Introduction to the Study of Grammar

BA, engelsk

1. Lexicon and Morphology

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The components of language

Sound

Meaning

A language is a system of cognitive procedures for- Assigning a Meaning to a sequence of Sounds- Producing a sequence of Sounds to express a Meaning

The components of language study

Sound

Meaning

PhoneticsPhonology

Semantics

Pragmatics

Grammar

Lexicon

Syntax

Morphology

The Lexicon and Morphology

• The notion of a word

• Words and sentences

• Morphology: the study of the structure of words

• Classification of words: Parts of Speech, or Wordclasses

Words

books

bookmakers’

the

writers

nowadays

reading

on

write

English

high

lists

rank abou

t

royalty

that

Words and Wordforms

aboutbooksbookmakers’Englishhighlistsnowadays

onrankreadingroyaltythatthewrite writers

Words make sentences…

books

bookmakers’

the

writers nowadays

reading

on

write

English high

lists

rankabout royalty

that

Words make sentences…

books

bookmakers’

the

writers nowadays

readingon

write

English high

lists

rank

about

royalty that

Word make sentences….

booksbookmakers’

the

writers

nowadays

reading

on

write

English high

lists

rank

about

royalty

that

Words make sentences…

books

bookmakers’

the

writersnowadays

reading

on

write

English

high

lists

rank

about

royalty

that

… and sometimes Non-sentences

booksbookmakers’

the

writers

nowadays

reading

on

write

English high

lists

rankabout

royalty

that

Rules

Syntax describes the rules by which words combine intosentences

Morphology describes the rulesby which morphemes combineinto words

Lexicon

The

words

of

English

Words and word classes

• Proper Name (PN)

• Noun (N)

• Verb (V)

• Adjective (A)

(Adverb)

• Pronoun (Pro)

• Determiner (Det)

• Particle (Prt)

– Preposition (P)

– Conjunction (Conj)

– (Adverb (Adv))

• Auxiliary (Aux)

Open Closed

the

books that writers nowadays write

about English royalty rank high on

bookmakers’ reading lists

N V A Adv

DetPro

P

the

the

books

books

that

that

writers

writers

nowadays

nowadays

write

write

about

about

English

English

royalty

royalty

rank

rank

high

high

on

on

bookmakers’

bookmakers’

reading

reading

lists

lists

high

reading

books

lists

the

on

bookmakers’

about

write thatwriters

English

royalty

the

books

that

writersnowadays

write about

Englishroyalty

rank

high

onbookmakers’ reading

lists

nowadays

nowadays

nowadays

high

high

high

royalty

royalty

lists

lists lists

English

English

writers

writers

that

that

write

write

about

about

bookmakers’

bookmakers’

reading

reading

reading

on

on

the

the

books

books

books

rank

N V A Adv

DetPro

P

rank

rank

rank

Criteria for classifying words

• Formal: e.g. English adverbs end in -ly

- but not vice versa: manly, kindly and cowardly are adjectives

• Semantic (meaning): e.g. Nouns refer to things

- but not always: love, kindness and air do not

• Distribution (syntactic use in sentences):

- the best, but sometimes odd, e.g. to classify books as anadjective in books rank

Base: root, stem

Affix: prefix, suffix

Word: Lexeme, word-form, grammatical word

Morphology, terms

- The shooter’s shots shot out like shooting stars

- The upshot of the shooting was upsetting

Lexemes Word-forms Grammatical words

SHOOT (V) shoot shoot (inf)shoot (pres)

shoots shoots (pres)shot shot (past)

shot (prf.ptc)shooting shooting (pres. ptc.)

shooting (gerund)SHOT (N) shot shot (sg)

shots shots (pl)shot’s (gen. sg.)shots’ (gen. pl)

SHOOTER (N) shooter shooter (sg)shooters shooters (pl)

shooter’s (gen. sg)shooters’ (gen. pl)

Affixes: prefix and suffix

Prefix

un s

Suffix

Suffix

abletouch

Base

Root = irreducible kernel of a word-form

Base = kernel of a word-form to which any affix may be added

Stem = base when added affixes are inflectional

Root, stem, base

touch able

Root/base

un

Base

s

Stem/base

Inflectional: turns a lexeme into a grammatical word

Derivational: turns a lexeme into another lexeme

Class-maintaining: -dom: king (N) + dom = kingdom (N)

Class-changing: -ly: king (N) + -ly = kingly (A)

Conversion: love (N) - love (V)

Morphology, types

Inflection & Derivation

write {writ} + {Ø} (= nil)

writes {writ} + {-s}

written {writ} + {-en}

wrote {writ} + {past}

writing {writ} + {-ing}

writs {writ} + {-s}

InflectionalMorphemes

writ {writ} + {-Ø}

writer {writ} + {-er}

Base MorphemeWordform

DerivationalMorphemes

Inflectional morphology, overview

Nouns: {-Ø | -s}

{-Ø | -s}

the category of Number

the category of Case

the category of Tense{{-Ø | -s} | -ed}

{-Ø | be + -en} the category of Voice

Verbs: {-Ø | -s} the category of Number

the category of Person

{-Ø | have + -en}

{-Ø | be + -ing}

the category of Aspect

Adjectives: {-Ø | -er | -est} the category of Comparison

The Inflection of NounsNumber

Irregulars

foot – feetgoose – geese

man – menwoman – women

knife – kniveswife – wives…

mouse – mice

child – childrenox – oxen

Regulars

N - N+{-s}

/hæt/ – /hæts/

/bɔɪ/ – /bɔɪz/

/bʌs/ – /bʌsɪz/

One plural morpheme {-s}, butthree regular variants:

The Inflection of Verbs

Several types of irregular verbs (see any textbook)

Verbs have three main forms: Base (V), Past Tense (V-ed), Perfect Participle (V-en)

NB. The V-ed form is the past tense form of any regular VThe V-en form is the Perfect Participle form from the type of irregular V represented by break

V

break

work

V-ed

broke

work-ed

V-en

brok-en

work-ed

In addition, any V may take the endings -s and -ing

The Inflection of Verbs

Regulars

Forms:

Functions:

V

work

InfinitiveImperativePresent Tense1st & 2nd P sgPresent Tense1st, 2nd, & 3rd P pl

V-ed/-en

work-ed

Past Tense(-ed)PerfectParticiple(-en)

V-s

work-s

Present3rd P sg

V-ing

work-ing

Present ParticipleGerund

The Inflection of AdjectivesIrregulars

good – better – best bad – worse – worst far – further – furthest (also regular)….

Regulars (only ’short’ adjectives; see any textbook)

Forms:

Functions:

A-est

great-est

Superlative

A-er

great-er

Comparative

A

great

Positive

- A lexeme that contains more than one root

Endocentric: beehive (a kind of hive), armchair (a kind of chair)

Appositional: maidservant (both a maid and a servant)

Exocentric: redskin (not a kind of skin), highbrow (not a kind of brow)

Compounds

There are three main types, depending on their meaning: