英语语言学笔记第四章
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Chapter Four Syntax 句法学一、定义1. syntax句法学:Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules that govern the formation of sentences.句法学是一门研究语言的规则,这些规则控制句子的形成。
〔把单词凑在一起形成句子〕二、知识点4.2 Category 范畴Syntactic category 句法类型: Words can be grouped together into a relatively small number of classes, called Syntactic category. 单词可以被组成数量相对较小的类别,称为句法类型。
This classification reflects a variety of factors, (1) including the type of meaning that words express, (2) the type of affies that they take, (3) and the type of structures in which they can occur.这种分类反映出各种不同的因素:〔1〕包括单词所表达的意义的类别,〔2〕它们所带词缀的类别,〔3〕它们所能出现的结构的类别。
word level category词层面类型〔对于句法学而言最核心的类型〕1. Major lexical categories 主要词汇类型〔词性〕:名、动、形、副词N, V, Adj, Adv〔open开放性词类,can add new words〕P43图〔在句子构成中起重要作用〕1〕主要词类又称开放词类,可以不断地出现新词。
在英语,它们主要有四类:名词〔N〕: student linguistics lecture动词〔V〕: like red go形容词〔adj〕: tall lovely red副词〔adv〕: loudly constantly hardP134中2. Minor lexical categories 次要词汇类型〔词性〕:限定、程度、量词、助动、介、代、连、叹Det, Deg, Qual, Aux, Prep, Pron, Conj, Int 〔close封闭性词类, words are fixed不添加新词〕P43图2〕次要词类又称闭合词类。
Chapter 4 SyntaxTeaching AimsTo enable students to master the categories of word and phraseTo make students understand the rules of phrase structure and sentence structureTo enable students to recognize transformations in transformational generative grammar4.1 What is syntax?Syntax is the study of the internal structures of sentence and the rules for the combination of words. The term syntax came originally from Greek word meant arrangement. What that means is that sentences are structured according to particular arrangement of words. Well-arranged sentences are considered to grammatical sentences. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.Types of sentences:: consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.: contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinating conjunctions, such as “and”, “by”, “or”…: contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the otherEmbedded clause子句←→ matrix clause主句Transformational Generative Grammar (TG)⏹Norm. Chomsky, the most influential linguist in 20th century, some important works:⏹(1957) Syntactic Structure;⏹(1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax;⏹(1981) Lectures on Government and Binding;⏹(1986) Barriers⏹(1993) A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory;⏹(1995) The Minimalist Program;⏹(1998) The Minimalist Inquiry……Criteria on good grammar⏹Observational adequacy⏹Descriptive adequacy⏹Explanatory adequacy(The ultimate goal for any theory is to explain.)TG differs from traditional grammar in that it not only aims at language description, but also its explanation. Chomsky is much more interested in the similarities (language universals) between languages rather than their differences:⏹Linguists should attempt to find a grammatical framework which will be suitable for all languages;⏹Linguists should concentrate on the elements and constructions that are available to all languages rather thanon elements that actually occur in all languages.⏹There are likely to be universal constraints on the ways linguistic elements are combined⏹Chomsky proposed that the grammars of all human languages share a common framework (UniversalGrammar).4.2 Categories4.2.1 Word-level categoriesCategory refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. The most central categories to the syntactic study are the word-level categories (traditionally, parts of speech)the predicate句法范畴词汇范畴Major lexical categories (open categories): N. V. Adj. Adv.Minor lexical categories (closed categories): Det. Aux. Prep. Pron. Conj. Int.The criteria on which categories are determined:⏹Meaning⏹Inflection⏹DistributionNote:The most reliable criterion of determining a word‟s category is its distribution.短语范畴4.2.2 Phrase categories and their structuresPhrase categories----the syntactic units that are built around a certain word category are called phrase categories, such as NP(N), VP(V), AP(A), PP(P).The structure: specifier + head + complement⏹Head---- the word around which a phrase is formed⏹Specifier---- the words on the left side of the heads⏹Complement---- the words on the right side of the heads4.3 Phrase structure ruleThe grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule, such as:⏹NP→ (Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish on the plate, pretty girls.⏹VP→ (Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games, finish assignments.⏹AP→ (Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very pessimistic, familiar with, very close to⏹PP→ (Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat, quite near the station.S→ NP VP (A sentence consists of, or is rewritten as, a noun phrase and a verb phrase)NP→ (det.限定词) (Adj.) N (PP) (S)… “→”:包括/分为VP→ (qual.修饰词)V (NP) (POP) (S)… “( )”:内部的成分可以省略AP→ (deg.程度词)A (PP) (S)… “…”:可以选择附加其他补语PP→(deg.)P NP…Significantly, the above rules can generate an infinite number of sentences, and sentences with infinite length, due to their recursive properties.4.3.1 XP ruleXPSpecifier X ComplementNote: The phrase structure rules can be summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram, in which X stands for N, V, A or P.X‟ Theory⏹XP → (Specifier)X‟⏹X‟ → X(complement)XP(Phrase level)Specifier X’X(head) complement4.3.2 Coordination ruleCoordination structures-----the structures that are formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc.----Coordination has four important properties:⏹no limit on the number of coordinated categories before the conjunction;⏹ a category at any level can be coordinated;⏹the categories must be of the same type;⏹the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined.4.4 Phrase element4.4.1 Specifiers---- Semantically, specifiers make more precise the meaning of the head; syntactically, they typically mark a phrase boundary. Specifiers can be determiners as in NP, qulifiers as in VP and degree words as in AP.4.4.2 Complements---- Complements themselves can be a phrase, they provide information abut entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head, e.g. a story about a sentimental girl;There can be no complement, one complement, or more than one complement in a phrase, e.g. appear, break, put…; a sentence-like construction may also function as a complement such as in “I believed that she was innocent.I doubt if she will come. They are keen for you to show up.” That/if /for are complementizers, the clauses introduced by complementizers are complement clause.4.4.3 Modifiers---- Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of heads.4.5 Sentences (The S rule)S→NP VPSNP VPDet N VDet NA boy found the evidenceS→NP infl VPInflP(=S)NP Infl VPMany linguists believe that sentences, like other phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an abstract category inflection (dubbed …Infl‟) as their heads, which indicates the sentence‟s tense and agreement.Infl realized by a tense labelInflP(=S)NP VPDet N V NPInfl Det NA boy Pst found the evidenceInfl realized by an auxiliaryInflP(=S)NP VPDet N V NPInfl Det NA boy will find the evidence4.6 Transformations4.6.1 Auxiliary movement (inversion)Inversio n→Move Infl to the left of the subject NP.Inversion (revised)→Move Infl to C.CPC SNP VDet N InflThe train will arriveCPC SNP VInfl Det N InflWill The train e arrive4.6.2 Do insertionDo insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty Infl position.CPC SNP Infl VPBirds fly Figure-1CPC SNP Infl VPBirds do fly Figure-2CPC SInfl NP Infl VPDo Birds e fly Figure-34.6.3 Deep structure and surface structureConsider the following pair of sentences:John is easy to please.John is eager to please.Structurally similar sentences might be very different in their meanings, for they have quite different deep structures. Consider one more sentence:Flying planes can be dangerous.It can mean either that if you fly planes you are engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that are flying are dangerous. Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head‟s sub-categorization properties; it contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.(Deep structure---the structure that corresponds most closely to the meaningful grouping of words. It is abstract, which gives the meaning of a sentence and which itself is not pronounceable.)Surface structure----corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.(Surface structure--- linear arrangement of words as they are pronounced. A surface structure is relatively concrete, and gives the form of a sentence as it is used in communication.)D-structure: phrase structure rules + lexiconThe organization of the syntactic component:The XP rule↓Deep structure←Subcategorization restricts choice of complements↓transformations↓Surface structure4.6.4 Wh movementConsider the derivation of the following sentences:What languages can you speak?What can you talk about?These sentences may originate as:You can speak what languages.You can talk about what.Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the beginning of the sentence.What language can you speak ?Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP. (Revised)CPNP C SWho NP Infl VPe Pst V NPwon the game4.6.5 Move α and constraints on transformationsInversion can move an auxiliary from the Infl to the nearest C position, but not to a more distant C position. No element may be removed from a coordinate structure.。
胡壮麟语言学笔记无私分享(全;免"支持"版:)《语言学教程》重难点学习提示第一章??语言的性质语言的定义:语言的基本特征(任意性、二重性、多产性、移位、文化传递和互换性);语言的功能(寒暄、指令、提供信息、询问、表达主观感情、唤起对方的感情和言语行为);语言的起源(神授说,人造说,进化说)等。
第二章? ?? ?语言学语言学定义;研究语言的四大原则(穷尽、一致、简洁、客观);语言学的基本概念(口语与书面语、共时与历时、语言与言学、语言能力与言行运用、语言潜势与语言行为);普通语言学的分支(语音、音位、语法、句法、语义);;语言学的应用(语言学与语言教学、语言与社会、语言与文字、语言与心理学、人类语言学、神经语言学、数理语言学、计算语言学)等。
第三章? ?? ?语音学发音器官的英文名称;英语辅音的发音部位和发音方法;语音学的定义;发音语音学;听觉语音学;声学语音学;元音及辅音的分类;严式与宽式标音等。
第四章? ???音位学音位理论;最小对立体;自由变异;互补分布;语音的相似性;区别性特征;超语段音位学;音节;重音(词重音、句子重音、音高和语调)等。
第五章? ? 词法学词法的定义;曲折词与派生词;构词法(合成与派生);词素的定义;词素变体;自由词素;粘着词素(词根,词缀和词干)等。
第六章? ? 词汇学词的定义;语法词与词汇词;变词与不变词;封闭词与开放词;词的辨认;习语与搭配。
第七章??句法句法的定义;句法关系;结构;成分;直接成分分析法;并列结构与从属结构;句子成分;范畴(性,数,格);一致;短语,从句,句子扩展等。
第八章? ?语义学语义的定义;语义的有关理论;意义种类(传统、功能、语用);里奇的语义分类;词汇意义关系(同义、反义、下义);句子语义关系。
第九章? ?语言变化语言的发展变化(词汇变化、语音书写文字、语法变化、语义变化);第十章??语言、思维与文化语言与文化的定义;萨丕尔-沃夫假说;语言与思维的关系;语言与文化的关系;中西文化的异同。
句法(syntax)这个单词,来自希腊语,由两个语素构成:﹛syn﹜和﹛tax﹜。
﹛syn﹜的意思是"一起、共同",﹛tax﹜的意思是"安排、排列",因此syntax本来是"排列在一起"或"组合"的意思。
在语言学上,它是指研究语言中词组合成句子的支配规则,或者简单地说,是研究句子的构造。
因为通常认为句子是语言中最大的语法单位,所以句法长期以来是语法研究的核心。
不同的语言学理论首先体现在对句子结构的不同处理上。
这一章我们将介绍一些有代表性的句法学派。
4.1 传统学派传统认为句子是词的序列。
因此句子构造的研究涉及了对词的大量研究,例如,词类是对词进行的分类,主语、谓语是对词功能的描写,等等。
这些词类和功能有时叫做范畴。
但是"范畴"这个术语,更专门用于表示像名词、动词这些单位的特性。
例如:常说名词有数、性、格的范畴,动词有时、体、态的范畴。
在这里,我们将简要地讨论以上一些范畴。
名词、动词、形容词等形式在有关范畴中的相互关系将在"一致关系和支配关系"中讨论。
4.1.1 数、性、格4.1.2 时和体4.1.3 一致关系和支配关系4.1.1 数、性、格数(number),主要是名词和代词的范畴,如:a book(一本书);some books(一些书);I(我),we(我们);he(他),they(他们)。
英语动词也反映了数的范畴,如:He speaks English.(他说英语);They speak English.(他们说英语)。
在法语等语言中,形容词和冠词也有数的变化,如:le cheval royal,les chevaux royaux。
数一般有两种:单数和复数。
但是在古希腊语、阿拉伯语等语言中,还有第三种数:双数,类似于英语中的both(双方,两者)。
斐济群岛语还有第四种数:三数。
Chapter 4 Syntax1. Immediate Constituent Analysis (直接成分分析法)DefinitionIt may be defined as: the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents---word groups (or phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of their own, and the process goes on until the ultimate constituents are reached. However, for the sake of convenience, in practice we usually stop at the level of word. The immediate constituent analysis of a sentence may be carried out with brackets or with a tree diagram.直接成分分析法先把句子分析为直接成分---词组(或短语),再把这些直接成分依次切分,得到各自的直接成分,层层切分,直到最终成分为止。
实际操作中,为了方便,通常切到词为止。
直接成分分析法可以用括弧或树形图表示。
Advantages:Through IC analysis, the internal structure of a sentence may be demonstrated clearly, ambiguities, if any, will be revealed. 通过IC分析法,句子的内在结构可以清晰地展示出来,如果有歧义,也会被揭示出来。
Problems①At the beginning, some advocators insisted on binary divisions. Any construction, at anylevel, will be cut into two parts. But this is not always possible.开始的时候,一些提倡者坚持二元切分。
2)分类: ①体词属性范畴:指由名词的词形变化形式表⽰的意义。
A.“性”范畴:在某些语⾔中表⽰⼈或事物有关性属的⼀组特征。
B.“数”范畴:表⽰事物数量的⼀组特征。
(汉语中没有严格的数范畴) C.“格”范畴:表⽰名词与其他词的语法结构关系的⼀组特征,在很多综合性语⾔中这都是重要的名词属性范畴。
D.“有定和⽆定”范畴:表⽰名词指称性质的⼀组特征。
②谓词属性范畴:指由动词的词形变化形式表⽰的意义。
A.“时”范畴:表⽰动词所反映的动作发⽣的时间和说话的时间的关系的⼀组 特征。
B.“体”范畴:表⽰动词所反映的动作⾏为进⾏的状况的⼀组特征。
C.“态”范畴:表⽰动词与主语名词之间的施受关系的⼀组特征。
(主动态、被动态) D.“⼈称”范畴:表⽰动词与主语名词之间⼀致关系的⼀组特征。
9.句法范畴 1)定义凡是主要由结构的变化形式表⽰的语法意义。
2)分类: ①类别范畴:由语类和语类选择形式表⽰的语法意义。
A从词的类别看,各种语⾔都需要词的语法类别意义 B从词与词的类别选择看,各种语⾔也都要求某类词与某类词组合的意义 ②关系范畴:指通过虚词和语序表⽰语法结构关系的语法意义。
A.通过虚词和语序来表⽰特定的语法关系意义 B.通过语序变化来确定结构的语法关系意义 第四节语法单位的聚合和组合 1、词和句⼦是语法结构中最重要的两个单位 因为词和句⼦既是基本单位,⼜是最终单位,他们可以把各种语法单位联系起来 2、聚合规则和组合规则主要是指应⽤于词和句⼦的规则。
3.语素的语法地位: 语素是最⼩的语法单位,在语法地位上并不特别重要。
①形式上它是构词的基本单位,本⾝很难建⽴聚合类和组合类。
②义⾓度上,语法分析不太需要语素这个单位。
4、词类:指可以替换出现在语法结构某些共同组合位置上的词的类,即具有聚合关系的词的类。
词类是词的语法分类。
