there are different definitions of the paradigm, allowing for a different degree of freedom of application of this term. The broadest understanding of the paradigm is based on F. de Saussure's interpretation of the paradigm as an associative series. At first, the sentence paradigm was presented as a hierarchically organized system of various modifications of the sentence. The first study devoted to the supply paradigm was the work of D. Worth. Another source of a broad understanding of the paradigm is the use of synonymy criteria. So D. Worth includes in the syntactic paradigm all syntactic constructions connected by synonymous or transformational relations, both predicative and non–predicative: book trade – book trade; students read a book - a book is read by students-students reading a book, etc. ^{[4, pp. 98-100]}.

Another example of a broad understanding of the synparadigma is the theory proposed by P. Adamets. The Czech linguist understands the paradigm as a hierarchically organized system, which includes: the nuclear sentence, all its transformations, suggesting changes in the syntagmatic structure with the stability of the content side, all its modifications, suggesting a change in modal meaning, and all its variants, suggesting changes in its morphological categories (type, tense, mood, number) ^{[5, pp. 77-78]}.D. Worth first formulated the position that there is a complete parallelism between paradigms at the morphological and syntactic levels.

He suggests distinguishing between two types of syntactic paradigms: inflectional (inflectional) and derivational (word-forming) synparadigms. In inflectional syntactic paradigms, transformations concern only the grammatical form of the components, the sentence structure does not change or changes partially (the girl draws, the girls draw).

The derivational paradigm forms a "nest" of structures connected by the commonality of the original sentence and the same lexical morphemes (students read books, books are read by students, students reading books, books read by students, students who read books) ^{[3, pp. 22-23]}.

In addition, D. Worth divides synparadigms into simple and complex ones. Simple paradigms are characterized by the presence of a certain structural and semantic invariant at the sentence level. Simple paradigms are divided into linear and nonlinear. In simple linear paradigms, the syntactic structure does not change (I wrote - I write - I will write). In simple nonlinear paradigms, the syntactic form changes (he is a professor - he was a professor - he will be a professor). Complex paradigms are paradigms in which the syntactic model of a sentence is transformed (for example, a change in the voice). They have a hierarchical structure (The Director approved the order - The order was approved by the director; I remembered his face - I remembered his face; His words pleased me - I rejoiced at his words) ^{[2, p. 95]}.

Since the article analyzes the synparadigma of the active verb cut, we will describe various interpretations of the concept of actionality. English verbs can be classified according to various characteristics, and one of them is the transfer of an action or state of an object. Accordingly, all verbs can be divided into active, or action verbs and stative, or state verbs.Active denote actions in the literal sense of the word or events and processes associated with certain changes.

Stative denote states that depend on the will of the subject or are independent of it, relationships, manifestations of qualities and properties. The grammatical categories of the verb correspond to the conceptual category of actionality or predicativity ^{[6, p.385]}.

Actionality can be defined in various ways. In accordance with the classification of Z. Wendler's actional verbs are represented by four classes of predicates: states, activities, accomplishments, achievements ^{[7, p. 108]}.

The main class of action predicates are verbs denoting activity or action, and action is a predicate in which the semantic primitive "do" is found in semantic reduction. Is it possible then to equate the concept of actionality with the meaning of the verb "do"? If this is not possible, then actionality is a terminological doublet of this semantic primitive, and if this is possible, then actionality should be recognized as an independent semantic quark (a semantic quark is such a small piece of meaning that it is not verbalized by any lexeme of this language, although it exists in it) ^{[8, p. 19]}.

This article analyzes the synparadigma of the active verb cut. The synparadigma of the verb cut consists of 8 models (Table 1) :1.

Table 1. Synparadigma of the active verb cutThe highest frequency indicators characterize the VN model.

Next in frequency is the VNprpN model. The remaining models are represented by single examples.

The next stage is the analysis of the active verb cut from the point of view of its characteristic grammatical categories, categories of voice and mood. The initial thesis is the assumption that active and stative verbs differ not only in their semantics and the composition of synparadigms, but also in the morphological categories they implement.

The leading category in the system of species–time forms is the category of time - Present, Past and Future. Real time – the form of existence of matter – is in constant motion and continuously changing. Verb tenses in real speech can reflect real time, when the starting point is the actual moment of speech. The English species-modern system includes four paradigmatic categories: the main category (Indefinite), the long-term category (Continuous), the perfect (Perfect) and the long-term perfect (Perfect Continuous). An analysis of the verb cut along the line of the species-time category in The Economist magazine revealed a high frequency of use of the tense Present Indefinite and Present Perfect:As Americans cut the cord, Europeans sign up for more pay-TV ^[17].

"While Americans are cutting the cable, Europeans are subscribing to more pay TV."

How many American children have cut contact with their parents? ^[18]. "How many American children have cut off contact with their parents"?

Thus, the most commonly used modern form for active verbs in The Economist magazine is Present Indefinite and Present Perfect. Narration in the present tense provides a very strong effect of presence, causes a feeling that events are happening here and now, i.e. the unfolding of the situation described in the statement includes the moment of speech. As for the type-time category Perfect, it is a type-time form of the verb, which denotes an action or state that began in the past, the result of which is present in the existential present tense.

The next analyzed category is the category of collateral. Analysis of the verb cut line of the pledge category showed that it is mainly used in the actual pledge. There have been some cases of using the verb cut in the passive voice due to its lexical meaning:The papers show that in all countries other than France and Germany investment spending was cut … ^[19].

"The documents show that in all countries except France and Germany, investment spending has been reduced."

The next category analyzed is the mood category. The analysis of verbs along the line of the mood category revealed a large number of sentences in the indicative and imperative mood.

Thus, after analyzing the synparadigma of the verb c ut, we came to the following conclusions:

1) For the verb cut, the highest frequency indicators characterize the VN, VNprpN model.

2) The most commonly used modern form of the verb cut in the English–language media text is Present Indefinite and Present Perfect. Narration in the present tense provides a very strong presence effect, causes a feeling that events are happening here and now, i.e. the unfolding of the situation described in the statement includes the moment of speech.

3) The active verb cut is mainly used in the actual voice. We have noted some cases of using the verb cut in the passive voice due to its lexical meaning.

4) The analysis of the verb along the line of the mood category revealed a large number of sentences in the indicative mood.