LANE 334 - 2017/8
1. Introduction
1.1 What is syntax?
Semantics = The study of meaning
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Syntax = The study of sentences structure
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Morphology = The study of word structure
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Phonology = The study of sounds in relation to a meaning in the head
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Phonetics = The study of sound
F What is grammar?
Grammar = morphology + syntax.
Syntax vs. Morphology
• Syntax is the study of how sentences are formed.
• Morphology is the study of how words are formed.
• Within traditional grammar, ‘syntax’ of a specific language involves two related tasks:
(a) breaking down the sentence into its constituents
(b) assigning some grammatical label to each constituent, stating what type of constituent (or grammatical category) it is, and what grammatical function it has.
▫ Grammatical categories = parts of speech
(e.g. noun or verb )
▫ Grammatical function = grammatical job
(e.g. subject or predicate )
F What is the grammatical category of the constituent (the student)?
- noun
F What is the grammatical category of the constituent (talked)?
- verb
F What is the grammatical function of the constituent (the student)?
- subject
F What is the grammatical function of the constituent (talked)?
- predicate
Example:
(1) The student talked.
This sentence has two constituents :
(a) the student
(b) talked
Syntactic units:
Example:
(2) The boy took the ball and (he) hid it.
F: How many sentences do we have?
: One.
Ø [ The boy took the ball and (he) hid it ].
F: How many clauses do we have?
: Two.
Ø [ The boy took the ball ]
Ø [ (he) hid it ]
Ø [ The boy took the ball ] and [ (he) hid it ]
v A sentence may consist of one or more than one clause.
(3) The boy took the ball
F: How many phrases do we have in the above clause?
: Two.
Ø [the boy]
the (Det) boy (N) - (noun phrase - NP)
Ø [took the ball ]
took (V) the (Det) ball (N) (verb phrase – VP)
• Det = Determiner - N = Noun – V=Verb
(he) hid it
F: How many phrases do we have in the above clause?
: two.
Ø He (noun phrase – NP)
Ø hid it (verb phrase – VP)
v A clause is made up of phrases
(5). The boy (NP)
F: How many words do we have in the above phrase?
: Two.
Ø the (Det) + boy (N)
Head
(6). took the ball (VP)
F: How many words do we have in the above phrase?
: three.
Ø took (V) + the (Det) + ball (N)
Head
v A phrase may consist of one or more than one word.
(7) took the ball (VP)
F: How many morphemes do we have in the above phrase?
: three.
Ø took , the , ball
v A morpheme is the smallest meaningful and indivisible unit in syntax.
(8). talked (V)
F: How many morphemes do we have in the above word?
: two.
Ø talk + ed
v A word may consist of one or more than one morpheme.
1.2 Representing sentence structure
There are two ways to represent the sentence:
1. Labelled bracketing
Example:
[ a square brackets ] = [ S John died ]
2. Tree diagram
Labelled Bracketing
Ø Sentence (S):
e.g. The boy took the ball and (he) hid it.
[S1 [ S2 the boy took the ball] and [S3(he) hid it]]
Ø Clauses (S):
[ S1 the boy took the ball] and [S2 (he) hid it]
[ S the boy took the ball]
[S he hid it]
Ø Phrases (P):
e.g. The boy took the ball and (he) hid it.
[S3 [ S2 [NPthe boy] [VP took [NPthe ball]]] and [S1[NP he] [VP hid [NP it]]]]
[NP the boy]
[VPtook the ball ]
[NPthe ball]
[NP he]
[VPhid it]
[NP it]
Ø Words:
e.g. The boy took the ball and he hid it
[NP [Det the] [N boy]]
[VP [V took] [NP [Det the] [ N ball]] ]
[NP [Det the] [ N ball]]
[Coord and] Coord = Coordinator
[NP [ PRN he]]
[VP [V hid ] [NP [ PRN it]] ]
[NP [ PRN it]]
[NP [ N it]]
[S1[S2[NP [Det the][N boy]] [VP [V took] [NP [Det the] [N ball]]]] [Corrd and] [S3[NP[PRN he]] [VP [V hid] [NP [PRN it ]]]]]
Tree diagram
S1 [Sentence level]
S2 coord S3 [clausal level]
NP VP NP VP [Phrasal level]
Det N V NP N V NP
Det N
N
The boy took the ball and he hid it [word level]
Reading for this lecture:
Wekker&Haegeman (1985: 5-15)
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