UNITS LARGER THAN A SENTENCE

As we saw in §14, grammatical features may be found in the units larger than a sentence, namely, in the utterances, communicative parts and dialogues. But as we have already mentioned above, these features are traditionally not included into grammatical descriptions, and still we can find on these levels special generalised meanings expressed through oppositions of the appropriate units. It means that we can find grammatical categories and grammatical meanings in those larger units. Because these meanings are found on those levels, they at least should be mentioned in grammatical descriptions. Moreover, since Language is a functional system, its features depend upon the function Language is used for. It means that the features of smaller units are determined by the necessities of the units they are used in. From this follows that those larger units finally determine the forms and meaning of the units that are traditionally considered the domain of grammar. Thus, understanding traditional grammatical system demands, though brief but obligatory knowledge about the grammatical features of dialogues, communicative parts and utterances. So the structure of this course includes a special chapter on the units larger than a sentence, then several chapters dealing with syntax, finally coming to morphological chapters.