5、划分词类的标准: ①形态标准,即根据词形变化来确定词类 ②意义标准,即根据词的意义来确定词类 ③分布标准,即根据词的聚合位置来确定词类 备注:分布是反映词类的本质属性,⽽在具体区别词类时,形态和意义可以作为参考。
第一章1.linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language 2.The scope of linguisticsPhonetics-语音学phonology-音系学morphology-形态学syntax-句法学semantics-语义学pragmatics-语用学从语言形式划分:Sociolinguistics社会语言学,psycholinguistics心理语言学,applied linguistics应用语言学3. Important distinctions in linguistics Descriptive &> prescriptive 规定性&描写性Synchronic & >diachronic 共时性&历时性Speech&> writing 口语&书写Langue & <parole 语言&言语Competence &< performance 语言能力&语言运用(Saussure and Chomsky think rule>language fact )Traditional grammer & modern linguistics4.What is language?Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication5.Design features of language 语言的识别特征CharlesHockett①Arbitrariness(任意性)refers to the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning. (sounds and meanings)②Productivity/creativity(能产性):Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users③Duality(双重性):The property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization.. ④Displacement(移位性):Human Languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at moment of communication.⑤Cultural transmission(文化传承性)人独有。
第四章句法:从语词到篇章复习笔记I.句法1.定义句法就是研究语言不同成分组成句子的规则或句子结构成分之间的关系。
2.句法关系(1)位置关系位置关系或词序指的是一门语言中词语的排列顺序。
位置关系是任何人类语言中的基本句法关系,也是语言的句法可接受性和语义可理解性的要求。
(2)替代关系替代关系指在相同的句子结构中,语法上可以互相代替的词类或语词的集合,它还可指由多个词组成的词组,语法上代替特定集合中的单个语词。
(3)同现关系共现关系指不同词类的不同词汇集合允许另一个词类或集合的词出现构成一个句子或句子的某一特定成分。
II.传统语法学派传统语法认为句子是词的序列。
因此句子构造的研究涉及了对词的大量研究,例如词类是对词进行的分类,主语、谓语是对词的功能的描写等。
这些词类和功能有时叫做范畴。
1.数、性和格(1)数是用来分析词类的语法范畴,有单数、双数和复数等。
在英语中,数主要是名词的范畴,包括两种形式:单数和复数。
数还体现在代词和动词的屈折变化上。
(2)性指的是依照性别把名词分成不同类别的语法范畴。
性主要也是名词和代词的范畴。
在英语中,性的差别是自然的,由动物本身的生理性别决定。
然而准确地讲,性在这里指的是语法性,语法性主要有阴性、阳性和中性三种。
(3)格主要是名词的屈折范畴,它典型地标识着它们和句子其他部分之间的关系。
在英语中,代词一般有三种格。
即:主格、宾格和属格;名词只有两种格:普通格和属格。
2.时态与体时态与体是动词的两个重要范畴,传统语法没有对它们加以区分。
时态与体之间的区别在于:时态是指示性的,也就是说指明的时间与说话的时间相关;体则不是指示性的,指明的时间与说话的时间没有关系,却与叙述中描写或暗示的另一个事件的时间相关。
3.一致关系与支配关系一致关系是指在一个给定的语言结构中,词和短语之间利用至少它们中的一个所携带的屈折形式互相匹配的句法关系。
支配关系是指句法结构中某些词的形式受另一种其他类型词的控制。
Chapter 44.1 syntactic (句法的) relations4.1.1 positional relation(位置关系)For language to fulfill its communicative function, it must have a way to mark the grammatical roles of the various phrase that can occur in a clause.Positional relation or word order refers to the sequential (有序的) arrangement of words in a language.Positional relation are a manifestation(表现)of one aspect of syntagmatic relations Word order is among the three basic ways (word order genetic and classification) to classify language words.Six possible types of language SVO VSO SOV OVS VOS English is SVO.4.1.2 relation of substitutability(可代替性)Firstly relation of substitutability refers to classes or sets of words substitutable of each other grammatically in sentence with the same structure. Secondly it refers to groups of more than one word which may be jointly substitutable grammatically for a single word of a particular set.This is what Saussure called associative(联想的) relations or in Hjemslev ’s paradigmatic(纵聚性的) relation.4.1.3 relation of co-occurrence(共现)Means words of different sets of clauses may permit pr require the occurrence of a word of another set or class to from a sentence or a particular part of a sentence. Thus relations of co-occurrence partly belong to syntagmatic rations partly to paradigmatic relations.4.2 grammatical construction and its constituents4.2.1 Grammatical constructionAny syntactic string of words ranging from sentences over phrases structures to certain complex lexemes(词位)4.2.2 immediate constituents(直接成分)Constituent is a part of a larger linguistic unit. Several constituents together form a construction:SNP VPDe t N V NPDe t NThe girl ate the appleThis is tree diagram. 在句子结构分析中,成分用来指任何语言单位,而该单位又是更大语言单位的一部分,如在The girl ate the apple 本身的(A) the boy(B) ate the apple (C)都是一个成分,成分可以和其他成分组合组成更大的单位,如果两个成分B(the boy )C (ate the apple)结合起来形成一个更高的成分AWord-levelN=nounA=adjectiveV=verbP=prepositionDet=determinerAdv=adverbConj=conjunctionPhrasalNP=noun phraseAP=adjective phraseVP=verb phrasePP=preposition phraseS=sentence or clauseTo dismantle a grammatical constructure is this way is called immediate constituents or IC analysis.Bracketing is not as common in use, but it is an economic notation in representing the constituent/phrase structure of a grammatical unit.(((The) (girl)) ((ate) ((the) (apple))))2.3 Endocentric and Exocentric ConstructionsEndocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents, i.e., a word or a group of words, which serves as a definable centre or head.Usually noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to the Head.4.2.3.Endocentric and Exocentric Constructions4.2.3.1Endocentric(相信结构)Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents, i.e., a word or a group of words, which serves as a definable centre or head.Usually noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to the Head.4.2.3.1 Exocentric(并列结构)Exocentric construction refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole, that is, there is no definable “Centre” or “Head” inside the group, usually includingthe basic sentence,the prepositional phrase,the predicate (verb + object) construction, andthe connective (be + complement) construction.2.4 Coordination and SubordinationEndocentric constructions fall into two main types, depending on the relation between constituents:Coordination (并列)is a common syntactic pattern in English and other languages formed by grouping together two or more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and, but and or .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(从属) 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.Clauses can be used as subordinate constituents. There are three basic types of subordinate clauses:4.3. Syntactic(句法) FunctionThe syntactic function shows the relationship between a linguistic form and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used.Names of functions are expressed in terms of subjects, objects, predicators, modifiers, complements, etc.4.3.1 SubjectIn English, the subject of a sentence is often said to be the agent, or the doer of the action, while the object is the person or thing acted upon by the agent. In order to account for the case of subject in passive voice, we have two other terms “grammatical subject” and “logical subject”Word orderSubject ordinarily precedes the verb in the statement:Pro-formsThe first and third person pronouns in English appear in a special form when the pronoun is a subject, which is not used when the pronoun occurs in other positions: Agreement with the verbIn the simple present tense, an -s is added to the verb when a third person subject is singular, but the number and person of the object or any other element in thesentence have no effect at all on the form of the verbContent questionsIf the subject is replaced by a question word (who or what), the rest of the sentence remains unchanged, as in4.4Category (范畴)The term category refers to the defining properties of these general units: Categories of the noun: number, gender, case and countabilityCategories of the verb: tense, aspect, voice4.4.1 NumberNumber is a grammatical category used for the analysis of word classes displaying such contrasts as singular, dual, plural, etc.4.4.2Gende(性)Such contrasts as “masculine : feminine : neuter”, “animate : inanimate”, etc. for the analysis of word classes.4.4.3Case(格)The case category is used in the analysis of word classes to identify the syntactic relationship between words in a sentence.4.4.4Agreement.Agreement (or concord) may be defined as the requirement that the forms of two or more words of specific word classes that stand in specific syntactic relationship with one another shall also, be characterized by the same paradigmatically marked category (or categories).4.5Phrase, Clause and Sentence4.5.1phrase4.5.3SentenceBasic sentence types: QuirkSVC Mary is kind.a nurse.SVA 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.4.6Recursiveness(递归性)Recursiveness mainly means that a phrasal constituent can be embedded within another constituent having the same category, but it has become an umbrella term such important linguistic phenomena as coordination and subordination, conjoining and embedding, hypotactic and paratactic.Theoretically, there is no limit to the embedding of one relative clause into another relative clause, so long as it does not become an obstacle to successful communication.4.6.1ConjoiningConjoining: coordination.Conjunctions: and, but, and or.联系一个小句或者其他并列或链接的过程,通过这种过程组成的句子即并列4.6.2Embedding(嵌入)Embedding: subordination.Main clauses and subordinate clauses.Three basic types of subordinate clauses:Relative clause:Complement clause:Adverbial clause:(注:可编辑下载,若有不当之处,请指正,谢谢!)。
语言学笔记陈银2014/3/28Lecture 4Pretest⏹ 1. What is phonetics?⏹ 2. Phonetics can be further divided into three main areas, what are they? What do theystudy respectively?⏹ 3. What do phonology study? What‟s similarity of and the difference between phoneticsand phonology?Answer⏹ 1. Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.⏹ 2. They are articulatory, accoustic and auditory phonetics.⏹ARTICULATORY PHONETICS studies the production of speech sounds⏹ACOUSTIC PHNETICS studies physical properties of sounds produced in speech⏹AUDITORY PHONETIC studies perception of speech sounds⏹ 3. Phonology studies the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.⏹Similarity: concerned with the speech sounds.⏹Differences: Phonetics is strictly physical while phonology also pays attention to thefunction or meaning of a sound.⏹Phonetics only asks, “Does this sound go here or not?” Phonology asks, “Does themeaning change if I put this sound here instead of that one?”⏹Phonetics makes a pretty general description of sounds and can be used to describesounds in any language. Phonology makes very detailed descriptions of sounds, so each language has its own unique set of symbols (because no two languages use all of the exact same sounds).⏹(the detailed differences can be got in the e-handouts in QQ group.)Chapter 2 Speech Sounds⏹Generalization of this chapter:Articulatory(发声)Phonetics (Acoustic) (声学)(语音学)Speech (Auditory) (听觉)Sounds(音位学)(音位)(音位变体)Phonology phonemes (allophones)Generalization of this chapter:speechorgansArticulatory consonants broad(发声)speech phoneticsounds transcriptionsvowels narrow(音位学)Phonological processesPhonologyDistinctive featuresIntroduction⏹As human beings we are capable of making all kinds of sounds, but only some of thesesounds have become units in the language system.⏹We can analyze speech sounds from various perspectives and the two major areas ofstudy are phonetics and phonology.Phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived.⏹ A branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds andprovides methods for their description, classification and transcription, e.g. [p]bilabial, stop.Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds which are used by all human languages or by a particular language to represent meanings.A speech sound goes through a three-step process as shown below.Speaker A Speaker Bspeech speech speechproduction ---- transmission ---- perceptionArticulatory(acoustic) (auditory)the study of | the study of the physical | concerned withproduction of | properties of the sounds | the perceptionspeech sounds | produced in speech | of speech soundsPhonology is the study of the sound patterns and sound systems of languages.⏹It aims to …discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organizedin languages, and to explain the variations that occur‟ (Crystal, 1997:162).⏹In phonology we normally begin by analyzing an individual language, sayEnglish, in order to determine its phonological structure, i.e. which soundunits are used and how they are put together.⏹Then we compare the properties of sound systems in different languages inorder to make hypotheses about the rules that underlie the use of sounds inthem, and ultimately we aim to discover the rules that underlie the soundpatterns of all languages.2.1 How Speech Sounds Are Made?2.1.1 Speech OrgansSPEECH ORGANS(or VOCAL ORGANS): parts of the human body involved in the production of speech⏹Lung⏹Trachea(or windpipe气管)⏹Throat: pharynx(咽),larynx(喉, including vocal folds/vocal cords)⏹Nose⏹Mouth: tongue, various parts of palate(腭)⏹VOCAL TRACT(声道): pharynx, mouth (oral cavity), nose (nasal cavity)⏹AIRSTREAM (气流): source of energy⏹MOUTHUpper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate (velum), uvulaLower lip, lower teeth, tongue, mandible (lower jaw)Tongue☐tip(舌尖), blade (舌叶), front, back, root☐CORONAL(舌尖音, tip and blade); DORSAL(舌背音, front and back);RADICAL (舌根音,root)⏹PHARYNX (咽): the larynx opens into a muscular tube⏹LARYNX (喉)Adam‟s apple, V ocal folds (vocal cords, vocal bands)Positions of vocal folds1.Apart: the air can pass through easily — voiceless(清音) e.g., [p, s, t]2.Close together: the airstream causes them to vibrate against each other — voiced(浊音)e.g., [b, z, d]3.Totally together: no air can pass between them — glottal stop(声门塞音) [ʔ]V oiced and voicelessThe level of vibration振动of the vocal cords声带determines whether a sound is voiced or unvoiced.If the vocal cords---apart, the airstream is not obstructed at the glottis and passes through freely. -- voiceless sounds.If the vocal cords are together, the air stream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. -- voiced sounds.feel the distinction sounds.2.1.1 Speech organsWhat kinds of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are (a) tightly closed; (b) wide open;(c) loosely together and vibrating?