Understanding Phrases, Clauses, and Dependencies in English Grammar, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Linguistica Inglese

Scarica Understanding Phrases, Clauses, and Dependencies in English Grammar e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Linguistica Inglese solo su Docsity! Syntax schema A language is made up of by units of meaning, expressed through sounds (phones and phonemes). ® Meaningful sounds: sounds used in a meaningful way to distinguish different words+> minimal pairs (ex. Hat-Cat) ® Words:smallest unit of a phrase, they are composed by morphemes which create meaning and the form; they can also change words: from a verb to an adjective and vice versa: ex. To love (verb) +loving (adj) +lover (noun) Words can be: 1. Lexical: they have a specific meaning (ex. cat, hat, love) Grammatical: they don't have a meaning themselves, they are used as logical connectors (ex. With, of, and) ® Syntax: concernsthe rules by which words are combined in larger units; which can be: 1. Clauses: units of words with a verb and subject 2. Phrases: units of words without a verb and subject (ex. “heart of gold”, “best friend etc) 3. Sentences: a period of combined clauses Difference between a clause and a phrase: ® Inaphrase we can find verb phrases (VP) which are used solely to describe something&> ex. The company I have been working for the last three years (I am describing the company) ® Inaclause we can find a predicate which indicates an action made by the subject ex. | have been working in this company for the last three years (I have worked in the company) Difference between a clause and a sentence: ® Clause: has 1 predicate ® Sentence:has more than one predicate; this means that more clauses are combined and so they compose a sentence. Elements in a clause: Clauses can be analysed in 2 ways: 1. Formal Classification = analisi grammaticale; the elements are: e Noun * Verb ®* Adjective ® Adverb * Preposition 2. Functional Classification = analisi logica; the elements are: ®* Subject ® Predicate Direct Object Indirect Object Complement Adverbial How to separate the phrases of a sentence? First, we have to find the headword: lexical items which are central to the phrase in the sense that some crucial information would be missing without the headword, and the phrase would seem structurally incomplete. La parolina che non si può omettere. PHRASES They are marked by square brackets [...] They can be of 5 types: NP = noun phrases, VP = verb phrases; AdjP = adjective phrases; AdvP = adverb phrases; PP = prepositional phrases. All phrases (except PP) may be composed of 1 word only (NB: it's headword is a grammatical one and not lexical one in PP). All phrases can be expanded: ex. “Students like partying” + “University students are known to like heavy partying” NOUN PHRASES They are composed by: 1 From a functional P.O.V (point of view): heads determiners: identify what's the head; constituents which determine the reference of the NP in its linguistic/situational context (articles, determinatives, ...) modifiers: modify the head, explaining his qualities (adjectives, adverbs, ...) premodification: modifying/describing constituents which are found BEFORE the head (not the determiners) Postmodification: modifying/describing constituents which are found AFTER the head HEAD e It's semantically central: it's usually a noun, or a pronoun and it's obligatory + crucial info * Pronouns, cardinal numerals and some adjectives which can appear pronominally may function as head in a noun phrase + NB: when a pronoun is the head it usually occurs without the pre-modification + pronouns can be personal, indefinite, demonstrative ®e They determine the grammatical and inflectional (genere e numero) of the phrase. ® Everythingthat ISN'Tthe head is a modifier ® Inone-word phrases, only the head is present DETERMINERS They determine the way a noun is used. NB+ if the head is an indefinite pronoun then the AdjP that modifies it must follow the pronoun. The two functions of AdjP: 1. Attributive within a NP, to modify/describe the head noun; It's placed BEFORE the head noun 2. Predicative to predicate, to give more information about a subject or object: In functional classification, the adjective is a complement; It's placed AFTER the head noun (predicato nominale) RULES OF ADIJP * SomeAdjPcanonly appear as heads of attributive AdjP->ex the late king of France * AdjPwithcertain heads are typically post positive-+>ex The concert proper lasts 2 hours but the event is much longer ® SomeAdjPcanbeheadsof post-positive/predicate AdjP but not of attributive AdjP+ ex the small children were afraid PREDICATE ADJECTIVE * Theyare accompanied by copular verbs (= verbs where the subject does the action of being something, having a quality ex : be, appear, seem, look, sound, smell, taste, feel, become, get). ® Theadjectivesthat follow the copular verbs are complements NB+ In functional classification: if a predicate AdjP is about the subject then the AdjP is a subject complementi; if it's about an object it's an object complement ORDER OF ADJECTIVES 1. determiner/possessive 2. observation/value: nice, very, rare, famous, dirty, ugly, ... 3. physical description = size, age, shape, colour: big, small, old, rectangular, red, ... 