Questions you should be able to answer after reading t chapter: 1, Whats syntax? 2. What is meant by the statement, Syntax is basically subconscious knowledge? 3, What are the names of the units that are larger than words and that make up sentences? 4, What isa grammaticality judgment? 5. What are the names of different sentence types based on the types of clauses that construct each sentence type? 6. What are the types of sentences based on their meaning, function, or voice? 7. Language is rule-governed. What are same of the general syntactic rules that a native speaker of a language knows? Why is this so? 9. Who is Noam Chomsky? What are some of his contributions to linguistics? 10. What are phrase structure rules and phrase markers? 11. What is meant by saying that language has a hierarchical structure? What is ‘meant by the recursive property f language? 12, What are transformational rules and what are the four basic types of transformations? i eee eee et eee erenetegt eer ee fax, which means arranging. Syntax is a level of grammar that specifically refers to the arrangement of words and morphemes (the lexicon) in the construction of structures such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. Syntax also deals with how these combined structures interface with external behaviors such as speech (sound), sign language (gestures), and writing to make the combined structures useful in conimunication. Word order is very important in some languages and less important in others. Syntaxisa level of grammar that spectiealy roles tothe arrangement ‘of words and marpherrs in the construction of sentencesDesoriptve syntax or deseiive grammar elt othe most subconscious ules of language that ‘ne uses to combine smal units int sentences. The tarm also eters tothe study of hase rues, Prescriptive syntax or prescriptive grammar (asthe term implies) refers {othe concept tat were is a correct and an incorrect way to speak, wrt, or sign ‘Transformational or generative grammars 2 model of syntax that Inctudes afte set of rulas that could hypothetical produce (generat) an infinite number of uterances, Syntax can also be seen as the way in which the basically subconscious rules (tacit rules or knowledge) and categories that are part of each person’s lin- guistic competence are used to construct sentences. Syntax deals with the inter- relationship of the elements that make up sentences, and how different rules of arrangement are used to construct statements, questions, commands, and other types of utterances. In English, a native speaker will know without having to consciously think about it that, “*A to going minutes I be few in will store the” is not a grammatical sentence. However, “I will be going to the store in a few minutes” is a grammatical sentence and would automatically be recognized as such by a native speaker of English. Words are not put ‘together randomly to create phrases, clauses, and sentences. ‘When we say that syntactic rules are basically subconscidus, we mean several things. First, people apply the rules of their language automatically and without noticing that they are doing anything special. Second, using the syntax of lar guage is usually obligatory, Unless you make the grammar explicit (that is, you are consciously aware of it), you can't change it. Of course, under certain circun stances you might do just that. For example, if you are trying to imitate a dialect different from your own, you might study the grammar of your way of speaking and compare if to another. When linguists and anthropologists’study syntax, they are interested in describing the subconscious knnwledge that people possess about the syntax of their language, not prescribing how they should construct sentences. What linguists and anthropologists are discovering is called descriptive.syntax or descriptive grammar. They listen to what people actually say and then attempt to discover the rules being usec. What an English teacher or a teacher of other languages does in a grammar class by telling you that there is a correct or incorrect way to write or speak is called prescriptive syntax or prescriptive grammar. - There are many approaches to the study of syntax. Some are mostly descriptive and attempt to discover the rules of the syntax of spoken, written, or signed languages and describe them; others are based on complex mathematical models. We will deal mostly with a model of syntax called transformational or generative grammar that incorporates descriptive and mathematical concepts but primarily is based on the assumption that many elements of syntax cannot be discovered just by studying linguistic performance but are instead a reflec- tion of how the human mind (the brain) works to form syntactic structures such as sentences. Generative grammar (which is discussed further in the "Phrase Structure Rules” section later in this chapter) assumes that the general similari- ties found in all language are a result of the, prewired way in which the brain ‘must process linguistic input, What a person says, writes, or signs is the result of the complex processing, of learned information in a partially innate way. This Processing system is the result of human and prehuman evolution. In fact, in Fecent years some researchers have hypothesized that the ability of the human mind to automatically arrange certain types of information in a particular rule- governed way is also present in some of our closest living nonhuman relatives; that is, other primates, as well as some other animals, may have computational abilities.” ‘sylvia Bongard and Andreas Nieder, “Basic Mathematical Rules Are Encoded by Peimate Prefrontal Cortex Neurons,” Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences 107 Jaraary 19,2010) 2277-2280,Syntactic Construction | Types of Syntactic Structures ‘A sentence begins as a mental construction job. Sentences are not randomly combined morphemes but structures built on the basis of rules of combination. The units being combined are called constituents. A sentence has at least two ‘main constituents; one is called a subject, and the other is called a predicate. The subject is the topic of the segtence. The predicate is a comment or assertion made about the topic. In the sentence ‘The art student looked at a very beautiful painting ‘The art student is the subject of the sentence and looked at a very beautiful painting is the predicate E ‘Types of Sentences and Clauses Sentences can be classified on the basis of how many subjects and how many pred- jcates they contain and the types of clauses they possess. When a sentence consists of only one subject (topic) and one predicate, it is called a simple sentence. An example of a simple sentence is: ‘The dog ran away. ‘Simple sentences can be combined to form compound sentences, such as: ‘The dog and the cat ran away. In this case, two sentences are combined using the coordinating conjunction and. The compound sentence tells us that The dog ran azoay and The cat ran away. Redundant elements are eliminated in forming this compound sentence. Com: pound sentences can be formed without a coordinating conjunction, as in the following sentence: We stuclied all day for the test; now itis time to rest In this case, the semicolon takes the place of the conjunction. The two simple sentences in a compound sentence are said to be independent clauses. ‘second type of clause used to construct sentences is.the dependent clause ‘A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a simple seriterce, but must be at- tached to an independent clause. A dependent clause often begins with a relative pronoun or a subordiriating conjunction. Some examples of dependent clauses are the following although it is tempting who would be traveling with us ifT come late Chapler§ 117 ‘sentence isa sting of words thats ‘grammatically complete wh atlas two components subject and 2 predicate Constituents are th units being combined to creat ager syntactic constuction, ‘The subject of a sentonca the tonic ofthe sentence The predicate ofa sentence is 2 tamment or assertion made about the tole A simple sentence is 4entence wih ‘ne subject and ane predicate ‘A pompound sentences made up of at eas twa simple sentences joined by a coarcinating conlunein; in writing, punctuation can substitute forthe conunction An independent clause is a simp sentence A dependent clause has 2 subject and predicate but cannot stand alone ae simple sentence. It depends on ‘am independent clause to mae it comple