SYNTAX
Session 1:
Differentiating the terms syntax, grammar, and structure by looking at several definitions.
a. Syntax is the study of the patterns by which words are combined to make sentences (Stryker,
1969: 21).
b. Syntax is the study of how words combine to form sentences and the rules which govern the
formation of sentences (Richard, 1985: 285).
c. Grammar is a description of the structure of a language and the way in which linguistic units
such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language. It usually takes
into account the meanings and functions these sentences have in the overall system of the
language. It may or may not include the description of the sounds of a language (Richard, 1985:
125).
d. A grammar is most widely defined as ‘the study of sentence structure’. A grammar of language,
from this point of view, is an account of the language’s possible sentence structure, organized
according to certain general principles (Crystal, 1987: 88).
e. Structure refers to a sequence of linguistic units that are in a certain relationship to one
another. For example, one of the structure of a Noun Phrase can be: “article + adjective + noun”
as in the friendly ape (Richard, 1985: 276-77).
f.
From the definition above, we can infer that syntax is the study of linguistic elements grouped
to form syntactic structures according to the rules or approaches of syntactic analysis.
g. Grammatical categories (in Traditional grammar) refer to Parts of Speech, such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, intensifiers, numbers, pronouns, etc.
h. Construction is the grammatical structure of a sentence or any smaller units, represented by a
set of elements and relations between elements.
Using simple understanding, that is meant by linguistic elements here refer to words, phrases, and
clauses; syntactic structures refer to groups of words as phrases or sentences; rules or approaches refer
to the underlying linguistic theories or procedures used to analyze language, such as structural
linguistics or transformational linguistics.
Syntax concerns itself not with the distaction between a possible phrase in English but it also concers it
self with the possible and the imposible phrases of English or of any other human language for that
matter.
When we know alanguage ( English ) we know a collection of words and rules with which me generete
strings of those words which we call sentences of our language.
The job of syntax is not then an approapriate structure. Pieces of syntax that are constructed out of
smaller pieces of syntax are called constituents.
Trees represent the structure of phrases & sentences of the language. A set of rules which generate
trees is a phrase structure rules.
Session 2:
Three main kinds of Grammar we are going to discuss here: Traditional, Structural, and Transformational
Grammar
a. Traditional Grammar or Prescriptive Grammar
Tradisional grammar based syntactic analysis on the definitons of noun and verb. Noun is
that can function as subject within a sentence while verb is that can function as predicate.
It is a grammar which is usually based on earlier grammars of Latin or Greek and applied to some other
language, often inappropriately. It is also called prescriptive grammar because it tells us (prescribes)
what we should say, should write, and what we should not say or do or write. It prescribes what people
should not do with language... according to some ‘authority’. It gives us a set of norms to follow, and
tells us which “errors” to avoid. It tells us that something is “bad” and some things are “good”. Thus.
There is such a value judgement of language whether correct or incorrect.
Syntax in this sense is usually referred to sentence analysis. Analyzing sentence is based on the function
such subject, prediacte, object, and complement. So, the result of analysis of sentence is as we
recognize as basic sentence patterns. The patterns are: S-P, S-P-O, S-P-C, S-P-O-C, S-P-IO-DO, S-P-DO(prep)-IO.
S-P : the criteria of P is intransitive verb
S-P-O, S-P-O-C, S-P-IO-DO, and S-P-DO-IO: the criteria of P is transitive verb
S-P-C: the criteria of P is linking verb or to be
Examples:
b. Structural Grammar or Descriptive Grammar
It is a description of language based on structural linguistics. Structural linguistics is an approach in
linguistics which stresses the importance of language as a system and which investigates the place that
linguistic units such as sounds, words, sentences have within this system.
As a system, syntax in this sense, is mainly referred to the analysis of sentence or any other syntactic
construction using the principles: (1) English syntax is a many-layered organization of relatively few
types of basic units, (2) every structure may be divided into its immediate constituent (often
abbreviated IC’s), almost always two, each of which may in turn be divided and subdivided until the
ultimate constituents (:words) are reached. Further, the result of analysis will be shown as in the basic
types of syntactic structures.
