The Contextual Method

This method is associated with the names of professors V.V. Vinogradov, I.V. Arnold, I.R. Galperin, N. Amosova, N.A. Shekhtman, M. Halliday.

A context is an immediate environment of a linguistic unit, which actualizes, semantizes, desemantizes, hypersemantizes or disambiguates it. Actualization can come from an immediate context or from a distant context.

Scholars distinguish different types of context: extralinguistic (situational) and linguistic contexts, the latter being subdivided according to theirstructure into phrasal, sentential, supraphrasal, the context of discourse; according to the character of constituents into lexical, lexico-semantic, lexico-grammatical; according their length into macrocontext and microcontext.

Making use of the contextual analysis, we are to take into consideration semantic agreement / disagreement of semantic components between the semantic structures of the words combined, or the semantic content of a word and that of its form. Semantic agreement / disagreement is based on logical agreement / disagreement. Semantic agreement / disagreement expresses itself in the presence or absence of similar semantic components in the contents of the words or forms combined or juxtaposed.

None of the methods, taken isolatedly, is sufficient to produce an adequate linguistic analysis. All the methods covered complement each other. Only a synthesis of them can result in a reliable analysis of linguistic units.

The Levels of Language

Language is a structure, a hierarchy of levels. Each level has a basic unit. The lowest is the phonemic (phonological) level. Its basic unit is a phoneme. It is the smallest meaningless distinctive unit. Phonemes, constituting morphemes, differentiate them (ship – sheep: [i]:: [i:] ). A morpheme is the basic unit of the morphemic (morphological) unit. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit. The classifications and combinations of morphemes are studied by morphology. Next comes the lexemic level. Its basic unit is a lexeme, the smallest meaningful unit on this level. Lexemes realize themselves in words, which constitute phrases (a beautiful girl, to run quickly, very fast). A phrase is the basic unit of the phrasemic level. A phrase is a non-predicative unit, made up of words. Next comes the syntaxemic level, the basic unit of the level is a syntaxeme. A syntaxeme is a monopredicative unit. Syntaxemes realize themselves in sentences. Sentences, constituted by words and phrases, are united into composite sentences (compound and complex), which are polypredicative units. Sentences, monopredicative and polypredicative, are united into supra-phrasal units. A supra-phrasal unit is the basic unit of the supra-phrasal level. Sentences of various structure and supra-phrasal units constitute texts. The basic unit of the textual level, which is the highest level of language structure, is a texteme.

This hierarchy of linguistic units can be shown in the following way. A problem is a word. A complex problem is a phrase (a word combination). It is a complex problem is a simple sentence. It is a complex problem and it can’t be sold is a compound sentence. It is a complex problem which can’t be sold is a complex sentence. It is a complex problem. It can’t be sold by outdated techniques is a supra-phrasal unit.

There is no impassable borderline between language levels. One and the same unit can refer to several levels. Teach is a lexical morpheme and a word. In It is a trial- and –error procedure the element underlined is a phrase and a word (an attribute). In a do-good judge the element underlined is a sentence and a word (an attribute).