Introduction to Syntax

Syntax
Syntax is the study of the part of the human linguistic system that determines how sentences are put together out of words. Syntactic rules in a grammar account for the grammaticality of sentences, and the ordering of words and morphemes. Syntax involves our knowledge of structural ambiguity, our knowledge that sentences may be paraphrases of each other, and our knowledge of the grammatical function of each part of a sentence, that is, of the grammatical relations. It is also concerned with speakers' ability to produce and understand an infinite set of possible sentences. The sentence is regarded the highest-ranking unit of grammar, and therefore that the purpose of a grammatical description is to define, making use of whatever descriptive apparatus that may be necessary (rules, categories, etc).

Grammar and Syntax

But there is a difference among the linguists about the use of these two terms. The two terms are used interchangeably by different grammarians. Sometimes grammar is used as a much broader term, encompassing both syntax and morphology. The term Syntax is much more associated to Chomskyan school of thought (though not exclusive to it)

Division of Grammar
We may divide grammar into two branches: 1. Morphology: It deals with the form and structure of words. 2. Syntax: It deals with the arrangement of words form sentences.

The Place of Grammar

Grammar is supposed to provide a bridge between phonology and lexicon. Grammar is understood to encompass all three areas i.e. grammar, phonology and lexicon. Grammar creates the relationship between form and meaning. But this relationship is not so simple as traditional grammarians believed.

Syntax
Traditionally, grammar has been defined as a set of rules governing the structure and placement of words in a sentence. The study of the regularities and constraints of word order and phrase structure However, many objections can be raised against this definition.

Approaches to Grammar
Prescriptive approach: It is concerned with prescribing the ways in whichaccording to grammarians language should be used. Descriptive approach: Its concern is with describing the ways how language is used rather than prescribing how it should be used. This is the hallmark of modern linguistics. However, prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar are not necessarily in conflict: they simply have different goals.

Traditional Vs Modern Approaches to Grammar

Traditional Grammar studies a language with reference to some other languages i.e. Latin, Greek It is essentially prescriptive It takes the aid of logic to prescribe the rules of grammar. It studies only written language and excludes oral aspect of language. The traditional definitions are largely notional and circulatory. It is essentially inconsistent and cannot deal with language in a systematic way. Modern grammar studies language as an independent entity with its own set of rules It is descriptive It gives equal importance to spoken and written language. It approaches language in a very systematic way and aims at an exhaustive analysis

Sentence Structure
One aspect of the syntactic structure of sentences is the division of a sentence into phrases, and those phrases into further phrases, and so forth. Another aspect of the syntactic structure of a sentence is "movement" relations that hold between one syntactic position in a sentence and another. The syntactic literature dealing with the study of how sentences are structured throws us a hint that syntactic research should not only concern on how sentences are merged out of their parts, units, or constituents, but also on how constituents are moved according to certain rules.

Constituents
Constituents are structural units, which refer to any linguistic form, such as words or word groups. Although the term string is often used technically to refer to sequences of words, sentences are not merely strings of words in a permissible order and making sense. They are structured into successive components, consisting of single words or groups of words. These groups and single words are called

constituents (i.e. structural units), and when they are considered as part of the successive unraveling of a sentence, they are known as its immediate constituents. When we consider sentence My friend came home late last night, we find out that it consists of seven word arranged in a particular order. In syntax, the seven words in this model sentence are its ultimate constituents. This sentence and in general any sentence of the language may be represented as a particular arrangement of the ultimate constituents, which are the minimal grammatical elements, of which the sentence is composed. Every sentence has therefore what we will refer to as a linear structure. The small units are known as its immediate constituents.

Immediate Constituent Analysis

Formal accounts of syntax are based on establishing the basic constituents, namely, categories, from which word strings are formed. Sentences are regarded as hierarchies of interlocking smaller units, or constituents. After a sentence is cut into its constituent elements, the two parts that are yielded are called immediate constituents. Then, we get the smallest grammatical unit obtained through the division, or segmentation, which is seen as the ultimate constituent. The segmentation of the sentence up into its immediate constituents by using binary cuttings until its ultimate constituents are obtained is an important approach to the realization of the nature of language, called Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC Analysis). The analysis can be carried out in ways of tree diagrams, bracketing or any other. For example: (1) Poor| John ran |out. Immediate Constituent Analysis

Immediate Constituent Analysis

Construction
A construction is a relationship between constituents. Constructions are divided into two types: endocentric constructions and exocentric constructions. Endocentric Construction Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents. A word or a group of words act as a definable center or head. Exocentric construction refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole. There is no definable center or head inside the group. "Definable" here behaves like an attribute in the construction. Exocentric Construction Any construction that does not belong to the same form class as any one of its immediate constituents is an exocentric construction. There is no head in exocentric constructions, and it is not substitutable by any one of its constituents. No immediate constituent may function in a manner equivalent to the whole construction of which it is a part.