IC’s of sentence or any other grammatical units is firstly appeared within the era of Post-Bloomfieldian.
Usually native speakers’ basis of recognizing or dividing the two immediate constituents is by intuition.
The application of IC’s of sentence into smaller units can be shown by using chinese box, tree diagram,
or bracketing.
Examples:
c. Transformational Grammar or Generative Grammar or TGG
Transformational grammar describes a clause contruction in the set of a tree diagram that
under the node. There are NP and VP under the nodes VNP is N that functions as subject while under
the node VP, these are V and NP. The object is NP dominated by VP.
Language is a mirror of the mind. By detailed study of language we might hope to react a better
understanding of how human mind produces & processses language.
Language is a mirror of the mind. By detailed study of language we might hope to react a better
understanding of how human mind produces & processses language.
The interrelated goals of studying language.
1. To develop a theory of language.
2. To develop a theory of language sequisition.
In transformational grammar the primary is to develop a theory of language ( English ) This can be done
by formulatting detailed descriptions of English and by abstracting from particular grammars.
A grammar comprises at least of 3 components ( or sets of rules ) namely : syntactic rules of sentence
formation, which specially how to form sentences, semantic rules of sentence, interpretation, which
specify how to interpret the meaning of sentences and phonological rules of sentence pronunciation,
which specify how to pronounce sentences.
The interrelated goals of studying language.
3. To develop a theory of language.
4. To develop a theory of language sequisition.
In transformational grammar the primary is to develop a theory of language ( English ) This can be done
by formulating detailed descriptions of English and by abstracting from particular grammars
A grammar comprises at least of 3 components ( or sets of rules ) namely : syntactic rules of sentence
formation, which specially how to form sentences, semantic rules of sentence, interpretation, which
specify how to interpret the meaning of sentences and phonological rules of sentence pronunciation,
which specify how to pronounce sentences.
It is a theory of grammar which was proposed by the American linguist Chomsky in 1957. It has
since been developed by him and many other linguists. Chomsky attempted to provide a model for the
description of all languages. It tries to show, with a system of rules, the knowledge which a native
speaker of a language uses in forming grammatical sentences.
The linguists in this period believe that the proper object of linguistic study is the knowledge that native
speakers possess, which enables them to produce and understand sentences. This knowledge is called
“competence” which is contrasted to “performance”. That is meant by competence is ‘he speakerhearer’s knowledge of his language’, while performance is ‘the actual use of language in concrete
situations’.
They first study “competence”, the underlying language system. They define it in terms of the rules a
native speaker follows in producing and understanding sentences. The rules describing competence
account for all possible examples of performance. A rule is a direction for forming a sentence or a part of
a sentence, which has been internalized by the native speaker. The linguists are interested in
constructing a grammar that will generate the structure making up an individual’s linguistic competence.
In constructing the grammar, they rely on deduction and intuition, although the results are tested
against actual samples of language. In this view, syntax is the most basic level of analysis.
Chomsky was interested in generative systems, procedures by which a mathematician starts with
“primitive” (basic postulates) and can “generate” (produce) proofs by combining the primitives of the
system by means of the rules of the system. Chomsky thought that languages might be generated from
a few basic principles in a similar manner. Chomsky followed the structuralists in maintaining that
phonology and syntax should be described as purely formal systems without reference to meaning or
semantics. In his view, the linguist should attempt to formulate the rules or principles which enable a
native speaker to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences.
After investigating a finite state model from communications theory, a “finite-state Markov process”,
Chomsky investigates a “phrase structure grammar”. A Phrase Structure Grammar or Rules (PS-rules)
provides rewriting rules for the expansion of constituents (such as sentence, noun phrase, verb phrase,
etc). For example:
S  NP + VP
NP  Det + N
VP  V + NP … etc.
