Transcript 句法学
English Linguistics: An Introduction
Chapter 5 Syntax
Chapter 5 Syntax
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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?
1. Definition
The word
syntax
, derived originally from Greek, is made up of two morphemes: “arrangement”.
｛
syn
｝
and
｛
tax
｝
. The former means “together”, and the latter “to arrange”, hence the literal meaning “a setting out together” or
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.
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)
2. Syntactic Unit
2.3 Clause
Definition : a constituent both of a larger sentence and with its own subject and predicate Classification phrase) : finite (independent and fully inflected) and non-finite (infinitive, participial and gerundial 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)
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.)
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)
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)
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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)