Constituents
Syntax ,as we already know, is concerned with how words combine to make sentences. Sentences have a hierarchal structure i.e. larger units consisting of smaller units. Each unit that is at the end of a branch or line is called a constituent.

Phrases behave as constituents Can be detected by their being able to occur in various positions, and showing uniform syntactic possibilities for expansion Constituents make up constructions and constructions are made up of constituents.

Immediate constituents
Immediate constituents are those constituents which are directly below in the hierarchy e.g. off and the ground are immediate constituents of off the ground. Immediate Constituent Analysis

Two Parameters to judge Constituency

Substitution Movement

Hierarchy
Constituents are arranged in hierarchal order. The properties of language can only be described by using hierarchy

Beads on a string

Hierarchical structure

Phrase Structure
The hierarchical diagram that represents the structure of a sentence is called a Phrase marker or Phrase structure tree or Tree diagram

General Syntactic Terms

Constituent: lexical items that constitute phrases and sentences. Syntactic category: single or group of words categorized into parts of speech, e.g. noun phrase (a child, grand mother) Constituent structure: the grouping of words and morphemes into grammatical units.

Syntactic Rules
Three universal basic syntactic rules: Linear order of constituents Categorization of constituents Grouping of constituents into constituent structures

Linear Order of Constituents

Sentences are formed with constituents arranged in a linear or sequential order. A sequence of words that makes a sentence must conform to rules of syntax of the language .Ex. In English and Thai, the syntactic rules specify a sequence subjectverb-object (SVO) * Eaten I not yet breakfast have

Lets Think!

I have not eaten breakfast yet. *Speaking Somchai is, hello! Hello!, Somchai is speaking. *Jacob and Jay the hill up ran Jacob and Jay ran up the hill. *Teacher the wants his smart to become students The teacher wants his students to become smart.

Categorization of Constituents
Words are categorized into parts of speech: Nouns: cat, dog, man, school, etc. Verbs: eat, swim, study, walk, etc. Adjectives: happy, stupid, short, sensible, etc. Adverbs: happily, stupidly, shortly, sensibly, etc. Prepositions: at, on, in, of, etc. Articles: a, an, the Demonstratives: this, that, these, those

Grouping of Constituents
Noun phrase (NP): a cat, the room, many people, a deadline Verb phrase (VP): go to school, stay at home, hit a ball Adjective phrase (AP): very good, so high, quite fat, rather sick Prepositional phrase (PP) in a car, at home, on the paper, by train Adverb phrase (Adv P) quickly, rather slowly, very happily

Constituency and Hierarchy

A constituency refers to the whole body of a sentence which is made up of lexical items (constituents) that are hierarchically ordered with respect to each other Constituency and Hierarchy diagram A B C D E This diagram formally reads as 1. B and C are constituents of A 2. D and E are constituents of C. 3. D and E are not constituents of B as they are not linked to B.

Phrase Markers and Tree Diagrams

In describing the constituent of a structure, a Phrase Marker or tree diagram is employed as a tool to link members of a structure.

Phrase-Markers A phrase-marker is a graph comprising a set of nodes connected by branches. The nodes at the end of each complete tree diagram are called terminal nodes; other nodes are called nonterminal nodes. Each nonterminal node carries a label (NP, N, VP, V, etc.); however, terminal nodes are labeled with a lexical item (word).

Dominance
Phrase-markers can be related to each other by dominance and precedence.

Dominance 1. VP node dominates all the other nodes. 2. VP node immediately dominates the nodes labeled V and PP.

Precedence

Precedence 1. V node precedes the nodes labeled PP, P, NP, det, and N as well as in, the and house. 2. V node immediately precedes the PP, P and in. Tree Diagrams and Phrase-Markers To be simpler, we can use the terms mothers, daughters and sisters to state the relation of phrase-markers.

1. VP node is the mother of V and NP nodes. 2. V and NP nodes are the daughters of VP node. 3. V and NP nodes are sisters.

Classes and Functions

At the end of each tree diagram, two different types of labels can be used. One shows their class and another shows their function in that construction

Labels of Class and Functions

Class Labels: VP, NP, Adj P,N, V etc Function Labels: S. P, ,O, A

GRAMMATICAL UNITS

MORPHEME: Free Morphemes ,Bound Morphemes WORD: Nouns , Verbs , Adjectives , Adverbs , Prepositions etc PHRASE: NPs, VPs , AdjPs , AdvPs ,etc CLAUSE: Independent and Dependent Clauses Finite and Non-finite clauses, Noun Clauses , Adverbial clauses etc SENTENCE: Simple , Complex, Compound ,Imperative, Declarative , Interrogative