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9
called "supra-proposemic".
In the printed text, the supra-sentential construction very often coincides with the paragraph (as in the
example above).
The supra-sentential construction is a combination of separate sentences forming a textual unity. Such
combinations are subject to
regular lingual patterning making them into syntactic elements. The syntactic
process by which sentences are connected into textual unities is analysed under the heading of "cumulation".
Cumulation, the same as formation of composite sentences, can be both syndetic and asyndetic. Cf.:
He went on with his interrupted breakfast. Lisette did not speak and there was silence between them. But
his appetite satisfied, his mood changed; he began to feel sorry for himself rather than angty with her, and with
a strange ignorance of woman's heart he thought to arouse Lisette's remorse by exhibiting himself as an object
of pity (S. Maugham).
In the printed text, the supra-sentential construction very often coincides with the paragraph (as in the
example above). However, the constitutive unit of the level in question obeying the universal derivational
regularity of segmental lingual hierarchy, should be reducible to one sentence only, the same as the sentence is
reducible to one denoteme (sentence-part), the same as the nomeme is reducible to one lexeme (word), etc. This
regularity considered, we come to the conclusion that the generalized unit that is located above by sentence and
is distinguished by its topical (micro-topical) function is not necessarily represented by a group of sentence, i.e.
by a super-sentential construction; in general terms, tlus unit is formed either by a group of sentences a super-
sentential construction shown above), or by one separate sentence which is placed in a semantically (topically)
significant position in speech. In oral speech it is delimited by a long pause combined with the corresponding
"concluding" tone of voice. We have called this generalized unit he "dicteme" (from "I speak") [. 1986,
48]. In written (printed) text it is often represented by a sentence-paragraph, i.e. by a paragraph formed by a
single independent sentence.
Thus, from the point of view of its constitutive units, the supra-sentential level may be called the dictemic
level, the dicteme being defined as an elementary topical segmental unit of the continual text.
We have surveyed six levels of language, each identified by its own, functional type of segmental units. If
now we carefully observe the functional status of the level-forming segments, we can distinguish between them
more self-sufficient and less self-sufficient types, the latter being defined only in relation to the functions of
other level units. Indeed, the phonemic, lexemic and proposemic levels are most strictly and exhaustively
identified from the functional point of view: the function of the phoneme is differential, the function of the
word is nominative, the function of the sentence is predicative. As different from these, morphemes are
identified only as significative components of words, denotemes present notional parts of sentences, and
dictemes mark the transition from the sentence to the text.
Furthermore, bearing in mind that the phonemic level forms the subfoundation of language, i.e. the non-
meaningful matter of meaningful expressive means, the two notions of grammatical description shall be pointed
out as central even within the framework of the structural hierarchy of language: these are, first, the notion of
the word and, second, the notion of the sentence. The first is analysed by morphology, which is the grammatical
teaching of the word; the second is analysed by syntax, which is the grammatical teaching of the sentence.
CHAPTER II
MORPHEMIC STRUCTURE OF THE WORD
§
1. The morphological system of language reveals its properties through the morphemic structure of words.
It follows from this that morphology as part of grammatical theory faces the two segmental units: the
morpheme and the word. But, as we have already pointed out, the morpheme is not identified otherwise than
part of the word; the functions of the morpheme are effected only as the corresponding constituent functions of
the word as a whole.
For instance, the form of the verbal past tense is built up by means of the dental grammatical suffix: train-
ed [-d]; publish-ed [-t]; meditat-ed [-id].
However, the past tense as a definite type of grammatical meaning is expressed not by the dental morpheme
in isolation, but by the verb (i.e. word) taken in the corresponding form (realized by its morphemic