Phrase as a unit of language

In Russian linguistics, there have always been several views on the essence of phrases as a unit of language. Some linguists were guided by the semantic factor in the definition of this syntactic unit, while others - by its grammatical features.

Back in the 19th century, in the writings of such scientists as Fortunatov, Peshkovsky, Peterson, a view was formed of the phrase as a combination of full-word words. At the same time, no other features were taken into account. From such positions it was possible to determine the proposal, that is, to understand it as a phrase. According to Shakhmatov, the phrase refers to any combination of two or more meaningful words. Such a definition includes not only one, but two or more sentences. However, the sentence was designated by Shakhmatov as a complete phrase, and his own phrase as an incomplete combination of words.

Of particular interest is the characterization of unfinished phrases. The scientist identified two groups: phrases with the dominant word in an unchanged form and phrases with the dominant mutable word.

A characteristic feature of the linguists' view in the 19th century on the phrase was the understanding of this unit of language inextricably linked with the sentence. Thus, according to linguists, the phrase existed and could exist only in the sentence, and not as an independent unit.

Later, in the 20th century, the domestic linguist Vinogradov applied a fundamentally new approach to collocation as a unit of language. According to him, the phrase and sentence are units from different semantic fields. The phrase performs the function of calling, "building", as it is a kind of foundation for the formation of the proposal. We can say that at this moment the understanding of phrases as a unit of language includes consideration of its grammatical features.

However, not every combination of words was considered as a phrase, but only built on the basis of a subordinate connection, in which one word is subordinate, dependent on another. In addition to Vinogradov, the same understanding of the phrase is expressed in the works of Prokopovich and Shvedova.

The phrase as a grammatical unit of a language is built according to certain canons. Conventionally, any phrase consists of two components: the main and subordinate. For example, a noun and a consonant adjective (a beautiful day), a verb and a controlled word form (like sports, cycling).

It is worth saying that modern syntax considers the phrase and sentence as equal syntactic units. In this regard, it is customary to consider the phrase in the similarity-difference to the word and sentence. Modern linguists define as a phrase not only a combination of words on the basis of a subordinate connection, but also on the basis of a composing one. That is, in this case, the words enter into equal relations, there is no main and dependent, for example, kittens and puppies. This approach is characteristic of Babaitseva.