1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The boy found the ball.
The boy found quickly.
The boy found in the house.
The boy found the ball in the house.
Lisa slept the baby.
Lisa slept soundly.
Sentences are not random strings of words.
They must conform to specific patterns.
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What is the purpose of studying syntax?
To investigate word order and sentence
structure.
To be able to consciously articulate our
unconscious knowledge of English.


The knowledge of sentences and their
structure.
Syntactic rules include:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
The grammaticality of sentences
Word order
Hierarchical organization of sentences
Grammatical relations such as subject and object
Whether different structures have different
meanings or the same meanings

Grammaticality judgments do not depend on
having heard the sentence before:
Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the
party.

Grammaticality judgments do not depend on
meaning:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
*Furiously sleep ideas green colorless
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Major word classes
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Sentence with only major word classes:

Adjectives
◦ Modify nouns
My favorite dog is hungry.

Adjectives can have a predicative function or
an attributive function.
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Adverbs
Often considered the ‘garbage’ category
Unfortunately, some students drive very
quickly and create extremely dangerous
roads.
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
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unfortunately: sentence adverb
quickly:
manner adverbs
very:
degree adverbs
Phrasal category
Form
Function
NP
Headed by a noun
Subject of sentence
VP
Headed by a verb
Predicate of sentence
VP
NP
det
adj
The
friendly
person
NP
N
V
det
asked
a
N
question

The man with the toupee shocked the woman
at the bar.
Sentence (S)
Subject (NP)
Predicate (VP)
The man with the toupee shocked the woman at the bar
Hierarchical constituent structure


Meaning
(1)A big sale of stereos
Big stereo sale
(2) a sale of big stereos
Big stereo sale
S
VP
NP
NP
PP
NP
NP
det
The
adj
tipsy
N
man
V
finished
det
the
N
drink
P
in
det
one
N
minute
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Every NP has a grammatical relation to some other
element in sentence.
NP: ‘the tipsy man’ relationship with ‘finished’=
SUBJECT
NPs to left of verbs = subject (dominated by S)
NP: ‘the drink’ = direct object
NPs to right of verbs and dominated directly by VP
= direct object
Other NP not related directly to verb but to
preposition (dominated directly by PP) = object of a
preposition
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Test 1: “stand alone” test
If a group can stand alone, they form a
constituent
Set of word that can answer a question:
What did you pass?
“the Linguistics class”
“passed the”
The student passed the Linguistics class.

Test 2: “replacement by a pronoun” test
◦ Pronouns can substitute for natural groups.

Pronoun that can answer a question:
◦ When did you pass the Linguistic class?



“I passed it last trimester”
Do can also substitute for the whole predicate
passed the Linguistics class.
Som passed the Linguistics class and Boss
did too.

Test 3: “move as a unit” test
◦ If a group of words can be moved, they form a
constituent.



The student passed the Linguistics class
It was the Linguistics class that the student
passed.
The Linguistics class was passed by the
student.
S
NP
VP
CP
S
NP
VP
NP
det
The
N
professor
V
said
C
that
det
the
N
student
V
passed
det
N
the
exam.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
S =
NP =
VP =
VP =
VP =
PP =
VP =
CP =
NP + VP
Det + N
V + NP
V
V + PP
P + NP
V + CP
C+S
The woman laughed.
The meaning of language
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Why does a certain set of words mean
something and a similar set mean something
very different?
When do two different sentences mean the
same thing?
How can one sentence mean more than one
thing?
What is meaning?


In our society, many people feel that the
dictionary definition of a word more
accurately represents a word’s meaning than
an individual speaker’s understanding of the
word.
But descriptivists arrive at their definitions by
studying the ways speakers of the language
use different words.


The meaning of a word or expression is not
just a definition composed of more words in
the same language, since ultimately the
meaning of some words would have to be
known in order to understand the definitions.
Meaning is provided by a community of
language speakers, not by some special
authority like a dictionary or grammar book.
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Mental image
Reference
Sense
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Synonyms
Antonyms
Homonyms (homophones)
Hyponyms
mother
PARENT
ADULT
woman
father
bachelor
boy
MALE

Incorrect “matching” of the semantic features
of different elements of a sentence can result
in ungrammatical (but syntactically sound)
sentences:
The man [-female] was pregnant [+female].
I sawed [+solid] the water [-solid].
The ideas [-living] are sleeping [+living].
The importance of context




is concerned with the interpretation of
meaning in context.
2 contexts:
Linguistic context (discourse)
Situational context (anything non-linguistic)



It seems that the man loves the woman.
Many people think he loves her.
When a pronoun is coreferential, it is bound.
Could it refer to another person?
When a pronoun refers to an object not
explicitly mentioned in the discourse, it is
free or unbound.

What’s the concept of deixis?


Presuppositions are implicit assumptions about
the world or background belief relating to an
utterance. They must be mutually known or
assumed by the speaker and addressee for the
utterance to be considered appropriate in context
Do you want to do it again?
◦ Implies that she has done it before.

David wants more beer.
◦ He drank some beer already.

The lecturer told the students to stop chatting.
◦ The students were chatting.
Quick exercise
 What are the presuppositions of following
utterances.
1. Maria regretted not having accepted
Martin’s wedding proposal.
2. Christopher swore to himself that he would
pass the exam this time.
3. To quit smoking is so easy! I’ve done it a
hundred times.
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Find the 4 presuppositions that can be
inferred from this utterance:
John regrets that he stopped doing linguistics
before he left MUIC.
John stopped doing linguistics before he left
MUIC.
John was doing linguistics before he left
MUIC.
John left MUIC.
John had been at MUIC.
Often speakers infer or conclude based on
not only what has been said but on what the
speakers intentions are.
1. It’s quite warm in here. (Situation: you are in
the classroom.)
2. Can you pass me a tissue? (you are in the
canteen)
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
Quick exercise:
Each of the sentences has at least one implicature. What is it?
Statement
Situation
It’s getting late.
You and your friends are at a
night club and it’s 4 a.m.
Most of the food is gone.
You arrived at a cocktail party
late.
The restaurants are open until
midnight.
It’s 10p.m. and you didn’t
have dinner yet.
If you weren’t so fat this
wouldn’t hurt so badly.
Someone is standing on your
toe.
John or Mary made a mistake.
You’re their boss and looking
at some work they have done.
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Performative sentences
Language can be used to do things. It can be used to
make promises, bets, issue warnings, offer
congratulations.
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
warn you; I have a big brother.
bet you that ManU will win.
challenge you to a match.
fine you 100000Baht for possession of drugs.
nominate Abbhisit for a Nobel prize.
promise I will improve.
resign!
pronounce you husband and wife
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In performative sentences, the speaker is
always the subject.
Performative sentences are always in present
tense.
A test to determine if a sentence contains a
performative verb is to begin the sentence
with I hereby. Only performative sentences
sound right when this is done:
I hereby declare war on you.
*I hereby know you.
Quick exercise:
 Determine which of the following sentences are
performative. Use ‘hereby’
1. I testify that she is innocent.
2. I know that she is innocent.
3. He bet her 1000Baht that the yellow shirt would
win.
4. I teach the class.
5. I dismiss the class.
6. I resign from this lousy job.
7. I resigned from this lousy job.
