Structural Analysis of English Syntax

Part II - C. Chapter 8 (pp. 98-114) Herndon, J.H. (1999). A Survey of modern grammars (2 nd Facsim ed.) Forth Worth, TX. ; Hartcourt College Publishers.

Prepared by: Aníbal Muñoz Claudio Course: Educ 8145 Professor: Dr. María A. Irizarry Date: September 13, 2005

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Definitions Inflectional Paradigms Derivational Paradigms Intonation Patterns Position or Word Order Form Class Words

Nouns –Class I, Pronouns, Verbs –Class II, Adjectives –Class III, Adverbs – Class IV  

Function Words (

determiners, conjunctions, others)

Syntactic Combinations, Phrase Analysis, Immediate Constituent Analysis, and Sentence Formulas

What is syntax?

   The forms that English words may be given and the sequences in which they are arranged with other words to express larger, more complex meanings make up the

syntactic pattern

or system of English. The syntax of English –the third level of grammar and the third level of analysis –deals with the more complex combinations of linguistic forms. Identification of a word class is not, then, a matter of “What do these words mean?” but “How do they fit into a pattern?” “What forms will they take?” and “How do they behave in combination with other forms?” (1999, Herndon) The way in which words are put together to form constructions (American Heritage Dictionary)

Paradigms

1.

The devices used by structuralists for establishing word classes in English include consideration of ways in which certain types of words can be grouped into sets, called

paradigms

, on the basis of the inflectional and derivational affixes that they will take.

Inflectional paradigms

They are sets of forms. Each set is made up of a base form (singular), plus whatever morphemic changes –either the addition of suffixes or sound changes or both –may be used to adapt the base form to certain functions

without changing the lexical meaning.

(1999, Herndon) For example, the inflectional paradigm for the class form (NOUNS) is made up as follows.

Nouns – inflectional paradigms

Base (singular)

Base Form + plural Base Form + possessive Base Form + Possessive plural

teacher teachers teacher’s

teacher’s desk

teachers’

teachers’ rights

student students student’s students’

2. Derivational paradigms

 Derivational paradigms are made up of sets of endings that may be attached to bases

that may shift their lexical meaning or part of speech or both

. Some examples of noun marking derivational suffixes are

–hood, -ship, -ness,

and

–ment.

Words having these endings are recognized, even in isolation, as nouns. (1999, Herndon) Noun Derivational paradigms friend friendship neighbor neighborhood dark (adj.) darkness (N) establish (V) Establishment (N)

Other aspects of syntax

 Intonation Patterns made by the differences of stress, pitch, and juncture often identify a form as belonging to one word class or another. For example the difference between the noun

contract

– contrasts and the  verb

contract,

is determined by differences in intonation pattern. (1999, Herndon)

Position or Word Order

– word classes are usually identifiable on the basis of where they appear in a given sentence. Many words are not recognizable as a single part of speech when they are met in isolation. According to Herndon, we do not need the structuralists to prove this, but rather to rely on Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, which lists the word context.

round

as adjective, noun, transitive verb, preposition, and adverb. In order to isolate the definition that you seek, you must have the word in a

Function Words

    Some words in English may not make use of the structural paradigms. They have no inflectional or derivational endings. They perform a function in the system –outside of the grammatical relationships they signify, they have little or no meaning.

The categories of function words are often called

closed classes

because new forms are rarely, if ever, added to them.

Function words represent only a few hundred of the more than half a million words in English. (1999, Herndon) determiners subordinators Auxiliary verbs conjunctions Function words qualifiers prepositions interrogatives

1.

2.

Form Class Words 1. Nouns –Class I Words

Inflectional paradigm –generally speaking, nouns are forms that will accept inflections. (slide # 5) Derivational paradigms –many forms may be recognized as nouns on the basis of various noun-marking derivational suffixes added either to bound bases or to other words these endings. For example,

-er, -or,

and

–ment

–often words belonging to other classes. There are literally dozens of adapt verbs to use as nouns; Examples: verbs + derivational suffix = noun work + er = worker play + er = player stimulate + or = stimulator govern + ment = government 3. Intonation Pattern signals a verb. – differences of stress may distinguish nouns from verbs (slide # 7). Heavier stress on the first syllable almost always signals a noun; heavier stress on the second

noun

-

súspect / verb -suspéct

4. Position or Word Order Nouns fill certain characteristic positions in relation to other parts of speech. The most obvious is that just before the verb.

Examples: The _____ is here. These _____ are beautiful!

5. Function Words –In English, noun determiners immediately precede nouns or precede them with certain words in between. Some noun determiners never appear except when followed by a noun and invariably signal its coming. These are the articles

the, a,

and

an

and the possessive pronouns

my, your, our,

and

their.

Other pronouns are quite frequently used as determiners, but have other functions as well. These are the demonstratives

this, that, these,

and

those

and the other possessive pronouns,

his, her,

and

its.

