The Major Principles of Syntax

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The Major Principles of SyntaxThe Major Principles of Syntax

The Operations of the Lexicon, The Operations of the Lexicon, Morphology,Morphology,

and Word Order in theand Word Order in theUnderstanding of LanguageUnderstanding of Language

Daniel KiesDaniel Kies


The Three Components of The Three Components of SyntaxSyntax

The B as ics of S yntax

Lexicon:The M ajor

W ord C lasses

W ord O rder:M arked andU nm arked

Inflec tionalM orphology:

Func tion W ords& W ord Endings

The Gramm aticaland M eaningfu l

S entence


Role of Lexicon in SyntaxRole of Lexicon in Syntax The lexicon adds meaningful (semantic) The lexicon adds meaningful (semantic)

components to the sentence.components to the sentence. The lexicon also plays a major role in determining The lexicon also plays a major role in determining

the grammatical structure of the sentence.the grammatical structure of the sentence. Selection restrictionsSelection restrictions are governed by the lexical are governed by the lexical

items chosen in each clause.items chosen in each clause. The water evaporated quickly.The water evaporated quickly. *The boy evaporated quickly.*The boy evaporated quickly. *The water evaporated the dog.*The water evaporated the dog.


The Elements of the LexiconThe Elements of the Lexicon

T he Lexicon

Adverbs

Adjectives

V erbs

N ouns

Lexicon:T he M ajor

W ord Classes


The Role of Word OrderThe Role of Word Order UNMARKED WORD ORDERUNMARKED WORD ORDER functions to distinguish the grammatical and semantic roles of functions to distinguish the grammatical and semantic roles of

sentence constituents.sentence constituents. Grammatical roles include Grammatical roles include subjectsubject, , verbverb, , objectobject, , complementcomplement, ,

& & adverbialadverbial.. Semantic roles include Semantic roles include agentagent, , actionaction, , goalgoal,, beneficiary beneficiary, ,

instrumentinstrument, , locationlocation, , and more.and more. MARKED WORD ORDERMARKED WORD ORDER allows us to choose the ‘point of view’ in the sentenceallows us to choose the ‘point of view’ in the sentence and allows us to emphasize various parts of our message.and allows us to emphasize various parts of our message.


The Grammatical Roles in The Grammatical Roles in Word OrderWord Order

Word order helps us understand the Word order helps us understand the grammatical function of each constituent.grammatical function of each constituent.

SubjectsSubjects in English for example are usually in English for example are usually at the beginning of the clause.at the beginning of the clause.

JohnJohn left yesterday after left yesterday after hehe gave his lecture. gave his lecture. ObjectsObjects in English occur after the in English occur after the verbverb.. ““Close Close the doorthe door,” she yelled, kicking ,” she yelled, kicking itit shut. shut.


The Semantic Roles in Word The Semantic Roles in Word OrderOrder

Constituents also serve semantic roles in Constituents also serve semantic roles in sentences, such as sentences, such as agentagent, , actionaction, , goalgoal, , instrumentinstrument, , location location and many more.and many more.

John opened the door with a key.John opened the door with a key.agentagent actionaction goalgoal instrumentinstrument

subject verb object adverbialsubject verb object adverbial In In most cases, grammatical & semantic roles most cases, grammatical & semantic roles overlap, but not always.overlap, but not always.


Interplay of Grammatical & Interplay of Grammatical & Semantic RolesSemantic Roles

Semantic roles ‘realize’ grammatical functions.Semantic roles ‘realize’ grammatical functions. In the usual, In the usual, unmarkedunmarked case, agents are realized by case, agents are realized by

subjects, actions are realized by verbs, etc.subjects, actions are realized by verbs, etc. Occasionally, language users do not choose to use Occasionally, language users do not choose to use

some semantic roles, resulting in a some semantic roles, resulting in a markedmarked realization of semantic roles.realization of semantic roles.

The key opened the door.The key opened the door. instrument instrument action goalaction goal

subject verb objectsubject verb object


Marked Word Order & Marked Word Order & ‘Point of View’‘Point of View’

Marked word order Marked word order not only allow us to not only allow us to promote ‘unusual’ semantic roles to promote ‘unusual’ semantic roles to unexpected grammatical functions, it can also unexpected grammatical functions, it can also allow us to choose a ‘point of view.’allow us to choose a ‘point of view.’

