Introduction to Linguistics: SYNTAX

(parts of speech categories & subcategories)

Dafydd Gibbon B.A. British And American Studies Basic Module 2 Winter Semester 2007/2008

SYNTAX (SENTENCE SYNTAX)

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Paradigmatic relations in syntax

Syntactic categories Lexical categories Nominals Nouns Pronouns Verbals Glue categories Prepositions Conjunctions Interjections

Main verbs Auxiliary verbs Adjectives Determiners

Introduction to Linguistics

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Parts of speech - categories

Nouny categories

Determiners Adjectives Nouns Pronouns Verbs (main verbs, auxiliary verbs) Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions Interjections

Verby categories

Glue categories

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Syntagmatic relations in syntax

sentence

subject

predicate

verbal

object

the

loud smoker

is

being

nuisance

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Words: context, external structure

Parsing: the analysis of sentences in to parts (Latin: pars part) Prostitutes' deaths inquests open

Inquests into the deaths of four women who were killed in Suffolk have been opened and adjourned. The hearing at Ipswich Coroner's Court found no clear cause of death for Tania Nicol and Annette Nicholls. Anneli Alderton was asphyxiated and Paula Clennell died from compression of the neck, coroner Dr Peter Dean said.The inquest into the death of another victim, Gemma Adams, was opened last week. Police are continuing to question two men about the murders. The first suspect, Tom Stephens, 37, was arrested on Monday. A second man being held has been named locally as 48-year-old Stephen Wright. Both are suspected of killing all five women.

Task:

Identify the part of speech of each word in this text Group the words into larger units
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Winter Semester 2007/2008

NOUN CATEGORIES

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Noun categories: determiners

Articles:

Quantifiers:

definite: the indefinite: a my, your, his, her, its, our, their proximal: this distal: that what which whose

cardinal numerals:

one, two, ... some, several, few, many, ... both, either each, every, all, ...

Possessives:

existential:

Demonstratives:

dual:

universal:

Relatives, interrogatives:

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Noun categories: adjectives

Adjective types:

scalar:

Special feature of scalar adjectives:

small ... big cold ... hot hairless ... hairy alive / dead married / unmarried good great wonderful first, second, ...

adverbs of degree:

polar:

very highly extremely incredibly

appraisive:

ordinal:

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

Noun categories: nouns

Proper nouns:

names:

personal place product, etc.

Common nouns:

Countable nouns:

knife, fork, spoon bread (a slice of bread) butter (a piece of butter) jam (a spoonful of jam)

Mass nouns (uncountable nouns):

For thought:

What happens when you count uncountable nouns?

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Winter Semester 2007/2008

Noun categories: pronouns

Personal pronouns:

I/me, you, he/him, she/her, we/us, they mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs proximal: this distal: that, yonder (archaic) cardinal numerals: one, two, ... existential: some, several, few, many, ... dual: both, either; universal: each, every, all, ... more like conjunctions
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Possessive pronouns:

Demonstrative pronouns

Quantifier pronouns

Relative pronouns

Winter Semester 2007/2008

VERB CATEGORIES

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Introduction to Linguistics

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Verb categories: verbs

Main verbs:

finite forms:

person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) number (singular, plural) tense (present, past) infinitive participle:

Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb):

non-finite forms

present perfect

modal: can, may, will, shall; ought, ... aspectual: be+prespart (continuous), have+pastpart (perfect) passive: be+pastpart

it

might

have

been

being

repaired

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Introduction to Linguistics

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Verb categories: verbs

Main verbs:

finite forms:

person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) number (singular, plural) tense (present, past) infinitive participle:

Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb):

non-finite forms

present perfect

modal: can, may, will, shall; ought, ... aspectual: be+prespart (continuous), have+pastpart (perfect) passive: be+pastpart

it

migh+t have+0 perfect

be+en

be+ing

repair+ed main verb

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tense modal
Winter Semester 2007/2008

continuous passive
Introduction to Linguistics

Verb categories: verbs

Periphrastic verbs (auxiliary verb + non-finite main verb):

modal: can, may, will, shall; ought, ... aspectual:

be+prespart (continuous) have+pastpart (perfect)

passive: be+pastpart

Discontinuous morphemes the flip flop rule of English auxiliary verbs:

it migh+t have+0 perfect be+en be+ing repair+ed main verb

tense modal

continuous passive

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

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Verb categories: adverbs

Deictic:

Manner (how):

here, there; now, then soon, immediately, yesterday, ... upwards, into, towards

Time (when):

Place & direction (where):

slowly, quickly cleverly, stupidly nicely, nastily well ... better dealt with in connection with adjectives

Degree

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Introduction to Linguistics

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SOME GLUE CATEGORIES

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Introduction to Linguistics

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Glue categories: prepositions

Express syntagmatic relations Basically - make nominal expressions into adverbial expressions Pretty much the same categories as adverbs Except the all purpose preposition of Tasks:

What is the meaning of of? Construct prepositional phrases corresponding to the types of adverbs

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Introduction to Linguistics

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Glue categories: conjunctions

Express syntagmatic relations Co-ordinating conjunctions:

and, but conjunction-like relative pronouns:

Subordinating conjunctions:

who, which, that make sentences (clauses) into adjective-like noun modifiers i.e. basically:

make sentence (clauses) into adverb-like verb modifiers

Task:

find examples of conjunctions of each type and put them into sentences
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Winter Semester 2007/2008

Glue categories: interjections

Express syntagmatic relations Interjections link parts of dialogues together:

Hi! er huh? Ouch! Wow!

They may also be expressions of subjective reactions:

Task:

find examples of 5 different interjections (not the ones listed here)

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Introduction to Linguistics

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PHRASAL CATEGORIES

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Noun Phrases: definitions

The Noun Categories form larger units:

Adjective Phrase = (DegreeAdverb)* Adjective Nominal Phrase = (Adjective Phrase)* Noun Noun Phrase = (Determiner) Nominal Phrase (Relative Clause) Show how the following Noun Phrase is constructed, using the definitions above: The very first twenty-five extremely young smart yellow ducks

Note that linguistics has developed relatively independently in different places, so there are different terminology systems.
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The very first twenty-five ...

NP Det NomP

AdjP

AdjP

AdjP

AdjP

AdjP

D-Adv

C-Adj

Q-Adj

D-Adv

Adj

Adj

Adj

the

very

first

twenty-five

extremely

young

smart yellow ducks

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Introduction to Linguistics

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Simple & complex sentences

Basic structure of simple sentences in English

SVO either

Basic structure of simple sentences in German:

SOV (cf. subordinate clauses) XVY (i.e. verb second)

or

Complex sentences:

subordinate clauses

relative adverbial with coordinating conjunctions

Introduction to Linguistics 24

coordinate clauses

Winter Semester 2007/2008

Homework on Syntax

Select a newspaper text (about 2 or 3 sentences, not too short)

Make a small dictionary of the parts of speech Make tree drawings of the sentences,

showing parts of speech showing how syntagmatic relations group the words together hierarchically

Find examples of sentences with subordinate clauses. Formulate recursive rules for coordinated sentences:

with and for lists, with commas and then with and at the end.

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