§ 530. We have made a survey of the morphological and syntactical systems of Modern English, resorting, where appropriate, to comparison with Modern Russian. Now, by way of summing up, we shall make an attempt to point out those
basic features which make the grammatical structure of Modern English distinguishable from that of Modern Russian.
§ 531. We shall naturally begin with the word. One of the most striking features of English words as compared with Russian words is the scarcity of positive grammatical morphemes. The number of grammatical suffixes, for instance, does not exceed 13. But even these are often homonymous as, for example, /-s/ /-z/ /-iz/ in the nouns fathers, father's, fathers' and the verb fathers. Prefixes are not used as grammatical morphemes at all. In Russian the number of suffixes and prefixes used as grammatical morphemes exceeds 70.
This scantiness of grammatical morphemes in English is productive of certain characteristic sequels:
a) The proportion of zero morphemes is much greater in
English than in Russian. The 'singular number, common
case' grammeme in English, for instance, is (with the excep
tion of a few 'foreign' nouns) characterized by a zero morpheme*
whereas in Russian all case and number grammemes may have
positive grammatical morphemes. .Similarly, the verb gram
meme (7, we, you, they) go, come, live, stand, etc. has a zero
morpheme, whereas in Russian similar grammemes have a
number of positive morphemes. The 'positive degree' gram
meme of adjectives has a zero morpheme in English and pos
itive morphemes in Russian.
b) Grammatical combinability plays an incomparably
smaller role in English than in Russian.
Cf. áåëàÿ ñòåíà, áåëûé ïîòîëîê, áåëûõ ïîòîëêîâ; ìû, ïèøåì, âû ïèøåòå, îíè ïèøóò.
c) The number of words with oblique grammatical meanings
is much greater in English than in Russian. For instance,
there are but a few indeclinable nouns with oblique case mean
ings in Russian (äî ìåòðî, íà òàêñè), whereas in English
there are more nouns with oblique than with actual case
meanings.
d) Owing to the absence of positive case inflexions in
about 98% of nouns in speech, the relations of nouns, the
most numerous class of words, to other words in the sentence
is not expressed by their forms, as in Russian.
§ 532. The abundant use of grammatical word-morphemes compensates the English verb system for the scarcity of inflexions. This is another striking feature of English, as com-
pared with Russian where grammatical word-morphemes are used only in 'future non-perfective' grammeines (áóäó/ áóäåøü, etc./ïèñàòü) and 'subjunctive mood' grammemes (ïèñàë áû).
Note. particle.
In Russian grammar books áû is called a
§ 533. In the other parts of speech the compensation for the scarcity of inflexions is the extensive use of semi-notional words and of the relative position of words as means,of expressing the connections of words in speech. Prepositions are of greater importance than in Russian as indicators of the relations of nouns (and noun-equivalents) to other words in the sentence. Articles, semi-notional possessive pronouns, prepositions often mark the beginning of a string of words related to a certain noun.
Cf. the we—know—that—he—knows—that—she—knows development; of very great and ever Increasing importance.
§ 534. Russian is richer than English not only in grammatical morphemes but in lexico-grammatical morphemes (stem-building elements) as well. As a result there are many more homonyms in English than in Russian.
English has developed a way of lexeme-building without stem-building elements (conversion) which is much less used in Russian. The abundance of words related by conversion is another striking feature of the English language.
In the verb system the lexico-grammatical word-morphemes compensate for the scarcity of lexico-grammatical morphemes. Such composite verbs as get up, ring up, find out, take in, etc. are a characteristic feature of English not found in Russian.
In speech the prop-word one helps to indicate an adjective (or adjective equivalent) which is not followed by a noun much in the same way as an article (or another determiner) indicates a noun.
.§ 535. The syntactical system of a language is, as a rule, closely connected with its morphological system. The structure of the sentence and the structure of the word are interdependent.
In Russian the nominative case of a noun and its grammatical combinability with a finite verb are usually sure signs of the subject. So the position of the subject is mostly a matter of secondary importance from the grammatical point of view. Not so in English The noun has no 'subject case'. Its grammatical combinability with a finite verb is limited and does not, very often, exclude other nouns in the sentence.
(Cf. Âñòðå÷àåò Ïåï.ðà Èâàí; * meets Peter John.) Hence the rigid word-older in an English sentence.
§ 536. The Russian verb clearly expresses the indicative, imperative and subjunctive moods. So the relation to reality (the most essential component of predicativity) is obvious whether there is a subject or the 'person' is expressed by the verb itself. Cf (òû) ïèøè, (òû) ïèøåøü. Such sentences can do without subjects.
In English write can be the form of an infinitive or of any mood. So the subject is not optional. The absence of a subject before write is usually a signal of the imperative mood. If the meanings of the other moods are to be expressed, the subject is unavoidable. This is one of the reasons why the two-member sentence is the norm in English, whereas in Russian one-member sentences of the type íàïèøó, åäóò, âñïîìíèë, ñâåòàåò, etc. are also very common.
§ 537. The role of grammatical word-morphemes is even greater in English syntax than in morphology.
a) In the morphological system only some categories of the
verb and the degrees of comparison are expressed with the help
of grammatical word-morphemes, whereas no category of the
sentence is expressed without grammatical word-morphemes
in English.
b) Besides the morphological word-morphemes the sen
tence makes use of special syntactical word-morphemes.
Russian has no syntactical word-morphemes and but a small number of morphological word-morphemes. This is the reason why the structural and the notional (parts of the) subject and predicate are mostly not separated, as they are in English.
This is one of the most important features distinguishing the analytical structure of the English sentence from the synthetic structure of the Russian sentence.
§ 538. Among other peculiarities distinguishing the English sentence from the Russian, one has to mention the complexes forming secondary predications. They are convenient substitutes for subordinate clauses.
The distinction English makes between primary and secondary predications, i. e. predications with or without structural meanings, is also connected with the analytical structure of the English sentence.
§ 539. It is owing to most of the features described above that Modern English is spoken of as an analytical language.
Áîðèñ Ñåìåíîâè÷. Õàéìîâè÷, Áåàòðèñà Èîñèôîâíà Ðîãîâñêàÿ