Examples:
Although a Phrase Structure Grammar is more powerful models of description than finite state
grammars, it cannot economically describe processes such as inversions, substitution, relations between
sentences that are paraphrases of each other (such as actives and passives), and relations between
discontinuous elements. All of these processes and relations can be described more effectively in a
transformational grammar. In his Syntactic Structures, Chomsky defines a grammatical transformation
as a rule that “operate on a given string … with a given constituent structure and converts it into a new
string with a new derived constituent structure.” For example, the transformation process from an
active into a passive sentences “Bill will buy a book” becomes “A book will be bought by Bill” can be
described as:
NP1 + Aux + V + NP2 ==> NP2 + Aux + (be+-en) + V + by NP1.
The structural change indicates that the passive transformation reverses the subject and object noun
phrases, places “by” before the subject NP, and adds “be” plus the past participle ending to the
auxiliary. A double-shafted arrow is used to show that a rule is a transformational rule rather than a
phrase structure rule.
In Chomsky’s second book “Aspects of the Theory of Syntax” (1965), he states that “ the interrelation of
semantic and syntactic rules is by no means a settled issue” and that “there is a quite a range of
possibilities that deserve serous exploration”. That issue of the relation between syntax and semantics
has resulted in a split within the ranks of the transformationalists. Followers of Chomsky such as Jerrold
Katz and Ray Jackendoff, assert that there is a separated semantic component in a transformational
grammar whose role is mainly interpretive. However, linguists who have developed the theory of
generative semantics assert that syntax cannot be separated from semantics and that the role of
transformations is to relate semantic representations to surface structures. Leaders of the school of
generative semantics include George Lakoff, John Ross, and James Mc Cawley.
Today, transformational theory is in a state of flux. Consequently, different models of transformational
grammar are presented in different books and articles. One of Chomsky’s progress of ideas can be seen
as in the revelation of the theory of government and binding, the theory of X-bar, the minimalist theory,
and so on.
Examples:
Session 3:
There are four basic types of syntactic structure: (1) syntactic structures of modification, (2) syntactic
structures of predication, (3) syntactic structures of complementation, and (4) syntactic structures of
coordination.
(1) syntactic structures of modification
The two components are the head and modifier/s, whose meaning serves to broaden. The
relationship of the two components is indicated by an arrow (). The arrow point to its head, so
the arrow may either direct to the left or the ringt, depending to which head to direct.
To be the head can be : noun, verb, adjective, adverb and certain functions words. The modifier serves
to broaden, qualify, select change, describe or affect the meaning of the head. The grammatical
organization of structures of modification is a complex of many structural lagers.
For example,
hungry

people
work
H
H
M

hard
M
The head can be the parts of speech or the word classes (N, V, Adj, Adv) while the modifier can
be certain function words. The head and modifier can be single word or group of words.
The two elements forming NP vary, such as; Adj + N, N + Adj, N + N, V + N, N + Adv, or N + PP.
Adj + N
Barbed wire
The gloomy room
Both remarkable tales
N + Adj
A figure vague and shadowy
A man taller than I thought
The adj following the N by the conditions: (1) that it occurs in a fixed phrase, or as a technical
vocabulary, (2) the adj is not the solitary modifier.
N+N
To be the head in the construction N + N is the last N, but to be the head in the construction N +
of + N + of N... is the N before the first of. To be the modifier in this type is possessive and/ or
noun-adjunct.
A child’s play
Child psychology
A dog’s life
The dog days
That women’s doctor
That woman doctor
Compare to:
Students of English of the six semester of class E
The six semester students of English
V+N
The criteria of V as the modifier of N should be participle (it can be present/ V-ing or past/ V-ed)
A pleasing table
A rotten table
A dining table
A leading man
To prove the modifier, we can add the word very before participle.
A very pleasing table
*a very dining table, so dining in a dining table is neither adj nor verb, but as a noun.
N + Adv
N + PP.
(2) syntactic structures of predication
The two components are the subject and predicate. The relationship of the two components is
indicated by P.
The commonest subject are nouns or noun-headed structures of modification. Single noun
subject can be: adj, adv, Ving, Vo, respectively as in the examples: handsome is as handsome
does, now is too soon, working is pleasant, to sleep is my ambition.
