¡Descarga Understanding the Study of Language: Linguistics and Grammar - Prof. Alameda y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! 1 LENGUA INGLESA I 1. LINGUISTICS •WHY STUDY LANGUAGE? WHY BOTHER? • IS LANGUAGE SOMETHING WORTH THE EFFORT TO BE STUDIED? 2 • Language awareness. • To know a language # to know about a language. • Scientific study LINGUISTICS – Explicit. – Systematic. – Objective. • Major areas in the study of language: – Phonology – Lexicon – Grammar: morphology and syntax. • Prescriptive grammars. – They prescribe how language should be used. – Set of rules to be followed by the speaker, in order to speak “properly” or “correctly”. – Rules of grammatical etiquette: what is correct- incorrect. • Descriptive grammars. – Concerned with describing how language is used. – They recognize the existence of different varieties of language: formal-informal, written-spoken, dialects, etc. Prescriptive grammars vs. Descriptive grammars. 5 READING: Leech 1.3-1.5 • Is there a single, perfect language that we must analyse –and that people must learn? • Indeed, there is variation in language. Which aspects affect variation in language? • So, is it important to speak a certain variety? Preferably, the standard? Exercise Leech 1c Variation according to use (tenor, mode and field) 1. The Senate yesterday announced the creation of a nine- man committee to investigate the relationship between Billy Carter and Colone Qaddafi’s government in Libya. 2. Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour, power and might, be to our God for ever and ever! Amen. 3. Anywhere return, still only 50p. 4. Contour tiling, it looks superb, it feels marvellous. 5. So what’s likely to happen now? Well the report has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, in view of er certain evidence. 6 TRUE / FALSE. 1. Studying grammar involves learning how people should speak. 2. Grammar can be seen as a set of rules which we follow when we use language. 3. American English is less grammatical than British English. 4. Dialect is inferior to the standard language. 5. You can identify a dialect because of its grammatical incorrections. 6. The way we speak depends, among other things, on our personal characteristics. 7. The way we speak to friends is identical to the way we speak to strangers. LENGUA INGLESA I 1.2. UNITS OF GRAMMAR 7 CONSTITUENTS Parts that make up the units of language PARSING The analysis of the units of language into their constituents TWO BASIC DEFINITIONS TO START WITH UNITS OF LANGUAGE SENTENCE CLAUSE PHRASE WORD + - TEXT MORPHEME Another basic concept: IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT 10 How do we know which are the constituents of a sentence? How can we identify the sentence structure? We use CONSTITUENCY TESTS 1. SUBSTITUTION TEST 2. MOVEMENT TEST 3. EXPANSION TEST 4. SUBSTRACTION TEST SUBSTITUTION TEST Some people I know collect old Australian stamps as a hobby. They collect old Australian stamps as a hobby. Some people I know collect them as a hobby. If a word sequence can be substituted by a single word, that sequence is a constituent. 11 MOVEMENT TEST I usually ride my bike in the park next to my house. In the park next to my house, I usually ride my bike. If a word sequence can be moved to another position, that sequence is a constituent. EXPANSION TEST Peter came home late. (My brother Peter) (has come) (home) (very late) If a word can be expanded (by adding other words), that single word is acting as a constituent. It helps to identify single words acting as phrases. 12 SUBSTRACTION TEST They collect old Australian stamps as a hobby. Is “old Australian stamps as a hobby” a constituent or two? If we omit part of a construction, and the remaining part can stand as a constituent, that part omitted is a constituent. They collect old Australian stamps They collect something as a hobby. They are 2 separate units THE REPRESENTATION OF CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE There are some conventions: •Initial capital letter and final full stop for sentences. •[] for clauses. •() for phrases. •Space for words •- for morphemes Our landlady keeps a stuffed moose in her attic [(Our land-lady) (keep-s) (a stuff-ed moose) (in her attic)] + Labels with extra information = LABELLED BRACKETING 1. BRACKETING
