Understanding Word Classes and Sentence Structure in Linguistics - Prof. Pedrazzini, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Understanding Word Classes and Sentence Structure in Linguistics - Prof. Pedrazzini e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! (Grammar and syntax) Phrases, clauses and sentences: form and function. LESSON 1: WHAT IS SYNTAX? The study of language involves different areas, with the ones addressed in this course being: - Phonetics and phonology: the study of sounds and the ways in which sounds interact with each other. - Morphology: the study of words structure and how they change in form (unopened → un-open-ed) - Syntax: the study of the ways words can be combined. “whole scoffed in the Kate cake greedy has…” To put the words in the right order we’re going to need some syntactical rules. We study syntax because it enables human beings to compose complex messages. Syntax has precise rules; for example, there is a rule that determines in what order must adjectives be put.  Idiot!  Stupid, unfeeling, ignorant idiot!  That stupid unfeeling, ignorant idiot is the new manager! In this example there are two expressions and the third is a phrase, because it has a verb in it. Syntax operates at three levels. ▪ phrases (it. sintagma) We can convey the same meanings by combining different words, however, we need to consider a specific order of words.  Some of my friends  Some friends of mine  Some of mine friends/Some friends of me The first two examples are correct, while the last ones show some grammatical issues. ▪ simple sentences or clauses (it. proposizione)  The cat chased the mouse  The mouse chased the cat  The cat was chased by the mouse  Chased the cat the mouse The meaning changes from sentence 1 to sentences 2 and 3, as the words order is different too. In sentence 4 the verb is in the wrong place. ▪ (complex) sentences  [You will find, [when you get older], [that the mind often wanders]]. Here we have three clauses. One of the clauses is between commas.  [[Opening her eyes suddenly], she caught a glimpse of a retreating figure]. We found out that there are three levels of sentences: the minimal level is made of phrases; the medium level is made of clauses; the maximum level is made of complex sentences. Exercise  A man with a terrible recent history. An adjective that conveys a more subjective meaning, “terrible” must go before an adjective with an objective meaning, “recent” → it’s not just a matter of “what sounds better”.  A whole bunch of places. → it’s an expression.  I can just come by her house on the way. → “come” is a verb of movement and we have to complete it with the preposition which must be very close to the verb, therefore, the priority is putting “by her house” close to the verb “come”.  That made her so popular OR So, that made her so popular.  Suddenly, I realized that I’d forgotten my mother’s birthday.  You have no idea how worried your mother sounds. When we start working with the structure of the words and phrases, we have to process all the words according to some rules or the knowledge we have of the language. Although words are ordered in the same way, two meanings may be conveyed depending on how words are grouped. foreign language specialist We can place some emphasis on different words, on foreign or on foreign language. In this case the meanings could be that (1) the language specialist is foreign or (2) the specialist deals with foreign languages. Exercise Hunting lions can be dangerous. a. it can be dangerous to hunt lions b. lions that hunt can be dangerous I bought a house in Paris. a. I live somewhere else and bought a house in Paris b. While in Paris, I bought a house I only injured the dog. a. I injured the dog, I didn’t injure other animals (the accent is put on dog) b. I injured the dog, I didn’t kill him (the accent is put on injured) INTRODUCING WORD CLASSES (see Part II Lexical Frameworks of the book) Sentences are made up of words. We use specific terms to refer to words in sentences that behave in the same way. These words can substitute for each other. Word belongs to a specific word class (noun, verb, etc.) When the same form appears in more than one class, we consider the various occurrences as we separate lexemes: e.g. smoke (verb) or smoke (noun) Her hair was still damp from the walk in the rain. The water appeared still from a distance. There are 11-word classes. The two major word classes are: o Voiceless consonant (cat) → [s] o Voiced consonant (dog) → [z] o Sibilant (bus) or affricate (witch) [ɪz] There are many nouns which – for a variety of etymological and historical reasons – form plurals in other ways: ▪ NATIVE IRREGULAR PLURALS /f/ voicing: leaf – leaves ▪ INTERNAL VOWEL mouse → mice ex: ox → oxen ▪ ZERO INFLECTION sheep → sheep ▪ BORROWED IRREGULAR PLURALS Cactus → cacti; matrix → matrices; phenomenon → phenomena Noun inflections: genitive The genitive form of nouns is also denoted by an inflectional -s suffixes. In written English this is most typically indicated by <’s>: Susan’s brother was preparing the dog’s dinner. As with plural inflections, the