XXIX. The sentence and its aspects

Sentence is the most complex unit in the language system. It is a result of it having both many-layer structure and its various communicative functions. This explains the fact that sentence has several aspects: structural, semantic, pragmatic. Each of the aspects is the basis of classification, according to the structure, meaning and function of the sentences.

The structure of the sentence includes various relations between the elements of the sentence. They are: relations between the parts of the sentence, components of phrases, the sequence of elements of the sentence. According to their structure, sentences can be two-axis and one-axis, simple, composite (complex and compound).

The semantic aspect of the sentence studies the role of components in the semantics of the parts of the sentence and the whole of the sentence. Parts of the co-ordinate complex sentence, clauses also have semantic relations. Besides, parts of the sentence have specific meaning, as agent and patient meaning of objects.

The pragmatic aspect of the sentence is connected with its participation in the act of speech. The sentence is a communicative unit, therefore from the point of view of the function they can be classified into declarative, imperative and interrogative. These communicative types stand in strict opposition to one another, and their inner properties of form and meaning are immediately correlated with the corresponding features of the response.

Glossary of linguistic terms:

1. pragmatic - практический

2. co-ordinate - сложносочиненный

3. clause – придаточное предложение

4. agent – агенс, со значением действующего лица

5. patient – пациенс, со значением объекта действия

additional reading:

1. стр. 182

2. стр. 163 – 172

3. стр. 144- 147

4. стр. 255- 262

5. стр. 256- 266