The theory of oppositions

privative, gradual and equipollent

Taking into consideration the number of members in the opposition we can speak of binary(two-members) and more-than-binary oppositions

The privative opposition is that one in which one member is characterized by the presence of a certain differential feature while the other member is characterized by the absence of this feature. The member in which the differencial feature is present is called the marked(strong,positive) member of the opposition.

The other member of the opposition is called unmarked(weak or negative)

e.g. Let’s take the opposition [d]-[t]. The coomon feature of this opposition is the fact that both members are plosive, alveolar-apical consonants. The differential feature is the presence of voice in articulation.

So,[d] is treated as the marked member of the opposition because it’s voiced, while [t] is the unmarked member (voiceless)

A gradual opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished not by the presence(absence) of some featre but by the degree of the same feature.

e.g. taking into consideration the degree of openness of the phoneme we can speak of a gradual opposition when comparing vovels i: - i – e – æ

Equipollent opposition is formed by a contrastive group of members which are distinguished by different positive features

e.g. the phoneme [k]-[t] form in equipollent opposition in which the voiceless consonant k is alveolar-apical

all the 3 types of oppositions can be identified in morphology and they are used to establish grammatical categories

The binary privative opposition is most frequently used in grammar to establish grammatical categories.

e.g. the binary privative opposition [a book-books] expresses the categoty of number

the marked member is books. On the plain of expression it is marked by the inflexion [s] and on the plain of content it’s marked by theme plurality(сема)

the other member of this opposition is unmarked both on the plain of content and on the plain of expression, because it lacks of the inflexion and the theme plural

gradual oppositions are rare in English morphology. A vivid example of them is the case of the morphological category of the degrees of comparison. The common feature of this opposition is the meaning of quality which is represented as different in degree in each member

equipollent opposition are also occasional in English morphology. A typical example of them is the paradigm of the verb to be (am, is, are)

the first member am expresses the first person singular

the second member is the third person singular

and the third member are exp the second person singular and the plural

so,all these members are distinguished by different positive features as it’s required by the equipollent opposition

a gramm. Category must be exp by at least one opposition of word-forms

no categoty can be recognized without an opposition

e.g. I hope- I hoped (the categoty of tense)

one hopes-two hope (the number)

but we can’t speak of the grammatical categoty of gender with English noun because we cant find an opposition of noun forms exp by the category on the plain of expression (friend – друг,подруга)

yet in various contexts one member of the established opposition can be used instead of the other

this phenomenon is called