Elizabeth helped Emily.Elizabeth helped Emily. Emily was helped by Elizabeth.Emily was helped by Elizabeth. This is called This is called voicevoice; the 1st example is called ; the 1st example is called

active voiceactive voice, the 2nd , the 2nd passive voicepassive voice..


Marked Word Order & Marked Word Order & ‘Emphasis’‘Emphasis’

Marked word order Marked word order also allows us to also allows us to emphasize the most relevant portion of our emphasize the most relevant portion of our sentence, our message. Compare:sentence, our message. Compare:

John sent the letter to Mary.John sent the letter to Mary. It was the letter that John sent to Mary.It was the letter that John sent to Mary. This variation allows us to ‘emphasize’ the This variation allows us to ‘emphasize’ the

relevant portion of our sentence as message; relevant portion of our sentence as message; the 2nd example is called a the 2nd example is called a cleft sentencecleft sentence..


The Role of MorphologyThe Role of Morphology

Morphology Morphology provides us with two provides us with two additional sets of language clues about the additional sets of language clues about the structure of a sentence:structure of a sentence:

Function wordsFunction words Inflectional morphemes Inflectional morphemes (which usually (which usually

occur as word endings in English)occur as word endings in English)


Function Words & SyntaxFunction Words & Syntax

Function words Function words are are minor word classesminor word classes. . In English, those are In English, those are prepositionsprepositions, ,

pronounspronouns, , articlesarticles, and , and conjunctionsconjunctions.. These function words provide valuable These function words provide valuable

grammatical information: how easily can grammatical information: how easily can you read the following text for example?you read the following text for example?


Examples of Function WordsExamples of Function Words

Was walking front door, dropping bags Was walking front door, dropping bags going.going.

ItIt was was meme -- walking -- walking out of my out of my front door, front door, dropping dropping mymy bags bags andand going going back inback in. . (O. J.)(O. J.)

Function words Function words provide important provide important information about the grammatical & information about the grammatical & semantic roles played by the constituents in semantic roles played by the constituents in a sentence.a sentence.


Grammatical Morphemes & Grammatical Morphemes & SyntaxSyntax

Other grammatical morphemes (primarily Other grammatical morphemes (primarily word endings in English) serve a similar word endings in English) serve a similar function:function:

English uses grammatical inflections to English uses grammatical inflections to provide different kinds of grammatical provide different kinds of grammatical information on the major word classes -- information on the major word classes -- nounsnouns, , verbsverbs, , adjectivesadjectives, and , and adverbsadverbs..


Grammatical Inflections in Grammatical Inflections in NounsNouns

English uses the grammatical morphemes to English uses the grammatical morphemes to mark mark case case

This is JohnThis is John’s’s book book, , numbernumber He owns several rare bookHe owns several rare bookss, , and and gender gender Adrienne Rich hates being called a poetAdrienne Rich hates being called a poetessess..


Grammatical Inflections in Grammatical Inflections in VerbsVerbs

English uses grammatical morphemes to markEnglish uses grammatical morphemes to mark tensetense Liz walkLiz walked ed with her sister.with her sister. aspectaspect Liz Liz hashas help helpeded her often. her often. voicevoice Liz Liz waswas pleas pleaseded by her cleverness. by her cleverness. modalitymodality Liz Liz mustmust be smarter than Dad. be smarter than Dad. moodmood God God blessbless this ship & all who this ship & all who sail sail

in her.in her.


Grammatical Inflections in Grammatical Inflections in Adjectives & AdverbsAdjectives & Adverbs

English uses grammatical morphemes on English uses grammatical morphemes on adjectives and adverbs to markadjectives and adverbs to mark

grammatical functiongrammatical function InIngenigeniousous Liz can do this easi Liz can do this easilyly.. comparison (degree)comparison (degree) Liz is smartLiz is smarterer than her father. She learns than her father. She learns

fastfaster er than he does.than he does.


