6. Substantiation of the hypothesis
Single operations and states become manifest in speech. But the
operational structures formed by coupled quantitative and elective
states are not directly detectable in using words. In the present
article, we have considered the formation of complex structures on the
example of the VeI-NoI integration. Generally, their formation is based
on four possible relations11In Russian they are complicated in
the following ways: 1) The substituting state of one information unit
is substituted by the elective state of another: in particular, in
negation, in phrases with or (where the structures of each item
are mutually starting); 2) the including state of a basic structure is
included in the external quantitative state: in particular, in case of
hyponymization, in phrases with and (where the structures of
each item are mutually starting), in the plural form, in the form of
comparative degree of an adjective or adverb; 3) the substituting
state of a basic structure is unified with external elective states:
in particular, in case of verb and noun sentences; 4) the including
state of a basic structure is equivalent to the external quantitative
state: in particular, in Russian nonverbal nominal sentences.
There are possibilities for a structure to be complicated in two
identical ways at once. So the structures of Russian transitive verbs
are formed by unifying the elective state of the noun in the
accusative case with the one of the process or existential noun and
the elective state of the noun in the nominative case with the one of
its negation. It is possible also that a structure is complicated in
two different ways at once. 1) Equivalence is always realized with
substitution (as in case of negation), and unified states, with
inclusion (as in case of hyponymization). 2) A structure is
complicated in two different quantitative ways. 3) It is complicated
with an increment using the information unit structure. So the Russian
verb gets an increment expressing a tense and an aspect due to the VeI
structure, containing the substitution of elective states. Besides,
the information of one word class can be presented in the operational
structure by another word class information, e.g., a conjunction is
presented in the VeI structure by a NoI. And the operational structure
used with one word class can be used with another word class, e.g.,
the structure used to join a NoI to the VeI is also used to join a NoI
to the preposition information. For further complication structures
are connected in Russian by one of these mechanisms. For example, one
of the transitive structures is used to introduce a noun in the
indirect case..
The existence of the operational structures is substantiated by means of
a display technique we call linguistic reading . A complex
operational structure can be represented by lexical meanings provided
that their parameters reproduce the quantitative and elective relations
of the structure. Linguistic reading is an interpretation of
quantitative and elective relations of complex operational structures by
means of lexical items; it is a verbal form of operational relations.
The linguistic reading is not a usual language: The words used in it
supply the proper lexical meaning but are not bound by language norms
and don’t participate in semantic relations. The words used in
linguistic reading are “existential” and process nouns and the verbsto be and to have . The process nouns are those that have
the hypernymic base ʻprocessʼ and are integrated with verbs likeaccomplish, fulfil, proceed, undertake introducing nouns which
can denote events but not things. The existential nouns, also formed
with verbal information, are those that have the hypernymic base
ʻtimeless objectʼ and are integrated with the verb exist . By
making sure that the linguistic reading is true, we prove the existence
of the operational structures.
As an example of linguistic reading of operational structures (which we
don’t cite here), we will take Russian transitive verbs. For instance,
the operational structure of Russian sentences such as
(7) Она имеет кольцо ʻShe has a ringʼ
has the linguistic reading «она не есть атрибут: кольцо есть атрибут»
ʻshe is not an attribute: the ring is an attributeʼ, whereатрибут ʻattributeʼ is an existential noun. The operational
structure of Russian sentences such as
(8) Никарагуа все еще производит свой собственный кофе ʻNicaragua
still produces its own coffeeʼ
has the linguistic reading «производство не имеет Никарагуа:
производство имеет кофе» ʻproduction has no Nicaragua: production has
coffeeʼ, where производство ʻproductionʼ is taken as a process
noun (cf. the existential noun product ). And the operational
structure of Russian sentences such as
(9) Джеймс толкает Сандру ʻJames pushes Sandraʼ
has the linguistic reading «Джеймс не имеет толчок: Сандра имеет толчок»
ʻJames has no push (as a result): Sandra has a push (as a result)ʼ,
where толчок ʻpushʼ is taken as an existential noun.
So this approach allows us to see how language information is structured
not by analyzing semantic content but through operational structures.
This approach allows us also to group speech items on the basis of
operational structures and not on a semantic one; at the same time,
these groups are then determined by semantically distinctive features.
For example, the transitive verbs in sentences like (8) have no
information about actions that are performed by the subject to produce
the object (the listener doesn’t know what Nicaragua does to produce
coffee). In sentences like (7), the existential noun “attribute” is
also the verb’s object: «Она имеет атрибут» ʻshe has an attributeʼ. And
the existential noun in sentences like (9) becomes the object’s
attribute: «Сандра имеет толчок» ʻSandra has a pushʼ.
Another circumstance that convinces us of the operational structures’
real presence in speech is that one can see the grammar of a language as
a whole all the parts of which are linked by uniform relations of the
states forming these structures.