第五讲syntax

Syntax（句法学）%26Semantics（语义）（第五章,第七章）Syntax1.Syntax（句法）is a branch of linguistics that studies howwords are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.2.IC analysis（直接成分分析） is a new approach of sentencestudy that cuts a sentence into two (or more) segments. This kind of pure segmentation is simply dividing a sentence into its constituent elements without even knowing what they really are.3.The term “category”（范畴）in some approaches refers toclasses and functions in its narrow sense, e.g., noun, verb, subject, predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. More specifically it refers to the defining properties of these general units: the categories of the noun, for example, include number, gender, case and countability; and of the verb, for example, tense, aspect, voice, etc.Semantics1. Semantics（语义学）----the study of language meaning. Meaning is central to the study of communication.2. Word meaningSense and reference are both concerned with the study ofword meaning. They are two related but different aspects of meaning.Sense（意义）---- is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic form. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract.Reference（指称）----what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.3. Major sense relations3.1 SynonymySynonymy（同义词）refers to the sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms.3.2 Antonymy （反义）a. Gradable antonyms（可分级反义词）----there are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall-short, …b. Complementary antonyms（互补反义词）----the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other, e.g. alive-dead, male-female, …c.Relational opposites（关系对⽴反义词）----exhibits thereversal of the relationship between the two items, e.g. husband-wife, father-son, doctor-patient, buy-sell, let-rent, employer-employee, give-receive, above-below, …d. Reversive（可逆性反义词）3.3 Hyponymy （上下关系）Hyponymy （上下关系）----the sense relation between a more general, more inclusive word and a more specific word.a. Superordinate（上义词）: the word which is more general in meaning.b. Hyponyms（下义词）: the word which is more specific in meaning.c. Co-hyponyms（同级下义词）: hyponyms of the same superordinate.e.g. Superordinate: furnitureHyponyms: bed, table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, sofa, …3.4 Polysemy （⼀词多义）----the same one word may have more than one meaning.3.5 HomonymyHomonymy---- the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, e.g. different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both.Homophone（同⾳异义词）---- when two words are identical insound, e.g. rain-reign, night/knight, …Homogragh（同形异义词）---- when two words are identical in spelling, e.g. tear(n.)-tear(v.), lead(n.)-lead(v.), …Complete homonym---- when two words are identical in both sound and spelling4. Componential analysis（成分分析）---- a way to analyze lexical meaning. The approach is based on the belief that the meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features. For example,Man: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]Boy: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, +MALE]Woman: [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]Girl: [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +ANIMATE, -MALE]Pragmatics语⽤学Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language usesentences to effect successful communication.Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning, contextualmeaning, how more gets communicated than is said.The originSemanticsContext considered Context unconsideredPragmatics Traditional semanticsSentence and utterance话语The relation: Meaning of a sentence is abstract anddecontextualized while meaning of an utterance isconcrete and context-dependent. The meaning of anutterance is based on a sentence meaning and therealization of the abstract meaning of a sentencein a real situation of communication.Example: My bag is heavy. (utterance meaning: a statement,indirec t or polite request, declining someone’s requestfor help)Cooperative Principles and violation of the conversation