Subject in phrases or clauses, for examples: To South Ametica is a long trip, sailing a boat is my
favorite hobby, food and drink can be got here, that he did it at all has not been proved,
whatever is is right.
The predicate is usually a more or less complex structure or structure of structures, with the
verb at its core. The predicate can be SS of complementation, SS of modification, or SS of
coordination. Example: the snow was cold, the sun sets in the west, we walked and talked.
The classification of English verbs is baseb on: (1) person, (2) tense, (3) phase, (4) aspect, (5)
mode, (6) voice, and (7) status.
Person: Except modal auxiliary, verbs have two persons: common and third singular. There a
correlation between the subject and its verb as this reveals in the case of concord or agreement.
Tense: present and past. Examples, ....
Phase: simple and perfect. Examples, ....
Aspect: simple, durative, and inchoative
Examples, simple: They walk to school, I ask you to keep silent
Durative: he is talking, she was swimming, we ought to be working
Inchoative: We got talking, let’s get going, we ought to get working
Mode: (1) It is formed by modal auxiliaries with the base form of the verbs, and (2) it is formed
by certain other auxiliaries with the infinitive form of the verb. Examples,
Modal aux.: he can go, you will come, you need not worry, etc.
Other aux.: they have to go, he was going to speak, I never got to see, etc.
Voice: active and passive. Examples, ....
Status: affirmative, interrogative, negative, and negative-interrogative. Examples, ...
Session 4:
(3) syntactic structures of complementation
The two components are the verbal element and complement. The relationship of the two
components is indicated by C.
There are three main groups of verbal elements: linking (or copulative) verbs, intransitive verbs, and
transitive verbs. The verbal element can be a single verb or any structure that has a verb in key position
. thus, it may be a VP, an infinitive, a structure of modification with verb as head, or a structure of
coodination. To identify and describe the different types of complement, we must know the kinds of
verbal elements : LV, Vi & Vt.
Linking (copulative) verbs (has complement but no passive): to be, become, seem,
remain, look, sound, taste, feel, etc.
Intransitive verbs (has neither complent nor passive): run, stop, sink, rise, walk, sleep,
etc.
Transitive verbs (has both complement and passive): sell, write, buy, blow, turn, etc.
The verbal elements can be simple verb, verb- phrase, infinitive, structure of modification,
structure of coordination. Examples: he gives lessons, we are learning grammar, a day to be
thankful for, I never in my life said that..,we caught and ate the fist.
The kinds of complement: subjective complement, direct object, indirect object, and objective
complement. Examples: the woman is a nurse, he found a friend, he gave his friend two books,
they consider the job finished.
(4) syntactic structures of coordination
The two components are the equivalent grammatical units joined in a structre which fuctionss
as a single unit. The units so joined may be any of the parts of speech, Function words or more
complex structures that have taking part in grammatical organization. The joining can be
accomplished by word order and prosody alone. Or by coordinators. . The relationship of the
two components is joined by a special kind of function word, such as conjunctions, comma,
which is indicated by small open box.
The joining may be accomplished by: word order and prosody alone, or with the additional help
of a set of function words and phrases which we can call coordinators. Examples; and,b ut, nor,
not, or; rather than, as well as, together with, along with; not (only)...but (also, either...or,
neither...nor, both...and.
Session 5&6: Analyses & Exercises
Session 7:
1.
X-bar theory (brief explanation)
2.
Levels of category (lexical, bar , and phrasal)
3.
Concept of phrase in TGG (as differentiated from Traditional one)
4.
Explanation of key terms (such as: generative, hierarchy, constituents (word/
phrase), obligatory and optional constituents, etc.
Session 8:
1.
Phrase-markers
2.
Examples of tree diagram and key terms, such as: precedence, dominance, nodes
(terminal and non-terminal), constraint, strings, c-command, etc.
3.
Exercises
Session 9:
1.
Noun Phrase (full NP and small NP)
2.
Evidence of small NP (explaining specifiers, modifiers)
3.
