Fundamentals of Linguistics: Syntax, Semantics, and Word Meaning, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Fundamentals of Linguistics: Syntax, Semantics, and Word Meaning e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! English Language BASIC CONCEPTS ABOUT LANGUAGE o Language is symbolic à every language is extremely complex o Despite its complexity, language is systematic o It is systematic on many levels o Language varies systematically (area to area, person to person) à a language is systematic in terms of word and sound consequences. Ex. Whose dressing is under consideration in each of the following sentences? Jill appealed to Mary to dress herself à Mary is dressing. Jill appeared to Mary to dress herself à Jill is dressing. In this case speakers of the same language must know the same rules. Ex. What is the question formed from each of the following statements? John is eating his porridge à is John eating his porridge? à Rules are descriptive not prescriptive. à Variations of language • Language changes over time English was first spoken in England about AD700 Those who spoke English were a group of tribes from the European continent. The English spoken then is incomprehensible to us now. • Language varies in geographic space There are many different englishes spoken around the world. British isles Englishes (Australian, south Africa, Irish English) North American englishes North American englishes • Language varies in social place In the same society not everyone speaks English the same way. Social stratification Women and men Young and old Formal and informal. Language gas a great creativity potential à there is nothing in principle which cannot be encoded (provided no limit is placed on the complexity of utterances). Language creativity also triggers a potential for ambiguity. à biuniqueness vs polysemy Biuniqueness = one word, one meaning Polysemy = one word, many meanings Language is a semiotic system à involves signs, i.e. entities standing for other entities à signs are stable symbolic associations between a meaning and a form. Saussure Sign (the object/thing) à in a language are represented by sequences of sounds, which can be transferred into visual signs or the gestural language of the deaf. Signifier – the physical existence (sound, word, image) Signified – the mental concept A question arises concerning the relation between the sign (signifier) and the object it stands for (signified): is it totally arbitrary or in some way motivated? Peirce said the form a sign takes, it’s signifier, can be classified as one of three types an icon, an index, or a symbol. Icon= has a physical resemblance to the signified, the thing being represented. A photograph is a good example as it certainly resembles whatever it depicts. Index= shows evidence of what’s being represented. A good example is using an image of smoke to indicate fire. Symbol= has no resemblance between the signifier and the signified. The connection between them must be culturally learned. Numbers and alphabets are good examples. There’s nothing inherent in the number 9 to indicate what it represents. It must be culturally learned. What is language? A language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written symbols used by the people of a particular country or region for communicating. Any act of vernal communication, be it oral or written, involves, six basic elements. Exercise In each of the following sentences determine what is the Subject and what is the Predicate The predicate is composed from verb and what follows it which are called determiners. Referents of subjects need not always be doing something: • my brother wears a green overcoat • the committee disliked her proposal • the girl with the red hat stood on the platform • this car stinks we cannot talk about “performing an action” and predicates do not belong all the same way (dynamic vs. stative predicates). Always remember that English is an SVO (subject verb and object) language, so the subject always comes first and cannot be postpone or omitted. But there are also: 1. non referential it à it doesn’t have any referential in the sentence it is raining it is cold 2. existential there there were new books on the shelf subjects predominantly consist of group of words, those most important element denotes a person, an animal, an institution or a thing à these elements are called NOUNS groups of words are classified as noun phrases (nps). Subjects are obligatory in English à they typically occur at the beginning of the sentence. Predicator Direct object In semantic terms, do are those constituents referring to entities that undergo the activitu or process denoted by the verb Typical role associated: Patient (vs Agent, the person who performs a given action). In syntactic terms DO are usually NPs, but we can also have: The usual position of Dos is after the main verb and they have a strong relationship with the verb that precedes them. If we turn an active sentence into a passive, the DO of the active becomes the subject of the passive sentence. Indirect object IO are usually NPs à they cannot occur without a following DO, they always precede the DO IO become Subjects in the passive sentence Adjunctions (a) these elements tell us something about the how, where, when or why of the situation expressed. They describe incidental circumstances, such as time, place or manner