maxims合作原则和准则的违反The maxim of quantity 数量准则Make your utterance as informative as required. No more and no less.The maxim of quality 质量准则Do not say what you believe to be false and do not saywhat you lack evidence for.The maxim of relation 关系准则Be relevantThe maxim of manner ⽅式准则Avoid obscurity, ambiguity. Be brief and orderly Violation of the maxims and revealing conversation implicature 会话含义The use of the terms principle and maxim does not meanthat the CP and its maxims will be followed by everybody all the time. People do violate them and tell lies. In fact, the significance CP lies in the violations.Examples of the violations of the maxims:1) Violation of the Maxim of QuantityA: What are you readingB: A book.A: Do you know where Dr. Townsend livesB: Somewhere in the southern suburbs of the city. (saidwhen it is known to both A and B that B has Dr. Townsend’s address)2)Violation of the Maxim of QualityA: Would you like to come to our party tonightB: I’m afraid I’m not feeling so well today.(said when it is known to both A and B thatB is feeling perfectly well)3) Violation of the Maxim of RelationA: What time is itB: Well, the paper’s already come.A: The hostess is an awful bore. Don’t you thinkB: The roses in the garden are beautiful, aren’t theyA: What do you think of the lectureB: He’s a good cook.4) Violation of the Maxim of MannerA: Let’s stop and get something to eat.B: Okay, but not M-c-D-o-n-a-l-d-s.A: What did your sister buy at Sears yesterdayB: She bought a red dress, she bought a green dress, and she bought a blue dress.。

Chapter 5: SyntaxLearning Objectives⏹I. Syntax the field⏹II. The Traditional Approach⏹III. The Structuralist Approach⏹IV. The Generative Approach⏹V. The Systemic Functional Approach⏹VI. The Textual ApproachI. Defining Syntax⏹The word comes from Ancient Greek - syn-, "together", and táxis, "arrangement")⏹The definition:❑The study of the internal structure ofsentences and the rules that govern theformation of sentences.⏹What is grammar?❑morphology + syntax = grammar Autonomy of syntax⏹Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.⏹This is a very interesting sentence,because it shows that syntax can beseparated from semantics—that form canbe separated from meaning. The sentencedoesn’t seem to mean anything coherent,but it sounds like an English sentence.——Howard Lasnik,The Human LanguageClassification of sentences⏹ E.g.1 Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.⏹ E.g.2 *Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.⏹ E.g.3 He walked quickly.Criteria:⏹ 1. Conforms to the grammatical rules of a specific language or not;(Grammaticality/well-formedness)⏹ 2. Conforms to the worldly common sense knowledge.Sentence classificationII. The Traditional Approach⏹ A Syntactic Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same orsimilar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or averb.⏹When words are grouped together into a relatively small number of classes, they arecalled syntactic categories.1. Lexical Categories⏹In grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditionalgrammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words, or more precisely lexicalitems.⏹Major lexical categories❑Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition⏹Minor lexical categories❑Determiner, Auxiliary, Conjunction, Infinitive, Negative2. Phrasal Categories⏹Word level categories can be extended to phrasal categories with heads :3. Syntactic Functions⏹Subject: in nominative case, doer of the action.❑ E.g. She slapped him.❑ E.g. He was slapped by her.⏹Grammatical subject vs. logical subject⏹Object: accusative case, receiver or goal of an action.⏹ E.g. He was slapped by her.⏹ E.g. I gave my sister a doll.Ind. Obj. Dir. Obj.⏹ E.g. I gave a doll to my sister.Dir. Obj. Ind. Obj.Sentence division⏹Binary analysis:❑Predicate + Subject = Sentence⏹ E.g. The man is eating dinner.⏹ E.g. John broke the door.⏹ E.g. Alice must be out of her mind.⏹Predicator: verb included in a predicate4. Syntactic Features5．