What is Syntax in English

GRADUATE PROGRAM
MAKASSAR STATE UNIVERSITY
JUVRIANTO CHRISSUNDAY JAKOB

1. Preliminarry
2. Studying the World
3. Studying Language
4. Why Do Languages Have Syntax?
5. Conclusion

 The right version from English :
Where are my two suitcases?
Nerede var benim iki bavullar
 The right version from Turkish:
Two suitcase-my where?
Iki bavul-in nerede?

English version :
I am eat bakso now
Now, go where ?
Don’t what-what
Makassar version :
Lapar ka”
etc…

From all example shows is what all
languages. If you want to speak a
language. A dictionary is not enough
because the meaning you are trying to
express does not because the meaning
you are trying to express does not fully
determine word choice and word order.
Here is the additional information not
generally included in dictionaries that you
need to formulate.

 Crystal (1980;346) : syntax as the study of the
rules governing the way words are combined to
form sentences in language.
 Paul Robert (1964:1) : syntax as the area of
grammar which they are pit together to form
sentences.
 Francis (1958:31) : syntax is a subdivision of
grammar which deals with the structure of word
groups.

 Fromkin and Rodman (1983:200) : syntax is the
part of four linguistic knowledge which concerns
with the structure of sentences.
 Gleason (1955:128) : the principles of
arrangement of the construction formed by the
process of derivation and inflection (words) into
larger constructions of various kinds.

 Syntax is the study of the interrelationship of
word groups.
 In other words, we can say that syntax is
concerned with the structure of word group.

2. Studying the World
 At time.
 The gap.
 Something may seem impossible.

Our images formed of reality rather
than reality itself.

Verbal rendering of observations.

 outside the human mind
 inside the human mind
observations are limit

a. Overview
Three basic domains of linguistic observation:
 Function  utility, i.e. what sentences are used for.
Function  the concern of semantics, pragmatics,
stylistics, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics
 Location  spatial and temporal context in which
sentences occur.
Location  textual, spatial, temporal, natural, social
and physiological context
 Structure  refers to composition out of smaller part
(sounds, morphemes, words, phrases, clauses,
sentences)
Structure  concern of descriptive linguistics

b. Structure
 A sentence has a structure consisting of words which
form phrases  collection of nouns, verbs, adjective,
adverbs.
 Sentence structure cannot simply be a dictionary
listing of words  different languages will have
different structures.
 Mastering structure of a language means to have
performative or linguistic competence.
Where are my two suitcases? appropriate in English
Nedere war benim iki bavullar?
Iki bavul-im nedere?
(Two suitcase my where?)
Not appropriate in Turkish
appropriate in Turkish
Johannes soll einen hut kaufen
(Jack should a hat to:buy)
appropriate in German
(Jack should buy a hat)
Janosnak vennie kellene egy kalapot
(Jack to:buy should a hat)
appropriate in Hungarian
(Jack should buy a hat)

Observed Sentences Descriptive Statement
(a) There is a squirrel
behind the trees
(A) It is a well-formed
sentence in English
(b) There is a frog
behind the trees
(B) It is a well-formed
sentence in English
(c) Is there a squirrel
behind the trees?
(C) It is a well-formed
sentence in English
(d) Is there a frog behind
the trees?
(D) It is a well-formed
sentence in English

Observed Sentences Descriptive Statement
(a) There is a squirrel behind the
trees
(A) The unstressed there immediately
precedes the verb in declarative
sentences
(b) There is a frog behind the trees (B) The unstressed there must immediately
follow the verb in questions
(c) Is there a squirrel behind the
trees?
(C) The verb must agree with its subject in
number
(d) Is there a frog behind the trees? (D) Nouns must occur with an article
(E) Article must precede their nouns
(F) The meaning “squirrel” maybe
expressed by the sound form squirrel
(G) Vowel must be nasal preceding nasal
consonants

c. Function
 Language is a human artifact and it does have
functions. It is a means of communication.
 Language function is related to the role of language in
the context of society or the individuals.
 Meaning of an utterance cannot be understand merely
from the language structure (lexical meaning) but also
from social, cultural, anthropological psychological
context.
 Examples:
 Can you pass the salt please?
 Can you close the door from outside, please?
 Sorry love, I saw you were home. There’s a cat stuck under
the gate number 67.
 Maaf, kaki saya keinjak.
 Wah, panas sekali ya?
 Mastering function of a language means to have
communicative linguistic competence.

