WORD  SYNTAX Lexicon : inventory of (stored) lexical items

1. WORD SYNTAX Lexicon: inventory of (stored) lexical items Syntax: meaningful grouping of lexical items ----------------------------------------------------------- Morphology  Syntax

2. Concepts constitute the entities in the world as we construe it. Linguistic expressions refer to these entities, for example, by means of pragmatic anaphora (i.e. deictic pronominal expressions accompanied by some pointing gesture): THING: I bought that[pointing] yesterday, isn’t it nice? ACTIVITY: Can you do that[pointing]? EVENT:That[pointing] had better not happen in my house! MANNER: You can’t shuffle cards like that[pointing]. AMOUNT: The fish they caught was that[demonstrating] long.

3. The continuous flow of matter in the physical world does not come neatly segmented into events, actions, manners, amounts, etc., as language would have it. In order to correlate the linguistic and visual inputs involved in the use of pragmatic anaphora, both speaker and hearer must have internal information structures that contain entities of all these sorts.

4. C O N C E P T U A L S E M A N T I C S the world of ‘reality’(tangible matter in constant change) continuous spatial extension of material substance (1) perception sensitivity to change (2) human experience[phenomenological clusters] cognitive scanning processes object representations (1) concepts (memory) event representations (2)

5. l e x i c a l i t e m s The Generativist Lexicon: lexical items + features [formal, semantic, and phonological features] Formal features determine the item’s behaviour in the SYNTAX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cognitive / Functionalist Lexicon: lexical items + skeletal schemas both are form–meaning correspondences there is no strict division between lexicon and syntax both are essentially the same sort of entity a schema is (an unspecified representation) abstracted from multiple instances of utterances of a given type

6. Definition of Word Classes Traditional Grammars N O T I O N A L C R I T E R I A 1) Logical-conceptual criterion: The ‘parts of speech’ correspond to the way in which reality is thought of, i.e. to concept • Nouns and Verbs correspond to independent concepts • Adjectives and Adverbs correspond to adjacent or non-independent concepts 2) Logical-objective criterion: The classes of word correspond to the different aspects of reality: • Nouns correspond to the substance of reality • Verbs correspond to the action of the substance • Adjectives correspond to the quality of the substance • Adverbs correspond to the modality of the action

7. S T R U C T U R A L C R I T E R I A S t r u c t u r a l & G e n e r a t i v e G r a m m a r s 1) Morphological criterion: words are defined and classified in terms of their morphological structure: • Verbs may inflect for tense and person-number agreement • Nouns inflect for number, (gender) and (genitive) case • Pronouns inflect fornumber, gender, person and case • Adjectives and Adverbs inflect for degree • Verbs take non-finite forms by means of special suffixes • N, V,A &Advtake specific derivational suffixes 2) Syntactic criterion: words are classed according to their syntactic function (i.e. distribution in the sentence): • Noun can follow (i.e. be COMPL to) a determiner • Noun constructions can be subject or object • Verbs and adjectives may ‘function’ as predicate

9. SENTENCE notionaldefinition (loosely semantic): A sentence is a group of words which express a complete idea, presumably a proposition(static or dynamic) and a modality(cognition or volition). 1. ‘complete idea’: requiring a subject and a predicate. 2. ‘proposition’: unit of logical analysis (Logic). 3. ‘static’: denoting a (physical or figurative) state or location 4. ‘dynamic’: denoting a (p. or f.) change of state or location 5. ‘modality’: expressing the attitude of the speaker

10. However, this definition is: a. subjective: who knows what a complete idea is? b. unscientific: not made in terms of a system, but depends on the observer ------------------------------------------------------------- This definition is compatible with Functionalism, but functionalists don't use this kind of definition. Functionalists do not consider the sentencethe largest unit of analysis. Functionalism studies discourse, not the sentence.

11. SENTENCE morpho-syntactic definition A sentence is a structural string whose words fall into natural groups known as constituents. The predicate can be a finite VERB phrase, whose verb agrees in person and number with the NOMINAL construction which functions as subject. When the initial subject position is taken by the expletive there, there is CONCORD or AGREEMENT between the VERB and the NOMINAL which follows it: [There aresix coins here] [There appearsa strange image on the screen]

12. The presence of a finiteverb(i.e. conjugated) is not indispensable for a sentence to make complete sense, e.g.: Yes. No. Good-bye. Thanks. Hello. Of course. However, these examples may be full sentences only from a phonological perspective. Notionally they are always elliptical, i.e. some elements of their structure have been omitted.

