The Heart of Grammar: SYNTAX – Its Major Notions and Theories Lecture 12
Plan: § 1. Characteristics of Syntax as a Branch of Grammar. § 2. Major Syntactic Units. § 3. Major Syntactic Notions. § 3. 1. Syntactic Form and Meaning. § 3. 2. Syntactic Position. § 3. 3. Syntactic Function. § 3. 4. Syntactic Relation. § 4. Major Syntactic Theories.
Characteristics of Syntax (1) DO YOU REMEMBER? Paradigmatic Morphology – deals with word-forms within paradigms (morphology proper). Syntagmatic Morphology – deals with syntagmatic properties of morphemes within the structure of words and syntagmatic properties of parts of speech. Syntagmatic Syntax – deals with the way words and their meanings are combined with each other within word-groups, sentences and texts + behavior of these units in different contexts (syntax proper). Paradigmatic Syntax? See below.
Characteristics of Syntax (2) Sentence – a unit of language and speech. Allo-sentences = grammatical synonyms Example: an idea of “a car being sold between people” (on the abstract language level) Representations (on concrete speech level): Tom sold his car to Ben // Tom’s car was sold to Ben // Ben was sold Tom’s car //Ben bought Tom’s car, etc. Syntax is the heart of English grammar because: v the communicative function of the language is realized at the syntactic level; v little morphological variation of English words, both in their internal and external structure. Aspects of syntax: 1) logical syntax; 2) psychological syntax; 3) formal syntax; 4) semantic syntax; 5) communicative syntax; 6) pragmatic syntax.
Major Syntactic Units (1) DO YOU REMEMBER? Syntax–minor – deals with the sentence and its structure. Syntax–major – deals with the text and its structure. A syntactic unit is a combination of at least two constituents connected by a certain type of syntactic relations. A (free) phrase (word-group) is a nominative unit, naming a complicated phenomenon or characterized by polynomination. A sentence (utterance) is a unit of speech built up of words and phrases according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a communicative purpose + predication and modality. A supra-sentential construction (M. Y. Blokh) = “complex syntactic unity” (S. Pospelov) = a “super-phrasal unity” (L. A. Bulakhovsky) is a combination of separate sentences forming a textual unity. A text (discourse) is a higher syntactic unit of communicative nature, built from sentences and SSC according to certain rules. Properties of a text: cohesion, coherence, intertextuality, informativity, situationality, acceptability, etc.
Major Syntactic Units (2) Main features of a syntactic unit: ü they are made of the lower level units; ü they are of two-fold nature, i. e. unities of form and content: SU = syntactic meaning + syntactic form; ü they can be of either communicative (SSC, sentences and texts) or non-communicative nature (word-groups and clauses). Examples: The roundness of the earth ║is known all over the world. It was dark + It began to rain = n It was dark, and it began to rain. n When it was dark, it began to rain.
Syntactic Form and Meaning Syntactic Form (Pattern) – the structure of a syntactic unit. 4 main types of syntactic patterns: 1) predicative (subject + predicate) 2) objective (verb +object) 3) attributive (attribute + noun) 4) adverbial (verb/adjective + adverbial modifier). Distributional formula: John hits the ball = N 1 + V + N 2. Syntactic Meaning – the way in which separate word meanings are combined to produce meaningful word-groups and sentences. Cf. : Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. (N. Chomsky ) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. NB! A conflict is possible between lexical and syntactic meanings: 1) Did you get a pudding? 2) We painted the walls white.
Syntactic Position is the position of a syntactic element within a larger syntactic unit. The order of constituents in syntactic units is of principal importance in analytical languages. The syntactic position of an element may determine its relationship with the other elements of the same unit: his broad back, a back district, to go back, to back a colleague Day One vs. One Day 2 syntactic positions playing a sense-distinctive function in English: preposition and postposition.
Syntactic Function is the grammatical relationship of one constituent to another within a syntactic construction. E. g. : “a smart student” – the word ‘smart’ functions as a subordinate attribute to the head element ‘a student’. Traditional syntactic functions: subject, predicate, a part of a predicate, object, adverbial modifier, attribute. Syntactic functions in most modern syntactic theories : Adjunct – a subordinate syntactic element either required or specifically permitted by a verb. Complement – an obligatory phrasal or clausal category which is selected (subcategorized) by the head of a phrase (prepositional complements, locative complements, etc. ). Head – a constituent of an endocentric construction that, if standing alone, could perform the syntactic function of the whole construction. Modifier – a constituent in an endocentric construction that imparts information relating to the head of the construction.