4. = french, american, african, victorian, ... 5. material =wodden, iron, plastic, ... 6. qualifier And then the noun FORMAL CONSTITUENTS OF AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE * Head=adjectives (or participle) e Premodification = The modifying/describing/qualifying constituents that precede the head; usually adverb intensifiers: very, too, extremely, fairly * Postmodification = adverb and complementation complementation = constituent which follows any post modification and completes the specification of a meaning implied by the head It can be: * PP (Prepositional Phrase) “for me”, “in the house”, “with the police” ® Infinitive clause “to see him” NB+ There aren't any determiners ADVERB PHRASES Composed by: ®* Head=adverb * Premodification = usually intensifiers: such, quite, rather, what, too, ... * Postmodification = adverb and complementation NB+ Only AdvP can modify an adverb but an adverb can have various types of complementation (= any phrase or clause which is directly linked to the head) ADJP AND ADVP ® Similar structures ® Theyare usually pre-modified by intensifiers ®e Occasionally post-modified by adverbs such as “enough” or “indeed” ® Theycanbe post-modified by PP and infinitive clauses How do I distinguish AdjP from AdvP? Adjective Phrase is always connected to: ® Noun, adjective explains a quality of the noun * Copularverb,a passive action of being something Adverb Phrase * It's always connected to the verb: the adverb explains how an action is made PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE A preposition can't stand alone because it needs a prepositional complement (typically a NP) So PP can consist of: ® preposition +noun phrase+ ex.“in the car” * preposition+adverb + ex. “above here” * preposition +clause + ex. “thank you for that speech” VERB PHRASE Structure: verb + compulsory elements which go with the verb Verb phrases have 2 functional parts: 1. auxiliary (be, have, do, modal verbs) which tells us tense, mood, etc. of the clause 2. main verb which gives us lexical information and inflection * Verbsare fundamental because they make us understand: tense (past, present or future); mood (indicative, interrogative, imperative, subjunctive); voice (passive or active); aspect (perfect or continuous); modality (modal verbs (must, could, may...) NB+ if a VP is composed of a single lexical verb it will be marked for tense. NB+ if auxiliaries are present the first auxiliary will be marked for tense. MOOD It can be: 1. Indicative: used for clear and direct statements Formation: Auxiliary + lexical verb 2. Interrogative: used for questions, desire for information. Formation: clauses begin with an auxiliary verb or an interrogative pronoun. 3. Imperative: used for orders, commands Formation: clauses begin with verb at base form 4. Subjunctive: used for hypothetical situations, desires, uncertain events Formation: 1. Auxiliary+ subordinate clause 2. Begins with subordinators (= words which introduce subordinate clauses ex. “If”) 3. “Unusual” subject-verb concord+ ex. “I demand she have a chance” NB+ With the verb “suggest” the verb after has to be in -ing form or in unusual form; not necessary with the verb “advice” TENSES Tense systems mark time; tense is marked on the first reference of the expression verb of the verb phrase. Verbs can be: 1. Finite verbs: They're marked for tense; alone they only have 2 tenses + present marked with the -s for the 3° singular person; past marked with -ed (except irregular verbs) 2. Infinite verbs: they don't have any specific tense, they adapt to all tenses+ -ing form; infinite; past participle (they're called past, but they can't be used alone, so their tense is given by auxiliaries) 3. Complex tenses: tenses that are created uniting different tensed verbs+ present perfect (have + past participle); future simple (going to + verb present) MODALITY The modality is used to express the speakers' sense of obligation, volition, probability, permission, and ability. Formation: modal verb + base form verb * Must: obligation ® Will: volition; it expresses a future sense e May/might: probability ® Can: permission/ability NB+ the same modal verb can have either an epistemic function (opinion/belief) and a deontic function (obligation) ASPECT Completion/continuation of the process indicated by the verb: 1. Perfect aspect: expresses sense of completion Structure: Have+ past participle 2. Continuous aspect: the process expressed by the verb continues Structure: Be + -ing form * Primary auxiliaries (have, be) are used to indicate aspect (progressive/perfect) and voice (active/passive) ® Theauxiliary triggers a specific verb form (present/past participle) “Do” as a supporting auxiliary in VP (interrogative mood/constructing negative clauses): * “Do” occurs in clause-initial position INDIRECT OBJECT Refers to the person or thing to whom the action is done It's usually an NP They always precede the direct object (the order of the clause is SPOO) NB+ You can't have an indirect object without having a direct object (but a verb may require a direct object only) NB+ when the direct object is postponed we will have to recur to an oblique construction (entails the introduction of a preposition) Ditransitive verbs need indirect object COMPLEMENT It doesn't introduce something new into