语言学概论英文课件：Lecture 4 Syntax

1、1Lecture 4 From Word to Text2Syntax is the study of the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences in a language, or the study of the interrelationships between elements in sentence structures.3Syntactic relations can be analyzed into three kinds:relations of posi

2、tionrelations of substitutabilityrelations of co-occurrence1. Syntactic relations (prescriptive /traditional approach)syntactic relations41.1 Relations of PositionFor language to fulfill its communicative function, it must have a way to mark the grammatical roles of the various phrases that can occu

3、r in a clause. The boy kicked the ball NP1 NP2 Subject Object5Positional relation, or WORD ORDER, refers to the sequential arrangement of words in a language. If the words in a sentence fail to occur in a fixed order required by the convention of a language, one tends to produce an utterance either

4、ungrammatical or nonsensical at all. For example,6The boy kicked the ball.*Boy the ball kicked the*The ball kicked the boyThe teacher saw the students.The students saw the teacher.7Positional relations are a manifestation of one aspect of Syntagmatic Relations observed by F. de Saussure. 横组合关系They a

5、re also called Horizontal Relations or simply Chain Relations. 8Word order is among the three basic ways (word order, genetic and areal classifications) to classify languages in the world: SVO, VSO, SOV, OVS, OSV, and VOS. English belongs to SVO type, though this does not mean that SVO is the only p

6、ossible word order. 9 Indo-EuropeanGermanic Italic Celtic Balto-Slavic Hellenic Indo-Iranian English Irish Russian Greek Sanskirt German Spanish Welsh Polish Hindi Dutch French Czech Swedish Italian Danish Portuguese 10Word order type and frequenciesWord order frequency example languageSOV 180(44.78

7、%) Hindi, Japanese,. SVO 168(41.79%) English, Chinese VSO 37(9.20%) Arabic, Hebrew, VOS 111.2 Relation of Substitutability The Relation of Substitutability refers to classes or sets of words substitutable for each other grammatically in sentences with the same structure. The_ smiles. man boy girl12I

8、t also refers to groups of more than one word which may be jointly substitutable grammatically for a single word of a particular set.strong manThe tallest boy smiles.pretty girl yesterday.He went therelast week. the day before.13This is also called Associative Relations by Saussure, and Paradigmatic

9、 Relations by Hjemslev. To make it more understandable, they are called Vertical Relations or Choice Relations. 141.3 Relation of Co-occurrence 共现关系It means that words of different sets of clauses may permit, or require, the occurrence of a word of another set or class to form a sentence or a partic

10、ular part of a sentence. For instance, a nominal phrase can be preceded by a determiner and adjective (s) and followed by a verbal phrase. 15Relations of co-occurrence partly belong to syntagmatic relations, partly to paradigmatic relations. 16Discussion Do the syntagmatic relation and paradigmaticr

11、elation exist at the phonological ormorphological level?Tip: at the phonological level:Transcribe the wordsphonesAt the morphological level: Dismantle the words into morphemes17a. at the phonological level seif: seif Syntagmatic sei_: seif Paradigmatic seivb. at the morphological levelcareless: care

12、 + less Syntagmaticcare-: careless Paradigmatic carefullc. at the sentential level (omitted)18To sum up, every linguistic unit, no matter how small it is, has a double role to play. 1) It should be combined with another unit in a grammatical way, namely, in the syntagmatic relation. 2) But on the ot

13、her hand, it can be replaced by another unit, namely, in the paradigmatic relation. This may occur at the phonological, morphological and sentential level.192. Grammatical construction and its constituents (structural/descriptive approach) 2.1 Grammatical Construction Any syntactic string of words r

14、anging from sentences over phrasal structures to certain complex lexemes.an appleate an appleMary ate an apple20The relation between a sentence and its component elements（构成成分） is called the relation between construction and its constituents.212.2 Constituents and Phrase StructureConstituent is a pa

15、rt of a larger linguistic unit. Several constituents together form a construction: the girl (NP)ate the apple (VP)the girl ate the apple (S)Constituents can occur at phrasal level or sentential level.224.2.2 Immediate constituent (IC) analysis直接成分分析This notion was proposed by the American linguist L

16、eonard Bloomfield（布龙菲尔德）in his Language (1933). (p. 301-)Immediate constituent analysis is 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 c

17、onstituents are reached.23Immediate Constituent Analysis(IC Analysis)The girl ate the apple24Phrase StructureTree diagram S NP VPDet N V NP Det NThe girl ate the apple25How to label the constituents?Word-levelN=nounA=adjectiveV=verbP=prepositionDet=determiner (p. 61)Adv=adverbConj=conjunctionPhrasal

18、-levelNP=noun phraseAP=adjective phraseVP=verb phrasePP=preposition phraseS=sentence or clause26BracketingBracketing 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)SNPDet TheN girlVPV ateNP

19、Det theN apple27Advantages of IC analysis(1) The internal structure of a sentence is demonstrated clearly. It helps to account for the ambiguity of certain constructions. (2) It clearly demonstrates that sentences are not mere left-to-right linear sequences of elements. Instead, elements come into r