Pronouns

    When considered a separate class, pronouns are Class II words, but most school texts consider them a subcategory of nouns.

In contrast to nouns, pronouns constitute a closed class –no new pronouns have been added to English for hundreds of years. If anything, the class has become smaller instead, as few speakers now make use of the forms

thee, thou, thy,

and

thine.

Personal pronouns fall into an inflectional paradigm that is similar to, but not exactly like, that for nouns. Forms show both number and the possessive case, but they also show gender and the nominative and objective cases.

Example: he / his / him (see enclosures) Pronouns, in most cases are identifiable by the ability of each to substitute for a type of noun or noun phrase.

(1999, Herndon)

2. Verbs Class II Words

a. Inflectional Paradigm

– English verbs commonly have five forms , the base form and four inflected forms. These inflections are the present 3 rd person singular, the past, the present participle, and the past participle form. (see example below)     The present 3 rd singular is similar in many ways to the noun inflections The past tense, or preterit, is commonly formed with the

–ed

ending, but there are several irregular allomorphs.

The present participle is formed by an –

ing

suffix.

The past participle makes use of

–ed

and –

en

endings or internal vowel changes. In a class by itself in many ways is the verb

be

, which has eight inflected forms (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) base 3 rd sing. past present part. past part.

eat eats ate eating eaten

2. Verbs –cont.

b.

Derivational Paradigm

Some verbs are marked by suffixes such as the and nouns, the other verbs.

–

ize

adjectives, and the

–ate

ending added to bound bases added to bound bases, nouns, and

–fy

added to bound bases, nouns, and adjectives, and the prefix

–en

added to nouns and some Examples: summarize, beautify, locate, etc.

c.

Intonation Pattern

contrasts with nouns marked by intonation See

d. Position or Word Order

1.

2.

Some positions mark verbs. Verbs commonly occupy the first position in requests, a position between two nouns or pronouns, or between noun and adjective or adverb. Here’s a simple set of test frames for verbs.

The child may___ something.

The children ___ friendly.

3.

___ you ____ me that?

e. Function Words

have

and

be

– function words that work with verbs are the various forms of and the modals

can, may, should, will,

and others. (1999, Herndon)

a.

b.

3. Adjectives – Class III Words

Inflectional Paradigms

True adjectives commonly show comparative and superlative degrees by adding –

er

and

–est

inflections. Derived adjectives make use of the function words

more

and

most

for this purpose.

b. (Cont.) Adjectives are derived from other words by adding such endings as

–y, ic,

and –

ous

to nouns and bound bases; -

ful

and

–less

to nouns;

-able,-ent,

and

–ive

to verbs and bound bases.

Derivational Paradigms

True adjectives fit into derivational patterns with nouns formed by adding the suffix –

ness

the suffix

–ly

to true adjectives and adverbs formed by adding to the same adjectives. (1999, Herndon)

happy-happiness-happily

1. greed greed

y

2. class class

ic

3. danger danger

ous

4. need need

ful

5. home home

less

6. manage manage

able

7. differ differ

ent

8. persuade persuas

ive

4. Adverbs – Class IV Words

Many adverbs share several structural distinctions with adjectives

a.

b.

Inflectional Paradigm c.

In a few cases adverbs admit the comparative and superlative degree endings (er, est), usually they use

more

and

most.

Some adverbs have a base form that also serves as an adjective (fast, hard). In this case the class will depend upon other structural devices.

d.

( 1999, Herndon)

Derivational Paradigm

suffix is the –

ly

added to (soft+ ly), (bare + ly). .

–the most common adverb-marking adjectives (common + ly), There are other combinations.

Intonation Patterns

The intonation patterns of larger structures often show adverbs patterning closely with verbs, in contrast to adjectives which usually pattern with nouns.

Word Order

Most adverbs in English are extremely mobile. Various types may fill any of several positions or positional combinations, but almost all can fill the position following a noun-verb-complement sequence like the following.

The boy ate his cookies _____.

(1999, Herndon)

Function Words



Determiners

– The workings of the determiner class of function words is described in some detail under the form class with which they appear, the nouns or class I words. The most commonly used members are

the, a, an,

and

some.



Auxiliary Verbs

– Forms of the auxiliaries

have

and

be

work with various inflected forms of verbs. Modals are usually considered a subcategory because their operation is somewhat different from that of

have

and

be.

Other auxiliaries are forms of

get

and

do.



Qualifiers

– They work with both adjectives and adverbs. Some of the most frequently used are

more, most, very, quite, rather,

and

somewhat.



Prepositions

time, etc.) – They introduce modifying or qualifying phrases set apart by intonation pattern and the presence of the preposition form. They indicate the relation of words with other words. (eg. location, direction,

Function Words (cont.)

  

Conjunctions

– They always work as coordinators of linguistics forms or syntactic units having equal value. The two most frequently used are

and

and but.

Subordinators

– they connect dependent clauses and include words such as

because, after, although, unless

, and so on, as well as the relative pronouns

who, whose, which,

and

that.