(a) no sound or inaudible sound symbolized as /?/;(b) voiceless sound such as /h/;(c) voiced sounds such as /d/.2.1.2 The IPAIPA: the abbreviation(缩写)of International Phonetic AlphabetIt is a standardized and internationally accepted system of phonetic transcriptionThe development of the IPA:The Danish grammarian Otto Jespersen (1860-1943)(叶斯柏生) first proposed the idea in 1886. The first version of IPA was published in August 1888.The latest version was devised in 1993 and corrected in 1996 and 2005.The basic principle: using a separate letter selected from major European languages for each distinctive sound and the same symbol should be used for that sound in any language in which it appears.•In the IPA chart, the sound segments are grouped into consonants and vowels.•The consonants are divided into pulmonic and non-pulmonic consonants.•Pulmonic sounds are produced by pushing air out of the lungs.•Non -pulmonic sounds are produced by either sucking air into the mouth , or closing the glottis and manipulating the air.The Definition of Diacritics•The diacritics are additional symbols or marks used together with the consonant and vowel to indicate nuances of change in their pronunciation.•DIACRITICS(附加符号): to transcribe the minute difference between variations of the same soundE.g.Nasalization:[a] in lamb has some quality of the following nasal is labeled as [ã]Aspiration: [ph] in “peak”, [p=] in “speak”2.2 Consonants and vowels⏹ConsonantConsonants are produced …by a closure in the vocal tract, or by a narrowing which is so marked that air cannot escape without producing audible friction‟.⏹VowelA vowel is produced without such ‘stricture’so that …air escapes in a relatively unimpeded way thr ough the mouth or nose‟.⏹The distinction between vowels and consonants lies in the _____________ ofairstream.2.2.1 ConsonantsCriterion for classification⏹Manner of articulation: the actual relationship between the articulators and thus theway in which the air passes through certain parts of the vocal tract.⏹Place of articulation: where in the vocal tract there is approximation, narrowing orthe obstruction of air. (the point where a consonant is made. )⏹The manner of articulation refers to the ways in which articulation can beaccomplished:⏹the articulators may close off the oral tract for an instant or a relatively longperiod;⏹they may narrow the space considerably; or⏹they may simply modify the shape of the tract by approaching each other.(1) STOP/PLOSIVE : complete closure of the articulators involved so that the airstream cannot escape through the mouthE.g., [p, b, t, d, k, g]⏹Three phases:ClosingHold/compressionRelease (PLOSION)⏹ORAL STOP (or STOP)(2) NASAL STOP (or NASAL): the air is stopped in the oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that it can go out through the nasal cavityE.g., [m, n, ŋ](3) FRICATIVE: close approximation of two articulators so that the airstream is partially obstructed and turbulent airflow is producedE.g., [f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h](4) (MEDIAN) APPROXIMANT ((中)通音): an articulation in which one articulator is close to another, but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is producedE.g., [w, ɹ, j](5) LATERAL: obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouthE.g. [l](6) TRILL (ROLL): produced when an articulator is set vibrating by the airstreamE.g., [r] in “red” (Scottish English), “rr” in “perro”(dog)(7) Tap and FlapTap: the tongue makes a single tap against the alveolar ridge to produce only one vibration is produced, e.g., [ɾ], “city, letter” in American EnglishFlap: the tip of the tongue curled up and back in a retroflex gesture and then striking the roof of the mouth in the post-alveolar region as it returns to its position behind the lower front teeth, e.g., [ɽ], “dirty, sorting” in American English(8) AFFRICATIVE: a stop followed immediately afterwards by a fricative at the same position (more than one manner is involved)E.g., [tʃ, dʒ], “ch” in “church”, “j” in “jet”;[tsh] and [ts] in “错” and “做”Note: [ts, dz, tr, dr] are not affricatives.⏹The place of articulation refers to the point where a consonant is made.⏹Practically consonants may be produced at any place between the lips andthe vocal folds.⏹Eleven places of articulation are distinguished on the IPA chart:⏹Bilabial⏹Labiodental⏹Dental⏹Alveolar⏹Postalveolar⏹Retroflex⏹Palatal⏹Velar⏹Uvular⏹Pharyngeal⏹GlottalPlaces of articulation(1) BILABIAL: made with the two lips, as [p, b, m] in “pet”, “bet” and “met”; [w](2) LABIODENTAL(唇齿音): made with the lower lip and the upper front teeth, as [f, v] in “fire” and “via”(3) DENTAL: made by the tongue tip or blade and the upper front teeth, e.g., [θ, ð](4) ALVEOLAR: made with the tongue tip or blade and the alveolar ridge, e.g., [t, d, n, s, z, ɹ ,l](5) POSTALVEOLAR (or palato-alveolar): made with the tongue tip and the back of the alveolar ridge, e.g., [ʃ, ʒ](6) RETROFLEX (卷舌音) : made with the tongue tip or blade curled back (retroflexed) so that the underside of the tongue tip or blade forms a stricture with the back of the alveolar ridge or the hard palate, e.g., [ʂ] in “上海”(7) PALATAL: made with the front of the tongue and the hard palate, [j] in “yes”, and [ç] (for “h”) in “he”(8) VELAR: made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate, e.g., velar stop [k, g] in “cat” and “get”, velar nasal [ŋ] in “sing”, velar fricative [x] in Chinese “和”(9) UVULAR: made with the back of the tongue and the uvular, the short projection of soft tissue and muscle at the posterior end of the velum, e.g., [ʁ] in “Paris, votre”(10) PHARYNGEAL (咽音): made with the root of the tongue and the walls of the pharynx, e.g., “caadi” [ʕaːdi], “xood “ [ħoːd](11) GLOTTAL (声门音): made with the two pieces of vocal folds pushed towards each other,e.g., [h] in “hat, hold”, [ʔ] in “pack, beaten”2.2.2 Vowels⏹Cardinal Vowels, are a set of vowel qualities arbitrarily defined, fixed andunchanging, intended to provide a frame of reference for the description of the actual vowels of existing languages.standard reference points; British phonetician Daniel Jones ; Outline of English Phonetics (1962); “cardinal vowel diagram”, or “cardinal vowel quadrilateral”; V owels produced in these areas constitute the eight cardinal vowels. The secondary cardinal vowels then fit between them.⏹Cardinal vowel diagram (基本元音图, or quadrilateral): a set of standard reference pointsbased on a combination of articulatory and auditory judgment, in which three positions of the tongue (front, center, back) as well as four levels of tongue height (close, close-mid, open-mid, open) are distinguished⏹Pure or monophthong vowels :vowels where the quality remains constantthroughout the articulation .⏹Vowel glides: those where there is an audible change of quality.⏹Diphthong:a single movement of the tongue .⏹way [wei] , tide [taid] , how [hau] ,toy [tɔi], toe [təu]⏹Triphthong:a double movement; …a glide from one vowel to another and thento a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption‟.⏹wire [ˈwaiə], tower [ˈtauə]Criteria of Vowel Description1.the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low);2.the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back);3.the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short), and4.lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded).2.SCHW A : the tongue position for the neutral vow el [ə] is neither high nor low and neitherfront nor back3.Primary vowels: CV1 [i], CV2 [e], CV3 [ε], CV4 [a], CV5[ɑ] (unrounded), CV6[ɔ] ,CV 7[o], CV 8 [u] (rounded)4.Secondary vowels: reversing the lip-rounding for a given positionDescription of MonophthongsSubdivisions:Vertically:High: [i:] [i] [u:] [u]; Mid: [e] [ə:] [ə] [ɔ:]; Low: [æ] [ʌ] [ɑ:] [ɔ] ; Horizontally: Front: [i:] [i] [e] [æ]; Central: [ə:] [ə] [ʌ] ; Back: [u:] [u] [ɔ:] [ɔ] [ɑ:];Shape of the lips:Rounded: [u] [u:] [ɔ] [ɔ:]; Unrounded: [i:] [i] [e] [æ] [ə:] [ə] [ʌ] [ɑ:]; Tenseness of muscles:Tense: [i:] [u:] [ə:] [ɔ:] [ɑ:];Lax: [i] [u] [e] [ə] [ʌ] [ɔ] [æ].⏹NOTE 1: Abstractness of cardinal vowels: cardinal vowels represent extreme point of atheoretical vowel space, i.e. they are as remote as possible from the neutral position of schwa; approximation the articulators beyond this vowel space would involve frication or contact.⏹NOTE 2: All cardinal vowels are monophthongs and their quality does not change duringtheir production.⏹PURE VOWELS(纯元音or MONOPHTHONGS 单元音): Vowels where qualityremains constant throughout the articulation⏹VOWEL GLIDES (元音音渡): V owels where there is an audible change of qualityDiphthongs (双元音): a single movement of the tongue is involved, e.g. way [weI], tide [taId]Triphthongs (三重元音): twice movements of the tongues are involved, e.g. wire [waIə], tower [tauə]2.2.3 The Sound of English⏹Received pronunciation(RP 标准发音) (or BBC English, Oxford English,King‟s/Queen‟s English)RP originates in the southeast of England and is spoken by the upper-middle and upper classes throughout England.⏹General American (GA)[p] voiceless bilabial stop[b] voiced bilabial stop[s] voiceless alveolar fricative[h] glottal fricative[l] (alveolar) lateral⏹ 1. The sound /p/can be described with "_______, bilabial, stop". (北二外2007研)⏹ 2. The sound /b/can be described with "_______, bilabial, stop". (北二外2004研)⏹ 3. The sound /k/ can be described with "voiceless, _______, stop". (北二外2003研)⏹ 4. Consonant articulations are relatively easy to feel. And as a result are mostconveniently described in terms of _______and manner of articulation. (北二外2004,2008研)⏹ 5. Consonants differ from vowels in that the latter are produced without _______.1. Of the consonants /p/ , /t/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /z/ and /g/, which has the features of voiceless and velar? (对外经贸2005研)A. /k/B. /p/C. /g/D. /t/2. The consonant /s/ in the word "smile" can be described as: (对外经贸2006研)A. voiceless oral alveolar fricativeB. voiceless nasal bilabial liquidC. voiced oral alveolar plosiveD. voiced oral bilabial fricative3. Which of the following is the correct description of [v]?A.voiceless labiodental fricativeB. voiced labiodental fricativeC. voiceless labiodental stopD. voiced labiodental stop1. All of the followings are bilabials except __.A. [P]B. [b]C. [m]D.[t]2. Which one is an alveolar?A. [w]B. [t]C. [j]D.[k]3. The only glottal in English is __.A. [n]B. [m]C. [g]D. [h]4. Which one is a palatal?A. [j]B. [l]C. [r]D.[z]5. The voiceless labiodental is __.A. [f]B. [v]C. [w]D. [j]6. The voiceless alveolar fricative is __.A. [f]B. [s]C. [p]D. [k]7. The glottal fricative is __.A. [v]B. [j]C. [h]D. [θ]8. The sound of [m] is a __.A. bilabial nasalB. voiced bilabial nasalC. voiced alveolar nasalD. voiced velar nasal9. The lateral is __.A. [r]B. [l]C. [j]D. [w]10. The palatal glide is __A. [w]B. [r]C. [j]D. [l]11. Which one is different from the others according to places of articulation?A. [n]B. [m]C. [ b ]D. [p]12. Which vowel is different from the others according to the characteristics of vowels?A. [æ]B. [ u ]C. [e]D. [ i ]13. What kind of sounds can we make when the vocal cords are vibrating?A. VoicelessB. VoicedC. Glottal stopD. Consonant⏹ 1.Write down the phones according to the following phonetic descriptions.⏹ 1. voiceless unaspirated bilabial stop⏹ 2. lateral⏹ 3. velar nasal⏹ 4. voiced interdental fricative⏹ 5. voiceless affricate⏹ 6. palatal glide⏹7. voiceless aspirated alveolar stopFour basic requirements for the description of vowels1) the height of tongue raising (high, mid, low)2) the position of the highest part of the tongue (front, central, back)3) the length or tenseness of the vowel (tense vs. lax or long vs. short)4) lip-rounding (rounded vs. unrounded)⏹We can now describe the English vowels in this way:⏹[:ι] high front tense unrounded vowel⏹[Y] high back lax rounded vowel⏹[≅] mid central lax unrounded vowel⏹[Θ] low back lax rounded vowelHomework⏹ 1. Define the following terms:⏹phonetics/ articulatory phonetics/ phonology/⏹speech organs/ voicing/ International Phonetic Alphabet/ consonant/ vowel/ manner ofarticulation/place of articulation/ Cardinal V owels/⏹vowel glide2. Discuss the following questions:1)What organs are involved in speech production?2)Why did George Bernald Shaw say he could spell the word fish as ghoti?3)How is the description of consonants different from that of vowels?Group Work⏹Group 4: 2.5 Suprasegmentals。
