4.1 Nonactive complements v Up this point, we have considered clauses that consist of a subject, a verb, and various types of complements. Depending on the verb, there may be a direct object, an indirect object, or an oblique complement. In addition, there may be adjuncts, phrases that are fully optional with any verb. This…
3.1 Constituents and constituent structure v The fundamental concept of this chapter is that sentences are not just strings of words, but have a more complex structure, which linguists call Constituent Structure. Consider the following sentence: (1) John angered Mary. It consists of three words, two nouns and separated by a verb. (2) The big dog angered the cat….
“I sing because I’m happy. I am happy because I sing.” Knowing a language includes the ability to construct phrases out of morphemes and words. The part of the grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of these structures and their formation is called syntax. Part of what we mean by structure…
o The word syntax is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘arrangement’. It studies the ways in which words are arranged together in order to make larger units. o The sentence is normally taken as the largest unit amenable to useful linguistic analysis. o The main emphasis of this study will be on the level of language that…
Start to Learn Syntax is mainly taken from Bickford, J. Albert. 1998. Tools for Analyzing the World’s Languages Morphology and Syntax. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. and it is compiled from some sources. It is intended to provide students with a structure, basic coverage of most of the topics dealt with in courses described as either ‘Syntax’ or ‘ The…
Aarts, Bas and April McMahon. 2006. The Handbooks of English Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing. Bickford, J. Albert. 1998. Tools for Analyzing the World’s Languages Morphology and Syntax. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. Davies, Alan. 2007. An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press. Fromkin, Victoria., Rodman, Roert and Hyam, Nina. 2003. An Introduction to Language. Heinly, a part of Thomson…
VOICE : Valence changing Morphology Voice: the way in which a language expresses the relationship between a verb and NP which are associated with it. Active and passive: two sentences can differ in voice and yet have the same basic meaning. Verbs are classified according to the number of noun phrases they require to complete…
Passive and Voice Passive Non prototypical associations of semantic roles and grammatical relations Subjects are prototypically agents or experiencers. Direct objects are prototypically patients or themes, and indirect objects are prototypically recipients or addressees. The subject may sometimes express other semantic roles. (1) Patient The branch broke (2) Recipient Maurice received a care package…
FINDING CLITICS Clitics generally have grammatical meaning, rather than lexical meaning. Most belong to closed classes like pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and conjunctions. They usually attach to the edges of words, outside of derivational and inflectional affixes. Clitics are not always obvious, because analysts tend to jump to conclusions about whether something is a…
Word division and Clitics Word is the smallest of the LINGUISTIC UNITS which can occur on its own in speech or writing. It is difficult to apply this criterion consistently. For example, can a FUNCTION WORD like the occur on its own? Is a CONTRACTION like can’t (“can not”) one word or two? Nevertheless, there is evidence that NATIVE…