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intermediary positions between these poles, and their very intermediary status is gradational. In particular, the
variability of their status is expressed in the fact that some of them can be used in an isolated response position
(for instance, words of affirmation and negation, interrogative words, demonstrative words, etc.), while others
cannot (such as prepositions or conjunctions).
The nature of the element of any system is revealed in the character of its function. The function of words is
realized in their nominative correlation with one another. On the basis of this correlation a number of functional
words are distinguished by the "negative delimitation" (i.e. delimitation as a residue after the identification of
the co-positional textual elements),* e.g.: the/people; to/speak; by/way/of.
* See: Смирницкий А.И. К вопросу о слове (проблема «отдельности слова»). // Вопросы теории и истории языка. М., 1955.
The "negative delimitation" immediately connects these functional words with the directly nominative,
notional words in the system. Thus, the correlation in question (which is to be implied by the conventional term
"nominative function") unites functional words with notional words, or "half-words" (word-morphemes) with
"full words". On the other hand, nominative correlation reduces the morpheme as a type of segmental signeme
to the role of an element in the composition of the word.
As we see, if the elementary character (indivisibility) of the morpheme (as a significative unit) is
established in the structure of words, the elementary character of the word (as a nominative unit) is realized in
the system of lexicon.
Summing up what has been said in this paragraph, we may point out some of the properties of the
morpheme and the word which are fundamental from the point of view of their systemic status and therefore
require detailed investigations and descriptions.
The morpheme is a meaningful segmental component of the word; the morpheme is formed by phonemes;
as a meaningful component of the word it is elementary (i.e. indivisible into smaller segments as regards its
significative function).
The word is a nominative unit of language; it is formed by morphemes; it enters the lexicon of language as
its elementary component (i.e. a component indivisible into smaller segments as regards its nominative
function); together with other nominative units the word is used for the formation of the sentence - a unit of
information in the communication process.
§ 3. In traditional grammar the study of the morphemic structure of the word was conducted in the light of
the two basic criteria: positional criterion (the location of the marginal morphemes in relation to the central
ones) and semantic or functional criterion (the correlative contribution of the morphemes to the general
meaning of the word). The combination of these two criteria in an integral description has led to the rational
classification of morphemes that is widely used both in research linguistic work and in practical lingual tuition.
In accord with the traditional classification, morphemes on the upper level are divided into root-morphemes
(roots) and affixal morphemes (affixes). The roots express the concrete, "material" part of the meaning of the
word, while the affixes express the specificational part of the meaning of the word, the specifications being of
lexico-semantic and grammatico-semantic character.
The roots of notional words are classical lexical morphemes.
The affixal morphemes include prefixes, suffixes, and inflexions (in the tradition of the English school,
grammatical inflexions are commonly referred to as "suffixes"). Of these, prefixes and lexical suffixes have
word-building functions, together with the root they form the stem of the word; inflexions (grammatical
suffixes) express different morphological categories.
The root, according to the positional content of the term (i.e. the border-area between prefixes and suffixes),
is obligatory for any word, while affixes are not obligatory. Therefore one and the same morphemic segment of
functional (i.e. non-notional) status, depending on various morphemic environments, can in principle be used
now as an affix (mostly, a prefix), now as a root. Cf.:
out - a root-word (preposition, adverb, verbal postposition, adjective, noun, verb);
throughout - a composite word, in which -out serves as one of the roots (the categorial status of the meaning
of both morphemes is the same);
outing - a two-morpheme word, in which out- is a root, and -ing is a suffix;
outlook, outline, outrage, out-talk, etc. - words, in which out-serves as a prefix;
look-out, knock-out, shut-out, time-out, etc. - words (nouns), in which -out serves as a suffix.
The morphemic composition of modern English words has a wide range of varieties; in the lexicon of
everyday speech the preferable morphemic types of stems are root stems (one-root stems or two-root stems)
and one-affix stems. With grammatically changeable words, these stems take one grammatical suffix (two