of an action, event or state. They express optional information. They are peripheral and can appear in groups. They can be normally represented by adverb phrases or prepositional phrases, but sometimes they can also be indicated by a noun phrase. They are mobile. Genitive endings: Sub-classes The class of nouns is commonly divided into a series of subclasses. First of all we have the division between: Proper nouns: referring to unique entities, such as people, places or institutions and are written with a capital letter. In English, names of months and days are also regarded as p.n’s. Common nouns: referring to a class of objects or to single items belonging to that class. They can also be classified as: Concrete nouns: referring to perceivable objects in the world that can be observed and measured Abstract nouns: referring to non-material things, such as ideas, feelings, conditions. Nouns can also be classify according to their countability: Countable nouns: nouns refer to individual, countable entities. They allow a plural: interest – interests; share – shares. Uncountable nouns: nouns refer to a category or notion. They can be only used as singular nouns, do not allow a plural, occur in the singular with some/any: money, language, music. Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable, with a slight change of meaning: language is a human characteristic. A noun occurs as the headword of a noun phrase (a phrase where a noun or a pronoun is the most important word). Ex: the highest stock in the market. Stock is the headword premodified by the highest and postmodified by the market. Pronouns are words which stand for a noun, a whole noun phrase, or several noun phrases. Pronouns can also refer to a very general concept which includes the meaning of many possible noun phrases; They can also refer to some unspecified event of the situation (pointing). Numerals are not typical nouns, but we will put them in this sub-class as they can take plural endings in certain (though restricted) circumstances. The group is divided into twos and threes They can be divided into: CARDINAL: one, two, three ORDINAL: first, second, third.. VERBS à a word which signifies an action or a state. à a sentence may contain a single verb, or it may use a cluster of verbs which word together as a verb phrase (VP): They can have various distinct forms (inflections: infinitive (to walk), third person singular present tense (walks), past tense (walked), present participle (walking), past participle (walked). The past participle is usually the same as the past tense form, but for some irregular verbs it is different (give, gave, given). 1) Lexical verbs: verbs carrying meaning, as a vocabulary item. 2) Auxiliary verbs: used in conjunction with lexical verbs. They have grammatical meaning. a. Aspectual auxiliaries: have, - be; b. The passive auxiliary: be c. Modal auxiliaries: can, could, may, might, would, shall, must d. The dummy auxiliary: do VERB FINITNESS We usually classify verbs into 2 broad types, based on the contrast in meaning they express: Finite forms: define verb number, tense, person or mood. In combinations of verbs, the finite one is always in first position: I was being asked; he hadn’t done it; Nonfinite forms: do not limit the verb. When a nonfinite form is used the verb can refer to any number, tense, person and mood. A nonfinite form of the verb stays the same in a clause, regardless of the grammatical variation taking place. I’m leaving/they’re leaving/he was leaving ADJECTIVES they typically expand the meaning of a noun; they express some quality of a noun. Most of them occur before a noun, in attributive position. In other cases, they appear after a copular verb in predicative position. Ex: I am afraid of darkness – predicative position The utter show of an actor is on Wednesday – attributive à adjectives can be immediately preceded by very and other intensifying words à they are Gradable. There are adjective which are not Gradable à adjectives denoting materials (wooden – a very wooden floor) or nationality (Russian – a Russian book). ORDER OF ADJECTIVES Some adverbs can indicate the comment of a speaker DETERMINERS There are used with nouns and have the function of defining the reference of a noun (NP). They can be defined as identifiers and quantifiers. o Identifiers: include articles (a,the), possessives (my,yoor,his), and demonstratives. The last two groups are often called possessive adjectives and demonstrative adjectives to distinguish them from the corresponding pronouns. o Quantifiers: define an indefinite quantify (some of the members are in common with indefinite pronouns): a lot of, many, few, several and little. PREPOSITIONS They do not inflect in English. Prepositions indicate relationships Primarily in time and space They relate something to something else, e.g something is in, on,under etc. They are a closed class, meaning you can’t make up new ones. CONJUNCTIONS They have a joining function, usually of connecting two clauses, but sometimes also two nouns. They are of two kinds: Coordinating conjunctions: such as and, or, but, which joins elements on the same level Subordinating conjunctions: such as when, if, why, because, which subordinate one item to another in some way. The subordination may be of time, reason, or some other kind. NOUN PHRASE à find clear cases of other phrases in the above examples The