20、elationships of great complexity and varying kinds. IC analysis is a hierarchical analysis.28Disadvantages of IC Analysis1. Because of its insistence on binary divisions and failure to real structural ambiguities, certain problems arise in immediate constituent analysis. 2. It neglects the semantic

21、completeness of idioms.E.g. He hit the sack early last night. 被解雇他万一有个三长两短。29exercise1. Old men and women2. They are flying planes.3. They fed her dog biscuits.30 Old men and women old men and women31HomeworkThe old professor gave his lecture in the hall.This man seems incredibly stupid to beautiful

22、 girls.323*. The Generative Approach1. the American linguist Noam Chomsky2. Development of generative grammar The first Linguistic Model (Chomsky early 1950s1965 ) Standard Theory(Chomsky 1965) Extended Standard Theory(Chomsky 1970, ) Government and Binding Theory 管约理论(Chomsky 1981, 1986) Minimalist

23、 Program 最简方案(Chomsky 1993)33*About Noam Chomsky1928: Born, Philadelphia. Parents both college professors and taught Hebrew. His father wrote grammar of Hebrew of the Middle Ages At 12 years old, Chomsky could read and translate French and Russian classics.1955: PhD, University of PennsylvaniaSince

24、1955:Taught at MIT34 TG grammar转换生成语法Chomskys late 1950s and 1960s work - revolutionized linguistics and cognitive psychologyTransformations solve all those problems of PS( prescriptive syntactic) grammar by relating surface structures (SS) to deep structures (DS). 35TG grammar has seen five stages

25、of development. The Classical Theory aims to make linguistics a science. The Standard Theory deals with how semantics should be studied in a linguistics theory. The Extended Standard Theory focuses discussion on language universals and universal grammar. (p.307-308)36Deep structure the abstract stru

26、cture The structure that contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence. Surface structure - Sentences or phrases that are pronounced or written 37John is eager to please.John is easy to please.The two sentences have a superficially similar s

27、tructure. But they convey a substantially different message. In the former John is doing the pleasing, and in the latter he is on the receiving end. 38E.g. Alvin is anxious to help. / Alvin is difficult to help.39Chomsky 用生成语法一词来简明地表示“一套用来给句子进行结构描写、定义明确严格的规则系统。”他认为任何一种语言的说话者都掌握并内化了一种有生成能力的语法，这套语法能够表

28、达他的语言知识.生成语法不局限于对于个别语言的研究，而是要揭示个别语法与普遍语法的统一性。40Two Aspects of TG GrammarGenerative AspectThis means that a grammar must generate all and only grammatical sentences of a language.Transformational Aspect Chomsky proposes the idea of transformation which refers to a kind of process that transforms one

29、sentence into another.41 Period 2 (24, Oct. )2.3 Endocentric and Exocentric Constructions 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 nou

30、n phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to the Head. 4243Exocentric 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

31、 is no definable “Centre” or “Head” inside the group, usually includingthe basic sentence, the prepositional phrase, the predicate (verb + object) construction, and the connective (be + complement) construction.44The boy smiled. (Neither constituent can substitute for the sentence structure as a who

32、le.)He kicked the ball. (Neither constituent stands for the verb-object sequence.)John seemed angry. (After division, the connective construction no longer exists.)452.4 Coordination并列and Subordination 从属Endocentric constructions fall into two main types, depending on the relation between constituen

33、ts: CoordinationSubordination46Coordination 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 such as and, but and or . These two or more words or phrases or clauses have equiva

34、lent syntactic status, each of the separate constituents can stand for the original construction functionally. 47Coordination of NPs:NP the lady or NP the tigerCoordination 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:

35、 AP quite expensive and AP very beautifulCoordination of Ss:S John loves Mary and S Mary loves John too.48Subordination Subordination refers to the process or result of linking linguistic units so that they have different syntactic status, one being dependent upon the other, and usually a constituen

36、t of the other. The subordinate constituents are words which modify the head. Consequently, they can be called modifiers. 49two dogs Head(My brother) can drink (wine). HeadSwimming in the lake (is fun). Head(The pepper was) hot beyond endurance. Head50Subordinate clausesClauses can be used as subord

37、inate constituents. There are three basic types of subordinate clauses: complement clauses adjunct (or adverbial) clauses relative clauses 51John believes that the airplane was invented by an Irishman. (complement clause)Elizabeth opened her presents before John finished his dinner. (adverbial claus

38、e)The woman that I love is moving to the south. (relative clause) subordinate clause52*3. Syntactic Function (The Functional Approach)The 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

39、 in terms of subjects, objects, predicators, modifiers, complements, etc. 53*Systemic Functional Grammar （系统功能语法）About Halliday Born in 1925 in LondonGot his BA in Chinese language and literature At London University in 1947Studied at Peking University under the supervision of Luo Changpei from 1947