13. SENTENCE Phonological definitions: 1. A sentence is anutterancebetween twopauses. 2. A sentence is an utterance with a definite intonation contour. I couldn't find the photographs which we took during the trip. Sentences are abstract units of study, isolated from the rest of the language. Utterances are real occurrencesof speech in actual discourse.

14. SENTENCE Structuralist definition LeonardBloomfield(USA, 1887–1949)1930’s: a sentence is an independent linguistic form, not included by virtue of any grammatical construction*, in any larger linguistic form. Syntactically, a sentence consists of a subject and a predicate; categorially, a noun phrase & a verb phrase. *‘grammatical construction’: combination of words according to rules of syntax (the largest unit is the sentence).

15. a CLAUSE is a structure containing a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE (i.e. a logical proposition) It can be embedded (i.e. subordinated) to a mainclause (i.e. the sentence), in which case its meaning is not complete.

16. GRAMMATICAL UNITS [Structuralist approach] SENTENCE: [Those are the houses where we stayed last year] CLAUSE: [Those are the houses (where we stayed last year)] PHRASE: <the houses> <last year> WORD: those the where last MORPHEME: houseS stayED laST ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SENTENCES may be: SIMPLE [This is my house] COMPOUND [(This is my house) and (I like it)] COMPLEX [This is the house (where we stayed last year) ] ________________________________________________________________________________________________ CLAUSES may be: MAIN / MATRIX / ROOT: (This is the house) SUBORDINATE / EMBEDDED: (where we stayed last year)

18. l e x i c a l i t e m s Distinction between lexical and functional categories: • Contentive words are: Noun - Verb - Preposition - Adjective - Adverb • They have idiosyncratic descriptive content orsense properties • They haveantonyms, e.g. :lose / gain; in / out ---------------------------------------------------------------- • Functional words are carriers of grammatical information: Complementiser - Auxiliary - Infinitive Particle Determiner - Pronoun - Quantifier - etc.

21. event seen as past Tense Inflectionevent seen as present event seen as future with respect to some point of reference event seen as a whole Aspect Inflectionevent seen in progress event seen as a series Modal Inflectionevent seen as factual event seen as non-factual

22. Processes of Word Formation • Morphological Inflection • Derivation • Composition: at least two free morphemes get together to form another word, e.g.: bedroom • Acronyms: initials or initial syllables from different words are joined to form a single word, e.g.: laser, radar, Pakistan, Benelux, nylon, AIDS, UFO, snafu /snæ’fu:/ [N] [A] [transitive V] = Situation Normal All Fucked/Fouled Up (etymology circa 1941) a situation marked by errors or confusion; muddle; an error causing such a situation, e.g. a scheduling snafu. • Clipping: part of a word is clipped and the resulting segment becomes another word, e.g.: telly, pram, perm, ad, phone, gents • Blending: segments from two or more words are joined to form a single word, e.g.: brunch • Borrowing: foreign words are incorporated into the morphological system of a language, e.g.: golear, (from English goal); chatear, etc

23. Morphological evidence • Inflectionalproperties different forms of the same word • Derivational properties  formation of different words by addition of derivational morphemes The derivational affixes have categorial properties: in- / un-adjectivesorverbs -lyadverbs

24. M O R P H O L O G Y morpheme (Greek morphé = form, shape): the smallest group of phonemes with meaning. It cannot be subdivided into smaller grammatical units with semantic content. two-morpheme word LIVED {LIVE + ED} two-morpheme word CARELESS {CARE + LESS} three-morpheme word CARELESSNES {CARE + LESS + NESS} Free morphemes can stand independently; they’re words by themselvese.g.: LIVE, DO, HUT, BUT, NICE, WORK, WHAT Bound morphemes, i.e. affixes, are never independent, they must be attached to another morpheme –a free morpheme– forming part of a larger unit, the word e.g.: livING, doES, hutS, DISlike, UNdo, nicER A stem is a free morpheme to which bound morphemes –affixes– are attached.