constituents of the noun phrase, from a functional point of view, ot has 4 major components in a fixed order: The head is usually represented by a noun, but it can also be a pronoun When a pronoun is the head, it usually occurs without pre-modification. Adjectives have the main function of widening the scope of the head noun. When adjectives are more than one, they follow a specific order. It is also possible to find nouns as head modifiers (with an adjectival function). Noun modifier + head is usually the first step towards compounding creation. Possessive + head The bhshop’s residences A singer’s vocal cords The new committee’s duties POST MODIFICATION Post modification is usually occupied by phrases or clauses and not by specific word classes. Four main types of post-modification can be outlined: 1. Adjectives or adverbs 2. Relative clauses 3. Non-finite clauses 4. Prepositional phrases. ADJECTIVE OR ADVERBS Adjective as post-modifiers occur with indefinite pronouns as head, because these cannot be pre-modified e.g something odd, somebody attractive adverbs are frequently used, e.g the day before, the room downstairs. These examples can be seen as reduction of more complex prepositional phrases, such as the day before this one. RELATIVE CLAUSES Relative clauses are subordinate clauses, introduced by a relative pronoun (which, that, who, whom, whose), pointing back to the head noun of the noun in which it occurs as post-modifier. I know a man who has travelled around the world by bike. There are two main types: 1. Restrictive 2. Non- restrictive Restrictive relative clauses: establish reference to an antecedent, providing the necessary information to identify it. When the relative pronoun is in the case of an object, it can be omitted Non-restrictive relative clauses: provide additional information. It is usually a proper noun or a common noun that refers to a unique person, thing or eventi. It is found between commas, to show that the info is optional and extra. NON-FINITE CLAUSES Non-finite clauses are usually without subject and are introduced by non-finite forms of a verb (infinite, -ing form) and they are either infinitive clauses (to perform his duty) or participle clauses (arriving home). They can be used in post-modification as in: PUTTING THINGS TOGETHER: REPRESENTING THE STRUCTURE OF SIMPLE CLAUSES à square bracket for sentences and phrases, round brackets are for head. TREE DIAGRAMS OF SIMPLE CLAUSES VP = is made by the lexical verb and the NP, which represent the way in which the verb is made. TREE DIAGRAMS OF DOUBLE OBJECT CONSTRUCTIONS Ex. The dogs played in the park [[the (dogs N )NP] [(played V) [(in PP) ((the Det.) (park N) NP) PP] VP] ] some elephants were chewing the acacia trees [[some (elephants HN) NP] [ were (chewing LV) [the [(acacia HN) NP] (trees HN) NP]VP] S] The film crew left the location for lunch [[the [(film HN)NP] (crew HN) NP] [ (left LV) [the (location HN) [for (lunch HN) P P] NP] VP] S] Sandra didn’t like the neighbours [[(Sandra HN) NP] [didn’t (like LV) [(the DET.) (neighbours HN) NP] VP] S ] A journey up the Nile might take three months [[(A D)(journey HN) [(up P) [(the D) (Nile HN) NP] PP] NP] [might (take LV) [[three AP/D] (months HN) NP] VP]S ] COMPLEX SENTENCES Embedding phrases in phrases, phrases in clauses, clauses in clauses PHRASES IN PHRASES è Phrases can contain other phrases as constituents this process is potentially infinite. Embedding within phrases It is typical for Prepositional Phrase (PP) This process is called recursion, and there is different level of recursion RECURSIVITY IN POSSESSIVES CLAUSES WITHIN CLAUSES Note that the underlined constituents are clauses, i.e. they have subjects and predicates. Function of embedded clauses The triangle is the symbol to indicate the secondary clause without analyze it inside Ex. They knew what Joanna saw. [[(they HN) NP] [(knew LV) [what Joanna saw S’] VP] S] The boy with red shorts kicked the ball and scored a goal Adjectival clause An AC, also called relative clause, is a clause that modifies a noun. It describes or gives information about a noun. Usually begins with a relative pronoun (who,whom,that,which and whose) or with a relative adverb (where and when). There are two basic types of AC: • Nonrestrictive nonessential, adjective clause the clause that simply gives extra information about the noun. • Restrictive essential, adjective clause. The clause that offers essential information and is needed to complete the sentence’s thought. Adverbial clause Functions like an adverb in giving information about the reason, manner, time, place, concession, condition, or purpose of an action that occurred. The name “adverbial” suggests that adverbial clauses modifies verbs, but they modify whole clauses. SENTENCE TYPES Simple, Compound, Complex, Compound-Complex Simple Sentences - Contains a subject and a verb - It expresses a single thought that can stand on its own Compound Sentences - A compound sentence has two independent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that can stand alone because it contains a subject and a verb and expresses complete thought. - Contains two simple sentences - These independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Complex Sentences - Is an independent clause joined by one more dependent clauses. A dependent clause either lacks a subject or a verb or has both