On the one hand

§ 22. When opposed, the two words, runs — is running, form a peculiar language unit. All their meanings but those
22 m
of aspect counterbalance one another and do not count. Only the two particular meanings of 'non-continuous' and 'con­tinuous' aspect united by the general meaning of 'aspect' are revealed in this opposition or opposeme, to use an -erne word (Cf. phoneme, morpheme, lexeme, grammeme). The general meaning of this opposeme ('aspect') manifests itself in the two particular meanings ('non-continuous aspect' and 'continuous aspect') of the opposite members (or opposites).
Now we may regard the word runs as representing the whole grammeme runs, walks, stands, sleeps, skates, lives, etc. Likewise, the word is running represents the grammeme is running, is walking, is standing, is sleeping, is skating, is living, etc. When contrasted the two grammemes can also be regarded as an aspect opposeme since they show the partic­ular meanings of 'continuous' and 'non-continuous' aspects united by the general meaning of 'aspect'. •
The pairs ran — was running, shall run — shall be run­ning, to run — to be running, etc. and the corresponding grammemes are all aspect opposemes with the same general meaning and identical particular meanings.
All the aspect opposemes make up a system which is called thf> category of asnect. Eac^"o'pp'6^Ґme^fe"p'res'ents the catego­ry as a molecule represents a certain substance, but the extent of the category is shown by the whole system of opposemes.
3 § 23. The category of tense is the system of tense oppose­mes in a given language. A tense opposeme in English con­sists not of two but of three members (writes — wrote — will write; is writing — was writing — will be writing) because the general meaning of 'tense' manifests itself in three partic­ular meanings: 'present', 'past' and 'future'. The pair is writing — was writing cannot be regarded as a tense opposeme because one particular manifestation of 'tense' (the 'future tense') is missing: will be writing. Neither, can the group writes — wrote — was writing — will write be looked upon as a tense opposeme since the 'past tense' is manifested twice: in wrote and was writing. Besides, was writing intro­duces the 'continuous' meaning which the other members of the group do not possess.
In general, an opposeme of any grammatical category consists of as many members (or opposites) as there are partic­ular manifestations of the general meaning. Thus, a morpho­logical opposeme is a minimum set of words revealing (by the
23
difference in their forms) only (and all) the particular mani­festations of some general grammatical meaning. Any morpho­logical category is the system of such opposemes whose members differ in form to express only (and all) the particular manifesta­tions of the general meaning of the category }.
§ 24. The structure of a lexeme is defined by the opposeme it contains. The lexeme represented by the word long, for instance, contains the opposeme of but one category, the 'degrees of comparison'. Its structure, therefore, is, so to say, of one dimension: long — longer — longest. The lexeme represented by the word boy contains opposemes of two cat­egories, 'number' and 'case'. As a result, its structure is a two-dimension one: ,„
boy —^!— number —— boys

boy's
number
boys'

Each category is represented here by two opposemes. In English there are no lexemes of three-dimension structure. If the infinitive were regarded as a separate lexeme, it could be-a model of this kind:

-to be-
to lead
to have led
,*"


-voice-
to have been
leading
-voice-
to have been ~led