Tripartite nature of language: systemic and functional dependencies

The article is devoted to the description of the language structure from the standpoint of structural-systemic and functional linguistics. It is proposed to distinguish between the system, function and set of rules that collectively ensure the communicative suitability of the language: elements of vocabulary sets are combined in speech according to certain rules in order to create new expressive means. The systemic pole of the language is static and stereotypical: it includes vocabulary elements structured in a hypo-hyperonymic way. The area of hyperonymy indicates the condensation of the semantic feature in the core of the vocabulary set, and hyponymy indicates its dispersion to the periphery, where there is a zone of overlap with other thematically related fields. Hyponyms clarify the general meaning of the hypernym and represent a tree-like branching (rhizome) that forms the onomasiological structure of the field. The system is determined by the formula L = A + S, where L (langue – system), A is a limited vocabulary set (symbol of mathematical logic) and S is the structural organization of the incoming elements. The functional pole of language is dynamic and has its own structure, built in the logic of aggregation (from smaller to larger): expressive means are enlarged to registers of expressive-semantic coloring, registers form genres, genres are built into styles and functional styles, whose ‘five-petal’ makes up the functional repertoire of language. The varieties of repertoire are determined by various kinds of restrictions associated with the variation of language: social (acrolects, basilects, metalects), territorial (dialects, koine), professional (sociolects, professiolects) and historical (historiolects, adstrates). The function is found by the formula {E}A1 U (mathematical operator of unification) {E}A2 = expressive means. Speech combination of expressive means that increase the applicativity of language is carried out in accordance with the rules that are structured not only by the levels (tiers) of language (phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic), but also in accordance with the rhetorical (stylistic) and pragmatic schemes of the composition of means. Due to this, it is proposed to abandon the obsolete term ‘grammar’ and replace it with more appropriate ‘rules of language’. The findings can be used both for purely theoretical needs and in the practice of teaching and organizing language training.

language composition, structure, system, function, grammar, rule, vocabulary set, elements, speech combination