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Chapter 5 Syntax

Chapter 5 Syntax. English Linguistics: An Introduction. Chapter 5 Syntax. 0. Warm-up Questions 4. Syntactic Category 1. Definition 5. Syntactic Construction 2. Syntactic Unit 6. Syntactic Relation 3. Syntactic Function 7. Beyond the Sentence.

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Chapter 5 Syntax

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  1. Chapter 5 Syntax English Linguistics: An Introduction

  2. Chapter 5 Syntax 0. Warm-up Questions 4. Syntactic Category 1. Definition 5. Syntactic Construction 2. Syntactic Unit 6. Syntactic Relation 3. Syntactic Function 7. Beyond the Sentence

  3. 0. Warm-up Questions • What is your classification of sentences? • Do you know the terms for different grammatical elements (e.g. subject)? • Do you think that a sentence is a sequence of words? • How do you analyze the structure of a sentence? • In what ways are clauses or sentences connected?

  4. 1. Definition • The word syntax, derived originally from Greek, is made up of two morphemes: ｛syn｝ and ｛tax｝. The former means “together”, and the latter “to arrange”, hence the literal meaning “a setting out together” or “arrangement”. • In linguistics, it refers to the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences.

  5. 2. Syntactic Unit 2.1 Word • the minimum physically definable free form (See Chapter 4) 2.2 Phrase e.g. the three tallest girls (nominal phrase) has been doing (verbal phrase) extremely difficult (adjective phrase) to the door (prepositional phrase) very fast (adverbial phrase)

  6. 2. Syntactic Unit 2.3 Clause • Definition: a constituent both of a larger sentence and with its own subject and predicate • Classification: finite (independent and fully inflected) and non-finite (infinitive, participial and gerundial phrase) e.g. He laughs best who laughs last. (finite) It is great for a man to be free. (infinitive) Having finished their task, they came. (participial) It’s no use crying over spilt milk. (gerundial)

  7. 2. Syntactic Unit 2.3 Sentence • Definition: traditionally the minimum part of language that expresses a complete thought; “one not included … in any larger linguistic form.” (Bloomfield, 1935) • Traditional approach: simple, non-simple (complex, compound) • Functional approach: Indicative [interrogative (yes/no, wh-), declarative] Imperative (jussive, optative) • Quirk et al (1972): SV, SVA, SVC, SVO, etc.

  8. 3. Syntactic Function 3.1 Subject • One of the nouns in the nominative case, the doer of the action, grammatical subject in passive voice, topic. e.g. A dog bit John. (agent/doer) John was bitten by a dog. (grammatical subject) (Jack is pretty reliable, but) Bill I don’t trust. (topic) 3.2 Predicate • The part of a sentence excluding the subject and including verb, object, complement, etc. The word PREDICATOR is suggested for the verb or verbs.

  9. 3. Syntactic Function 3.3 Object • traditionally the “receiver” or “goal” of an action after the verb and prep. It is further classified into direct object and indirect object. e.g. Mother gave my sister (indirect) a doll (direct). 3.4 Complement • A constituent of a clause used to predicate a description of the subject or object of the clause. e.g. The class made him monitor. (object complement) He is monitor of the class. (subject complement)

  10. 3. Syntactic Function 3.5 Modifier (or qualifier) • A word or sentence element that limits or qualifies another word, a phrase, or a clause. In English, there are two kinds of modifiers: adjectives, which modify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs, which modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. e.g. Linguistics is the scientific study of language. We are working very hard at linguistics.

  11. 4. Syntactic Category 4.1 Senses of Category • Classes and functions: noun, noun phrase, subject • Defining properties of word classes: number, gender, case, tense, aspect, degree (adj.), etc. 4.2 Noun (pronoun) Category • Number: I (singular) vs. we (plural) a book vs. books, • Gender: his (masculine)/her (feminine)/they (neutral), • Case: nominative (I), accusative (me), vocative (Oh, my god.), genitive (my), dative (I gave a book to him.), ablative (He opened the door with a key.)

  12. 4. Syntactic Category 4.3 Verb Category • Tense: present (future), past • Aspect: simple, progressive, perfect • Voice: active, passive • Mood: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative • Finiteness: finite, non-finite (infinitive, gerund, participle)

  13. 5. Syntactic Construction 5.1 Definition • A syntactic structure, e.g. a phrase, a clause, a sentence 5.2 Types of Constructions • Whole category: clausal, phrasal • Internal relation: endocentric (coordination, subordination), exocentric • Coordination: go to the library and read a book • Subordination: swim in the lake • Exocentric: behind the door (cf. right behind)

  14. 5. Syntactic Construction 5.3 Constructional Analysis: IC analysis • Basic concepts • constituent: an element of a construction • immediate constituent (IC): a constituent directly below the level of a construction • ultimate constituent: the last level of constituents • IC Analysis: the analysis of a sentence in terms of it ICs-word groups, which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own and the process goes on until the ultimate constituents are reached.

  15. 5. Syntactic Construction 5.3 Constructional Analysis: IC analysis • IC Analysis • The analysis may be carried out with brackets as: ( (Poor) (John) )( (ran) (away) ) • It may also be more easily shown with a tree diagram: Poor John ran away

  16. 6. Syntactic Relation 6.1 Positional Relation (word order) • The sequential arrangement of words in a language. • Also syntagmatic, horizontal or chain relations • Language typology: SVO, VSO, SOV, OSV, OVS, VOS 6.2 Relation of Substitutability • Classes or sets of words substitutable for each other grammatically in sentences with the same structure. • Also paradigmatic relations, vertical or choice relations

  17. 6. Syntactic Relation 6.3 Relation of Co-occurrence • Means that words of different sets of clauses may permit or require the occurrence of a word of another set or class to form (a particular part of) a sentence. • The relations belong to partly paradigmatic relations and partly syntagmatic ones.

  18. 7. Beyond the Sentence 7.1 Sentential Connection • Hypotactic/subordinate relations We live near the sea. So we enjoy a healthy climate. • Paratactic/coordinate relations He dictated the letter. She wrote it.

  19. 7. Beyond the Sentence 7.2 Cohesion • Definition: semantic relations within the text • Cohesive devices: • You can’t have your cake, and eat it too. (Reference) • The cake is nice. I want to have one. (Substitution) • Have you a cake? Yes, I have one. (Ellipsis) • Take a cake, and eat it. (Conjunction) • The cake is a kind of delicious food. (Lexical cohesion)

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