d. Location
 Everything – both simple and compound objects and
object without function – occurs somewhere. The
location of an object can be specified in terms of
space, time and natural & social context.
Examples:
 Boats are normally found in water
 Two legs as a means of locomotion are located in
humans and birds.
 Location of sentences is definable in reference to
linguistic and extralinguistic context.
 Sentences are generally not used in isolation, rather
they occur as parts of sentence sequences forming
coherent discourse, such as conversation, lectures,
poems, or novels.

 Space  where the language is used.
 Indonesian has variations for many words such as for
“you”  anda, saudara, kamu, kau, engkau, dikau,
bapak, ibu, etc.
 Time  when the language is used.
 English has tenses (present, past and future) to indicate
te time, whereas in Indonesian we need additional
expression:
• I go to the campus
• I went to the campus
• I will go to the campus
 Natural & social context.
 Eskimo languages have an extensive set of terms for
various kinds of snow.
 Shona people of Zimbabwe and Mozambique have at
least 20 different words for “walking”.
 Indonesian has some terms to refer “rice”: padi, gabah,
beras, nasi.

Geertz (1960)
Level Are you going To eat Rice And Cassava Now Complete Sentence
3a
Menapa
Pandjenengan
bade
dahar
sekul
kalijan
kaspe
samenika
Menapa pandjenengan bade
dahar sekul kalijan kaspe
samenika?
3
Sampeyan neda
Menapa sampeyan bade neda
sekul kalijan kaspe samenika?
2 Napa adjeng
lan
saniki
Napa sampeyan adjeng neda
sekul lan kaspe saniki?
1a
Apa arep sega saiki
Apa sampeyan arep neda sega
lan kaspe saiki?
1 Kowe mangan
Apa kowe arep mangan sega
lan kaspe saiki?

4. Why Do Languages Have
Syntax?
 Phonology (describing the sound form of
sentences)
 For example,
• the word spill words like /spil/ and none like /psil/ the
/s/ must be precede by /p/

Semantic (describing the meaning of sentences)
For example : Joe wrote a letter
- Wrote is a predicate
- Joe and a letter are arguments
- And the tense is past
Lexical (relation sound form and meaning)
For example:
In the system of traffic lights, the colours – red,
green, amber . They have symbolize of the
meanings , wait, go, and prepare to stop

The answer is NO !
There are two reasons that we need to
know to make well-formed sentences:
Firstly : morphology
Secondly : syntax

What the morphology rules do?
Knowledge of morphology includes knowledge
or individual morphemes, their
pronunciation, and their meaning, and
knowledge of the rules for combining
morphemes into complex words .

Syntax is complements the other
components of grammar- semantic,
phonology, the lexicon, and
morphology

1. The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and
phrases into sentences. The rules specify the correct
word order for a language. For example, English is a
Subject–Verb Object (SVO) language.
2. The rules of the syntax also specify the grammatical
relations of a sentence, such as subject and direct object.
3. The rules of yntax also specify the grammatical relations
of a sentence, such as subject and direct object.
4. Grammatical judgements are neither idiosyncratic nor
capricious, but are determined by rules that are shared by
all speakers of a language.
5. The ules tell us how words form groups in a sentences.

Syntax (describe the correspondence
between sentence structure and sentences
meaning)
Syntax deals with the relation of words to
each other as component parts of a sentence,
and with their proper arrangement to express
clearly the intended meaning.

 most sentences consist of more than
one word
 the selection and order of the words in
sentences are not free
 the sum of the word meanings does
not always equal the meaning of the
entire sentences and the sum of the
word forms does not always equal the
phonological form of the entire
sentences.

5. Conclusion
 On Science
Linguistics is a branch of science which can be analyzed based on
scientific approaches.
 On Descriptive Linguistics
Linguistics is a science dedicated to the study of the structure,
function and location of sentences. Descriptive linguists focus on
language structure and aim at providing general analytic descriptions
called grammar.
 On Syntax
Syntax describes the selection and order of words that make well-
formed sentences and it does so

What is Syntax in English

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