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.