pronunciation of possessive inflections is influenced by the final sound of the word: - cat’s - cats’ kæts - dog’s - dogs’ dɒgz - witch’s - witches’ wɪtʃɪz Some nouns with irregular plural forms take over possessive inflections: - The children’s playground - The men’s changing room Verb inflections There are 5 inflectional forms most verbs behave regularly: the past form and the past participle form are identical: -ed. Irregular verbs – there are about 200 of them – differ, as the past form and the past participle form may vary according to these morphological processes: - zero morph: monosyllabic verbs as let/let/let or cut/cut/cut - internal change: change of the vowel in the root as sing/sang/sung/ ride/rode/ridden Syncretism: the morpho-syntactic properties of past tense and past participle are mapped on different forms (regular and irregular verbs → past: cooked, past participle: cooked, past: brought, past participle: brought. The -s suffix (third person present tense) is realized in pronunciation in different forms depending on the final consonant or vowel of the stem (see noun inflection) Comparably, the -ed suffix (past and past participle forms) is realised in pronunciation depending on the sound that precedes it. hope → hopes [həʊps] drag → drags [drægz] stay → stays [steɪz] gaze → gazes [geɪzɪz] hope → hoped [həʊpt] hunt → hunted [hntɪd] gaze → gazed [geɪzd] travel → travelled [trævld] Adjective inflections -er / -est suffixes Traditionally, gradable adjectives take comparative and superlative inflections. long → longer → longest hot → hotter → hottest funny → funnier → funniest However, three syllables adjectives (or more) form the comparative and superlative with a periphrastic construction, using the remodifying adverbs “more” and “most”. beautiful → more beautiful → most beautiful Monosyllabic and disyllabic adverbs (several of which share their forms with adjectives) can take comparative (-er) and superlative inflections (-est); but adverbs which are formed by the addition of -ly to an adjective require periphrastic more and most: deeply → more deeply → most deeply Lessons 3 What is a phrase? A phrase is the smallest unit of syntactic construction. To make the string of word conform to the rules of English syntax, you can’t move single words, you need to consider groups of words: The old man The chocolate cake We call these word groups phrases. There are three criteria we can use to identify which groups of words or single words are phrases. ▪ Movement If a phrase can be moved, then it moves as a whole unit. - The old man ate a chocolate cake. - What the old man ate was the chocolate cake. - It was the chocolate cake that the old man ate. - The chocolate cake was eaten by the old man. ▪ Meaning Phrases don’t just form grammatical units; they also form units of meaning: The large evil leathery alligator → the leathery large and evil ▪ Substitution Any phrase that will substitute for another, which can occupy the same position, is also a phrase. Types of phrases How do we classify phrases? The key words are known as head words or head. They are lexical items which are central to the phrase: some crucial information would be missing without the head word and the phrase would be structurally incomplete. Each of the four content word classes can be the head of a phrase. When words cluster around: A noun → NOUN phrase (NP); e.g. (my sister) is sleeping. A verb → VERB phrase (VP); e.g. Helen (took my keys) An adjective → ADJECTIVE phrase (AdjP); e.g. they were (extremely rude) An adverb → ADVERB phrase (AdvP); e.g. he finished (very quickly) Prepositions are the only function word classes which has an associated phrase type, but a prepositional phrase cannot stand alone, linked to its status as a grammatical word rather than a lexical word. A preposition → PREPOSITIONAL phrase (PrepP) e.g. the keys are (on the table) A phrase can consist of one word or more than one. The head of a noun phrase may also be a pronoun. When a phrase consists only of its head, it often has the same head as well as another constituent: - (Bentleys) are very expensive. - (Gorgeous-looking Bentleys with walnut dashboards) are very expensive. Of the five classes of phrases, noun phrases, adjective phrases and adverb phrases all have the same basic structure: [(Modifier(s)) + HEAD + (Modifier(S))] The head word may stand alone, or it may be pre-modified or post modified: ▪ Modifier + Head → awful weather/very noisy ▪ Modifier + Modifier + Head → awful drizzly weather ▪ Modifier + Head + Modifier → awful weather outside/very noisily indeed Embedded phrases One phrase may include one or more phrases: (She) (stayed) (for (a few days)) NP VP PrepP → for + NP The outer phrase is a PrepP. The inner phrase is a NP. A main phrase is one which is a direct part of a clause. An embedded one is part of another phrase. Lessons 4 -5 Coordination and apposition Phrases can be linked together in two specific ways within a clause or sentence. ▪ Coordination → the joining together of two linguistic units of the same type. An example of noun phrase coordination: - two phrases linked