Functional Syntax and Grammatical Semantics in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The problems we have raised are considered through the prism of modern methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The following issues are meant: a) the system of functional-semantic fields and categories; b) inter-category connections; c) specific models of grammatical semantics and their environment; d) ways of conveying meaning determined by a specific language system, its categories and forms.

Unlike traditional grammar, which answers the question – “How is the language system arranged?”, functional grammar, taking into account the structure of this system, answers the question – “How does it function?” Traditional grammar describes linguistic facts from form to meaning. Functional grammar analyzes linguistic material from meaning to expression, from functions to means of their implementation. In this article, we proceed from the principle of unity of grammar - from the unity of its structural and functional aspects, from system-linguistic and speech elements. It is this aspect that should be the main one in the process of teaching the Russian language in a foreign environment. The solution to this problem involves a special treatment of the elements and forms of the relationship between the system-linguistic and communicative aspects of grammatical description. This connection is expressed in the fact that when analyzing linguistic material, special attention is paid to the speaker's intentions.

When formulating a thought in Russian, whether speaking or writing, it is necessary not only to place meaningful units next to each other, but also to take into account the rules that determine the purely formal structure of phrases and sentences in the Russian language.

In the process of working, in order to achieve the set goal, special attention should be paid to a number of issues that meet the requirements of constructing a Russian sentence.

During work, it is especially necessary to take into account the following issues:

1. In what form does a verb appear, based on the grammatical features of the word denoting the object it characterizes?
2. In what form should the adjective and the possessive adjective defining a noun be?
3. In what form should the numerals and words that stand with nouns have: один, два, оба, полтора, etc.?
4. How to determine the grammatical gender of a noun based on its verbal form?
5. In what form are the verbs governing nouns presented?
6. Which forms of noun inflections are used after a conjunction/preposition?

 One of the important aspects of functional analysis is comparison.

In different languages, the functional-semantic fields associated with the same semantic category can differ significantly in structure.

The connections of grammatical units, classes, and systems of categories with their lexical-grammatical and lexical environment in the field of functional syntax and grammatical semantics expand the boundaries of grammar and create the environment in which the categories of morphology and syntax operate. Functional grammar includes not only the system, but also its environment, therefore it is grammar in the broadest sense of this concept.