语言学第四章要点(2011-10-11 21:15:48)说明:本章要点参考了多本教材,其中的X-bar theory, Universal Grammar, merger and move等部分仅供考研的同学参考。
其他同学不做要求。
第四章Syntax句法学1.Syntax定义is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language. Sentences are structured according to particular arrangement of words.2、Syntax as a system of rules. as a major component of grammar, syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences3、Sentence structureSubject all language have ways of referring to some entity, such as a person , a place, a thing, an idea, or an event, this referring expression is grammatically called subject. A subject may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.2.Type of sentence英语的句子中的三种基本类型是什么?Traditionally, three major types of sentences are distinguished. They are simple sentence, coordinate or compound sentence and complex sentence.A simple sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence. For example, ① John reads extensively. the sentences contains a single clause and can stand structurally independent.A coordinate sentence并列句 contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinat ing conjunction, such as “and”, “but”, “or”. The two clauses in a coordinate sentence are structurally equal parts of the sentence; neither is subordinate to the other. For example, ③ John is reading a linguistic book, and Mary is preparing for her history exam.A complex sentence contains two or more clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a complex sentence have unequal status, one subordinating the other. The incorporated, or subordinate, clause is normally called an embedded clause子句, and the clause into which it is embedded is called a matrix sentence主句. For example, ⑤ Mary told Jane [that John liked linguistics]. In the above examples, the clauses in the square brackets are embedded clauses. Theyare subordinate to the clauses outside the brackets which are called matrix clauses.A complex sentence的特征:Some conclusions can be drawn from the complex sentence.1、an embedded clause functions as a grammatical unit in its matrix clause.2.most embedded clauses require an introductory word called a subordinator, such as “that”,” if ”.3.an embedded clause may not function as a grammatically well-formed sentence if it stands independently as a simple sentence unless it form changes.3、linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构Language is a highly structured system of communication. Sentences are not formed by randomly(随意)combining lexical items, but by following a set of syntactic rules that arrange linguistic elements in a particular order to make a string of words not only meaningful but also linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构)Hierarchical structure: the sentence structure that groups words into structural constituents and shows the syntactic categories of each structural constituent, such as NP and VP.5、Syntactic categories:句法类型1.lexical categories词类 (four major lexical categories and six minor lexical categories)2. Phrasal categories 短语类(lexical items have certain combinational properties that allow them to combine with words of different categories to form phrase. NP VP PP AP)6、Grammatical relations(语法关系) The structural and logical relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. It concerns the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. (who does what do whom). Structural vs. logical subject, object. (**)7、Combinational rules组合规则1、Phrase structural rules The combinational pattern in a linear formula may be called a phrase structural rule, or rewrite rule. It allows us to better understand how words and phrases form sentences, and so on.2、Syntactic movement and movement rules Syntactic movement occurs whena constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operationof which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).3、什么是X-标杆理论?X-bar theory is a general and highly abstract schema that collapses all phrasal structure rules into a single format: X″→ (Spec) X (Compl). In this format, Spec stands for specifier while Compl stands for complement. This theory is capable of reducing the redundancies of individual phrasal structure rules and may well capture certain basic properties shared by all phrasal categories, i.e. NP, VP, AP, PP, across the languages of the world.4、Syntactic movement and movement rulesSyntactic movement occurs when a constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operation of which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).1 NP-movement and WH-movementNP-movement occurs when, for example, a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice (postpose, prepose).WH-movement is obligatory in English. It changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative.2 Other types of movementAUX-movement (auxiliary)3 D-structure and S-structureThe syntactic component of the grammar:Phrase Structure Rules + the Lexicon (词汇)(generate)―――D-structure (deep structure) ―――Movement Rules ( transform)―――― S-structure (Surface structure) A sentence may not look different when it is at different syntactic levels. Since syntactic movement does not occur to all sentences, the D-structure and S-structure of some sentences look exactly the same at different levels of representation.4 Moreα-a general movement ruleThere is a general movement rule accounting for the syntactic behavior of any constituent movement, called Moveα(or Move Alpha), which means “move any constituent to any place”. The problem is Moveαis too powerful and the grammar should include some conditions which will restrain this power and stimulate tha t only “certain constituents” move to “certain positions”.7、Toward a theory of universal grammarSince early 1980s, Noam Chomsky and other generative linguists proposed and developed a theory of universal grammar (UG) known as the principles and parameters theory. According to Chomsky, UG is a system of linguistic knowledge and a human species-specific gift, which exists in the mind or brain of a normal human being. According to principles-and-parameters framework, UG consists of a set of general conditions, or general principles, that generate phrases and at the same time restrain the power of Moveα, thus preventing this rule from applying in certain cases. UG also contains a set of parameters that allow general principles to operate in certain ways, according to which particular grammar of natural languages vary。
Chapter 4 SyntaxWhat is syntax?----a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.The term syntax is from the ancient Greek word syntaxis, which literally means “arrangement” or out together”.Traditionally, it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or withoutappropriate inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning within the sentence..Syntax is a branch of linguistics that analyzes the structure of sentencesWhat is a sentence?Syntax is the analysis of sentence structure. A sentence is a sequence of words arranged in a certainorder in accordance with grammatical rules.A sequence c an be either well-formed or ill-formed. Native speakers of a language know intuitively what strings of words are grammatical and what are ungrammatical.Knowledge of sentence structureStructural ambiguityStructural ambiguity is one or more string(s) of words has/have more than one meaning. Forexample, the sentence Tom said he would come yesterday can be interpreted in different ways.Word orderDifferent arrangements of the same words have different meanings. For example, with the wordsTom, love and Mary, we may say T om loves Mary o r Mary loves Tom.Grammatical relationsNative speakers know what element relates to what other element directly or indirectly. For, the word enough is example, in The boats are not big enough and We don’t have enough boatsrelated to different words in the two sentences.RecursionThe same rule can be used repeatedly to create infinite sentences. For example, I know that youare happy. He knows that I know that you are happy. She knows that he knows that I know that youare happy.Sentence relatednessSentences may be structurally variant but semantically related.Syntactic categoriesA syntactic category is a class of words or phrases that can substitute for one another without lossof grammaticality. For example, consider the following sentences:The child found the knife.A policeman found the knife.The man who just left here found the knife.He found the knife.All the italicized parts belong to the same syntactic category called noun phrase (NP). The nounThe knife, also a noun phrase, functions as object.phrases in these sentences function as subject.Traditional grammarIn traditional grammar, a sentence is considered a sequence of words which are classified into parts of speech.Sentences are analyzed in terms of grammatical functions of words: subjects, objects, verbs(predicates), predicatives, …Structural grammarStructural grammar arose out of an attempt to deviate from traditional grammar. It deals with theinter-relationships of different grammatical units. In the concern of structural grammar, words are notjust independent grammatical units, but are inter-related to one another.Transformational-generative (TG) grammarChomsky (1957) – grammar is the knowledge of native speakers.Adequacy of observationAdequacy of descriptionAdequacy of explanationWriting a TG grammar means working out two sets of rules –phrase structure rules andtransformation rules – which are followed by speakers of the language.TG grammar must account for all and only grammatical sentences.TG grammar accounts for the mental process of our speaking.Systematic-functional grammarBackground and the goal of systemic-functional grammarM. A. K. HallidayLanguage is a system of meaning potential and a network of meaning as choices.Meaning determines form, not vice versa. Meaning is realized through forms.The goal of systemic-functional grammar is to see how function and meaning are realizedthrough forms.The three meta-functions of languageIdeational functionInterpersonal functionTextual functionCategoriesCategory refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. The most central categories to the syntactic study are the word-level categories (traditionally, parts of speech)Word-level categoriesMajor lexical categories: N, V, Adj, Prep.Minor Lexical categories: Det, Deg, Qual, Auxi, Conj.The criteria on which categories are determinedMeaningInflectionDistributionNote: The most reliable criter ion of determining a word’s category is its distribution.Phrase categories and their structuresPhrase categories----the syntactic units that are built around a certain word category are called phrase categories, such as NP(N), VP(V), AP(A), PP(P).The structure: specifier + head + complementHead---- the word around which a phrase is formedSpecifier---- the words on the left side of the headsComplement---- the words on the right side of the headsPhrase structure rulesThe grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule, such as:NP (Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish on the plate, pretty girls.VP (Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games, finish assignments.AP (Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very pessimistic, familiar with, very close toPP (Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat, quite near the station.The XP ruleNote: The phrase structure rules can be summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram, in which X stands for N, V, A or P.Coordination ruleCoordination structures-----the structures that are formed by joining two or more elements of the same typewith the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc.----Coordination has four important properties:no limit on the number of coordinated categories before the conjunction;a category at any level can be coordinated;the categories must be of the same type;the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined. Phrase elementsSpecifierHeadComplementSpecifiers---- Semantically, specifiers make more precise the meaning of the head; syntactically, they typically mark a phrase boundary. Specifiers can be determiners as in NP, qulifiers as in VP and degree words as in AP. Complements---- Complements themselves can be a phrase, they provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head, e.g. a story about a sentimental girl;There can be no complement, one complement, or more than one complement in a phrase, e.g. appear, break, put…;aI believed that she was innocent.I sentence-l ike construction may also function as a complement such as in “That/if /for are complementizers, the clauses doubt if she will come. They are keen for you to show up.” introduced by complementizers are complement clause.Modifiers---- Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of heads.Sentences (the S rule)S NP VPS NP infl VPMany linguists believe that sentences, like other phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an abstracts tense and agreement.category inflection (dubbed ‘Infl’) as their heads, which indicates the sentence’Infl realized by a tense labelInfl realized by an auxiliaryTransformationsAuxiliary movement (inversion)Do insertionDeep structure & surface structureWh-movementMove α and constraints on transformationsAuxiliary movement (inversion)Inversion Move Infl to the left of the subject NP.Inversion (revised) Move Infl to C.Auxiliary movement (inversion)Do insertionDo insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty Infl position.Deep structure & surface structureConsider the following pair of sentences:John is easy to please.John is eager to please.Structurally similar sentences m ight be very different in their meanings, for they have quite different deep structures.Consider one more sentence:Flying planes can be dangerous.It can mean either that if you fly planes you are engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that are flying are dangerous.Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.Surface structure----corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.D-structure and S-structureTwo levels of syntactic representation of a sentence structure:One that exists before movement takes placeThe other that occurs after movement takes placeFormal linguistic exploration:D-structure: phrase structure rules + lexiconSentence at the level of D-structureThe application of syntactic movement rules transforms a sentence fromD-structure level to S-structure levelTransformational-generative line of analysisThe organization of the syntactic componentWh-movementConsider the derivation of the following sentences:What languages can you speak?What can you talk about?These sentences may originate as:You can speak what languages.You can talk about what.Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the beginning of the sentence.What language can you speak ?What can you talk about ?Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP. (Revised)Move α and constraints on transformationsInversion can move an auxiliary from the Infl to the nearest C position, but not to a more distant C position. No element may be removed from a coordinate structure.Chapter 4:SyntaxI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Syntax is a subfied of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language, including the combination of morphemes into words.2.Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.3. Sentences a re composed of sequence o f words arranged in a simple linear order, with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic.4.Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker are known as linguistic competence.5. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.6. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one subordinating the other.7. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.8. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members are allowed for.9. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive phrase, and auxiliary phrase.10. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the verb.11.What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.12. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional.13. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level ofD-structure.14. WH-movement is obligatory in English which changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:15. A s________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.16. A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command.17. A s______ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.18. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called p_________.19. A c_________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other.20. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an e_______ clause.21. Major lexical categories are o___ categories in the sense that new words are constantly added.22. XP can be written as (specifier) X (complement), X is called the_____.23. In a tree diagram, _____is the root of tree.24. The information about a word’s complement is included in the head and termed________.III. There are four given choices for each statement below. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:25. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers.A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical26. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.A. coordinatorB. particleC. prepositionD. subordinator27. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional28. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.A. how words and phrases form sentences.B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. All of the above.29. Syntactic movement is dictated by rules traditionally called ________.A. transformational rulesB. generative rulesC. phrase structure rulesD. x-bar theory30. The theory of case condition accounts for the fact that __________.A. noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions.B. noun phrases can be used to modify another noun phraseC. noun phrase can be used in adverbial positionsD. noun phrase can be moved to any place if necessary.31. The sentence structure is ________.A. only linearB. Only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical32. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.A. largeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite33. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sentences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational34._______ rules may change the syntactic representation of a sentence.A. GenerativeB. TransformationalC. X-barD. Phrase structureIV. Define the following terms:35. syntax 36. Sentence 37. coordinate sentence 38. syntactic categories39. grammatical relations 40. linguistic competence 41. transformational rules42. D-structureV. Answer the following questions:43. What are the basic components of a sentence?44. What are the major types of sentences? Illustrate them with examples.45. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?46. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?47. What is NP movement. Illustrate it with examples.VI. Given examples for word classes by using the words in the following sentence.Her dog always sleeps under the old tree.VII. Construct a sentence that has the following sentences.S Det, A, N, V, P, Det, NVIII. For each of the following sentences, supply three distinct surface structure sentences which may be regarded as derived from them:a.I told him to stop the car.b.He took his coat off.IX. Draw tree diagrams for each of the following entences.1.Mary advised John to see the dentist.2.Mary promised John to see the dentist.3. A clever magician fooled the audience.4.The tower on the hill collapsed in the wind.5.They knew that the senator would win the election.6.The mouse ran up the rock.7.The mouse ate up the cheese.8.John gave Mary the book.9.John gave the book to Mary.10.John went to the supermarket.11.The man who came to see me last night is my brother.12.The candle on the desk blows in the wind.13.She passed him the hammer and saw through the window. (2 tree diagrams)14.The boy saw the girl in the car. (2 tree diagrams)15.Flying planes can be dangerous. (2 tree diagrams)16.Old men and women were more careful. (2 tree diagrams)17.The man in the room helps me every day.18.John is easy to please.19.John is eager to please.Suggested answers to supplementary exercisesIV. Define the following terms:35. syntax: Syntax is a subfield of linguistics. It studies the sentence structure of language. It consists of a setof abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences.36. Sentence: A sentence is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to forma complete statement, question or command. Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and a predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.37. coordinate sentence: A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinating conjunction, such as "and", "but", "or".38. syntactic categories: Apart from sentences and clauses, a syntactic category usually refers to a word (calleda lexical category) or a phrase ( called a phrasal category) that performs a particular grammatical function.39. grammatical relations: The structural and logical functional relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. The grammatical relations of a sentence concern the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. In many cases, grammatical relations in fact refer to who does what to whom .40. linguistic competence: Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker known as linguistic competence.41. Transformational rules: Transformational rules are the rules that transform one sentence type into another type.42. D-structure: D- structure is the level of syntactic representation that exists before movement takes place. Phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.V. Answer the following questions:43. What are the basic components of a sentence?Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and its predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.44. What are the major types of sentences? Illustrate them with examples.Traditionally, there are three major types of sentences. They are simple sentence, coordinate( compound) sentence, and complex sentence. A simple sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence, for example:John reads extensively.A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word that is called coordinating conjunction, such as "and", "but", "or". For example:John is reading a linguistic book, and Mary is preparingfor her history exam.A complex sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a complex sentence do not have equal status, one is subordinate to the other. For example:Before John gave her a lecture, Mary showed no interest in linguistics.45. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?No. Language is both linearly and hierarchically structured. When a sentence is uttered or written down, the words of the sentence are produced one after another in a sequence. A closer examination of a sentence shows that a sentence is not composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic. In fact, sentences are also hierarchically structured. They are orga-nized by grouping together words of the same syntactic category, such as noun phrase (NP) or verb phrase (VP), as can be seen from the following tree diagram:SNP VPDet N Vt NPDet NThe boy likes the music.46. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?The tree diagram can not only reveal a linear order, but also a hierarchical structure that groups words into structural constituents. It can, in addition, show the syntactic category of each structural constituent, thus it is believed to most truthfully illustrate the constituent relationship among linguistic elements.47. What is NP movement. Illustrate it with examples.NP movement involves the movement of a noun phrase. NP-movement occurs when, for example, a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice:(A) The man beat the child.(B). The child was beaten by the man.B is the result of the movement of the noun phrases "the man" and "the child" from their original positions in (A) to new positions. That is, "the man" is postposed to the right and "the child" is preposed to the left.Not all instances of NP-movement, however, are related to changing a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice. For example:(C) It seems they are quite fit for the job.(D) They seem quite fit for the job.These sentences a re identical in meaning, but different in their superficial syntactic representations. It is believed that they have the same underlying structure, but (27b) is the result of an NP movement.。