25. AFFIXES affect the meaning of the STEMS they are attached to. These changes in meaning may or may not alter the word-class or category of the stem. The affix ‘–s’ meansthird person singular, present tense, when attached to a verb stem, such as ‘find’. The resulting word: ‘finds’ is not different in category from the stem ‘find’, i.e. verb. The affix ‘–s’ means plural when attached to a noun stem, such as ‘cat’; catS is a noun too. But the affix ‘–ly’ attached to an adjective stem such as ‘slow’ causes a change in meaning which involves a change in the category of the resulting word: the adverb 'slowly’.

26. Inflectional affixes do not change the category of the stem they attach to INFLECTION is the generic name given to a set of features which affect the meaning of lexical items in any language, without changing their category. Inflection encompasses the grammatical features of TENSE, ASPECT, MOOD, CASE, PERSON, NUMBER, GENDER and DEGREE, which affect the lexical categories (and the functional category PRONOUN) These inflectional features may be realised in different ways: • MORPHOLOGICAL INFLECTION: a bound morpheme, e.g. a suffix, added to a stem: serve + ed [affixal inflection for Past Tense] served • INTERNAL INFLECTION: phonological changes within the stem break + internal inflection for Past Tense broke • LEXICAL INFLECTION: a separate word, e.g. an auxiliary or an adverb, affects the meaning of the stem: walk + lexical inflection for Past tense, Imperfective aspect, Indicative mood would walk

27. Realisation of Inflectional Features Morphological inflection can be regular or irregular Irregular inflection may be referred to as internal inflection due to the fact that the morphological change in these cases occurs internally in the word and not by attachment of a bound morpheme, e.g.: Number: mouse – mice / foot – feet Tense: break – broke / feel – felt / bring – brought Degree: far – farther – further – farthest / little – less – lesser – least Gender: man – woman / king – queen Lexical inflection occurs when a grammatical feature, such as tense, person, number, degree, etc. is not manifested by means of a morphological affix or an internal change in the stem, but by addition of or substitution for a separate lexical item, e.g.: Number: I – we ; her – them Person: I – you ; we – they ; me – her Tense: am – was ; go – went Degree: good – better ; bad – worse Gender: brother – sister ; monk – nun ; bull – cow

28. Realisation of Inflectional Features

29. INFLECTIONAL FEATURES ON PRONOUNS

30. English NOUNS inflect for • number and genitive case, • but they rarely inflect for gender. • Irregular morphological behaviour of NOUNS: • sheep(the same form expresses both singular and plural number) • furniture(uncountable noun with no plural form) • baby-sitter(compound noun)

31. VERBS inflect for • 3rd person singular number –s • past tense -d • past participle –n • present participle / gerund -ing • Most verbs are irregular • because their past tense form is the same as • their past participle form. • Sometimes inflection is irregular. • Some derivational affixes have limited productivity.

32. DERIVATION A process of word formation which often involves a change in the category (i.e. word-class) of a stem. Derivation can occur: a. MORPHOLOGICALLY b. byCONVERSION

33. English derivational affixes can be: suffixesor prefixes, e.g.: electric (A)  electricity (N) execute (V)  execution (N) danger (N)  dangerous (A) sleep (V) asleep (A) midst (N)  amidst (P) do (V)  undo (V) flexible (A)  inflexible (A)

34. The derivational suffix –EN forms ergativeverbs from stems of different categories fright [N] – frighten[V] threat [N] – threaten[V] strength [N] – strengthen[V] like [P/A] – liken[V] soft [A] – soften[V] short [A] – shorten[V] stiff [A] – stiffen[V] sharp [A] – sharpen[V]

35. Fossilised affixes The fossilised inflectional–EN suffix encodes past participle features with many verbs of Germanic origin: break – broken melt – molten sink – sunken rot – rotten swell – swollen forget – forgotten forbid – forbidden

36. A homophone inflectional suffix –EN encodes plural features with a very restricted set of nouns: man – men ox – oxen child – children woman – women brother – brethren

