普通语言学概论第六章第六节 R.H.Robins

Compound verbal expressions, consisting of member of the verb paradigm and one or more of what are often called auxiliaries, are very common in these languages, and fulfill some of the semantic functions of the singleword tense forms of other languages. Will write, was writing, should have been writing, etc. While time and aspect form the main semantic area of tense meaning, they do not exhaust it. Unfulfilled conditions in English are indicated by past tense forms in reference to the present state of affairs. If he was alive now, he would not permit this; 过去对现在 Past forms reference to the past. If he had alive then, he would not have permitted this.过


Traditional grammar was well aware of the need for the semantic description of the uses to which grammatical elements and categories were put. It is, clearly, possible and legimitate to approach the sementic functions of grammatical forms and structures from two starting points. 1)How various semantic categories are formally expressed in a language. 2)The various formal arrangements of elements that the grammar of a language allows and then analyse their semantic functions.






Dual: specific word forms associated with two objects, persons, or the like. Like “both” in English. Dual is therefore is a lexical, not a grammatical category in most European languages today. One singular More than one plural But collections is an exception: 如wheat，barely，and corn to the singular Oats to the plural Wheat grows well here, oats grow well here.


4.Category of tense The category of tense in verb forms is familiar in European languages. The semantic ranges covered by the different forms are mainly on two axes, time relations and what are usually called aspectual differences of completion, incompletion, continuation, and momentariness，and the other is tense. Time is a universal concept, which every language is capable of expressing. Tense is a linguistic concepts, which varies from language to language.
去对过去
A rather wide semantic field associated with verbs in most if not in all languages has been identified as modality, to some extent covering the meaning carried by the verbal moods in traditional grammar, but extending beyond them. Modality used to cover such structural meanings as factual statements: the conservatives won the election. possibility: the conservatives may win the election. probability: the conservatives probably will win the


1.Category of number
Semantic correlation of formally established categories may vary from tolerable closeness to extreme indeterminacy. Between the category of number and the actual singularity and plurality in what is referred to there is a fairly close correlation. In most languages number may be used to label a formal category of grammar. Number is mostly a category of noun and pronoun. But the English verb also inflects for number. He speaks English. They speak English. The grammatical category of number, though a very widespread one among languages, is in no way universal.

A slightly different formal distinction with a similar partial semantic correlation is seen in some languages in the categories of animate（生物） and inanimate（非生 物）, nouns belonging to one of the two category classes and requiring correspondingly different concord forms or grammatical arrangements in sentences.
Meaning of grammatical categories 语法范畴的意义


Affixes and other markers of grammatical categories vary greatly in the degree to which their presence in a word correlates with a definite semantic function ascribable to the word as a whole. A semantic label attached to the affix and the category marked it may be useful, and categories are well known in grammatical writings.
6.6 Grammatical semantics

Semantic correlations 语义关联 The purpose behind the grammatical array of words, morphemes, constructions, and the rules associated with them is the provision of means adequate to express all sorts of meanings required in human life and in the use of a language.

(1)It rained, it did not rain; He knows it , he does not know it. (2) make it clean get it clean

election ……P261

Two formal categories exhibited by verbs in a number of languages, though not in the most familiar European languages, are negation(否定) and causativity(使动句).