Chapter 4 SyntaxWhat is syntax?⏹----a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences.⏹The term syntax is from the ancient Greek word syntaxis, which literally means “arrangement” or “settingout together”.⏹Traditionally, it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or withoutappropriate inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning within the sentence.⏹Syntax is a branch of linguistics that analyzes the structure of sentences.●What is a sentence?⏹Syntax is the analysis of sentence structure. A sentence is a sequence of words arranged in a certainorder in accordance with grammatical rules.A sequence can be either well-formed or ill-formed. Native speakers of a language know intuitively what strings of words are grammatical and what are ungrammatical.●Knowledge of sentence structure⏹Structural ambiguity◆Structural ambiguity is one or more string(s) of words has/have more than one meaning. Forexample, the sentence Tom said he would come yesterday can be interpreted in different ways.⏹Word order◆Different arrangements of the same words have different meanings. For example, with the wordsTom, love and Mary, we may say Tom loves Mary or Mary loves Tom.⏹Grammatical relations◆Native speakers know what element relates to what other element directly or indirectly. Forexample, in The boats are not big enough and We don’t have enough boats, the word enough isrelated to different words in the two sentences.⏹Recursion◆The same rule can be used repeatedly to create infinite sentences. For example, I know that youare happy. He knows that I know that you are happy. She knows that he knows that I know that youare happy.⏹Sentence relatedness◆Sentences may be structurally variant but semantically related.⏹Syntactic categories◆ A syntactic category is a class of words or phrases that can substitute for one another without lossof grammaticality. For example, consider the following sentences:●The child found the knife.● A policeman found the knife.●The man who just left here found the knife.●He found the knife.◆All the italicized parts belong to the same syntactic category called noun phrase (NP). The nounphrases in these sentences function as subject. The knife, also a noun phrase, functions as object.●Traditional grammar⏹In traditional grammar, a sentence is considered a sequence of words which are classified into parts ofspeech.⏹Sentences are analyzed in terms of grammatical functions of words: subjects, objects, verbs(predicates), predicatives, …●Structural grammar⏹Structural grammar arose out of an attempt to deviate from traditional grammar. It deals with theinter-relationships of different grammatical units. In the concern of structural grammar, words are not just independent grammatical units, but are inter-related to one another.●Transformational-generative (TG) grammar◆Chomsky (1957) – grammar is the knowledge of native speakers.●Adequacy of observation●Adequacy of description●Adequacy of explanation◆Writing a TG grammar means working out two sets of rules –phrase structure rules andtransformation rules – which are followed by speakers of the language.◆TG grammar must account for all and only grammatical sentences.⏹TG grammar accounts for the mental process of our speaking.●Systematic-functional grammar⏹Background and the goal of systemic-functional grammar◆M. A. K. Halliday●Language is a system of meaning potential and a network of meaning as choices.●Meaning determines form, not vice versa. Meaning is realized through forms.●The goal of systemic-functional grammar is to see how function and meaning are realizedthrough forms.●The three meta-functions of language⏹Ideational function⏹Interpersonal function⏹Textual functionCategories⏹Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. The most central categories to the syntactic study are the word-level categories (traditionally, parts of speech)Word-level categories⏹Major lexical categories: N, V, Adj, Prep.⏹Minor Lexical categories: Det, Deg, Qual, Auxi, Conj.The criteria on which categories are determined⏹Meaning⏹Inflection⏹Distribution⏹Note: The most reliable criter ion of determining a word’s category is its distribution.Phrase categories and their structures⏹Phrase categories----the syntactic units that are built around a certain word category are called phrase categories, such as NP(N), VP(V), AP(A), PP(P).⏹The structure: specifier + head + complement⏹Head---- the word around which a phrase is formed⏹Specifier---- the words on the left side of the heads⏹Complement---- the words on the right side of the headsPhrase structure rules⏹The grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule, such as:⏹NP →(Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish on the plate, pretty girls.⏹VP →(Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games, finish assignments.⏹AP →(Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very pessimistic, familiar with, very close to⏹PP →(Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat, quite near the station.The XP ruleNote: The phrase structure rules can be summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram, in which X stands for N, V, A or P.Coordination rule⏹Coordination structures-----the structures that are formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc.----Coordination has four important properties:⏹no limit on the number of coordinated categories before the conjunction;⏹a category at any level can be coordinated;⏹the categories must be of the same type;⏹the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical to the category type of the elements being conjoined. Phrase elements⏹Specifier⏹Head⏹ComplementSpecifiers⏹---- Semantically, specifiers make more precise the meaning of the head; syntactically, they typically mark a phrase boundary. Specifiers can be determiners as in NP, qulifiers as in VP and degree words as in AP.Complements⏹---- Complements themselves can be a phrase, they provide information about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head, e.g. a story about a sentimental girl;There can be no complement, one complement, or more than one complement in a phrase, e.g. appear, break, put…; a sentence-like construction may also function as a complement such as in “I believed that she was innocent.I doubt if she will come. They are keen for you to show up.” That/if /for are complementizers, the clauses introduced by complementizers are complement clause.Modifiers⏹---- Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of heads.Sentences (the S rule)⏹S → NP VP●S → NP infl VP●Many linguists believe that sentences, like other phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an abstractcategory inflection (dubbed ‘Infl’) as their heads, which indicates the sentence’s tense and agreement. Infl realized by a tense labelInfl realized by an auxiliaryTransformations⏹Auxiliary movement (inversion)⏹Do insertion⏹Deep structure & surface structure⏹Wh-movement⏹Move α and constraints on transformationsAuxiliary movement (inversion)⏹Inversion→ Move Infl to the left of the subject NP.⏹Inversion (revised)→ Move Infl to C.●Auxiliary movement (inversion)●Do insertion⏹Do insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty Infl position.Deep structure & surface structure⏹Consider the following pair of sentences:John is easy to please.John is eager to please.⏹Structurally similar sentences might be very different in their meanings, for they have quite different deep structures.⏹Consider one more sentence:Flying planes can be dangerous.⏹It can mean either that if you fly planes you are engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that are flying are dangerous.⏹Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.⏹Surface structure----corresponding to the final syntactic form of the sentence which results from appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.The organization of the syntactic componentWh-movement⏹Consider the derivation of the following sentences:What languages can you speak?What can you talk about?⏹These sentences may originate as:You can speak what languages.You can talk about what.⏹Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the beginning of the sentence.What language can you speak ?What can you talk about ?⏹Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP. (Revised)Move α and constraints on transformations⏹Inversion can move an auxiliary from the Infl to the nearest C position, but not to a more distant C position.No element may be removed from a coordinate structure.Chapter 4:SyntaxI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Syntax is a subfied of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language, including the combination of morphemes into words.2.Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.3. Sentences are composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order, with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic.4.Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules that comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker are known as linguistic competence.5. The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.6. In a complex sentence, the two clauses hold unequal status, one subordinating the other.7. Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category.8. Minor lexical categories are open because these categories are not fixed and new members are allowed for.9. In English syntactic analysis, four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase, verb phrase, infinitive phrase, and auxiliary phrase.10. In English the subject usually precedes the verb and the direct object usually follows the verb.11.What is actually internalized in the mind of a native speaker is a complete list of words and phrases rather than grammatical knowledge.12. A noun phrase must contain a noun, but other elements are optional.13. It is believed that phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.14. WH-movement is obligatory in English which changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative.II. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:15. A s________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.16. A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command.17. A s______ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.18. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called p_________.19. A c_________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other.20. In the complex sentence, the incorporated or subordinate clause is normally called an e_______ clause.21. Major lexical categories are o___ categories in the sense that new words are constantly added.22. XP can be written as (specifier) X (complement), X is called the_____.23. In a tree diagram, _____is the root of tree.24. The information about a word’s complement is included in the head and termed________.III. There are four given choices for each statement below. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:25. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers.A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical26. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.A. coordinatorB. particleC. prepositionD. subordinator27. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional28. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.A. how words and phrases form sentences.B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. All of the above.29. Syntactic movement is dictated by rules traditionally called ________.A. transformational rulesB. generative rulesC. phrase structure rulesD. x-bar theory30. The theory of case condition accounts for the fact that __________.A. noun phrases appear only in subject and object positions.B. noun phrases can be used to modify another noun phraseC. noun phrase can be used in adverbial positionsD. noun phrase can be moved to any place if necessary.31. The sentence structure is ________.A. only linearB. Only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical32. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.A. largeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite33. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sentences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational34._______ rules may change the syntactic representation of a sentence.A. GenerativeB. TransformationalC. X-barD. Phrase structureIV. Define the following terms:35. syntax 36. Sentence 37. coordinate sentence 38. syntactic categories39. grammatical relations 40. linguistic competence 41. transformational rules42. D-structureV. Answer the following questions:43. What are the basic components of a sentence?44. What are the major types of sentences? Illustrate them with examples.45. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?46. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?47. What is NP movement. Illustrate it with examples.VI. Given examples for word classes by using the words in the following sentence.Her dog always sleeps under the old tree.VII. Construct a sentence that has the following sentences.S Det, A, N, V, P, Det, NVIII. For each of the following sentences, supply three distinct surface structure sentences which may be regarded as derived from them:a.I told him to stop the car.b.He took his coat off.IX. Draw tree diagrams for each of the following entences.1.Mary advised John to see the dentist.2.Mary promised John to see the dentist.3. A clever magician fooled the audience.4.The tower on the hill collapsed in the wind.5.They knew that the senator would win the election.6.The mouse ran up the rock.7.The mouse ate up the cheese.8.John gave Mary the book.9.John gave the book to Mary.10.John went to the supermarket.11.The man who came to see me last night is my brother.12.The candle on the desk blows in the wind.13.She passed him the hammer and saw through the window. (2 tree diagrams)14.The boy saw the girl in the car. (2 tree diagrams)15.Flying planes can be dangerous. (2 tree diagrams)16.Old men and women were more careful. (2 tree diagrams)17.The man in the room helps me every day.18.John is easy to please.19.John is eager to please.Suggested answers to supplementary exercisesIV. Define the following terms:35. syntax: Syntax is a subfield of linguistics. It studies the sentence structure of language. It consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences.36. Sentence: A sentence is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to forma complete statement, question or command. Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and a predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.37. coordinate sentence: A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinating conjunction, such as "and", "but", "or".38. syntactic categories: Apart from sentences and clauses, a syntactic category usually refers to a word (calleda lexical category) or a phrase ( called a phrasal category) that performs a particular grammatical function.39. grammatical relations: The structural and logical functional relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. The grammatical relations of a sentence concern the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. In many cases, grammatical relations in fact refer to who does what to whom .40. linguistic competence: Universally found in the grammars of all human languages, syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker known as linguistic competence.41. Transformational rules: Transformational rules are the rules that transform one sentence type into another type.42. D-structure: D- structure is the level of syntactic representation that exists before movement takes place. Phrase structure rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure.V. Answer the following questions:43. What are the basic components of a sentence?Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and its predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.44. What are the major types of sentences? Illustrate them with examples.Traditionally, there are three major types of sentences. They are simple sentence, coordinate( compound) sentence, and complex sentence. A simple sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence, for example:John reads extensively.A coordinate sentence contains two clauses joined by a linking word that is called coordinating conjunction, such as "and", "but", "or". For example:John is reading a linguistic book, and Mary is preparingfor her history exam.A complex sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a complex sentence do not have equal status, one is subordinate to the other. For example:Before John gave her a lecture, Mary showed no interest in linguistics.45. Are the elements in a sentence linearly structured? Why?No. Language is both linearly and hierarchically structured. When a sentence is uttered or written down, the words of the sentence are produced one after another in a sequence. A closer examination of a sentence showsthat a sentence is not composed of sequence of words arranged in a simple linear order with one adding onto another following a simple arithmetic logic. In fact, sentences are also hierarchically structured. They are orga-nized by grouping together words of the same syntactic category, such as noun phrase (NP) or verb phrase (VP), as can be seen from the following tree diagram:SNP VPDet N Vt NPDet NThe boy likes the music.46. What are the advantages of using tree diagrams in the analysis of sentence structures?The tree diagram can not only reveal a linear order, but also a hierarchical structure that groups words into structural constituents. It can, in addition, show the syntactic category of each structural constituent, thus it is believed to most truthfully illustrate the constituent relationship among linguistic elements.47. What is NP movement. Illustrate it with examples.NP movement involves the movement of a noun phrase. NP-movement occurs when, for example, a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice:(A) The man beat the child.(B). The child was beaten by the man.B is the result of the movement of the noun phrases "the man" and "the child" from their original positions in (A) to new positions. That is, "the man" is postposed to the right and "the child" is preposed to the left.Not all instances of NP-movement, however, are related to changing a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice. For example:(C) It seems they are quite fit for the job.(D) They seem quite fit for the job.These sentences are identical in meaning, but different in their superficial syntactic representations. It is believed that they have the same underlying structure, but (27b) is the result of an NP movement.。
Chapter 4 Form Word to TextSyntaxSyntax is the study of rules governing the ways different constituen ts are combined to form sentence in a language, or the study of the interrelation between elements in sentence structure. It studies the rules that govern the formation of sentences.Syntactic Relation:句法关系a. Positional relation (word order) is a manifestation of one aspect of syntagmatic relation, also called horizontal relation or chain relat ionb. Relation of substitutability refers to classes or sets of word subst itutable for each other grammatically in sentences with the same st ructure. It refers to groups of more than one word which may be joi ntly substitutable grammatically for a single word of a particular set . It called associative relations, vertical relations, choice relations.c. Relation of cooccurrence共现关系2.Grammatical construction (construct)The boy ate the apple.A: the boy B and C: ate the appleA: external B and C: internal (immediate constituent)To dismantle a grammatical construction in this way is called imme diate constituent in this way is called immediate constituent analysi s or IC analysis.3. Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituent. Exocentric construction is a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole.4. Coordination is a common syntactic pattern in English and other languages formed by grouping together two or more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction. (and ,but, or)Subordination refer to the process or result of linking linguistic unit s so that they have different syntactic status, one being dependent upon the other, and usually a constituent of the other.5. Syntactic function shows the relationship between a linguistic fo rm and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used. a. Subject refers to one of the nouns in the nominative case. It incl udes grammatical subject and logical subject. Its characteristics in clude word order, pro-forms, agreement with verb content question, tag questionb. Predicate refers to a major constituent of sentence structure in a binary analysis in which all obligatory constituents other than the subject were considered together.c. Object include direct object and indirect object6. Category refers to classes and functions in its narrow sense and refers to the defining properties of these general units. a. Number is a grammatical category used for the analysis of word classes di splaying such contrasts as singular, dual, plural.b. Gender display such contrasts as masculine, feminine, neuter.c. Case is used in the analysis of word class to identify the syntacti c relationship between word in a sentence accusative, nominative, detived. Agreement (concord)7. Phrase is a single element of structure containing more than one word and lacking the subject-predicate structure typicalof classes. Sentence is the minimum part of languages that expres s a compete thought.8. Recursiveness: there is no limit to the number of embedding one relative classes into another relative classes.Conjoining refer to the process where one clause s coordinated or conjoined with another.Embedding refer to the means by which one clause is included in t he sentence in syntactic subordination.Sentential connection include hypotactic and paratactic. Cohension is a concept to do with discourse or text rather than with syntax, it refer to relations of meaning that exist within the text. (conjuncti on, ellipsis, lexical collection, lexical repetition, reference, substituti on)9. Categories: refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a senten ce, a new phrase or a verb.Syntactic categories: a fundamental fact about words in all human languages is that they can be grouped together into a relatively s mall number of classes.Wordlevel categories: major lexical categories (N.V.A.P.) and min or lexical categories (determiner, degree words meaning, inflection, distribution qualifier, auxiliary, conjunction)Phrase categories: syntactic unit that are built around a certain wo rd category are called phrases. It contains: head, specifier, comple ment10. Phrase structure ruleSuch special type of grammatical mechanism that regulates the arr angement of elements that make up a phrase. NP----(Det) N (PP)… VP---(Qual) V (NP)… AP---(Deg) A (PP)… PP---(Deg) P (NP)…XP rule: XP---(specifier) X (complement) The coordination rule: X---X’ Con X11. Phrase elementsSpecifier semantic roles:help make more precise the meaning of the headSyntactic roles: mark a phrase boundary Complement are thems elves phrases and provide information about entities and location whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head. The XP rul es (revised)XP---(specifier) X (complement)’Words which introduce the sentence complement are termed com plementizers (CS). The sentence introduced by the complementizer is called a complement clause. The whole underlined part in the above sentence is called a complement phrase (CP) and the constr uction in which the complement phrase is embedded is called matr ix clause.Modifiers: specifies optionally expressible properties of heads. The Expanded XP rule:XP---(spec) (mod) X (complement’) (mod)。
Chapter 4 Syntax4.1 The traditional approach4.1.1 Number, gender and case4.1.2 Tense and aspect[For these two sections, please consult materials on traditional Englishgrammar. – icywarmtea]4.1.3 Concord and governmentConcord (a.k.a. agreement) may be defined as the requirement that the forms of two or more words in a syntactic relationship should agree witheach other in terms of some categories. E.g. in English the determiner and thenoun it precedes should concord in number as in this man, these men. Andthe form of a subject should agree with that of the verb in terms of number inthe present tense, e.g. He speaks English; They speak English.Government is another type of control over the form of some words by other words in certain syntactic construction. It differs from concord in thatthis is a relationship in which a word of a certain class determines the form ofothers in terms of certain category. E.g. in English, the pronoun after a verbor a preposition should be in the object form as in She gave him a book; Shegave a book to him. In other words, the verb, or the preposition, governs theform of the pronoun after it. The former is the governor, and the latter is thegoverned.4.2 The structural approach4.2.1 Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationsSyntagmatic (a.k.a. horizontal / chain) relation is a relation between one item and others in a sequence, or between elements which are all present,such as the relation between weather and the others in the following sentence: If the weather is nice, we’ll go out.Paradigmatic (a.k.a. vertical / choice) relation is a relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in astructure, or between one element present and the others absent.4.2.2 Immediate constituent analysis (IC analysis)1. How to do itImmediate constituents are constituents immediately, directly, below the level of a construction, which may be a sentence or a word group or a word.Immediate constituent analysis, IC analysis for short, refers to the analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents – word groups(phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the immediate constituents of theirown, and the process goes on until the ultimate sake of convenience. The ICanalysis of a sentence may be carried out with brackets or shown with a treediagram. E.g.Poor John ran away. →(1) ((Poor) (John)) ((ran) (away)).