together by the conjunction ‘and’. e.g. for supper Lloyd cooked salmon fillets and new potatoes. - apposition → when two phrases that give information are related: e.g. Jo asked her friend’s sister, an English teacher, for some help. NP VP NP NP PP Mind the differences: 1. We invited our friend the mayor → (appositive NP) a. One element identifies the other in a different way. b. Appositive NP can stand alone in the place of the whole NP. 2. I saw a woman my age → (non-appositive NP) a. No identify of reference. b. Non-appositive NP cannot be substituted for the whole NP. The same phrase can be a restrictive appositive in one context and a non-restrictive appositive in another. ▪ My brother Nathan is here. Restrictive → I have several brothers, and the one named Nathan is here. ▪ My brother, Nathan, is here. Non-restrictive → I have a brother and, more info, his name is Nathan. The noun phrases. A noun phrase is made up minimally of a noun head. The head of a NP can be: Verbs have a number of different inflectional forms that are required or permitted in various grammatical contexts. The great majority of verbs in English have six inflectional forms. Primary forms show inflectional distinctions of tense (preterite vs present); secondary forms have no tense inflection. Primary forms → preterite (past tense), 3rd singular present, plain present – walked, walks, walk. Secondary forms → plain form, Gerund-participle, past participle – walk, walking, walked. There are seven semantic meanings: 1. Activity verbs (eat) 2. Communication verbs (say) 3. Mental verbs (think) 4. Causative verbs (cause) 5. Verbs of occurrence (occur) 6. Verbs of existence or relationship (seem, look) 7. Verbs of aspect (keep, stop) The verb phrase – Structure and verb forms A verb phrase (VP) consists of a main verb, which is the head of the phrase, and any preceding auxiliary verbs: - John likes fresh strawberries (likes = VP) - Mary has not eaten a thing (has not eaten = VP) The main verb expresses the general idea of what is happening in the clause (action, event, state of affairs), and auxiliaries act like modifiers and add information about: ▪ a viewpoint on the action (modality) → she may come. ▪ how we view the action in temporal terms, as being in progress or as completed (aspect) → she is arriving/she hasn’t arrived yet. ▪ the way information is presented or organized (active-passive voice) → the singer performed the song/the song was performed by the singer. These types of construction can be combined, with up to a maximum of four auxiliaries. - the tree might have shaken (modal auxiliary, perfect have) - the tree might be shaking (modal auxiliary, progressive be) - right now, Jason is being interviewed for a position as manager. (progressive be, passive voice) there is a fixed order in which auxiliary verbs occur: modal + primary auxiliaries Fred might have arrived by now If a VP consists of a lexical verb only, the tense will be marked on that element (Jane likes music). If the VP contains an auxiliary, then the tense will be marked on the auxiliary (Sara is helping her sister). One of the features which VPs may possess is tense. In terms of inflectional endings there are only two tenses in English: present (plain form, -s) & past (-ed, equivalent form on the irregular verbs). Tense is combined with aspect: ▪ Progressive aspect (present progressive, past progressive) o They are approaching the motorway. ▪ Perfect aspect (present perfect, past perfect) o They have approached the motorway. It’s also possible for the verb aspect to be both perfect and progressive, with a contrast of past and present tense (Debbie has/had been skating). Both the progressive aspect and the perfect aspect may occur with a modal auxiliary (Sara might be helping/have helped her sister). Auxiliary verbs The set of auxiliary verbs is a closed class which includes: - Primary auxiliaries: be, have, do. - Nine core modal auxiliaries: can, could, shall, should, may, might, must Auxiliaries have syntactic properties that lexical verbs do not share. 1. Direct not-negation Only auxiliaries can be directly negated by not → will not-won’t/has not-hasn’t 2. Subject-auxiliary inversion Only auxiliaries can invert with a subject: you have had → have you already had breakfast? Other construction with subject-auxiliary inversion in English besides interrogatives are: - Never have I been so insulted in my entire life (PREPOSED NEGATIVE ADVERBS) - Should you need any assistance, please call our toll-free number (conditionals) - Wow, can she sing! (exclamation) - Peter can drive, and so can his sister (affirmative and negative EXPRESSION OF SIMILARITY) 3. Ellipsis After an auxiliary, the rest of the VP can very often be left unexpressed: - Can you speak Russian? - Yes, I can. Can you? - Is she coming to the party? - No, she isn’t. Are they? Syntactic restrictions on lexical verbs 1. DO–INSERTION → when there is no auxiliary for not-negation, Subject-auxiliary inversion or ellipsis, English uses the do-insertion instead of the lexical verb with non-progressive present and past tenses: - do/does (present) → students