Sentence types:traditional approachsimpleSentence complexnon-simplecompoundBasic sentence types by Bolinger⏹ 1. Mother fell.⏹ 2. Mother is young.⏹ 3. Mother loves Dad.⏹ 4. Mother fed Dad breakfast.⏹ 5. There is time.⏹Question: What are the abstract grammatical representations?Bolinger’s idea⏹Mother fell. (Nominal + intransitive verbal)⏹Mother is young. (Nominal + copula + complement)⏹Mother loves Dad. (Nominal + transitive verbal + nominal)⏹Mother fed Dad breakfast. (Nominal + transitive verbal + nominal + nominal)⏹There is time. (There + existential + nominal)Basic sentence types: Quirk⏹Seven sentence types:❑SVC❑SV A❑SV❑SVO❑SVOC❑SVOA❑SVOOQuirk’s idea⏹SVC Mary is kind. / a nurse.⏹SV A Mary is here. / in the house.⏹SV The child is laughing.⏹SVO Somebody caught the ball.⏹SVOC We have proved him wrong. / a fool.⏹SVOA I put the plate on the table.⏹SVOO She gives me expensive presents.III. The Structuralist Approach1. Syntactic Relations⏹Syntactic relations can be analyzed into three kinds:❑relations of position❑relations of substitutability❑relations of co-occurrenceRelations of Position⏹All languages have a way to mark the grammatical roles of the various phrases thatcan occur in a clause.⏹The boy kicked the ballNP1 NP2Subject Object⏹Positional relation, or WORD ORDER, r efers to the sequential arrangement of wordsin a language.⏹Question: If word order is not followed, what would happen?❑ungrammatical or nonsensical❑semantic change⏹The boy kicked the ball❑*Boy the ball kicked the❑*The ball kicked the boy⏹The teacher saw the students.⏹The students saw the teacher.⏹Positional relations are a manifestation of one aspect of Syntagmatic Relationsobserved by F. de Saussure.⏹They are also called Horizontal Relations or simply Chain Relations.⏹Word order is among the three basic ways (word order, genetic and arealclassifications) to classify languages in the world:❑SVO, VSO, SOV, OVS, OSV, and VOS.❑English belongs to SVO type, though this does not mean that SVO is the only possible word order.Relation of Substitutability⏹The ________ smiled.menboysgirlsmonkeys⏹The Relation of Substitutability refers to classes or sets of words substitutable foreach other grammatically in sentences with the same structure.⏹It also refers to groups of more than one word which may be jointly substitutablegrammatically for a single word of a particular set.strong man❑The tallest boy smiles.pretty girlyesterday.❑He went there last week.the day before.⏹This is also called Associative Relations by Saussure,and Paradigmatic Relations byHjemslev.❑To make it more understandable, they are called Vertical Relations or Choice Relations.Relation of Co-occurrence⏹Words of different sets of clauses may permit, or require, the occurrence of a wordof another set or class to form a sentence or a particular part of a sentence.⏹What are the co-occurred word sets for nominal phrases?❑preceded by a determiner and adjective(s)❑followed by a verbal phrase.⏹Relations of co-occurrence partly belong to syntagmatic relations, partly toparadigmatic relations.2. Constituents and Phrase Structure⏹Constituent is a part of a larger linguistic unit. Several constituents together form aconstruction:❑the girl (NP)❑ate the apple (VP)❑the girl ate the apple (S)Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC Analysis) by BloomfieldPhrase StructureTree diagramBracketing⏹Bracketing is not as common in use, but it is an economic notation in representingthe constituent/phrase structure of a grammatical unit.(((The) (girl)) ((ate) ((the) (apple))))Comparing IC analysis and PS analysis⏹beautiful girl’s dress“They can fish” is ambiguous⏹IC analysis⏹What are the possible phrase structure trees?3. Endocentric and Exocentric Constructions⏹Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to thatof one or more of its constituents, i.e., a word or a group of words, which serves as a definable centre or head.⏹Which constructions are endocentric?❑noun phrases❑Intransitive verb phrases❑adjective phrases⏹Exocentric construction refers to a group of syntactically related words where noneof the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole, that is, there is no definable “Centre” or “Head”.