40、1949.Studied at Lingnan University, South China, from 19491950, tutored by Wang Li.54Got his Ph. D in Cambridge University, supervised by Firth.(p.284-) PHD dissertation -“The Language of the Chinese Secret History of the Mongols” 元朝秘史一文的语言学分析. Taught at Cambridge University and Edinburgh University

41、 from 19551965. Was professor of Linguistics at London University from 19651970. Taught in various parts of the world from 19701975. Moved to Australia and founded department of linguistics in the University of Sydney in 1976. Retired in Dec. 1987. Became guest professor of Peking University in 1995

42、. 55 M. A. K. Halliday（韩礼德）sees language in a social context. Halliday inherited from the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski（马林诺夫斯基）the idea that language is a social phenomenon, and emphasizes the study of language in relation to the functions it performs. The theory behind this approach is functi

43、onal rather than formal, that is, it considers language as a resource used for communication and not as a set of rules. In this way, the scope of systemic linguistics is wider than that of many other linguistic theories like TG grammar. 56Systemic Functional Grammar （系统功能语法）Functional GrammarSystemi

44、c Grammar +aims to explain the internal relation in language as a system network, or meaning potential. aims to reveal that language is a means of social interaction.57Systemic Grammar （系统语法）Language as a system of systems The Choice SystemThe Chain System +represents syntagmatic relations; deals wi

45、th the surface aspects of grammar, such as sentence structures, (sentence, clause, phrase word group, word, morpheme) relates to paradigmatic relations. It deals with the meaning aspects of grammar, such as system and delicacy.58Language Stratification In Systemic Grammar语言系统 Levels of Language Theo

46、ries Related to Each Level Meaning 意义Wording 措词 Sound 语音 Semantics语义学Lexicogrammar 词汇语法Phonology音系学 59 Phonology and lexicogrammar (words and grammatical structures) are closely related to meaning and cannot be analysed without reference to it. An essential concept of the theory is that each time la

47、nguage is used, no matter in what situation, the user is making constant choices. These choices are essentially choices in meaning but are expressed, for instance, by intonation, words, and grammatical structures. 60Functional Grammar （系统功能语法）7 functions of childrens language 3 metafunctions of adul

48、ts language+Language as the product of social activities61*Chomsky and HallidayChomsky: a psychological approachThey are interested in studying Ideal language, language out of context.Halliday: functional approachLanguage cannot be studied out of context.623.1 Subject In some languages, subject refe

49、rs to one of the nouns in the nominative case. The typical example can be found in Latin, where subject is always in nominative case, such as pater and filius in the following examples.pater filium amat (the father loves the son)patrum filius amat (the son loves the father) 63In English, the subject

50、 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. This definition seems to work for these sentences:Mary slapped John. A dog bit Bill. 64but is clearly wrong in the following examples:John was bitten by a dog. Jo

51、hn underwent major heart surgery. In order to account for the case of subject in passive voice, we have two other terms “grammatical subject” (John) and “logical subject” (a dog). 65Another traditional definition of the subject is “what the sentence is about” (i.e., topic). Again, this seems to work

52、 for many sentences, such asBill is a very crafty fellow. but fails in others, such as(Jack is pretty reliable, but) Bill I dont trust. As for Bill, I wouldnt take his promises very seriously. 66All three sentences seem to be “about” Bill; thus we could say that Bill is the topic of all three senten

53、ces. The above sentences make it clear that the topic is not always the grammatical subject. What characteristics do subjects have?subject67Word orderSubject ordinarily precedes the verb in the statement In English: Sally collects stamps.*Collects Sally stamps.68Pro-forms(P.60-61)The first and third

54、 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:He loves me. I love him.We threw stones at them.They threw stones at us. 69Agreement with the verbIn the simple present tense, an -s is added to the verb w

55、hen a third person subject is singular, but the number and person of the object or any other element in the sentence have no effect at all on the form of the verb: She angers him. They anger him. She angers them. 70Content questionsIf the subject is replaced by a question word (who or what), the res

56、t of the sentence remains unchanged, as inJohn stole the Queens picture from the British Council.Who stole the Queens picture from the British council? 71What would John steal, if he had the chance?What did John steal from the British Council?Where did John steal the Queens picture from?When any oth

57、er element of the sentence is replaced by a question word, an auxiliary verb must appear before the subject. 72Tag questionA tag question is used to seek confirmation of a statement. It always contains a pronoun which refers back to the subject, and never to any other element in the sentence. John l

58、oves Mary, doesnt he?Mary loves John, doesnt she?*John loves Mary, doesnt she?733.2 Predicate 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. It usually expresses actions, process

59、es, and states that refer to the subject.The boy is running. (process)Peter broke the glass. (action)Jane must be mad! (state)The word predicator 谓词is suggested for verb or verbs included in a predicate.743.3 Object Object is also a term hard to define. Since, traditionally, subject can be defined a

60、s the doer of the action, object may refer to the “receiver” or “goal” of an action, and it is further classified into Direct Object and Indirect Object.Mother bought a doll.Mother gave my sister a doll. IO DO 75In some inflecting（有屈折变化的） languages, object is marked by case labels: the accusative ca