All the Elements of SyntaxAll the Elements of SyntaxThe E lem ents o f S yntax

Lexicon:

the M ajorW ord C lass es

N ouns

Verbs

Adjectives

Adverbs

M arkedW ordO rder

U nm arkedW ordO rder

W ordO rder

C onjunctions

P ronouns

A rtic les

P repos itions

FunctionW ords:

the M inor W ordC lasses

N um ber

G ender

C ase

for N ouns

N um ber

M ood

M odality

A spec t

T ense

for V erbs

C om parison

for Adjectives

C om paris ion

for A dverbs

Inflec tiona lM orphology

M orphology

The G ramm aticaland

M eaning fu lS entence


The Entire Syntax System in ConcertThe Entire Syntax System in Concert There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim

being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brother, have forgotten what Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brother, have forgotten what these mestos where like things changing so skorry these days and everybody very these mestos where like things changing so skorry these days and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. Well, what they sold there quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the some of the new veshches which they would put law yet against prodding some of the some of the new veshches which they would put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen one or two other veshches which would give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg. Or you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to lights bursting all over your mozg. Or you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-say, and this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with. one, and that was what we were peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with.

Anthony Burgess, Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange


Finding Nouns in Finding Nouns in A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange There was me, that is Alex, and my three There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogsdroogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, , that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim,

Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar Korova Milkbar making up our making up our rassoodocksrassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mestomesto, and you may, O my brother, , and you may, O my brother, have forgotten what these have forgotten what these mestosmestos where like things changing so skorry these days where like things changing so skorry these days and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the some of the selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the some of the new new veshchesveshches which they would put into the old which they would put into the old molokomoloko, so you could peet it with , so you could peet it with vellocetvellocet or or synthemescsynthemesc or or drencromdrencrom or one or two other or one or two other veshchesveshches which would which would give you a nice quiet give you a nice quiet horrorshowhorrorshow fifteen minutes admiring fifteen minutes admiring BogBog And All His Holy And All His Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozgmozg. Or . Or you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with.peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with.


Finding Verbs in Finding Verbs in A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim,

Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brother, dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brother, have forgotten what these mestos where like things changing so skorry these days have forgotten what these mestos where like things changing so skorry these days and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against selling liquor, but there was no law yet against proddingprodding some of the some of the some of the some of the new veshches which they would put into the old moloko, so you could new veshches which they would put into the old moloko, so you could peetpeet it with it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg. Or Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg. Or you could you could peetpeet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were peetingpeeting this evening I’m starting off the story with. this evening I’m starting off the story with.


Finding Modifiers in Finding Modifiers in A Clockwork OrangeA Clockwork Orange There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim,

Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flipflip dark chill winter bastard though dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova Milkbar was a dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plusmilk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brother, mesto, and you may, O my brother, have forgotten what these mestos where like things changing so have forgotten what these mestos where like things changing so skorryskorry these days these days and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. and everybody very quick to forget, newspaper not being read much neither. Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the some of the selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the some of the new veshches which they would put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with new veshches which they would put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy give you a nice quiet horrorshow fifteen minutes admiring Bog And All His Holy Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg. Or Angels And Saints in your left shoe with lights bursting all over your mozg. Or you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up you could peet it with knives in it, as we use to say, and this would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were and make you ready for a bit of dirty twenty-to-one, and that was what we were peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with.peeting this evening I’m starting off the story with.


In SummaryIn Summary Despite the apparent, incredible variety of Despite the apparent, incredible variety of

sentence structure in any one language, not to sentence structure in any one language, not to mention the 5200+ languages around the world, mention the 5200+ languages around the world, syntaxsyntax in all human languages is realized by the in all human languages is realized by the simultaneous work of three systems:simultaneous work of three systems:

thethe lexiconlexicon word orderword order inflectional morphologyinflectional morphology


‘‘Doing Syntax; Doing Linguistics’Doing Syntax; Doing Linguistics’ In a literal way, syntax -- like all of linguistics -- is In a literal way, syntax -- like all of linguistics -- is

something we something we dodo. We do linguistics every time . We do linguistics every time we make or decode a sentence.we make or decode a sentence.

Despite the enormous variety of human language, Despite the enormous variety of human language, we make or decode every linguistic act with just a we make or decode every linguistic act with just a few elements: those elements are used in a system few elements: those elements are used in a system and we recognize the and we recognize the patternspatterns. Doing linguistics . Doing linguistics is learning to see and understand those patterns of is learning to see and understand those patterns of human language.human language.

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The Major Principles of Syntax