syntax

Definition

Syntax is the study of how sentences are structured or how words are combined with others

to form sentences and in what order.

Traditional definition

Early scholars often depended on the use of punctuation or a semantic criterion---the expression of a complete thought

Structuralist Definition

An independent linguistic form not included by some grammatical marks in any other linguistic form---it is not subordinated to a larger linguistic form. It is structurally independent linguistic form.

He didn’t come until it was quite dark.

Example

Constituent Structure

Traditionally, sentences are assumed to be made of individual

words in a linear direction.

Traditionally, sentences are assumed to be made of individual

words in a linear direction.

Structuralists believe sentences are not composed of sequences of words in a simple linear, additive fashion. Instead, they are composed of hierarchies of co

nstructions.

Immediate Constituent Analysis

IC Analysis is to simply divide a sentence into its constituent elements without at first knowing what these elements are.

The principle is that we take a sentence and cut it into two and then cut these parts into two and continue with this segmentation until we reach the smallest grammatical unit, the morphemes.

Constituent

Any linguistic form or group of linguistic forms that appears at the bottom of one of the lines

Immediate constituent

This refers to the two parts that are yielded after each cut. An immediate constituent can be further segmented until we obtain the smallest grammatical unit.

Ultimate Constituent

The smallest grammatical unit obtained

through segmentation

Transformational And Generative grammar

I.While IC analysis was capable of demonstrating some of the relationships in English sentence patterns, it provided no basis for analysis of the differences between sentences whose patterns were the same but the relationships different.

Why Do We Need TG grammar

A:John is easy to please.B:John is eager to please.

A:others could please John.B:John sought to please others.

2. This problem comes into even sharper focus when ambiguous sentences are considered.

Flying planes can be dangerous.

In this sentence, the speaker may be afraid that an airplane will crash into his house or he may be afraid to take over the controls himself.

This sentence may refer to a time when the relatives come to visit or to a time when the speaker goes to see the relatives.

Visiting relatives can be tiresome

3. Similar problems must be dealt with in explaining synonymy---that is, sentences having the same meaning but different structures.

John painted the picture. The picture was painted by John.

4.Still other structures are recognized as similar by speakers of English.

The girl has brown eyes.

the girl's brown eyes

the brown eyes of the girl

the brown-eyed girl

Transformationalists hoped to meet these challenges:

1) They proposed to describe the syntactic system shared by speakers of a natural language---English.

2)They insist on the absolute precision of description.

3)They insisted on simplicity of description. That is, all evaluation of proposed rules would be based on deciding which rules accounted for observable facts in the least complicated manner

4) The ultimate goal of the grammar would be to account for the syntactic structure of all of the sentences possible in English.

Two concepts to Understand

Competence Vs performance

A set of rules that have been internalized in a person’s mind

Any actual utterances a speaker makes in a particular situation

Surface Structure

Sentences or phrases that are pronounced or written

Deep Structure

The structure that contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence

Deep Structure

The terminal string that we get after we apply the PS rules

PS rule 1 S--->NP VP

Ps rule 2 VP---> Vt NP

PS rule 3 NP ---> Det N

The boy studied the book.

S

NP VP

Det N Vt NP

Det N

Det N Vt Det N

Two Aspects of TG Grammar

Transformational AspectGenerative Aspect

This means that a grammar must generate all and only grammatical sentences of a language

Chomsky proposes the idea of transformation which refers to a kind of process that transforms one sentence into another.

Components of a TG

A Syntactic Component

A Phonological component

A Semantic Component

A. Syntactic Component

the base the Transformational

Rules

The base contains rules for the formation of deep structures

The Base

A set of phrase structure rules

The lexicon:a full list of vocabulary items

It is concerned with the generation of deep structures

Phrase Structure Rules

PS rule 1 S--->NP VP

Ps rule 2 VP---> Vt NP

PS rule 3 NP ---> Det N

PS rule 4 Det --->the, a ,etc

PS rule 5 N --->boy,man,etc.

PS rule 6 V --->hit,sleep, etc.

SNP

VP

Det N V NP

Det N

The man hit the ball

The lexicon is a full list of vocabulary items. Attached to each item is information about its word class, and the syntactic slot into which it can be placed.

Hit V, + [……NP]

Sleep V, -[……NP]

These are the restrictions on the type of noun that can be

selected with each verb.

*The man hit sincerity.

Selectional restrictions can prevent many figurative usages

Selectional restrictions

In her anger, she absolutely screamed at him.

Absolutely作为强调语修饰动词时往往会受到限制。它常要求它的谓体具有某种夸张的含义，如：

*In her anger, she absolutely spoke to him.

1.The tired farm-worker plodded home.2.The horse ambled slowly.3.They tramped forty miles in search of work.4.The pompous official strutted arrogantly.5.Couples strolled by lazily.6.He sauntered through the town enjoying the sunshine.7.He strode out vigorously and angrily.8.He walked because the bus had gone.

To yearn for affection (long for with tender feeling, affection,etc.)

To crave for a drug( ask earnestly for; have a strong desire for)