37. D E R I V A T I O N An affix with little productivity is restricted to a limited set of occurrences, i.e. its use cannot be generalised to other occurrences outside the restricted set within which it is meaningful. A fossilisedaffix is no longer productive in the present stage of the language. Notice that some ancient affixes attach to stems which are not Modern English free morphemes: BE– beget; behold; befriend; behave; become; believe; belong; behind; before A– {an old preposition}astride; aloft; alike

38. The stem may be a recognisable modern word, but the derivational process involved is not productive any longer. These affixes affect stems of different categories and form words of different word-classes. They reflect processes of word formation belonging to the grammar of a different language. In such cases, the whole word: {stem + ancient affix} must be regarded as a single lexical unit, i.e. a Modern English free morpheme.

39. The same applies to words of foreign origin (Greek, Latin, etc.). Pairs like: present – absent prefer – infer implement – complement reveal the presence of meaningful prefixes in the language of origin, but, the ‘stems’ to which they attach are not English words, i.e. these words are not formed by a derivational process within the grammar of English. Consequently, they must be regard as lexical units, i.e. bare stems.

40. Some foreign words even retain their original inflectional pattern for number: Greek nouns: criterion – criteria phenomenon – phenomena automaton – automata crisis – crises Latin nouns: datum – data medium – media stratum – strata curriculum – curricula alga – algae

41. Morphosyntactic evidence(categories) a. He didn’t stay long(er). (ADV) a’. He didn’t stay [for] a long(er) period (A) b. He went on a long(er) journey. (A) I would prefer for the lock to be changed. (C) We are hoping for a peace agreement to be signed. (C) Congress voted for the treaty to be ratified. (C) Congress voted for/against the ratification of the treaty. (P) It is important for parents to spend time with their children. (C) It is important that parents should spend time with their children. (C) It is Mary and Joe that you should spend most of your time with. (C) That time that parents spend with their children is important. (D)–(C) That is the question. (D)

43. Humans did not know what was going on, for they did not see these creatures. I go to the park every Sunday, for I love to watch the ducks on the lake. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. They were determined to smuggle them in somehow, trusting to luck; but they were not so wise as my pal, for they did not wrap their things in bundles.

44. PRESENT PARTICIPLE or GERUND? ING’s premodifying a NOUN • The crying baby had a wet diaper. • We didn’t visit the Weeping Wall. • She’s a walking history book. • She won’t wear her walking shoes or take her walking stick. • The burning log fell off the fire. • Every coal-burning stove must have a chimney. running water / running tracks / running nose

47. Null Constituents (Empty Categories)  Students are required to remain silent for a while Los estudiantes deberán permanecer … (plural specific) I like  cats, but I don’t like  dogs. Me gustan los gatos, pero no los perros. (plural generic) Are there any bottles of wine in the cellar? ¿Hay  botellas de vino en la bodega? (plural generic) “El romance del Aniceto y la Francisca” (singular specific) …y también le va a enseñar la costura como en la escuela ‘e la rubia? … no tendrá necesidad de tocar la música, sino que buscará algún pianisto… (Fray Mocho “Escuela de campaña”) (mass generic)

49. A R G U M E N T S T R U C T U R E • Predicates denote states, activities or events in which one or more animate/inanimate entities participate. In logical terms, a ‘predicate’ predicates something about an entity, e.g.: arrive – run – send –like • Arguments are the actors or participants taking part in the activity, state, or event denoted by a predicate. • Thematic Roles are the roles played by each of the participants in an activity, state, or event, e.g.: agent, theme, patient, experiencer, percept, goal, source, location, recipient, instrument, etc.

50. Thematic Relations Jackendoff’s 1972 theory (i.e. Thematic Tier) • Agent: initiatior, doer of an action, capable of volition • Force: initiatior, doer of an action, incapable of volition • Patient: affected argument, undergoer of an action • Theme: what is located, changes location, or is created • Location: spatial or figurative entity at which another entity is located/placed. • Goal/Source: entities toward or from which (spatial or figurative) change of location takes place. • Recipient/Benefactive: goal/(intended) destination • Experiencer: the individual who feels/perceives the event. • Percept: entity experienced or perceived • Instrument: the object with which an action is performed