Derivational patterns —

Controversial problems of the part-of-speech classification: the category of state.

The category of State. The Stative is built by the prefix and the root of a word. They are: awake, applause, ablaze (пылать – в прямом смысле, зд. быть взволнованным), afraid. The problem of the stative is controversial. The stative is not universally recognized as a separate part of speech. Traditionally it was classed together with adjectives, because stative has something in common with adjectives (points to some quantity, can be modified by an adverb, ex.: fast asleep). It differs from the adjective (has no degrees of comparison), it has only one function in the sentence - that of predicative (Ex.: The child is asleep). It cannot be used as an attribute. Ильиш uses the 3 criteria principle in his analysis of the Stative and concluded that it is a separate part of speech. It differs from the adjective from the point of view of meaning, function and form. Meaning. It's meaning is that of the passing state a person or a thing happens to be in (not that of a quality). Its form is unchangeable. Usually the Stative follows a link verb and occasionally a noun (Ex.: man alive). It can follow an adverb (Ex.: fast asleep). 3. Its function is that of the predicative. Бархударов и Блох also used the 3 criteria principle, but they arrived at different conclusions. As to its meaning ББ believe that like adjectives, statives express properties of nouns. They state that the Stative has a changeable form. It has degrees of comparison, though they are not synthetical but analytical.