A gramme is that unit within the word whose meaning is not lexical. Grammes usually express syntactic meanings or grammatical function, for example gender, number or verb tenses.
In this sense, in traditional grammar, its concept corresponds to that of grammatical morpheme. And it is opposed to the lexeme or base morpheme: the part of the word that contains its main meaning.
So both units - lexemes and gramemes - are constitutive elements of the word, called morphemes. The first is its fundamental core of meaning, and the second has a merely grammatical function.
Thus, the word "songs", for example, is made up of the lexeme "song" and the gramme "is". In this case, the gramema is expressing plurality.
Now, the lexemes can be dependent units (they must be linked to another morpheme such as com / er, com / iste, or com / erá) or independent (such as "sun"). Meanwhile, the gramemas are always dependent.
Types and examples of gramema
In general, there are two types of grammes: nominal and verbal. A nominal gram is one that is proper to nouns and adjectives. In Spanish, these mark the gender (masculine or feminine) and the number (singular or plural).
On the other hand, verb grammes are typical of verbs. In the case of the Spanish language, these express grammatical accidents: number, time, person and mode.
Each of these grammes is described below. Some examples with passages taken from the Bible will also be offered.
Gender
This property is inherent in nouns, and is manifested in accordance with the adjective. On the other hand, the gramma for the masculine is "o", while for the feminine it is "a".
Example
"And the EARTH to was desordenad to and Vaci to, and tiniebl to s were on the face of the abism or, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the AGU to s" (Genesis 1: 2)
It should be noted that some nouns have a fixed gender. In the example, this can be noted with the words “(the) earth” or “(the) abyss”.
The name "water" is a special case. This takes the masculine article "the", but is feminine: "the white water".
Also, it should be taken into account that certain nouns do not mark gender with a gramme: face and spirit. In these cases it is said to have a "zero" morpheme.
On the other hand, in the sentence the noun-adjective agreement with respect to gender can be observed. Thus, disorderly and empty they become "(the earth) disordered and empty."
Number
The grammatical accident number is used in nouns, adjectives and verbs to express the characteristic of singular (one) and plural (more than one). The gramme that marks the plurality is "s", and has a variant "is".
In the case of the singular, it is not marked. This means that there is no specific way to denote it. It is then said that it has a "zero" morpheme.
Also, another case of zero morpheme is when nouns have a fixed form for singular and plural (the crisis, the crises).
Example
"Because no tenemo s fight against flesh and blood, but against principality s against authority is against the governor is of the darkness s of this world, against host s spiritual is of evil in the region is celeste s ". (Ephesians 6:12)
Note the pairs of nouns: principiado-principalities, power-powers, governor-governors, darkness-darkness host-host and region-regions.
There are also two plural adjectives (celestial-celestial and spiritual-spiritual) and a verb (we have).
The singular nouns (not marked) are: fight, blood, meat, century and evil.
Weather
Time is a verb grammatical accident. This indicates the moment in which the action is carried out. There are three basic tenses: present, past and future. These, in turn, can be simple or compound.
The sets of grammes that accompany the verb lexeme depend on whether the base form of the verb ends in ar, er, or ir.
Example
"He said: or: What is to written in the law? How is it ? " (Luke 10:26)
" And he answering, said: or: Amar ore to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and your neighbor as yourself ”. (Luke 10:27)
In these verses, verbs of the three conjugations are represented: ar (to love), er (to read) and ir (to say and write).
Thus, the graphemes of the present simple (le / es), present compound or perfect (est / á written), past (dij / o) and future (amar / ás).
Person
The grammes mark the grammatical persons who perform the action of the verb. These can be first person (me, we), second person (you, you, you, us, you) or third person (he, they).
Example
"But to you who listened to me an them dig or: Am on their enemies, hag an good to those who odi an, Bendig an whom the Mladic in, or in by those who insult an ". (Luke 10: 27-28)
"If someone peg to you on one cheek, ofréc and also the other; and if someone quit a layer, déj to you LLEV and also your shirt. " (Luke 10:29)
In these verses, gramemas are observed for I (dig / o), you (offer / e, leave / a), he (peg / a, quit / a, carry / e), you (listen / an, am / en, do / an, bless / an, or / en) and they (hate / an, curse / en, insult / an).
Note: "him" in offer him and let him are enclitic: these are equivalent to offers to him and leaves to him.
Mode
In Spanish there are the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative. The mode is related to the attitude of the speaker towards the facts that he communicates.
Broadly speaking, the indicative indicates an action given for certain (like, I ate, I will eat), while the subjunctive expresses a possible or hypothetical action (eat, eat, eat).
On the other hand, the imperative mood indicates the speaker's desire for a person to perform or not an action (eat, eat, eat, eat). This mode has no verb tenses, and has grammes for the second person only.
Example
"But Jesus said: or: Dej ad children, not impid them AIs that Veng an me because of those who are like them is the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 19:14)
In this example, gramemas are observed in the indicative (dij / o), subjunctive (imperative / áis, veng / an) and imperative (dej / ad) moods. There are also two forms of the verb ser (son, es), but this is an irregular verb and does not follow the same rules.
References
- Alonso Cortés, A. (2002). Linguistics. Madrid: Chair.
- Pikabea Torrano, I. (2008). Language glossary. La Coruña: Netbiblo.
- Camacho, H., Comparán, JJ and Castillo, F. (2004). Manual of Greco-Latin etymologies.
Mexico. DF: Editorial Limusa.
- Schalchli Matamala, L. and Herrera Amtmann, M. (1983). Santiago de Chile: Andrés Bello.
- Hualde, JI; Olarrea, A and Escobar, AM (2001). Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- They compare Rizo, JJ (2002). Spanish language. Jalisco: Threshold Editions.
- De la Peña, LI (2015). Spanish Language Grammar. Mexico DF: Larousse Editions.