LECTURE 9
THE SENTENCE AND THE UTTERANCE
1. Main characteristics of the sentence
For most linguists, in most circumstances, a sentence is an abstract linguistic
object: specifically it is a linguistic object put together entirely in accordance with
the rules for constructing sentences in a language, rules which have to be identified
in a linguistic description by thorough investigation. More particularly, a sentence
does not have to be something which somebody might say or write, and not
everything that we might say or write is a sentence. On the other hand, a linguistic
unit may be treated as a sentence only on the basis of some formal characteristics.
Generally speaking, it is rather difficult to define the sentence as it is connected
with many lingual and extra lingual aspects — logical, psychological and
philosophical. According to Professor G. Pocheptsov, the sentence is the central
syntactic construction used as the minimal communicative unit that has its primary
predication, actualizes a definite structural scheme and possesses definite
intonation characteristics. This definition, however, works only in case we do not
take into account the difference between the sentence and the utterance. The
distinction between the sentence and the utterance is of fundamental importance
because the sentence is an abstract theoretical entity defined within the theory of
grammar while the utterance is the actual use of the sentence. In other words, the
sentence is a unit of language and the utterance is a unit of speech.
Different approaches to the study of the sentence
a) Traditional analysis.
In accordance with the traditional syntactic analysis, principal and secondary parts
of the sentence are defined. The words in the sentence are analyzed depending on
the syntactic functions they perform into subject, predicate (principal parts), and
object, attribute and adverbial modifier (secondary parts).
b) IС analysis.
Immediate constituents of the sentence. To grasp the real structure of the English
sentence, one must understand not only words that occur but also the principles of
their arrangement. Each language has its own way of structural grouping. English
has dichotomous phrase structure, which means that the phrase in English can
always be divided into two elements (constituents) until we get down to the single
word. All groups of words are arranged in levels. The name given by linguists to
these different levels of relationship is immediate constituents, the analysis was
called IС analysis. Thus, one way of analyzing a sentence is to cut it to its
immediate constituents, that is, to single out different levels of meaning.
Oppositional analysis.

The oppositional analysis is based on the principle of privative oppositions. One of
its possible applications in syntax is to describe different sentence types and
variants of one and the same sentence. The oppositional method in syntax is
applied to describe different simple sentence types: they possess common features
and differential features. Differential features serve the basis for analysis. The rules
are as follows: Different sentence types are those that cannot be substituted for
each other without changing the structural meaning of the sentence.
a) Distributional analysis.
Distribution is a set of positions in which a given linguistic unit or form can appear
in language. Any given linguistic element which is present in a language, whether
a speech sound, a phoneme, a word, or whatever, can occur in certain positions but
not in other positions. A statement of its possible positions is its distribution, and
this distribution is usually an important fact about its place in the language. For
example, distribution is important for identifying parts of speech.
Constructional analysis. Syntactic processes.
According to the constructional approach, not only the subject and the predicate
but also all the necessary constituents of primary predication constitute the main
parts because they are constructionally significant, in other words, necessary for
the structural sentence pattern. It follows that sometimes the secondary parts of the
sentence are as necessary and important as the main ones. It is based on the
assumption that every sentence is a syntactical construction, that is, it is built on
the basis of a structural kernel pattern. The smallest syntactical construction which
can be obtained by omitting all optional elements of the sentence is called "kernel"
or "elementary" sentence.
3. The utterance. Communicative types of utterances
Utterance may be defined as a particular piece of speech produced by a particular
individual on a particular occasion. In linguistics, a sentence is an abstract
linguistic object forming one part of the total expressive resources of a given
language. When we speak, therefore, we do not strictly produce sentences: instead,
we produce utterances. An utterance is a single piece of speech marked off as a
unit in some way: for example, by pauses and intonation. From the viewpoint of
their role in the process of communication utterances are divided into four
communicative types: declarative (statements), interrogative (questions),
imperative (requests or commands) and exclamatory (they express various
emotions, such as joy, anger, surprise, sorrow, etc.).
Based on this text provide the answers to the questions:
1. Main characteristics of the sentence.

2. Different approaches to the study of the sentence.

3. Classifications of simple sentences

4. The utterance. Communicative types of utterances.