Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

notional
and 
functional
. To the notional parts of speech belong the 
noun, the adjective, the numeral, the verb, and the adverb. To the functional parts 
of speech belong the article, the pronoun, the preposition, the conjunction, the 
particle, the modal words, and the interjection. The notional parts of speech present 
open classes while the functional parts of speech present closed classes, i.e. the 

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number of items constituting the notional word-classes is not limited while the 
number of items constituting the functional word-classes is limited and can be 
given by the list.
The division of language units into notion and function words reveals the 
interrelation of lexical and grammatical types of meaning. In notional words the 
lexical meaning is predominant. In function words the grammatical meaning 
dominates over the lexical one. However, in actual speech the border line between 
notional and function words is not always clear cut. Some notional words develop 
the meanings peculiar to function words - e.g. semi-notional words – 
to turn, to 
get, etc.
Notional words constitute the bulk of the existing word stock while function 
words constitute a smaller group of words. Although the number of function words 
is limited (there are only about 50 of them in Modern English), they are the most 
frequently used units. 
It will be obvious that the system of English parts of speech as presented 
here is not the only one possible. All depends on which feature we want to base 
our classification. So, for instance, if the classifying criterion is the variability of a 
form, we shall have to unite prepositions, conjunctions, interjections and particles 
into one class (cf. H. Sweet’s and O. Jespersen’s classifications). If we classify 
words in accordance with the criterion of meaning, we shall distinguish only four 
word-classes: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Besides, linguists do not agree 
on the number of features needed to distinguish a part of speech. So, for instance, 
besides the traditional parts of speech, some linguists distinguish the stative and 
response words.