Introduction to Linguistics Ms. Suha Jawabreh

Lecture 19

The Components of Language

1. Sounds – Phonetics and Phonology

2. Words – Morphology

3. Phrases and sentences- Syntax

4. Meaning- Semantics and Pragmatics

SyntaxWhat is syntax?

-Syntax is the study of how sentences and phrases are ordered.

-It is the study of the structure of phrases and sentences.

- More recent work in syntax has taken a different approach in analyzing the structure of phrases and sentences.

Generative Grammar

What is Generative Grammar?

- A set of rules that would generate well-formed sentences.

-It was developed from the work of the American linguist Noam Chomsky.

Properties of Generative Grammar

1. ‘All and only’ criterion The grammar will generate all the well-formed

sentences and fail to generate ill-formed sentences.

2. Productivity a. The grammar will have a finite(limited)

number of rules but will generate an infinite number of well-formed sentences.

b. The ability to create new grammatical sentences.

3. RecursionThe same structure may be applied more

than once.

Deep and surface structure

Examples

One deep structure (The meaning of the sentence)

Two Surface structuresCharlie broke The window was

the window broken by Charlie

Ambiguity - What are ambiguous sentences?

Sentences that have two different interpretations (meanings). (Two deep structures)

-There are two types of ambiguity

1. Structural 2. Lexical

Structural AmbiguityExamples :

Annie hit a man with an umbrella.

The policeman saw a child in the car.

I shot an elephant in my pyjamas.

Old men and women.

The tourist saw the woman with a telescope.

Lexical Ambiguity

Examples:

The astronomer married a star.

That feather is light.

Exercise

Decide if the following sentences have lexical or structural ambiguity:

1. Visiting strangers can be dangerous.

2. Take your mother-in-law back there and shoot her.