⏹Which constructions are exocentric?❑basic sentence❑prepositional phrase❑predicate (verb + object) construction❑connective (be + complement) construction⏹The boy smiled. (Neither constituent can substitute for the sentence structure as awhole.)⏹He hid behind the door. (Neither constituent can function as an adverbial.)⏹He kicked the ball. (Neither constituent stands for the verb-object sequence.)⏹John seemed angry. (After division, the connective construction no longer exists.)4. Coordination and Subordination⏹Constructions can also be categorized into two main types, depending on the relationbetween constituents: Coordination and SubordinationCoordination⏹Coordination:❑grouping together two or more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and, but and or.❑Coordinated constituents have equivalent syntactic status, each of the separate constituents can stand for the original construction functionally⏹Coordination of NPs:❑[NP the lady] or [NP the tiger]⏹Coordination of VPs:❑[VP go to the library] and [VP read a book ]⏹Coordination of PPs:❑[PP down the stairs] and [PP out the door ]⏹Coordination of APs:❑[AP quite expensive] and [AP very beautiful]⏹Coordination of Ss:❑[S John loves Mary] and [S Mary loves John too].Subordination⏹Subordination：refers to the process or result of linking linguistic units so that they have different syntactic status, one being dependent upon the other, and usually a constituent of the other.❑The subordinate constituents are words which modify the head.Consequently, they can be called modifiers.⏹two dogsHead⏹(My brother) can drink (wine).Head⏹Swimming in the lake (is fun).Head⏹(The pepper was) hot beyond endurance.HeadSubordinate clauses⏹Clauses can be used as subordinate constituents. There are three basic types ofsubordinate clauses:❑complement clauses❑adjunct (or adverbial) clauses❑relative clauses⏹ 1. John believes [that the airplane was invented by an Irishman].(complementclause)⏹ 2. Elizabeth opened her presents [before John finished his dinner]. (adverbial clause)⏹ 3. The woman [that I love] is moving to the south. (relative clause)IV. The Generative Approach⏹Phrase Structure Rules (PS Rules)❑smile❑the smile❑the beautiful smile❑the beautiful smile to meWhat about the possible VP structure?⏹laugh⏹play in the garden⏹often play in the garden⏹often happily play in the garden (happily)The AP structure?⏹polite⏹very polite⏹very polite to youThe PP structure?⏹about⏹mainly about⏹mainly about the storySentence structure?⏹The wind blows.⏹The cat ate the fish.⏹The man came with a stick.Exercises: Please draw the phrase structure tress of the following sentences⏹ 1. The jet landed.⏹ 2. A journalist wrote the article.⏹ 3. Jerome is tired of his job.⏹ 4. He gave the Red Cross some blood.⏹ 5. The customer asked for a cold beer.⏹ 6. John will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.1.2.4.5.“The man came with a stick”Structural Ambiguity“The man killed the boy with a knife”“The man killed the boy with a knife”More examples of ambiguity⏹ 1. Flying planes can be dangerous.❑ Flying planes is dangerous. ❑ Flying planes are dangerous.⏹ 2. Visiting scholars can be interesting.❑ Visiting scholars is interesting. ❑ Visiting scholars are interesting.Modifier: specify optionally expressible properties of headsWhat are the possible PStrees?⏹The data:❑The dog ate the bone happily.❑The dog happily ate the bone.❑Probably the dog ate the bone.⏹How to represent them with tree diagrams?“The dog ate the bone happily.”“The dog happily ate the bone.”“Probably the dog ate the bone.”Transformational Rules⏹The boy is sleeping. Is the boy sleeping?⏹The boy has slept. Has the boy slept?⏹The boy will sleep. Will the boy sleep?⏹The boy can sleep. Can the boy sleep?⏹The Rule:❑Move Aux❑Move the Aux to adjoin to SExercise⏹What is your comment on the rule “move the Aux to adjoin to S”?❑ E.g. You know those women.❑ E.g. Sara should be going to Chicago.❑ E.g. Anyone that can lift 500 pounds is eligible for our club.