Taxis as a conceptual and functional-semantic category

The scope of the studied taxis relations is specified by the following restrictions (see, for example, [Bondarko 1984]):

• 1.    Consistency of the time period, covering the complex of actions between which taxis relations are established.The time period implies a homogeneous relation to the reference point. All actions must be attributed either to the past, or to the present, or to the future, or to the plane of the ordinary. The homogeneity of the relation of all components of a given set of actions to the same denotative time from the point of view of the moment of speech is a necessary condition for the integrity (unity) of the time period, and thus the condition for the existence of a taxis relationship. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the presence of

• 2.    Homogeneity of action from the point of view of their specificity/generalization (usuality, obscenity, typicality). All designated actions must be either specific or ordinary, typical.

• 3.    Taxis relations are limited by the framework of discourse. I mean statements that are equal to a sentence or a super phrasal unity. The boundaries of the analyzed statements are determined by the completeness and internal integrity of the taxis structure. All three of the above signs of taxis relations, limiting and clarifying the concept of taxis, are related to each other.The integrity of the time period, coupled with the integrity of the complex of actions united by taxis relations, implies homogeneity in terms of concreteness / abstractness (usuality, typicality) of the elements of the designated situation, and the framework of the statement is the sphere of realization of this complex of actions.

time intervals between actions does not interfere with the integrity of the time period, if this integrity is ensured by temporal connections within the complex of actions and the homogeneity of their temporal reference.'

We consider taxis as a functional-semantic category (FSC), covering various means of expressing chronological relationships between two or more events within a single time period. FSC taxis correlates with the conceptual category (CC) of taxis, the content of which is defined as "characteristics of the reported fact in relation to another reported fact from the point of view of the transfer of relations of simultaneity and non-simultaneity (precedence or succession), but regardless of the fact of the message" [Bondarko 1983].In accordance with the principles of functional grammar, FSC as the invariant is constituted by a complex of semantic functions (SF), correlating with it as variants of a single semantic content.

When highlighting semantic functions, the following criteria are taken into account:

• 1)    SF, which forms the basis of a functional-grammatical description, are extracted from the meanings of the language means that appear in statements. In particular, such meanings can be singled out as a result of comparing different

statements (texts) characterized by differences in their linguistic content, but by the commonality of some invariant content elements.

• 2)    SF must have a grammatical formal expression (along with a possible non-grammatical one). At the same time, we are talking not only about grammatical formal indicators, but also about grammatical features of a system-structural organization.

• 3)    SF is the most generalized meanings, not reducible to the individual meanings of individual lexical units, i.e. meanings corresponding to the degree of abstractness that is characteristic of grammatical semantics.

This means that from the set of meanings expressed in texts in a given language, only categorical meanings are selected, that is, those that are embodied in the meanings of grammatical forms and categories, in service (grammatical) words, in special types of syntactic constructions in meanings of lexical and grammatical categories [Bondarko 1983: 51-52].

Simultaneity is an expression of the coincidence in time of a given action with another action or situation [Reznik 1987]. Simultaneity can be full or partial. Full simultaneity (overlay) is a complete coincidence of time intervals occupied by compared actions, and partial simultaneity (inclusion) “absorption by a wider time interval, taken by one of the actions, of the time of another action, which is of a more short-term nature” [Machina 2004: 104].

Antecedence is an expression of the non-coincidence in time of a given action with another action or situation, in which the determined action is located in time before another action and situation [Slaughter, 1987].

At the same time, we can talk about contact (when actions follow one after another without an intermediate interval) and distant (when there is a gap with a different length of interval between the previous and subsequent actions) juxtaposition of events.

Following is an expression of a mismatch in time of a given action with another action or situation, in which the determined action is located in time earlier than another action (situation). When describing the relationship of succession, one can also talk about the contact and distant juxtaposition of events. The length of an interval follow may or may not have a specification.