1Chapter Four
From Word to Text
Qs:
1.What is language?
2.Can dog’s barking /bee’s dancing be
considered as a language?
3./i:/vs./i/ / /vs. / /
4.stand/sport/skirt
5.Tom eats a bread. Bread a eats Tom.
6.Human Young Male
7.It is cold here.
8.What is the golden time for learning a
second language?
2
1.Tom eats a bread.
Bread A eats Tom.
2.Tom eats _____.
an apple.
a piece of cake
3. ____ eats _____.
N. N.
N. Pron.
Pron. N.
Pron. Pron.Word order 位置关系
Substitutability 替代关系
Co-occurrence 同现关系
3
I. What is syntax?
4AncientGreeksýntaxis:
-“arrangement”or“settingout
together”
5
Tom eats a bread.
Bread a eats Tom.
6SYNTAXisthestudyoftherules
governingthewaysdifferent
constituentsarecombinedtoform
sentencesinalanguage,orthe
studyoftheinterrelationships
betweenelementsinsentence
structures.
1.Tom eats a bread.
Bread A eats Tom.
2.Tom eats _____.
an apple.
a piece of cake
3. ____ eats _____.
N. N.
N. Pron.
Pron. N.
Pron. Pron.Word order 位置关系
Positional relations
Substitutability 替代关系
Co-occurrence 同现关系
7
1. Syntactic relations
8Syntactic relations can be analysed into
three kinds:
①positional relations
②relations of substitutability
③relations of co-occurrence
1.1 Positional Relation
9communicative function
a way
→mark
→grammatical roles of
the various phrases
→occur in a clause.
The boykicked the ball
NP1 NP2
SubjectObject
10Positional relation, or WORD ORDER, refers
to the sequential arrangement of words in
a language.
Ifthewordsinasentencefailtooccurina
fixedorderrequiredbytheconventionofa
language,onetendstoproducean
utteranceeitherungrammaticalor
nonsensicalatall.
For example,
11The boy kicked the ball.
*Boy the ball kicked the.
*The ball kicked the boy.
12
The teacher saw the students.
↑↓
The students saw the teacher.
Positionalrelationsareamanifestationof
oneaspectofSYNTAGMATICRELATIONS
横组合关系observedbyF.deSaussure.
TheyarealsocalledHORIZONTAL
RELATIONSorsimplyCHAINRELATIONS.
横向关系/链状关系
Three basic ways
13to classify languages in the world:
1.word order
2.geneticclassification
3.arealclassification亲缘划分
区域划分
14Word order –
1.SVO,
2.VSO,
3.SOV,
4.OVS,
5.OSV,
6.VOS.
English -SVO type,
*does not mean that SVO is the only
possible word order.
15
Jedi Master
16
Sick have I become
Strong am I with the force
Your father he is
When nine hundred years
old you reach, look as
good you will not
-The Empire Strikes BackOSV IN SPACE
1.2 Relation of Substitutability
17TheRELATIONOFSUBSTITUTABILITYrefersto
classesorsetsofwordssubstitutableforeach
othergrammaticallyinsentenceswiththe
samestructure.
The______smiles.
man
boy
girl
18
Italsoreferstogroupsofmorethanoneword
whichmaybejointlysubstitutable
grammaticallyforasinglewordofaparticular
set.
19
ThisiswhatSaussurecalledASSOCIATIVE
relations,orinHjemslev'sterm,
PARADIGMATICrelations.
Tomakeitmoreunderstandable,theyare
calledVERTICALrelationsorCHOICE
relations.
纵向关系/选择关系联想关系
纵聚合关系
20
a nominal phrase can be preceded by a
determiner and adjective(s) and followed by a
verbal phrase.
1.3 Relation of Co-occurrence
21different sets of clauses -may permit, or
require-occurrence of a word of another set
/ class to form a sentence or a particular part
of a sentence.
Relations of co-occurrence –
syntagmatic relations
paradigmatic relations.
2. Grammatical construction &its constituents
222.1 Grammatical Construction
GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION or
CONSTRUCT -any syntactic construct which is
assigned one or more conventional functions
in a language, together with whatever is
linguistically conventionalized about its
contribution to the meaning or use the
construct contains.
23Syntax-external& internalproperties.
The externalsyntax of a construction -
properties of the construction as a whole-
anything speakers know about the
construction that is relevant to the larger
syntactic contexts in which it is welcome.
For instance, the different terms such as
clausal type, phrasal typeare assigned to the
properties of the constructions respectively.