“The boy can sleep.”“Can the boy sleep?”“The boy picked up the book.”“The boy picked the book up.”“Some people who were wearing boots came in.”“Some people came in who were wearing boots.”Chomsky’s Generative GrammarLanguageFacultyUniversal Grammar⏹ Plato ’s Problem⏹ Poverty of the Stimulus--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------⏹ Features of First Language Acquisition❑ Uniformity❑ Rapidity⏹ Chomsky ’s Innateness Hypothesis:❑ The course of language acquisition is determined by a biologically endowedinnate Language Faculty within the brain, which makes it possible for children to acquire a language on the basis of their linguistic experience .⏹ Language Faculty must incorporate a theory of Universal Grammar / UG whichenables the child to develop a grammar of any natural language on the basis of suitable linguistic experience.⏹ UG is composed of Principles and Parameters .⏹ Children ’s Task?❑ Parameter setting ❑ Lexical learning⏹ Principles and Parameters Theory:❑ Government & Binding Theory ❑ The Minimalist ProgramV . The Systemic Functional Approach⏹ Systemic Functional Grammar has its roots in the work of the British linguist J. R.Firth . The mastermind behind the systemic-functional perspective is M. A. K. Halliday .⏹ SF Linguists are interested in relating the various kinds of linguistic structures andpatterns to the functions that language serves and to the social settings in which it is used.Language functionsTheoretically speakingEmpirically speaking Grammar of L Experience of L⏹ Three metafunctions:❑ Ideational function ❑ Interpersonal function ❑ Textual functionIdeational function⏹ The function in which we conceptualize theworld for our own benefit and that of others is called ideational function.⏹ Conceptualization of the world:❑ representation of the world❑ The bringing of the world into being linguisticallyData⏹ A. The man kicked the dog.⏹ B. The woman hated the old clothes. ⏹ C. David is homeless. ⏹ D. The girl laughed.⏹ E. The visitor said “Hello ”. ⏹ F. There is a cat over there.1. The man kicked the dog.⏹ KICK is a material process . Material processes are characterized by “doing ” verbs,such as running , dressing , climbing , etc.⏹ Halliday describes the man as the actor (the person responsible for the action), andthe dog as the goal (the thing which is acted upon).2. The woman hated the old clothes.⏹ The predicator has something to do with feeling and thinking, which is internalrather than external, thus the name mental process .⏹ Verbs such as hate , love , know , think and understand belong to this category. ⏹ Halliday: sensor + phenomenon3. David is homeless.⏹ It is relational in that its main purpose is to relate the two participants together. ⏹ Relational verbs are be , become , appear , etc. ⏹ Halliday: carrier + attribute4. The girl laughed.⏹ The predicator falls into a category of verbs such as cough , yawn , and smile whichHalliday calls them as behavioral .⏹ The behavioral processes are similar to material processes in that they describephysical actions of some kind but they are different in that the action isnotperformed on anything. ⏹ Halliday: behaver.5. The visitor said “Hello ”.⏹ Halliday calls this category as the verbal process .⏹ Verbal processes include words like say , report , claim , question , and explain . ⏹ Halliday: sayer + target6. There is a cat over there.⏹ Existential process . ⏹ Hailliday: the existentInterpersonal function⏹ Language serves to set up and maintain social and personal relations , and to expressthe language user ’s own attitudes and comments on the content of an utterance. This function is called interpersonal function. ⏹ The study of mood and modality.⏹ A. Pass the salt.⏹ B. Please pass the salt. ⏹ C. Can you pass the salt?⏹ D. Could you possibly pass the salt?⏹ E. You couldn ’t possibly pass the salt, could you? ⏹ A general rule:❑ The more indirect the demand, the more polite it is felt to be.Textual function⏹ If you find a bird outside the classroom window, which sentence would you use?