the sentence, it simply completes what we know about something already mentioned. They typically are NP or AdjP (less frequently AdvP or PP) They often appear after: copular verbs (NB+ AdjP used in predicative position), perception verbs and verbs of change When they complete the subject they come after the verb When they complete the direct object they come after it Object complement: when it refers to the object, not the subject Position in the clause: SPOC - Subject + Predicator + direct Object + Complement SPC- Subject + Predicator + Complement IN STRUCTURES NP+VP+NP+NP In the SPOC clause If the 2 NPs refer to the same person: NP 1: indirect object; NP 2: complement In the SPOO clause If the 2 NPs doesn't refer to the same person: NP 1: indirect object; NP 2: direct object NB+ Objects can be made the subject of positive clauses; complements can't When the object is a clause: Object extraposition: the clause is anticipated by “it” and put the clause after The same thing can happen with subjects but complements can't become subjects of passive clauses ADVERBIALS They define the role within a clause Most adverbials are optional elements They can be NP, PP, AdvP Adverbial clauses: Subordinate clauses which indicate some kind of circumstance or conditions Obligatory adverbials: they occur because there are lexical verbs whose meaning relates the subject of the predicator (not to objects or complements) but to some kind of circumstance such as time or space. Verbs: be; get; lie; remain; stay can all be used with AdvP as compulsory adverbials Verbs: be; get; lie; remain; stay; stand used with PP as compulsory adverbials Verbs: be, get, lie, lean, remain, stay, put, place, last, all need adverbials POSITION IN THE CLAUSE * optional adverbials can be put wherever you want * obligatory adverbials In SPA: after the predicator In SPOA: sometimes after the direct object COMPLEMENT OR ADVERBIAL? * Complementstells a characteristic of subject or object ® Adverbialstells why an action is made, where or when the situation happened CLAUSE ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH ® Subject (5) > NP; near the beginning of a clause, the verb must be concorded with it. * Predicator(P)+ Alwaysa VP, concorded with the subject in person and number. ®* Object(0)— NP; follows the P, only follows transitive verbs; Ditransitive verbs have 2 objects; The indirect object can occur with a direct object * Complement(C) > NPorAdjP (less frequently AdvP or PP); follows only some verbs (ex. “To be”); has the same referent as the subject ® Adverbial (A)+ usually PP or AdvP; can be optional or obligatory RELATIVE CLAUSE ® Defines/describes a noun * Subordinate clause that postmodifies the head There are 3 types of relative clauses: 1. Defining clauses/restrictive: they postmodify noun heads; They give necessary information to identify the person or thing we are talking about. 2. Non-defining clauses/non- restrictive: they postmodify noun heads; They give us additional information, they tell us more about the person or thing, but this information it is not necessary 3. Sentential: “which” clauses referring to a whole sentence or stretch of discourse NB+ commas can change the meaning of the clause RELATIVE PRONOUNS ® Relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns. As being pronouns, they substitute subjects, object or prepositional element of their clause * Thechoiceofthe relative pronoun depends on whether the reference is to: the person, subject/object and a possessive meaning Pronoun Who: * relatedto people or pet animals * substitutes subject, object or prepositional complements of the relative clause ® Usedin defining/non defining Pronoun Whom= who: * usedonly when the person is the object * alwaysused when the preposition is placed before the relative noun * usedwhenitrefers to the complement of a preposition Pronoun Whose= of who: ® substitute possessive determiners; possession by humans/animals Pronoun Which: * relatedtothings/the object, not humans ® Usedin defining/non defining and sentential Pronoun That: * relatedtothings/object and humans/subject ® Replaces who/whom/which in defining relative clauses * Itcan't be used for non-defining clauses * ltcan'tbeusedafter prepositions * “that” may refer to the complement of a preposition but not when the preposition is placed immediately before the relative pronoun ZERO RELATIVE PRONOUNS Relative pronouns can be omitted when: ® Whenthe pronoun represents the object * whenthe preposition is placed at the end of the relative clause, Zero relative pronouns can also occur as the complement of a preposition. ® Indefining/non defining clauses that are non-finite ® In “ing” and “ed” clauses, non-finite relative clauses only occur when the subject of the non- tensed verb is the same referent as the head noun SENTENTIAL RELATIVE CLAUSES * “which”-clauses referring to a whole sentence Non defining or sentential? The police found that those cars had irregularities around carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. Si riferisce solo a “carbon dioxite emissions”, quindi è non-defining The share prices of many diesel manufacturers have fallen, which implies that investors are worried for their business Si riferisce a tutto l'evento, non a un soggetto solo, quindi è sentential