Learning Russian begins with the basic elements. They form the foundation of the structure. The components are the language units of the Russian language. These are such components of the linguistic system for which division within their own level is unacceptable. Next, we analyze the concepts in more detail, define a classification. Also, the article will describe the characteristics of basic linguistic components.
"Decomposability"
What are the basics of the Russian language? In the structure, there is a division into elements related to a lower rank. There is such a thing as a decomposition criterion. It determines whether a given language unit is divisible. Whenever decomposability is possible, all elements are divided into simple and complex. The former include indivisible units, such as phonemes and morphemes. The second group includes those components that decompose into elements that are at a lower level. The main language units are combined at different levels of the system.
Classification
Different language units are combined into two groups. The first determines the type of sound shells. For this category, there are material types that have a constant sound envelope. In particular, these include language units such as phoneme, word, morpheme, and even sentence. There is also a relatively material type. It is a model for constructing phrases and sentences, which has a generalized usable value. There is such a thing as units of value. They cannot exist outside the material and relatively material species, as they are their semantic part. In addition, the material units of the language are further subdivided into unilateral and bilateral. The former do not have meaning, they only help to create a sound envelope. These include, for example, phonemes and syllables. But bilateral matters, because of which they are even ranked among the higher units of the language. These are words and sentences. Language levels are complex systems or are their components.
Russian language
By definition, this system is a collection of iconic particles reproduced in sound form that express the thoughts and feelings of a person. In addition, they are a means of communication and information transfer. Nina Davidovna Arutyunova, a Soviet and Russian linguist, considered language an important point in the evolution of culture and society. At the lowest level of the system is phonetics, that is, sounds. Above are morphemes, which are composed of elements of the previous level. Words consist of morphemes, of which, in turn, syntactic constructions are formed. A language unit is characterized not only by its location in a complex system. It also performs a certain function and has the characteristic features of the structure.
Take the unit of language that is at the lowest level - the phoneme. Sound itself does not carry any meaning. However, he, interacting with other elements that are at the same level with him, helps to distinguish between individual morphemes and words. Phonetic elements include syllables. However, due to the fact that their significance is not always sufficiently substantiated, some scholars are in no hurry to agree that the syllable is also a linguistic unit.
Morpheme
Morphemes are considered the smallest units of language that carry semantic meaning. The most important part of the word is the root. After all, it is he who determines the meaning of words. But various suffixes, prefixes and endings only complement the meaning given by the root. All morphemes are divided into those that form words (word-forming), and those that create word forms (they are called grammatical). The Russian language is rich in such constructions. So, the word "reddish" is composed of three morphemes. The first is the root "red-", which determines the sign of the subject. The suffix "-owat-" indicates that this symptom is manifested to a small extent. And finally, the ending "th" defines the gender, number and case of the noun agreed with this adjective. With the development of history and language, some morphemes gradually change. Words like “porch,” “finger,” and “capital” used to be divided into more parts. However, over time, these details merged into common roots. In addition, some morphemes used to have a different meaning from the present.
Word
This independent language unit is considered one of the most significant. It gives names to feelings, objects, actions and properties, is a component of the proposal. The latter may consist of one word. Words are formed by a sound envelope, that is, a phonetic attribute, morphemes (morphological attribute) and their meanings (semantic attribute). In all languages there are quite a lot of words that have several meanings. Especially in such cases, the Russian language abounds. So, the well-known word "table" means not only an interior item related to furniture, but also a menu of several dishes, as well as a component of the decor of a medical office.
All words are divided into several groups according to various criteria. The distribution according to grammatical features forms groups of parts of speech. Word-building relationships create categories of words. In terms of meaning, these elements are divided into synonyms, antonyms and thematic groups. History distributes them into archaisms, neologisms and historicisms. From the point of view of the sphere of use, words are divided into professionalisms, jargon, dialectisms and terms. Given the function of the elements in the linguistic structure, idioms and composite terms and names are distinguished. The former, for example, include expressions such as “boiling point” and “plug-in design”. An example for compound names is “White Sea” and “Ivan Vasilievich”.
Phrases and sentences
The linguistic unit that is formed from words is called a phrase. This is a structure consisting of at least two elements connected in one of the following ways: coordination, control or adjacency. In addition, words and phrases formed by them are components of sentences. But the phrase is one step lower than the sentence. In this case, the syntactic level on the language ladder is created by combining all structural elements. An important characteristic of a sentence is intonation. It shows the completion or incompleteness of the design. She gives him the appearance of a question or order, and also adds emotional coloring through an exclamation.
"Emic" and "ethical" language units
Material units of a language can exist in the form of several variants or in the form of an abstract set of variants, called an invariant. The former are denoted by ethical terms such as allophones, allomorphs, backgrounds and morphs. To characterize the latter, phonemes and morphemes exist. Speech units are composed of linguistic particles. These include phrases and sentences, compound words, morphemes and phonemes. These terms were introduced by Pike, an American linguist.
Characteristics of linguistic elements
There are many areas in science, each of which has a different perception and description of linguistic units. However, regardless of which option to apply to, one can always distinguish common features and characteristics of language units. For example, a phoneme is considered a class of sounds similar in phonetics. At the same time, some scientists believe that the main feature of these elements is that without them it is impossible to determine words and their forms. Morphemes belong to linguistic units that do not differ in syntactic independence. Words, on the contrary, are independent. They are also constituent sentences. All these characteristics are common not only for different points of view. They are suitable for absolutely all languages.
Relations between structural elements
There are several types of relationships between units of language and speech . The first kind is called paradigmatic. This type denotes the contrast between units that are on the same level. In syntagmatic relations, particles of the same rank combine with each other during the process of speech, or else form elements of a higher level. Hierarchical relationships are determined by the degree of complexity of a unit when the lower levels enter the higher.