Interrogatives

– they operate in the formation of questions and include words such as

when, where, why, how

and so on, as well as the interrogative pronouns

who, which, and what

Syntactic Combinations

     When smaller structures enter into combinations, some consideration must be given to the relationship holding between them within the combination. For example, “Birds fly” consists of structures commonly called noun and verb.

The combination is a larger structure called a

sentence

. Within the sentence both words have a

structure

and a

function.

Analysis of any larger structure involves sorting its parts into types of smaller structures and identifying the functions performed in the combination.

Structural grammarians vary somewhat in the methods used to analyze complex grammatical structures in English. (1999, Herndon) This chapter discusses three of the principal methodologies used by grammarians. (1999, Herndon) a.

phrase analysis formulas

b.

immediate constituent analysis

c.

sentence

Phrase Analysis

     One of these methods begins with consideration of word “clusters that are set apart on the basis of the intonation pattern that they show. A group of words appearing between well-defined junctures is described as a

phrase or cluster

. The principal word in each phrase is called the

head word.

In general, phrases function as units in larger structures, and they fall into groups based on the type of function the

unit

performs.

Noun phrases, verb phrases, and various types of modifying or qualifying phrases –adjectival, adverbial, prepositional, and so on –may be defined.

Analysis may then be made of relationships holding between the various types when they appear in various combinations. Finally, clause and sentence types may be defined. (1999, Herndon)

Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC)

   The second method and perhaps the most widely used means of dealing with English syntax is the IC.

Sentences are divided into their principal parts or

immediate constituents

. Each of these is then divided and subdivided until the ultimate constituents of the sentence are reached .

1. The boys / shyly touched the puppy.

shyly touched / the puppy.

The / boys / shyly / touched / the / puppy.

Small puppies / are fat and frisky.

are / fat and frisky.

Small / puppies / are/ fat / and/ frisky.

 Further cuts might even divide the plural morphemes from boy and puppy, the inflectional

–ed

from

touch

and the

ly

from

shy.

ICs –structures and functions

 In ICs the relationship is analyzed and identified after each cut is made. The first cut yields structures that function as subject and predicate.

The boys shyly touched the puppy.

Structures: (NP) noun phrase (VP) verb phrase Functions: Subject Predicate

 The second cut yields structures that function as verbal element and complement (or object) within the predicate

The boys shyly touched the puppy.

Structures: VP NP Functions: Verbal Element Complement (Object)

ICs – final cut

The boys shyly touched the puppy.

S. Det. Noun Adverb Verb Det. Noun F. Mod. Head Modifier Head Mod. Head

 Among other things, this type of analysis gives rise to the practice of referring to

noun-headed and verb-headed structures

when speaking of phrases. (1999, Herndon)

Sentence Formulas

    The third method is one that begins with a consideration of basic sentence patterns and proceeds to analyze the relationships between the different parts of the patterns Each of the parts of a very simple sentence can be expanded in various ways so that more complex sentence patterns –and more complex layers of relationships –are produced Sentence patterns of the simplest noun-verb-noun, noun-verb-adjective types are considered first.

The sentence parts are designated by the numbers and letters assigned to their form class or function word groups. ( 1999, Herndon) 

Form Class Words 1.

Noun or pronoun 2.

A short sample list might include these groups:

Verb 3.

4.

Adjective Adverb Function Words D. Determiner A. Auxiliary Q. Qualifier P. Preposition



Practice Exercises

Sentence Type I variations 1-2 D – 1 – 2 The woman spoke.

D – 3 – 1 – 2 The beautiful woman spoke.

D – 1 – 2 – 4 D – Q – 3 – 1 – 2  Sentence Type II variations 1 – 2 – 3 D – 1 – 2 – 3 D – 3 – 1 – 2 – 3 D – 1 – 2 – Q – 3 D – 3 – 1 – 2 – Q – 3   Sentence Type III variations 1 – 2 – 1 D – 1 – 2 – 1 D – 1 – P – D – 1 – 2 – 1 D – 1 – 2 – 1 – P – D – 1 Sentence Type IV

Summary

  Structural analysis of English syntax divides the parts of speech into

form class words

and

function words.

form class words are identified on the basis of the following criteria: Categories of

1. inflectional paradigm 2. derivational paradigm 3. intonation pattern 4. word order 5. function words that work with them Several methods of phrase and sentence analysis have been used by structuralists. The most influential one is called immediate constituent (IC) analysis.

(1999, Herndon)

References

    Herndon, J.H. (1999). A Survey of modern grammars (2 nd Facsim ed.). Forth Worth, TX.: Hartcourt College Publishers.

Verspoor, M., Sauter, K. (2000). English sentence analysis: an introductory course. Philadelphia, PA. John Benjamins Publishing Co.

Benson, M., Benson, E., & Ilson, R. (1997). The BBI dictionary of English word combinations. Philadelphia, PA. John Benjamins Publishing Co.

American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Co.