today don’t take as many exams as my day. - did (past) → how did he occupy himself when he wasn’t at work? 2. DO–EMPHATIC → do-insertion can be used with an empathic function in affirmative declarative clauses: - John does know how to throw a party. Have: auxiliary or lexical verb? Like lexical verb do, have is a lexical verb in some collocations: - have → eat (have breakfast) - have a drink, have a look around. As a lexical verb, have uses do-insertion → I don’t have breakfast unless I’m particularly hungry. Have got. When have expresses meaning associated with possession or physical description, we may use the verbal expression have got (I have got an older sister). When have got is used, have is an auxiliary, which means that do-insertion is not required anymore → she has got black hair – she hasn’t got black hair. Lessons 7 What is a clause? [proposizione] A clause, like a phrase, is a unit of syntactic construction. As phrases are formed from words or group of words which are syntactically related, clauses are formed from phrases. - phrase → an old school friend - clause → I ran into an old school friend last summer Sentences minimally consist of subject + predicate→ I/ run into an old school friend last summer. - subject → someone or something - predicate → what is said about the subject Typically, a clause contains a Verb Phrase1 which is a finite (it is marked for tense), it’s normally preceded by a subject2 and followed by obligatory element3 needed to make the clause grammatically complete: (My black labrador)2 (has bitten)1 (Mr Allington)3 Optional items: (Unfortunately), my black Labrador has bitten Mr Allington (yesterday). Clause elements and functions Each clause element or phrase also performs a function: [(some greedy person) (ate) (my cucumber sandwiches)] NP – Subject VP NP – Object The VP is the pivotal element in the clause. As there is only one VP in the structure of a clause, we do not need to label its function. We use different labels for the functions of phrases: Subject (S) Direct Object (DO) Indirect Object (IO) Adjunct (A) About 160 people lost their lives in a cable train fire in Kaprun in 2000 ✓ About 160 people (NP) → S ✓ Their lives (NP) → DO ✓ In a cable train fire (PrepP) → Adjunct (A) ✓ In Kaprun (PrepP) → A ✓ In 2000 (prepP) → A Construction examples: ▪ S V O → (I) (am considering) (a career move) ▪ S V IO O → (Andrew) (bought) (Kathy) (a sports car) ▪ A S A V A → (Actually) (we) (quite often) (have breakfast) (at Tiffany’s) Object (transitive, intransitive, ditransitive verbs) 1. INTRANSITIVE VERBS Verbs that require nothing more than a subject e.g. The young man fainted from the heat. Lexical verbs require, in some case, certain elements (or complements) other than the Subject for their meaning to be complete → this is called complementation. 2. TRANSITIVE VERBS Verbs that require a Direct Object (DO) e.g. I like detective novels from the 1930s. 3. DITRANSITIVE VERBS Verbs that require both a Direct Object (DO) and an Indirect Object (IO) e.g. Sarah handed Brian the parcel. Clauses behave in larger units that we call sentences. • It was a success – clause. • Sue think (that) it was a success – sentence. Within the structure of a sentence, a clause is either main or subordinate: [She thinks [(that) it was a success]] main subordinate Subordinate clauses are also called embedded clauses. Clause may be finite or non-finite. Finite clauses have finite verbs [ = verbs that have present or past tense forms, and a plain form (without to)]. a) She brings her own food. b) Bring your food. Finite clauses may be either main (a, b) or subordinate; non-finite clauses have non-finite verbs [verbs that have infinitive, gerund-participle and past participle form]s: c) She regrets [bringing her own food] d) It is rare [for her to bring some food] Non-finite clauses are always subordinate (d, e). Non-finite clauses have no finite verb, and generally have no Subject. They advised the minister [to leave the building immediately] NON-FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE They advised the minister [that she should leave the building immediately]. FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Three major types of non-finite clauses: a. Liz wants to write a novel. TO INFINITIVE b. Liz dreams of writing a novel. GERUND PARTICIPLE (also called PRESENT PARTICIPLE → -ing form) c. The report [sent to the press] was totally false. PAST PARTICIPLE Finite subordinate clauses Three main types: ▪ Adverbial clauses. They typically begin with a conjunction (if, when, because, while). They function as adjunct with respect to the main clause (lesson 4). Adverbial clauses can take different position: [If you buy the food], I’ll do the cooking] [I am very excited [because this is my first podcast]] ▪ Relative clauses. They function as post-modifiers to a NP telling us more about what the noun denotes; Relative clauses are introduced by a relative pronoun: who, which or that. The pronoun is related to its antecedent (NP). [The question [which is related to this problem] will be discussed later] ‘Restrictive’ (defining) or ‘non-restrictive’ (non-defining) relative clauses: The film which I needed is not obtainable. WH-RELATIVE The film that I needed is noy obtainable. THAT-RELATIVE The film I needed is not obtainable. BARE RELATIVE ▪ Complement clauses. They are typically required to complete the meaning of the rest of the main clause: He says that Liz I in Paris. Tell me what you want. There are two important types of complement clause: declarative (A) – interrogative (B): DECLARATIVE COMPLEMENT CLAUSE → the subordinating conjunction that is sometimes obligatory (a), sometimes optional (b), and sometimes inadmissible (c): That I need help is clear. I know that it’s genuine. *I left before that he arrived. When is ‘that’ obligatory? When the complement clause is the subject of the sentence. When it is optional, it is generally omitted in informal style and after and short and common verbs. It is not omitted after long and less frequent verb: this will demonstrate that it is genuine. INTERROGATIVE COMPLEMENT CLAUSE → they express questions, but do not themselves ask them: I know where it is. (Where is it?) I told her what it was. (What was it?9 I don’t know whether he is ill. (Is he ill?) Closed interrogatives. Interrogative words who, what, which Open interrogatives. Whether, if. Other types of clauses NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSE ✓ they begin with a wh-word: - where to go was quite a problem. - who to ask was quite a problem. ✓ they may occur in a subject, object, or complement position: - which option to select was quite a problem. (subject) - he asked what happened (object) - the impersonator became whoever they wanted him to be (complement) NEGATIVE CLAUSE Clauses and sentences can also include negative items other than the negative particle, although they don’t usually negate the truth of a clause or sentence in the same way ‘not’ does. - He told me never to do it again (adverb) - It really is no use (determiner) - She said nothing about a trip to America (pronoun) VERBLESS CLAUSE Clauses which don’t contain a verb element at all: - although unhappy with the decision, Debra agreed to help. Lesson 10 Sentences Traditionally, we can identify four patterns of sentences construction: ▪ Simple sentences consisting of just one clause: o [They gave me access to the site] ▪ Compound sentences consisting of two or more coordinated clauses: o [Use it] or [lose it] ▪ Complex sentences consisting of one main clause with one or more embedded clauses: o [I’m starting tomorrow, [although I don’t have an on-line name yet.]] ▪ Compound-complex sentences combining coordination and subordination: o [I actually didn’t know [she was pregnant]], but [I just assumed [she was]] Simple sentences The clause in a simple sentence must be a main clause, must contain a finite verb and has to be grammatically complete as it stands. When a sentence containing only one main clause has a subordinate clause as part of one of its elements and that subordinate clause can therefore be removed without loss of grammatical completeness, then that sentence is still a simple sentence: I know a man who has an irrational fear of spiders. Compound sentences: coordination A compound sentences contains two (or more) main clauses joined together. The process of forming a compound sentence by joining two or more clauses on an equal grammatical basis is known as coordination. In coordination, two or more elements of equal status are joined to make a larger unit. [Jane is a good teacher, and her students really like her]. They offered us a choice of [red wine, white wine or beer]. Her assistant is [very young but a quick learner]. Most common coordinating words (coordinating conjunctions or coordinators) are: AND; OR; BUT. Coordination has the following properties. ✓ Unlimited number of coordinates (from two up) o Her assistant is [very young but a quick learner]. (2 coordinates) o They offered us a choice of [red wine, white wine or beer]. (3 coordinates) o Nothing [noble, sublime, profound, delicate, tasteful or even decent] can find a place in such tableaux. (6 coordinates) ✓ Coordinates must be syntactically similar. o I’ll be back [next week or at the end of the month]. ✓ Each coordinate can occur alone with the same function: o I’ll be back next week. o I’ll be back at the end of the month. (adjunct) ✓ Coordinates may belong to the same category, but this is not obligatory: o [Jane is a good teacher and her students really like her]. (declarative clauses) o They offered us a choice of [red wine, white wine or beer]. (Noun phrases) ✓ Impossibility of preposing an expanded coordinate o They attended the dinner but they are not members. o *But they are not members, they attended the dinner ✓ The order of coordinates can be changed without any effect on the acceptability or interpretation of the coordination: o We can have [beans or broccoli]. o We can have [broccoli or beans]. Exceptions: - fixed expressions: e were left [high and dry] - asymmetric coordination: I [got up and had breakfast] The marking of coordination o He felt [tired, depressed, listless] → unmarked coordination (and is understood)