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Syntax - Handout 2 PDF

This document discusses syntactic theory and defines key syntactic concepts. It provides four definitions of language and distinguishes between I-language (internal language) and E-language (external language). It notes the difference between acceptability and grammaticality, providing examples of sentences that are grammatical but unacceptable. The document then defines syntax as the study of sentence construction and outlines the goals of syntactic theory. It lists common word-level and phrase-level categories in syntax.

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112 views

Syntax - Handout 2 PDF

This document discusses syntactic theory and defines key syntactic concepts. It provides four definitions of language and distinguishes between I-language (internal language) and E-language (external language). It notes the difference between acceptability and grammaticality, providing examples of sentences that are grammatical but unacceptable. The document then defines syntax as the study of sentence construction and outlines the goals of syntactic theory. It lists common word-level and phrase-level categories in syntax.

Uploaded by

TheKfiat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Piotr Choromaski, M.A.

[email protected]
Syntax handout 2
Syntactic theory.
The definition of Language

A language is the set of sentences that some speaker uses.
A language is the set of sentences that some speaker could use.
A language is the set of sentences that some speaker could use
if no non-linguistic factors were operative.
A language is the set of rules and principles in the mind of a speaker
specifying the set of sentence which he/she could use if no non-linguistic
factors were operative.
I-language (internal/internalized language) the linguistic knowledge of a speaker.
E-language (external/externalized language) the linguistic output of a speaker.
Acceptability and Grammaticality

The notions of acceptability and grammaticality are quite difficult to define but
differ markedly. A grammatical sentence can be unacceptable for various reasons:
because it is a garden path sentence:
1) The horse raced past the barn fell.
because it is too structurally complex:
1) The man the girl the boy knows likes is here.
because it involves contradictions:
1) Mark always follows this rule but defies it all the time.
because it violates pragmatics:
1) My computer thinks that I absolutely need to go to sleep now.
OK
Syntax

Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are
constructed in particular languages.
1) I say what I mean.
2) I mean what I say.
Syntactic theory aims to develop precise descriptions of the syntax of various
languages and develop a general framework for specifying what the syntaxes of
various languages have in common.
Languages do not vary without limit in their syntax. Languages the world over have
the same building blocks and blueprints in their syntaxes.
Word-level categories

N Noun
Adj Adjective
V Verb
Adv Adverb
P Preposition
D Determiner
Phrase-level categories

NP Noun Phrase
AP Adjectival Phrase
VP Verb Phrase
AdvP Adverbial Phrase
PP Prepositional Phrase
Noun Phrase a phrase which has a noun as its head.
Adjectival Phrase a phrase which has an adjective as its head.
Verb Phrase a phrase which has a verb as its head.
Adverbial Phrase a phrase which has an adverb as its head.
Prepositional Phrase a phrase which has a preposition as its head.

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