❑ A. There is a bird on the tree. ❑ B. A bird is on the tree.⏹ Information structure:Transitivi ⏹ Material process(The man kicked the dog.) ⏹ Mental process (The woman hated the old clothes.) ⏹ Verbal process (The visitor said “Hello ”) ⏹ Behavioural process (The girl laughed) ⏹ Relational process (David is homeless.) ⏹ Existential process (There is a cat over there.)❑old information + new information⏹According to Halliday:❑theme + rheme⏹Theme: the first constituent, and it denotes the starting point of the clause—what itis going to be about.⏹Rheme: the rest of the clause; the information that is new.⏹1A. Gas explosion killed thousands.⏹1B. Thousands were killed by gas explosion.⏹2A. The rain came down.⏹2B. Down came the rain.⏹The propositional meaning is the same, but the thematic difference exists.❑1A. Theme: gas explosion—what the sentence is about❑1B. Theme: thousands—what the sentence is aboutVI. The Textual Approach⏹The development of modern linguistic science has helped push the study of syntaxbeyond the traditional sentence boundary.⏹Linguists are now exploring the syntactic relation between sentences in a paragraphor chapter or the whole text, which leads to the emergence o f text linguistics and discourse analysis.Sentential Connection⏹Hypotactic (cf. subordinate clauses):❑You can phone the doctor if you like. However, I very much doubt whether he is in.❑We live near the sea. So we enjoy a healthy climate.⏹Paratactic (cf. coordinate clauses):❑In Guangzhou it is hot and humid during the summer. In Beijing it is hot and dry.❑He dictated the letter. She wrote it.❑The door was open. He walked in.Cohesion and cohesiveness⏹Cohesion is a concept to do with discourse or text rather than with syntax. It refersto relations of meaning that exist within the text, and defines it as a text.⏹Cohesiveness can be realized by employing various cohesive devices:❑conjunction❑ellipsis❑lexical collocation❑lexical repetition❑reference❑substitution, etc.Some examples⏹“Did she get there at six?”“No, (she got there) earlier (than six).”(Ellipsis)⏹“Shall we invite Bill?”“No. I can’t stand the man.”(Lexical collocation)⏹He couldn’t open the door. It was locked tight. (Reference)⏹“Why don’t you use your own recorder?”“I don't have one.”(Substitution)⏹I wanted to help him. Unfortunately it was too late. (Logical connection)Exercise-IProduce the surface structures from the following deep structures.❖ 1. Neg she past work last week❖ 2. policemen past be-en beat John❖ 3. Q the professor pres be angry SOME REASON❖ 4. Q he past do SOMETHING❖ 5. Imp you pres will wash you❖ 6. the girl [the girl pre be beautiful] pre be from ChinaReference Answer⏹ 1. She didn’t work last night.⏹ 2. The policemen were beaten by John.⏹ 3. Why is the professor angry?⏹ 4. What did he do?⏹ 5. Wash yourself.⏹ 6. The girl who is beautiful is from China.Exercise-IIComment on the following pair of sentences.❖ a. John is easy to please.❖ b. John is eager to please.Reference answer⏹The two sentences have similar surface structure, but the grammar of the two isdifferent. John has a different logical relationship to please in the two sentences.⏹The two sentences have different deep structures:❑ a. (Someone pleases John) is easy.❑ b. John is eager (John pleases someone).Exercise-IIIPlease draw phrase structure trees for each of the following sentences.❖ 1. Maria never ate a brownie.❖ 2. That shelf will fall.❖ 3. The student lost the debate.❖ 4. The manager may offer a raise.❖ 5. A psychic will speak to this group.❖ 6. Mary could become quite fond of Larry.Exercise-IVThe following data are from Korean. You may ignore the nominative and accusative markers for the purposes of this question.❖ 1. Terry-ka ku yeca-lul coahanta.❖Terry-Nom that girl-Ac likes❖‘Terry likes that girl.’❖ 2. I noin-I hakkyo ey kassta.❖this man-Nom school to went❖‘This man went to school.’❖ 3. Sue-ka chinkwu eykey chayk-ul ilkessta.❖Sue-Nom friend to book-Ac read❖‘Sue read the book to a friend.’❖I. Based on this data, what is the XP rule for Korean?❖II. Draw the tree structure for each of the sentence.。