SYNTAX 1

BSE 100
(INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS)
SYNTAX 1
 What is Syntax
 Structure Rules and Relations
 Phrase Structure Rules & Grammatical
Relations
Grammar
mental representation of a speaker’s
linguistical competence
what a speaker knows about the
language, including its phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics and
lexicon
Syntax
the rules of sentence formation
the component of the mental
grammar that represents speakers’
knowledge of the structure of
phrases and sentence
Syntax
σύν syn, "together", and τάξις táxis,
"an ordering“
arrangement
refers directly to the rules and
principles that govern the sentence
structure of any individual
language
structure (word order)
 BSE 100
(INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS)
SYNTAX 1
 What is Syntax
 Structure Rules and Relations
 Phrase Structure Rules & Grammatical
Relations
• Grammaticality of the sentence
• Word order
• Structural ambiguity
• Grammatical relations
• Whether different structures have
different meanings
• The creative aspect of language
 BSE 100
(INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS)
SYNTAX 1
 What is Syntax
 Structure Rules and Relations
 Phrase Structure Rules & Grammatical
Relations
A family of expressions that can
substitute for one another without loss of
grammaticality

Ex. The child found the puppy.

Your neighbor found the puppy.
This yellow cat found the puppy.
He found the puppy.
• Noun Phrase (NP) – subject or object
in the sentence
• Verb Phrase (VP) – verb by NP or PP
• Sentence (S)
• Determiner (Det)
• Adjective (adj)
• Adverb (adv)
• Noun (N)
• Pronoun (Pro)
• Preposition (P)
• Prepositional Phrase (PP)
• Auxiliary Verb (Aux) – have,
be, will, must, etc.
• Verb (V)
• There is no longest sentence
in any language
• Speakers can lengthen any
sentence by various means
• Adding adjectives, clauses,
etc.