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Introduction to Syntax.pptx

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Introduction to Syntax.pptx

Uploaded by

ayedyesmine657
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What’s syntax?

Syntax: word order


• Syntax= how words are put together into
sentences
• Origin: Greek
‘ a putting together’, ‘arrangement’

• Words 🡪 phrases🡪 clauses 🡪 sentences


• Syntax falls between morphology (words) and
semantics (word meaning)
Syntax: a cognitive science
• Syntax reflects human ability to describe and
think about mental, abstract notions.
• It is how we subconsciously go from sounds to
meaning
• we subconsciouly arrange words to make an
infinite number of meaningful phrases,
clauses, sentences using a finite number of
syntactic rules (rules about how we arrange
words)
Chomsky and Generative Grammar
• The dominant theory of syntax was put
forward by Noam Chomsky in1957: Generative
Grammar
• Generative grammar was developed and
given other names such as the
Transformational Grammar (TG).
Generative Grammar
• The main tenet of Generative Grammar is that
an infinite number of sentences can be
generated using a finite number of grammar
rules that govern the syntax of our sentences.
Example: In English the subject comes before
the verb in simple, declarative
non-interrogative, non-emphatic sentences.
This rule generates an unlimited number of
sentences
Syntax methods
• To formulate syntax rules, linguists follow the scientific
method.
• This methods involves:
1- Observing data
2- Making some generalizations about patterns in the data
3- develop a hypothesis (plural:‘hypotheses’) that explain
these generalizations
4- testing the hypothesis
5- Revising the hypothesis (using new data)
6- testing the hypothesis again
If the hypothesis is valid, a theory can be established.
Syntactic / grammar rules
• The rule S comes before V in simple
declarative sentences was formulated based
on the scientific methods previously
described.
• 2 types of rules-> 2 types of grammar
Prescriptive: how people should speak
Descriptive: how people actually speak
Competence vs Performance
• This relates to the notions competence and
performance
Competence: the unconscious knowledge of
language
Performance: the use of language
‘Competence is the speaker-hearer’s knowledge
of language, while performance is the actual
use of language in concrete situations’ -
Chomsky
• Competence is
- Phonological
- Morphological
- Syntactic
- Semantic
Does syntax study competence or
performance?
• Chomsky’s syntax is interested in competence not
in performance.
• Why?
• Because performance, the actual use of language
in speaking is full of imperfections: mistakes, slips
of the tongue, hesitations, repetition, false starts,
etc. it is almost impossible to study from a
syntactic viewpoint.
• Syntax is therefore concerned with competence,
the native speaker’s knowledge of grammar rules
because this knowledge is perfect.
Characteristics of syntactic
competence
• 1. Creativity

The knowledge of syntactic rules enables


speakers to produce and understand
sentences never heard before
Characteristics of syntactic
competence
2. Grammaticality
Knowledge of syntax allows speakers to decide
about the grammaticality of sentences:
A. The girl found X B. The girl found a coin of 25
cents √
A. Like I sailing X B. I like sailing. √
Characteristics of syntactic
competence
• 3. Recognition of different structures with
equivalent meanings
Example: an active sentence and its passive
equivalent
A. All students read the novel.
B. The novel was read by all students.
A and B have the same meaning.
Characteristics of syntactic
competence
• 4. Recognition of syntactic ambiguity: the
case of identical structures with different
meaning
The ability to recognize ambiguous
expressions and assign different
interpretations to them.
Practice
• Exercise1
A. Identify the ambiguity in the following sentences

1. The old lady hit the thief with an umbrella.

2. We bought the house on the hill.

B. Using immediate constituent analysis (phrases),


analyze the two sentences in A.
Does this method help to capture the ambiguity in the
sentences?
• Exercise2
Identify ambiguity in the following sentences, and give
all possible interpretations.
1- Samantha is eager to please.
2- Samantha is easy to please.
3- Visiting relatives can be tiresome.
4- The shooting of the hunters occurred at dawn
5- The tourist objected to the guide that they couldn’t
hear.
6- Flying planes can be dangerous
7- The Chinese history teacher is absent.
8- They took the animal to the small animal hospital.
9- The computer is ready for use.
10- I saw an elephant in my pajamas.

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