Syntax

SYNTAX
BASIC SYNTACTIC NOTIONS

1. Syntax as a part of grammar.
2. Basic syntactic notions:
• syntactic unit;
• syntactic form;
• syntactic meaning;
• syntactic function;
• syntactic relations;
• syntactic position;
• syntactic valency.

3. Phrases (word-combinations), word groups, syntactic constructions
(complexes), clauses, sentences, supra-syntactic units, texts as units of
syntax.
4. Syntagmatic relations in syntax. Syntactic relations and syntactic
connections. Kinds, forms, and means of syntactic relations and syntactic
connections.

1. Syntax as a part of grammar
Syntax is a part of grammar
which deals with the
structure classification and
combinability of sentences.

Phrase like a word has the
function which is called
nominative, but the function
of the phrase is
polynomination.

E.g. A picturesque village
to start with a jerk

Sentence is based on
predication (actual
connection between the
subject and the predicate
(its sign)).

Predication is linguistically
expressed by the category
of predicativity which in its
turn includes the categories
of modality, temporality,
personality.

Text. Supra-proposemic level
comprises separate sentences
forming a textual unity.
These unities are connected by
the syntactic processes called
cumulation.

2. Basic syntactic notions
Syntactic unit
is always a combination
that has at least two
constituents.

a word-group
a clause
a sentence
a text

Syntactic form
is the one which is
determined by the
combinability of different
word forms.

Morphological forms of the
nominative and objective cases of
personal pronouns express
simultaneously syntactic forms:
the nominative case - the form of
the subject of the sentence
objective case – the object of the
sentence.

Syntactic meaning
is based on the syntactico-
distributional classification of
words worked out by American
linguists Bloomfield, Harris and
Fries.

According to this theory
the main syntactic meanings
are those of
the noun (N)
the adjective (A)
the verb (V)
the adverb (D)

A nominal phrase:
one of my friends
a friend of mine
A participial phrase:
the boy standing at the
corner

Three groups of functional words:
1. Specifiers of notional words:
noun determiners (articles)
verb determiners (modals)
adverb determiners (e.g. much,
better)

2. Interpositional elements:
prepositions
and
conjunctions

3. Words referring to the sentence as a whole:
question words
inducement words (please)
attention-getting words (I say, Hello)
words of affirmation and negation
sentence introducers (it, there)

Syntactic function
is the syntactic properties
of a word which are
subdivided into two kinds:
1. method of combining with
other words;
2. function in the sentence.

E.g. to write letters
to write legibly

Syntactic relations
are those of syntagmatic
nature, they are immediate,
linear relations between the
parts of a syntactic unit.

E.g. The spaceship was
launched without the help
of a booster rocket.

There are four main types of
syntagmas:
1. Predicative syntagma:
subject + predicate;
2. Objective syntagma: verb + object;
3. Attributive syntagma: attribute + noun;
4. Adverbial syntagma:
verb, adjective or adverb +
adverbial modifier.

Syntactic position
is the position of a word in
the syntagma.
There are two kinds of
syntactic position:
a) pre-position;
b) post-position.

E.g. The concerned doctor
rang for an ambulance.
(worried)
The doctor concerned is on
holiday. (responsible)

Syntactic valency
is the combinability of the word
within a phrase with other
words – the head (headword),
nucleus and adjuncts.

There are different types:
1. According to the direction -
left-hand and right-hand
valency.
e.g. John must go.
left-hand 2 valency verb right-hand

2. According to the nature –
obligatory and optional
Obligatory must necessarily be
realized for the sake of
grammatical and semantic
completeness of the word group.

Optional:
The predicate of a sentence
(transitive verb) may or may not
open valencies for a complement
(object) or adverbial modifier:
He’s reading a book to himself.

A phrase is a combination of
two or more words which is a
grammatical unit, i.e. there’re
definite syntagmatic and
semantic relations between
them but it’s not supposed to be
some analytical form.

If a phrase is taken
separately outside the
sentence, it’s called a word
group or a word combination.

If either semantic or
syntactic ties between the
words of the phrase are
missing, this word group
cannot be called a phrase.
E.g. She took it bad.

There is a specific kind of
phrase called a syntactic
construction.
Syntactic construction is
supposed to have some kind of
predicative relation.

E.g. We saw them played football.
I had my TV repaired yesterday.

A phrase can undergo
grammatical changes without
destroying its identity:
write letters, wrote letters,
have written letters.

A sentence may be defined as the
minimal syntactic unit used in
communicative speech acts, built up
according to some structural and
intonational patterns and possessing
some characteristic properties such as
predicativity, modality, temporality,
personality, communicativity:

If only the weather were
not so hot today!

Structurally the sentences fall under
the following groups:
1. Simple sentences are
those having only one
predicative relation
(2 subjects (homogeneous
parts) + 1 predicate);

2. Composite sentences which are
further subdivided into compound
(those containing 2 or more
coordinate clauses)
and complex (those consisting of at
least 2 clauses, one of which is
independent (main clause) and the
other is dependent (subordinate));

E.g. If you do that again, I’ll
blow the whistle on you.
You do that again and I blow …
(syndetic connection)

There are two types of syntactic
relations:
1. Coordinate relation
(equipotent);
2. Subordinate relation
(dominational).

There are different types of
connections:
Equipotent phrases may be
effected through syndetic
connection and asyndetically.

Subordinate relation – 4 types of
syntactic connections:
1. Agreement
2. Government
3. Attachment
4. Enclosure

1. Agreement means that a
subordinate word takes
the form similar to that
of the headword.
E.g. this book – these books

2. Government means that
the subordinate word is
used in the form required
by the headword but not
coinciding with it.
E.g. We invited him,
to look at her,
I saw him.

3. Attachment (adjoinment)
presupposes semantic and
grammatical relation
between the words.
E.g. Go quickly.
Go fast.

4. Enclosure means that one
element of the phrase is
enclosed by the elements
of the other.
E.g. Some on-the-spot investigations

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