(2)Through IC analysis, the internal structure of a sentence may be demonstrated clearly, any ambiguities, if any, will be revealed in that IC analysis emphasizes not only the linear structure of the sentence but also the hierarchical structure of the sentence. E.g. the sentence Leave the book on the shelf. is ambiguous. It has two meanings: (1) Put the book on the shelf; (2) Don’t touch the book on the shelf. These two meanings can be shown by the following tree diagrams. (Omitted. See the textbook p125~128.)3. Its problemsHowever, IC analysis has three disadvantages. First, at the beginning, some advocator insisted on binary divisions. Any construction, at any level, will be cut into two parts. But this is not possible. E.g. Old men and women is ambiguous in that it may mean old + men and women or old men + and women. It’s impossible to combine with only the preceding part or only the succeeding part. Second, constructions with discontinuous constituents will pose technical problems for tree diagrams in IC analysis. E.g. the phrasal verbs like make up, turn on, or give up will cause problems in that when the object is expressed by a pronoun, it will interrupt the phrasal verb as in make it up. The most serious problem is that there are structural ambiguities which cannot be revealed by IC analysis. E.g. the tree diagram and the labels can only do one analysis for the love of God.4.2.3 Endocentric and exocentric constructionsAn endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent, or approaching equivalence, to one of its constituents, which serves as the center, or head, of the whole. It is also called headed construction. Typical endocentric constructions are noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases. They may be further divided into two subtypes: subordinate and coordinate constructions. Those, in which there is only one head, with the head being dominant and the other constructions dependent, are subordinate constructions. In the coordinate construction, there are more than one head, e.g. boys and girls, in which the two content constituents, boys and girls, are of equal syntactic status, and no one is dependent on the other.The exocentric construction is defined negatively as a construction whose distribution is not functionally equivalent to any of its constituents.There is no noticeable center or head in it. Typical exocentric constructions are prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, English basic sentences, and环球时代英语专业考研MTI翻译硕士专四专八日语考研等the verb plus object constructions.4.3 The generative approach4.3.1 Deep and surface structuresIn transformational generative grammar (a.k.a. T-G grammar), the deep structure may be defined as the abstract representation of the syntacticproperties of a construction, i.e. the underlying level of structural relationsbetween its different constituents, such as the relation between the underlyingsubject and its verb, or a verb and its object.The surfaces structure is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of aconstruction people actually produce and receive.The example for the surface structure is The newspaper was not delivered today.The deep structure of the above sentence would besomething like: (negative) someone (past tense) deliver the newspaper today(passive).The items in brackets are not lexical items but grammaticalconcepts which shape the final form of the sentence. Rules which describedeep structure are in the first part of the grammar (base component). Ruleswhich transform these structures into surface structures (transformationalrules) are in the second part of the grammar (transformational component).4.3.2 The standard theory and afterWhat is the trace theory?[I think this is difficult. It is too abstract for me. – icywarmtea]After the movement of an element in a sentence there will be a trace left in the original position. This is the notion trace in T-G grammar. It’ssuggested that if we have the notion trace, all the necessary information forsemantic interpretation may come from the surface structure. E.g. Thepassive Dams are built by beavers. differs from the active Beavers built dams.in implying that all dams are built by beavers. If we add a trace elementrepresented by the letter t after built in the passive as Dams are built t bybeavers, then the deep structure information that the word dams wasoriginally the object of built is also captured by the surface structure. Tracetheory proves to be not only theoretically significant but also empiricallyvalid.4.3.3 Government, binding, etc.1. Constituent command / C-command: α c-commands β if α does notdominate β and every γ that dominates α also dominates β, as shownin the diagram below:αβ2. Binding theory: Part of the government / binding theory. It examinesconnections between noun phrases in sentences and explores theway they relate and refer to each other.(1) An anaphor is bound in its governing category.(2) A pronominal is free in its governing category.(3) An r-expression is free.3. Binding: The notion binding is borrowed from logic, which refers tothe relation between a quantifier and a variable, that is a variable isbound by a quantifier. In the generative approach, binding refers tothe relation between different referring word and the subject of asentence containing it.4. Anaphor: A process where a word or phrase refers back to anotherword or phrase which was used earlier in a text or conversation. In anarrow sense, it used to include only reflexives like myself andreciprocals like each other.5. Pronominal: A pronominal refers to pronouns other than reflexivesand reciprocals.6. R-expression: A r-expression, as the abbreviation of areferential-expression, covers all the other r-expressions exceptanaphors and pronominals, e.g. John, Bill, the man.7. The D-structure and the S-structureIn Government / Binding theory, the D-structure is an abstract levelof sentence representation where semantic roles such as an agent(the doer of an action) and patient (the entity affected by an action)are assigned to the sentence. Agent is sometimes also referred to asthe logical subject and patient as the rheme of the sentence. E.g. (insimplified form)Vera shoot intrudersAgent or logical subject patient or rhemeThe next level of sentence representation is the S-structure wheresyntactic / grammatical cases such as nominative / grammaticalsubject and accusative / grammatical object are assigned. E.g. (insimplified form)Vera (agent) shoot intruders (patient /rheme)Grammatical subject grammatical objectThe phonetic form (PF) component and the logical form (LF)component are then needed to turn the S-structure into a surfacesentence. The PF component presents the S-structure as sound, andthe LF component gives the syntactic meaning of the sentence.4.4 The functional approach4.4.1 Functional sentence perspective1. Functional sentence perspective (FSP)环球时代英语专业考研MTI翻译硕士专四专八日语考研等The functional sentence perspective (FSP) is a type of linguistic analysis associated with the Prague School which describes how information isdistributed in sentences. FSP deals particularly with the effect of thedistribution of known information and new information in discourse. Theknown information (known as theme), refers to information that is not new tothe reader or listener. The rheme refers to information that is new. FSP differsfrom the traditional grammatical analysis of sentences because thedistribution between subject-predicate is not always the same astheme-rheme contrast. E.g.(1) John sat in the front seatSubject predicateTheme rheme(2) In the front seat sat John.Predicate subjectTheme rhemeJohn is the grammatical subject in both sentences, but theme in (1) and rheme in (2).2. Communicative dynamism (CD)By CD Firbas means the extent to which the sentence element contributes to the development of the communication.4.4.2 Systemic-functional grammar1. The material process (a process of doing): the representation of outerexperience.2. The mental process (a process of sensing): the representation ofinner experience.3. The relational process (a process of being): the relation between oneexperience and another.4. The behavioral process (a process of behavioring): physiological andpsychological behavior.5. The verbal process (a process of saying): any kinds of symbolicexchange of meaning.6. The existential process (a process of happening): a representation ofsomething in existence or happening/These six processes form a circle as follows: (omitted. See textbook, p.155)。
句法(syntax)这个单词,来自希腊语,由两个语素构成:﹛syn﹜和﹛tax﹜。
﹛syn﹜的意思是"一起、共同",﹛tax﹜的意思是"安排、排列",因此syntax本来是"排列在一起"或"组合"的意思。
在语言学上,它是指研究语言中词组合成句子的支配规则,或者简单地说,是研究句子的构造。
因为通常认为句子是语言中最大的语法单位,所以句法长期以来是语法研究的核心。
不同的语言学理论首先体现在对句子结构的不同处理上。
这一章我们将介绍一些有代表性的句法学派。
4.1 传统学派传统认为句子是词的序列。
因此句子构造的研究涉及了对词的大量研究,例如,词类是对词进行的分类,主语、谓语是对词功能的描写,等等。
这些词类和功能有时叫做范畴。
但是"范畴"这个术语,更专门用于表示像名词、动词这些单位的特性。
例如:常说名词有数、性、格的范畴,动词有时、体、态的范畴。
在这里,我们将简要地讨论以上一些范畴。
名词、动词、形容词等形式在有关范畴中的相互关系将在"一致关系和支配关系"中讨论。
4.1.1 数、性、格4.1.2 时和体4.1.3 一致关系和支配关系4.1.1 数、性、格数(number),主要是名词和代词的范畴,如:a book(一本书);some books(一些书);I(我),we(我们);he(他),they(他们)。
英语动词也反映了数的范畴,如:He speaks English.(他说英语);They speak English.(他们说英语)。
在法语等语言中,形容词和冠词也有数的变化,如:le cheval royal,les chevaux royaux。
数一般有两种:单数和复数。
但是在古希腊语、阿拉伯语等语言中,还有第三种数:双数,类似于英语中的both(双方,两者)。
斐济群岛语还有第四种数:三数。
汉语中没有数的范畴。
"们"能表示复数,但它的使用很受限制。
它只能用于像"学生们、工人们"这样的有生名词,不能说"桌子们、椅子们"。
就算是有生名词,"们"也不能和数量词一起使用,如"* 三个学生们、* 很多工人们"。
性(gender),主要也是名词和代词的范畴。
英语中,性的差别是自然的,由动物本身的生理性别决定。
如:actor(男演员),actress(女演员);hero(男英雄),heroine(女英雄);prince(王子),princess(公主);lion(雄狮),lioness(雌狮)。
跟英语相反的是,在法语一类的语言里,性的差别是语法上的,跟现实世界中实体的性别可以根本没有关系。
不管指称的实体是否有生命,所有名词都有性的差别。
格(case)范畴在拉丁语语法里是很显著的。
它有六种格:主格、呼格、宾格、属格、与格、离格。
英语里,代词有三种格:主格(如I,he,she),宾格(如me,him,her)和属格(如my,his,her)。
但是名词只有两种格:普通格(如John,boys)和属格(如John's,boys'),由词的形态区分,属格有附加语素﹛'s﹜。
名词的主格和宾格的区别表现在语序上,在动词之前的是主格,在动词之后的是宾格。
与格用介词如to引入,如I gave a book to him (我给了他一本书)。
离格用介词如with引入,如He opened the door with a key(他用钥匙开了门)。
4.1.2 时和体时(tense)和体(aspect)是动词的两个重要范畴,在传统语法中两者并不区分。
基于拉丁语语法的时态系统,一般认为英语有十六种时态,现列表如下:一般现在时现在进行时现在完成时现在完成进行时一般过去时过去进行时过去完成时过去完成进行时一般将来时将来进行时将来完成时将来完成进行时一般过去将来时过去将来进行时过去将来完成时过去将来完成进行时图1现在,语言学家作了两个区分:区分了时间和时,区分了时和体。
时间是个通用的概念,每一种语言都能够表达;而时是个语言学概念,不同语言的时千差万别。
时和体之间的区别在于:前者是指别的(deictic),也就是说指明的时间与说话的时间相关;而后者不是指别的,指明的时间与说话的时间没有关系,却与叙述中描写或暗示的另一个事件的时间有关。
所以现在一般认为有两种时:过去时和现在时。
所谓的将来时跟它们并不采用相同的表达方式。
将来时不用形态学手段表达,不用动词的不同形式表达,而是用其他不同手段,例如"will/shall + 不定式","be going to + 不定式","现在进行体","一般现在时"和"Will/shall + 进行不定式"。
Will、shall是基本上和can、may一样的情态动词。
完成体和未完成体之间的对立见于许多斯拉夫语。
前者指一个动作的完成,后者表示未完成动作的持续,类似于英语中这两个句子的差别:He read a book(他看了一本书)和He was reading a book((那时)他正在看一本书)。
英语里的两种体叫做"完成体"(或"完成式")和"进行体"(或"持续式")。
但是如果用斯拉夫语的方法来解释英语中的完成体是会令人误解的。
英语中已经完成的动作更常用过去时态来表达,如上面例子He read a book。
因此夸克等(Quirk et al. 1985:190)建议应该把完成体最宽泛地解释为表示先前时间:也就是说"由时、或句子的其它成分、或上下文表明的任何时间定位前的时间。
"他们在注释里告诫读者"跟非完成体结构相比,完成体结构是不多见的。
关于动词短语的实例研究表明大约只有百分之十的定式动词性短语是完成体。
"(同前)4.1.3 一致关系和支配关系一致关系(concord),又叫做协同关系,指两个或更多处于一定语法关系中的词,要在某些范畴上互相保持一致的形式。
例如英语中,限定词和名词在数上应该保持一致,如this man(这个男人),these men(这些男人);a book(一本书),some books(一些书)。
在现在时中主语的形式应该和动词的形式在数上保持一致,如He speaks English(他说英语);They speak English(他们说英语)。
在法语之类的语言中,有更多要求一致的情况。
如前面已经提到,冠词和形容词的数要跟他们所修饰的名词保持一致。
在性的方面,它们也要保持一致。
支配关系(government),是指某个句法构造中某些词的形式被其他词控制的另一种类型。
它与一致关系不同,是指在某个范畴方面,由某类词决定其他词的形式的关系。
比如英语里动词或介词后面的代词要用宾格形式,如She gave him a book.She gave a book to him (她给了他一本书)。
换句话说,动词或介词决定、支配了它们后面代词的形式。
前者是支配者,后者是被支配者。
拉丁语中,有更多受支配的情形。
不同的动词支配名词性宾语的不同的格形式,如:Videt bovem(他看见公牛),Nocet bovi(他伤害公牛),Meminit bovis(他记得公牛)。
这些句子里的宾语都是同一个单词,但是因为前边的动词不同而采用了不同的格的形式。
4.2 结构主义学派结构主义(structural)学派的创始人是二十世纪初瑞士语言学家费尔迪南·德·索绪尔。
在某种意义上,他之后的所有语言学理论都属于结构主义。
他们都认为语言单位是在一种结构(或系统)中相互关联的,不是孤立的。
但在这一节,我们只讨论索绪尔的一个重要观点和美国结构语言学家的句子分析模式。
另外两个重要理论将在以后章节介绍。
4.2.1 组合关系与聚合关系4.2.2 直接成分分析法4.2.3 向心结构和离心结构4.2.1 组合关系与聚合关系索绪尔认为语言是一个符号系统,每个符号由两个部分组成:所指(signified)(概念)和能指(signifier)(音响形象)。
这两者之间的关系是任意的。
因此语言学家不能再致力于用零碎的方式解释个体符号,相反他必须努力从一个符号与其他符号的关系中发现它的价值,或者说它在系统中的地位。
索绪尔提出了两种主要关系类型:组合(syntagmatic)关系与聚合(paradigmatic)关系。
前者指一个单位和同一序列中的其他单位之间的关系,或者说是在现场的所有成分之间的关系,例如下面句子中weather与其他词之间的关系:例4-1If the weather is nice, we'll go out.(如果天气好,我们就出去。
)这些处于组合关系中的词,必须满足一些句法和语义条件。
例如,下面的例4-2a是个合格的句子,而(b)(c)不是合格的句子。
例4-2a. The boy kicked the ball.(男孩踢球。
)h. * Boy the ball kicked the.c. * The ball kicked the boy.例(b)中的词语是以一种违反句法规则的方式组合起来的。
首先,可数名词boy前面不能没有限定词,其次,boy the或boy the ball里边的词语彼此没有语法关系。
他们既不是像boys there这样的主从关系,也不是像boys and girls这样的并列关系。
最后,the是个冠词,不能用作kicked的宾语。
例(c)中,the ball是无生命的,而动词kick要求主语是有生命的。
语序也要受到语义的影响。
例4-3中选用(a)还是选用(b),取决于语义。
例4-3(a)The boy chased the dog.(男孩追狗。
)(b)The dog chased the boy.(狗追男孩。
)聚合(paradigmatic)关系,索绪尔原本叫做联想(associative)关系,是指在结构的某个特殊位置上彼此可以相互替换的成分之间的关系,或者说是在现场的成分与不在现场的成分之间的关系。
例如,在语境The ____ is smiling中,能出现在这个位置上的成分是有限制的。
显然,动词根本不能出现在这个位置上。
最可能出现的是名词。
但是能出现在这里的名词仍然有严格的限制。
第一,它必须是个有生名词,像"书、桌子"等名词不是可能的选择。
第二,即使是在有生名词这个类里,只有那些含有"人类"语义成分的有生名词,才能很自然地与smile(笑)这一动词连用。