Syntactic Relations (1) are syntagmatic relations observed between two syntactic units. 1. Coordination (SR 1) – syntagmatic relations of independence between two elements of the same rank (observed on the phrase, sentence and text levels). Typical ways of expressing coordination: • morphological – conjunction ‘and’: soft and low = syndetic coord. • prosodic – intonation: a soft, low sound = asyndetic coordination. Symmetric coordination is characterized by complete interchangeability of its elements: pens and pencils. Asymmetric coordination – the position of elements is fixed: ladies and gentlemen. Forms of connection: copulative (you and me), disjunctive (you or me), adversative (strict but just) and causative-consecutive. Open coordination – unites any number of elements: We laughed and shouted and sang… and danced. (syndetic or asyndetic) Close coordination – always unites only two elements: It’s too bad, but I can’t do anything about it now. (always syndetic)
Syntactic Relations (2) 2. Subordination (SR 2) – syntagmatic relations of dependence between two elements of different ranks, ‘head’ and ‘adjunct’ (observed on the phrase and sentence level). TYPES – adverbial (to speak slowly), objective (to see a house) & attributive (a beautiful flower). + Obligatory subordination: objective and adverbial complements. + Optional subordination: attributive and adverbial supplements. Agreement – the head makes the adjunct take the similar morphological form: this book – these books. Government – the adjunct does not reproduce the morphological categories of the head but its form is still predetermined by the head: help us. Prepositional / non-prepositional; nominal / verbal; strong / weak government. Adjoinment / adjournment – the components of a syntactic unit are joined without any change in their morphological forms: trembled slightly, long practice. + Enclosure (вложение, приложение) – an element is inserted between the other components of a syntactic unit (the use of modal words and their equivalents ‘really’, ‘after all’, etc. ).
Syntactic Relations (3) 3. Predication / Correspondence (SR 3) – syntagmatic relations between interdependent units. Primary predication (sentence level) – between S & P of sentence. Secondary predication (phrase level) – between non-finite forms of the verb and nominal elements within the sentence (gerundial, infinitive and participial predicative complexes). Bound secondary predication forms a unit inside the primary predication: 1) They were heard talking together. 2) She heard him open the door. 3) The boy stood aside for me to go by. Absolute secondary predication modifies the primary predication as a whole: Charlie watched her, his face dark with hatred. Free secondary predication (G. N. Vorontsova): • loose attributes: It is a fine summer morning – sunny, soft and still. • loose appositives: It was Margot, a neighbor and a friend. • loose situational modifiers: Last night, everything was closed. Isolation (I. Pribytok) because it lacks a nominal component.
Syntactic Relations (4) Parenthesis – a specific type of SR, ‘introductory syntactic connection’ (A. M. Mukhin). It introduces: 1) Modal elements showing the speaker’s attitude to the thought expressed in the basic syntactic unit: This is perhaps his finest novel yet. 2) Connective elements showing the connection of thought: In the first place, I don’t want to go, and in the second place, I can’t afford to. 3) Insertions giving additional information to the main message of the basic syntactic unit: One of the first to make it in modern times (some Greeks had known it long before) was Leonardo da Vinci. Parenthetic modal and connective elements are universally recognized. Insertions still present a debatable problem: Russian linguists draw a distinction between insertions and parenthetic elements.
Modern Syntactic Theories (1) Traditional Syntax (Parts-of-Sentence Theory) – dominant till the 30 s of the 20 th century. AIM: the description of structural properties of linguistic units and their meanings without considering the process of utteranceformation. The study and classifications of syntactic constructions (types of phrases, sentences, syntactic relations, means of their expression, etc. ). DRAWBACKS: 1) no formal procedure of analysis; 2) the analysis is often based both on formal and semantic principles at the same time; 3) no comprehensive definition of the major SU – the sentence. Structural Syntax – the second half of 20 th century. AIM: the formal mathematically precise study of syntactic units: the IC analysis, the distributional analysis, representation of syntactic units as tree-diagrams and the like models. Mostly the study of the hierarchy of language units. DRAWBACKS: 1) failed to describe the correlation between the phrase and the sentence; 2) failed to explain the syntactic difference in structurally similar sentences as: John is easy to please // John is eager to please.
