Basics of Syntax.pptx gig uuiiooooooooiuytr
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Basics of Syntax.pptx gig uuiiooooooooiuytr
- 1. BASICS OF SYNTAX NALANDA UNIVERSITY, RAJGIR DIPLOMA OF PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH
- 2. Syntax and Language ◦ Words are put together in sequences to express meanings for which no separate words exist. None of the human languages has a single word that can express a meaning like that expressed in the previous sentence. ◦ Lexicon and morphology alone are not sufficient to produce all the complex meanings and meaning distinctions people need to make in thought and communication. ◦ Syntax deals with the tools available in languages for putting words together in sequences. ◦ The term Grammar is sometimes used in place of syntax, however, grammar is believed to cover not just syntax but also morphology, and often phonology and semantics too. ◦ Syntax can be defined as grammar above the word level. ◦ Though the lexicon & morphology are somewhat open (to new members/meanings), syntax gives another way to express new meanings/nuances/ precision/links between ideas ◦ Syntax enhances the creativity of expression. ◦ All of the grammatical systems such as (phonology, morphology, the lexicon) are open, but openness is the most salient feature in syntax.
- 3. What is Syntax ◦ Syntax is the structure and ordering of components within a sentence. ◦ Syntax is a system of principles and rules by which novel sentences are produced and interpreted. Sentences that have never been uttered by any speaker or heard by any hearer. ◦ Syntax is the study of how words are combined together ◦ Syntax can be considered as an area which studies the formation of phrases, clauses and sentences.
- 4. Sentence ◦ Sentence is the largest linguistic unit with grammatical structure. It is the unit over which grammatical rules apply. ◦ American Linguist Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) defines sentence as “a string of words that expresses a complete thought and not included in any larger linguistic form.” EG: The fisherman hung the net on the fence. I saw him. The fisherman hung the net on the fence. I saw him. ◦ Syntax is the structure and ordering of components within a sentence. ◦ Syntax is a system of principles and rules by which novel sentences are produced and interpreted. Sentences that have never been uttered by any speaker or heard by any hearer. ◦ There are sentences that express new meanings and sentences that express old meanings in new ways. This can be referred to as creativity in sentence formation. Not every sentence one utters or hears is novel; but speakers do fairly often produce novel sentences.
- 5. Sentence and Grammaticality ◦ Syntactic rules combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences. ◦ English is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) Language. ◦ Grammaticality should not be confused with interpretability or meaningfulness. ◦ Some grammatical sentences are nonsensical while some ungrammatical sentences might make sense. ◦ Noam Chomsky’s famous sentence is fully grammatical but makes little to no sense: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
- 6. Hierarchical Structure in Sentences ◦ Grouping: There are three types of grammatical unit that can be used to describe the syntactic structure of a language, sentence, word and morpheme. But these are not sufficient and there is a need for other units. Eg: The train chugged along the line through the mountains. ‘The’ is grouped with ‘train’ not with chugged or along. The sentence can be divided into three word groups : he train, chugged along, the line through the mountains. The line through the mountains can be further divided into two groups the line and through the mountains. ◦ Evidence for groupings of words ◦ Evidence for these groupings of words can be found in three ◦ tests: movability, contractibility, & structural ambiguity.
- 7. Hierarchical Structure in Sentences ◦ A. Movability: if words always move around together in a sentence they constitute a single group, since they can’t be separated, they belong together. Eg, The fisherman hung the net on the fence. ◦ This criterion is good but not perfect. Sometimes there are word groups that can be split up: It was the fence that the fisherman hung the net on. ◦ B. Contractibility: is the potential for a string of words to be replaced by a single word ◦ The fisherman can be replaced by he, the net by it and on the fence by out of up. He hung it up. ◦ The idea behind this is that if the word-group can be replaced by a single word, then it behaves as a single word. This idea is imperfect as well as it is not clear if a single word could replace through the mountains, the line through the mountains or chugged along. ◦ C. Meaning Differences or Ambiguity: ◦ A single stretch of speech or writing can have two or more than two distinct meanings. Eg: the word ‘bank’ side of a watercourse, financial institution. Eg: The police shot the robber with a gun. ◦ The elements of the above sentence can be grouped in two ways and this makes the sentence ambiguous.
- 8. Syntactic Units ◦ Syntactic units are grammatical items showing unified behavior that behave as individual wholes. Words, morphemes and sentences are syntactic units. ◦ Two intermediate-sized units exist between words and sentences: phrases and clauses and these lead to a hierarchy of units according to increasing size: morpheme word phrase clause sentence ◦ Symbols Used in Syntactic Analysis ◦ S Sentence N Noun V verb Art article NP noun phrase VP verb phrase Adj adjective Pro pronoun PN proper noun Adv adverb Prep preposition Aux auxiliary PP prepositional phrase AdjPadjectival phrase Advp adverbial phrase
- 9. Clause ◦ A clause is a string of words that is either a simple sentence or a modified form of a simple sentence. The clause is the most fundamental unit of grammar. ◦ A clause is a group of words that contains a subject- verb combination. Eg: He has a house. I hate smoking. ◦ Clauses are of two types: Major and Minor ◦ A simple single morpheme type, containing of a word used as an interjection. These are called minor clauses because they have the simplest structure. ◦ Major clauses are either independent or dependent which contain everything, a verb and accompanying nouns referring to an event in the real world or some imaginary world. ◦ Clauses can be divided into Independent and Dependent. ◦ An Independent clause is a group of words that can stand alone and gives a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence. Eg: He drives fast. They don’t go out at night. ◦ A dependent clause is a group of words that cannot stand alone and depends on another clause to convey a complete thought. Dependent clauses are not sentences. Eg: Before I left. Although he was home. Because I was alone.
- 10. Phrase ◦ A phrase can be defined as a group of words that does not contain a subject and a verb. It can have one of them but not both. Eg: The green apple Under the desk Has been a smart student Very nice ◦ Types of phrase ◦ Phrases can be grouped together into different types according to their internal structures. ◦ Most languages subdivide phrases into NOUN phrases and VERB phrases. English has PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE, ADJECTIVAL PHRASE, ADVERBIAL PHRASE as well. Phrase Head Category Name NP N Noun VP V Verb PP P Preposition AdjP A Adjective AdvP Adv Adverb Types Of Phrases:
- 11. NOUN PHRASE VERB PHRASE ◦ A noun phrase consists of a noun and all the words and word groups that belong with the noun and cluster around it. ◦ The yellow flower ◦ The yellow flower in the garden ◦ The yellow flower in the garden which were blooming ◦ Flower is the head and the rest of the words are modifiers. ◦ The, yellow are pre-modifiers and in the garden and which were blooming are post-modifiers ◦ Verb phrase (VP) is a group of words and morphemes ◦ like chugged, was chugging, might chug and so on. ◦ A verb phrase contains a lexical verb, which conveys lexical information, usually with other morphemes, grammatical or lexical, bound or free. VPs refer to the events NPs are involved in. ◦ I will leave tomorrow. ◦ School is going to be closed.
- 12. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE, ADJECTIVAL PHRASE AND ADVERBIAL PHRASE ◦ Prepositional phrases (PPs) are made up of a preposition and an NP. Not all languages have PPs because they do not posses prepositions. Eg: Near the lake , Over the trees , After several minutes ◦ Adjectival Phrase has an adjective as the head and a modifier denoting degree or intensity. Eg: Very tall , Quite rich , So stupid ◦ Adverbial Phrase has an adverb as its head and a modifier again showing degree. Eg: Very badly , Excessively well.