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Syntax

This document provides an overview of syntax and key syntactic concepts. It defines syntax as the study of sentence structure and the rules that govern word order and phrase/clause combinations. It describes different types of phrases (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), syntactic connections (coordination, subordination, accumulation), and syntactic relations (agreement, government, adjoinment). It also lists several references on syntactic theory.

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Rhaenyra Targaryen
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60 views

Syntax

This document provides an overview of syntax and key syntactic concepts. It defines syntax as the study of sentence structure and the rules that govern word order and phrase/clause combinations. It describes different types of phrases (noun, verb, adjective, etc.), syntactic connections (coordination, subordination, accumulation), and syntactic relations (agreement, government, adjoinment). It also lists several references on syntactic theory.

Uploaded by

Rhaenyra Targaryen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Syntax

Lecture 5
 Syntax (from Greek “syn” – together,
“taxis” – ordering) is a branch of
linguistics that studies sentence structure.

 Syntax studies grammatical structures of


sentences and word groups and the
regularities of their functioning in speech.

Syntax
 Syntax is the set of rules, principles, and
processes that govern the structure of
sentences (sentence structure) in a given
language, usually including word order.

Syntax
 English has fixed Subject-Verb-Object
word order.

Word Order
Word Order
The Rules of Syntax
 Phrase is a combination of a notional
word with a functional word (B.Ilyish,
V.Burlakova).
 Phrase is a syntactically organized group
of words of any morphological
composition based on any type of
syntactic connection.

Phrase
 A phrase is a means of naming some
phenomena or processes, just as a word is.

 Each component of the word-group can


undergo grammatical changes without
destroying the identity of the whole unit: to
see a house - to see houses – saw houses
(grammatical modifications of one phrase).

 A word-group is a dependent syntactic unit, it


is not a communicative unit and has no
intonation of its own.

General Characteristics of the


Phrase
 The phrase is a nominative unit which fulfils
the function of polynomination denoting a
complex referent (phenomenon of reality)
analyzable into its component elements
together with various relations between
them.

 The sentence is a unit of predication which,


naming a certain situational event, shows the
relation of the denoted event towards reality.

Phrase vs Sentence
 The traditional classification of phrases
is based on the part of speech status of
the phrase constituents, therefore nounal,
verbal, adjectival, adverbial, etc. phrases
are singled out.

Types of Phrases
 According to prof. Blokh:

Notional

Formative

Functional

Types of Phrases
According to prof. Blokh:

 Notional phrases are semantically independent


combinations of notional words, as the basic type of
phrases.

 Formative phrase is a combination of a notional


word with a functional word: in a moment, without
doubt.

 Functional phrases are combinations of functional


words similar to regular functional words, e.g.: apart
from, as soon as, must be able, etc.

Types of Phrases
 According to L. Bloomfield:

endocentric

exocentric

Types of Phrases
According to L. Bloomfield:

 endocentric: phrases one or any constituent part of


which can function in a broader structure as the
whole group: Red flower – He gave me a red flower.
He gave me a flower. Flowers and chocolate. – He
gave me flowers. He gave me chocolate.
 Endocentric structures are further divided into
subordinate (red flower) and coordinate (flowers
and chocolate).

 exocentric: none of their constituent parts can


replace the whole group in a broader structure: He
gave, to the girl.
 Exocentric structures are divided into predicative
(He gave) and prepositional (to the girl).

Types of Phrases
 According to the internal structure of
phrases:

kernel

kernel-free

Types of Phrases
 According to the internal structure of phrases:

 kernel phrases are grammatically organized


structures in which one element dominates the
others: a nice place, well-known artists, absolutely
positive, to run fast, to see a movie, to taste good.

 Kernel-free phrases are divided into dependent


and independent, which are further subdivided
into one-class and hetero-class and
characterized by a certain type of syntactic
connection.

Types of Phrases
Coordination

Subordination

Accumulation

Syntactic Connections
 Coordinate phrases consist of two or
more syntactically equivalent units joined
in a cluster which functions as a single
unit.

 The member units can be potentially


joined together by means of a coordinate
conjunction.

 E.g. sense and sensibility

Coordination
 Subordinate phrases are structures in
which one of the members is syntactically
the leading element of the phrase.

 This dominating element is called the


head-word, or the kernel, and can be
expressed by different parts of speech.

Subordination
 The accumulative connection is present when no
other type of syntactic connection can be identified.

 E.g. (to give) the boy an apple – (to give) an apple to


the boy

 The accumulative connection is widely spread in


attributive phrases made up by attributes expressed
by different parts of speech (these problematic
(issues); some old (lady)).

 The position of the elements relative to each other is


fixed, they cannot exchange their positions
(*problematic these (issues); *old some (lady)).

Accumulative
Agreement

Government

Adjoinment

Syntactic Relations
 Agreement takes place when the
subordinate word assumes a form similar
to that of the word to which it is
subordinate, that is formal
correspondences are established between
parts of the phrase: that chair – those
chairs.

Agreement
 Government takes place when the
subordinate word is used in a certain form
required by its head word, the form of the
subordinate word not coinciding with the
form of the head word: to rely on him, to
be proud of her.

Government
 Adjoinment is described as absence both
of agreement and of government.
Combined elements build syntactic groups
without changing their forms: to nod
 silently, to act cautiously.

Adjoinment
 Chomsky, Noam. 1957. Syntactic Structure. The Hague: Mouton.
 Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
 Fromkin, V. and R. Rodman. 1988. An Introduction to Language.
4th edn. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston. (7th edn. Indian
edn. 2003)
 Hockett, Charles F. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics. London:
Macmillan (Indian edition: Calcutta: Oxford & IBH).
 Jacobs, Roderick A. & Peterr S. Rosenbaum 1968. English
Transformational Grammar. Waltham, Mass. etc.: Blaisdell
Publishing Company.
 Jacobsen, Bent. 1978. Transformational Generative Grammar: An
introductory survey of its genesis and development. 2nd ed.
Amsterdam etc.: North-Holland.
 Langacker, R.W. 1972. Fundamentals of Linguistic Analysis. New
York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
 Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Radford, A. 1988. Transformational Grammar: A First Course.
Cambridge: Bambridge University Press.

References

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