Modern Syntactic Theories (2) Transformational-Generative Grammar – first suggested by Z. Harris as a method of analyzing sentences and later elaborated by N. Chomsky as a synthetic method of ‘generating’ (constructing) sentences. IDEA: the endless variety of sentences in a language can be reduced to a finite number of kernels by means of transformations (syntactic processes). 6 kernels for English: (1) NV – John sings. (2) NVAdj. – John is happy. (3) NVN – John is a man. (4) NVN – John hit the man. (5) NVNN – John gave the man a book. (6) NVPrep. N – The book is on the table. Flying planes can be dangerous – different deep structures: n Planes can be dangerous + X (people) fly planes; n Planes can be dangerous + Planes fly.
Modern Syntactic Theories (3) Constructional Syntax – initiated by Prof. G. Pocheptsov. IDEA: Analysis of the constructional significance/insignificance of a part of the sentence for the whole syntactic unit. Based on the obligatory or optional environment of syntactic elements. EXAMPLE: I saw him there yesterday – ‘him’ is constructionally significant; ‘there’ and ‘yesterday’ are constructionally insignificant as they can be omitted without destroying the whole structure. Communicative Syntax IDEA: Analysis of utterances from the point of their communicative value and informative structure. Actual division of the utterance – theme and rheme analysis. Depending on the contextual informative value any sentence element can act as theme or the rheme: n Who is at home? – John is at home. n Where is John? – John is at home.
Modern Syntactic Theories (4) Pragmatic Syntax – the study of the way language is used in particular contexts to achieve particular goals. Speech Act Theory (first introduced by John Austin). IDEA: An utterance can be said with different intentions or purposes and therefore can influence the speaker and situation in different ways: I just state the fact; I want you to do something about it It’s cold here (Close the window); I’m threatening you; I’m seeking for an excuse for not doing something; I want you to feel guilty of it; etc. Accordingly, we can distinguish different speech acts. Problem of indirect speech acts: Are you leaving already? ☺Indirect speech acts are the best way to influence people, to get what we want and to be polite at the same time.
Modern Syntactic Theories (5) Cognitive Syntax – developed from Generative Semantics by G. Lakoff, R. Jackendoff, R. Langacker, L. Talmy, J. R. Taylor, A. Wierzbicka. IDEA: the language is a cognitive system, which along with other cognitive systems (such as perception, attention, reasoning, affect, memory, motor control) comprises human cognition & structures conceptual content, such as basic conceptual categories of space and time, scenes and events, entities and properties, motion and location, force and causation. Based on the recent findings of psychology such as: n the prototypical principle of category structure; n the principle of figure-ground segregation (выделение фигуры и фона); n “windowing” of attention (распределение внимания), etc.
Modern Syntactic Theories (6) The prototypical principle of category structure – any category possesses a center-periphery pattern. The center comprises entities which maximally reveal categorial properties, while the periphery is represented by the entities which demonstrate categorial properties only to a certain degree. Figure-ground segregation principle – our visual and auditory input is organized in terms of prominence of the different parts. The part of the whole which is perceived as more prominent is given the status of figure and the part which is less prominent is given the status of ground. Examples: In reality: when listening to a piano concert – the part played by the piano is more prominent (the figure) than the accompaniment of the orchestra (the ground). In language: cf. My sister (the figure) resembles Madonna // Madonna resembles my sister (the ground).
Modern Syntactic Theories (7) Principle of “windowing” of attention – linguistic forms can differentially direct or withdraw attention from particular portions of a situation, conceptualized by the speaker into a particular utterance. Cf. : Bill sent a walrus to Joyce. // Bill sent Joyce a walrus. Grammatical constructions provide alternative conceptualizations for the same event or situation. They determine the structure of the conceptual material, while the lexical elements specify its content. E. g. : 1) He swam across the Channel – the location of swimming; 2) He swam the Channel – presents the event as a transitive one and suggests that the Channel is a challenge to the swimmer’s power. ? ? ? He swam our new swimming pool.
Modern Syntactic Theories (8) Textlinguistics studies the text as a syntactic unit, its main features and peculiarities, different ways of its analysis. Discourse Analysis focuses on the study of language use with reference to the social and psychological factors that influence communication.
KEY TERMS ü ü ü ü ü Syntax-minor and syntax-major Syntactic units (their definitions) Allo-sentences Syntactic form and meaning Syntactic position Syntactic function (head, modifier, adjunct, complement) Copulative, disjunctive, adversative and causativeconsecutive coordination Agreement, government, adjoinment, enclosure Primary, secondary and free predication Parenthesis and insertion