a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought. - A complex sentence always has a subordinator (as, because, since, after, although, when) or relative pronouns (who, that, which). Compound-complex Sentences - Has two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause It may ne illustrated by Chomsky’s famous sentence Collocation Is a feature of all languages. At its simplest form, it is “what goes together with what”. It is used in lexicology to refer to the habitual co-occurrence of individual lexical terms. Weak collocations: good + … Strong collocations: green jealousy; blue flu; Collocation can be strong or weak. Strong collocations are where the link between the two words is quite fixed and restricted Weak collocations are where a word can collocate with many other words. There are different class of words: We have different criteria for collocations: • Non-compositionality • Non-substitutability • Non-modifiability Collocations usually cannot be translated into other languages word by word NON-COMPOSITIONALITY IN COLLOCATIONS a phrase is compositional if its meaning can be predicted from the meaning of its parts a phrase is non-compositional if its meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning of its parts (hot dog) Collocations are not necessarily fully compositional, in that there is usually an element of meaning added to the combination. Eg strong tea. Idioms are the most extreme examples of non compositionality; eg. To hear it through the grapevine. NON-SUBSTITUTABILITY IN COLLOCATIONS We cannot substitute near-synonyms for the components of a collocation Many collocations cannot be freely modified with additional lexical material or through grammatical transformations (non-modifiability) SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS-COLLOCATIONAL CONSTRAINTS 5 Collocations can undergo a fossilization process until they become fixed expression (or idioms) The semantic integrity (or cohesion) of a collocation is more marked, If the meaning of one of its constituents is restricted contextually Meaning also involves relationships among word themselves Sense relations situate themselves on three axes: 1. Syntagmatic 2. Paradigmatic 3. Derivational PARADIGMATIC RELATIONS They reflect the semantic choices available at a particular point in a sentence, and are typically related to words belonging to the same category. They are called relations in abstentia, as opposed to syntagmatic relations, which are in presentia Meaning involves on the one hand the relation of reference to extralinguistic reality, and on the other, relations of sense to other vocabulary (lexems) in the lexicon. They reflect the particular semantic choices available at a particular point in a sentence: Examples NEAR – SYNONYMY It can be assessed on the basis of speakers’ intuitions; Near Synonymy involve minor differences and are usually interchangeably used in dictionary definitions. Minor differences might include the following: Near-synonymy often occur in the test frame X, or other Y which signals that Y conveys information that is not totally present in X, and that the difference is relatively minor. Near-synonymy are words which share a common core of meaning, but differ in minor aspects. Synonymy often come in clusters and are grouped around a more central instance, which subsumes all the characteristics of a given group. While other exemplars of a set represent elaborations on some aspects. Hyponymy It represents a specific type of inclusion, namely the inclusion of one class in another, as in the case of car and vehicle, where cars constitute a subclass of the larger class of vehicles. The more specifi item is called a hyponym (dog,apple) and the more general term is called a superordinate (or hyperonym) (animal,fruit). Hyponymy can be thought of as an “X is a Y” relation, which guarantees the truth of general statements such as “A dog is an animal” or “An apple is a fruit”, while the opposite is obviously not true. Two sense relations are necessary in this configuration: daughter-nodes must be hyponyms of their respective mother-nodes (dog à animal; insects à creature), while sister-nodes (co- hyponyms) are mutually incompatible, like dog and cat. Apple in the previous example is a hyponym of fruit, but at the same time a hyperonym of Golden Deliciosu and Granny Smith. In additions, it is in a mutual exclusion relation with pear and banana. The implication of hyponymy is that the vocabulary of a language has a hierarchical organization with degrees of generality and inclusion. So, dog is hyponym of animal, which in turn is a hyponym of mammal and so on. But not all the words in the language are so ordered. Meronymy is a part-whole relation. Examples of meronyms are hand-finger, car-engine, tree- branch. In the case of finger-hand, finger is said to be the meronym and hand the holonym. It shows an interesting parallel with hyponym, but the two xo not habe to be confused. Prototypical meronymous, where X is a meronym of Y are normal in frames such as X is part of Y; a Y has an X; the parts of Y are X, A and B. Opposition They can be further subdivided in: a. Relations of incompatibility and co-meronymy b. Opposites Relations of incompatibility This relation concerns mutual exlusion of classes: if something is a cat, then it follows that it cannot be a dog. Incompatibles are terms which denote classes which share no members;