Unit 2.- Syntax in Linguistics Preliminary reading and exercises. There are two types of ambiguity: 1. Lexical Ambi guity (morp holog y). 2. Structura l Ambi guit y (synt ax). Exercises: 1. In wha t ways are th ese expr essio ns ambig uous ? (a) An Ameri can hist ory te ach er. • An [American history] teacher A teacher of American history. • An [American [history] teacher] A history teacher from America. (b) Flying planes can b e dangerous. • [Flying planes] can be dangerous (Adj + N) = Planes that are flying are dangerous. • [Flying] [planes] can be dangerous (V + Obj) = Throwing planes in the air can be dangerous. (c) The pa rents o f the bri de and th e groom w ere wa itin g. • [The parents of the bride] and [the groom] were waiting There were 3 people waiting for the bride (her mother, her father and the groom himself). • [The parents] [of (the bride) and (the groom)] were waiting There were 4 people waiting (the parents of the bride and parents of the groom). 2. Can you provid e four, ‘superf icia lly distin ct’ sentenc es which would each have the same ‘underlying’ structure as one of the following sentences? (a) John was arreste d by t he police. • [John] was arrested by the police John has done something wrong so he was arrested • [The police] arrested John The police has arrested John for nothing as he is innocent. (b) She too k he r coat o ff. • [The coat] was taken off The important thing is that it was a coat, not a jacket. • [She] took off her coat Nobody helped her to take her coat off but she did it herself. 1
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Unit 2.- Syntax in Linguistics (No Unit 1 = Preliminary Unit)
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7/14/2019 Unit 2.- Syntax in Linguistics (No Unit 1 = Preliminary Unit)
‘Syntax’ = coming from Greek. Literal meaning = ‘setting altogether’, arrangement.
What is syntax?- In general, the study of the principles and rules for constructing sentences in
natural languages.
- The syntax of a language: body of rules followed by the speakers of a languagewhen they combine words into sentences.
Research in syntax tries to describe languages in terms of such rules.
- When we investigate English syntax, we try to determine the rules that dictatehow English speakers combine words to make sentences.
The rules of syntax.- At first glance, speakers of a language are not consciously aware of the
existence of such rules in their native tongue.
NOUN + VERB + ADJECTIVE
- Ie, when uttering a sentence like ‘Martha lives in the house that John sold toher’. A native English speaker would typically have the impression that s/he is not
following any rules. The native speaker feels that s/he is merely letting the
thought to be expressed and dictates the choice of words and their arrangement
in a sentence.
Evidence for rules of syntax.
- Knowing the words of a language is not enough to produce meaningful sentences.
• Imagine a person whose only knowledge about English consists on some
information about English words and their meanings obtained from a Japanese
to English dictionary.
• If we ask this person to express the thought behind ‘Martha
lives in the house that John sold to her’, s/he would probably
say something like:
*’Martha John her to sold house in lives’.
• Sentence that corresponds word by word to the sentence
that would convey the same thought in Japanese:
- Some sentences don’t have any meaning.- Some sentences sound ‘odd’ for no native speakers.
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Focus of Linguistics: spoken language (vs. Philology: written texts). Linguistics (Grammar) exists since the classical period, although the beginnings of
modern linguistics should be located in the 19th and early 20th.
Origins
Plato (4thc BC)
Socratic dialogue devoted to linguistic issues: Cratylus . Origins of language and the
concept of the “name-giver”.
The Nineteenth Century Heyday/Golden age of Historical Linguistics.
Special interest in concrete, empirical linguistic data.
Importance of comparative Linguistics.
The Twentieth Century
• Ferdinand de Saussure
Swiss Linguist (1857-1913).
The greatest European Structuralist.
Structuralism = main approach to Linguistics in the 20th century.
It focused on the investigation of concrete linguistic data synchronically.
Course in General Linguistics (1916).
Main thesis: Languages are the instruments that enable human beings to achieve
rational comprehension of the world in which we live.
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Emphasis on the importance of context. When the context changes, what is
communicated changes as well.
Focus: context-bound relation between what is said and what is communicated.
• Applied Linguistics: The concept appeared in the 1950s in Britain and the USA (Anglo-American
creation).
Origins linked with the teaching and learning of English.
Purpose : to solve real-world, language-based problems. Based on Linguistics +
other disciplines (anthropology, sociology, psychology...)
Subfields of Linguistics
(Levels of Linguistic analysis)
• Phonetics and phonology.• Morphology
• Syntax
• Semantics
Morphology (categories) / Syntax (function). They are independent.
Phonology: Phonological rules
Phonology: abstract idea that we have of sounds. Deep structure, Competence.
- Rules that determine the different patterns of speech sounds in a language.- Based on a theory of what every speaker of a language unconsciously knows
about the sound patterns of that language.
- Abstract or mental aspect of the sounds of a language.
Phonetics: Phonetic rules
Phonetics: the sounds themselves. Practical pronunciation of language. Surface
structure. Performance.
- Rules that determine the actual pronunciation of words and sentences in a
language.- Actual physical articulation of speech sounds.
Morphology: Morphological rules
- Rules that govern the formation of words.
- Basic unit: morpheme (minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function).
Syntax: Syntactic rules
- Rules followed by the speakers of a language when they combine words into
sentences.
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Grammar
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• Basic of most modern attempts to characterise the structure of different
languages.
• Origins: end of the 19th c., when linguists who wanted to study the structure of
North American Indian languages discovered that the prescriptive rules of Latingrammar didn’t fit to analyse those languages. As they could not apply the rules
of Latin, they decided to describe those languages That led to the beginning
of the descriptive approach to the study of a language.
• Descriptive grammarians/analysts:
They collect samples of the languages they are interested in.
The attempt to describe the regular structures of the languages. What is
important is the language spoken by real people and how language actually
is, not what language should be like (what we have seen in the prescriptive
method).
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Sample LessonJelous shildrren
Hoy vamo’ a ver
El “ver-tu-bi”
Ai am
Llur ar
Ji is…
Adverbios de frecuencia – Frequency adverbs• Uso
We often went camping when we were children(Cuando éramos niños a menudo íbamos a acampar)
I will always love you(Siempre te amaré)
• Posición en la oración
Pedro sometimes visits us on Sundays
(Pedro a veces nos visita los domingos)She is often ill in winter
(Ella generalmente está enferma en invierno)
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o Not according to some views of how it should be used.
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) According to Chomsky, LAD is an aspect of
Universal Grammar, that is, something shared by all human beings (independently ofthe language). It is the subconscious and genetically given (innate) component of the
human mind that enables the acquisition of first language (L1).
Other theories by Chomsky
- In the 1980s, Noam Chomsky developed the theory of Government and Binding .
- In the 1990s and 2000s, Chomsky developed the Minimalist Programme/Program .
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