Differentiating Complements and adjuncts; ambiguity and semantic identity.
4.
Analyses
Session 10:
1. Other phrases (such as AP, PP, VP, and Adv P).
2. Analyses of each kinds.
3. Problems arising…
Session 11:
1. SFG (brief everview)
2. Stratifications, genres, context, metafunction, lexico-grammar, phonologygraphology
Session 12:
Exercises on analysis.
Session 7:
1.
X-bar theory (brief explanation)
X-bar theory is a component of linguistic theory which attempts to identify syntactic
features common to all languages. It claims that among their phrasal categories, all
languages share certain structural similarities, including one known as the "X-bar", which
does not appear in traditional phrase structure rules. X-bar theory was first proposed by
Chomsky (1970)[1] and further developed by Jackendoff (1977) [2].
The letter X is used to signify an arbitrary lexical category; when analyzing a specific
utterance, specific categories are assigned. Thus, the X may become an N for noun, a V
for verb, an A for adjective, or a P for preposition.
The term X-bar is derived from the notation representing this new structure. Certain
structures are represented by X (an X with an overbar). Because this is difficult to
typeset, this is often written as X′, using the prime symbol. In English, however, this is
still read as "X bar". The notation XP stands for X Phrase, and is equivalent to X-bar-bar
(X with a double overbar), written X″, usually read aloud as X double bar.
X’ theory was developed in the 1970s and the proponents of X’ syntax voice two
types of objection to Phrase Structure Syntax. Within Phrase Structure Syntax,
only two types of category are recognized: Lexical and phrasal categories. In
particular, there are no intermediate categories larger than the word but smaller
than the phrase within the system of Phrase Structure Syntax. For further
illustration:
‘this very tall girl’
(read p.92, Transformational Syntax)
2.
Levels of category (lexical, bar , and phrasal)
Lexical categories are: N, V, P, A, ADV, Q, AUX, DET, DEG, etc.
Phrasal categories are: NP, VP, PP, AP, ADVP, QP, S, etc.
3.
Concept of phrase in TGG (as differentiated from Traditional one)
The term phrase in TGG is used to mean simply ‘a set of elements which form a
constituent’, with no restriction on the number of elements that the set may or must
contain.
4.
Explanation of key terms (such as: generative, hierarchy (= in an order),
constituents (word/ phrase), obligatory and optional constituents, etc.
The term generative is taken from generation which is analogous to a kinship
relation, i.e. when there are grand parents, parents, children, and grand children;
there is a generation from the oldest to the youngest. Sentence becomes the
highest level, below is the level of phrase, the lower is lexicon, and word.
Session 8:
The objectives: besides students are able to make analysis by using phrase markers (=
tree diagram), they are able to make an appropriate linguistic description of the
syntactic analysis.
1.
Phrase-markers is a type of graph consisting of a set of points (called nodes) each
carrying a label, with each pair of nodes in the graph being related either by a
precedence relation, or by a dominance relation.
2.
Examples of tree diagram and key terms, such as: types of relation (: precedence,
and dominance), nodes (: terminal and non-terminal), constraint (=well-formed
condition), strings, c-command, subordinate, etc.
S
NP
Det
AUX
N
VP
V
NP
Det
The
man
will
hit
the
N
ball
For example:
The AUX node immediately precedes the VP node; it also immediately precedes
the V-node; and it also immediately precedes the word (: the last string) hit; but it
doesn’t immediately precede (though it does precede) the PP node, or the word
ball.
S-node dominates all the other nodes in the tree; but it only immediately dominates
the NP-node, the Aux-node, and the VP-node. The VP-node doesn’t dominate the
NP-node and the AUX-node; it dominates the V-node, the NP-node, the Det-node,
the N-node, the words the and ball, but the VP-node only immediately dominates
the V-node and the NP-node.
C-command…? Read p. 114- …
To say X c-commands Y is to say that X is not subordinate to Y, so that X does not
occur at a lower level in the tree than Y.
3.
Exercises on certain constructions
Session 9:
1.
Noun Phrase (full NP and small NP)
2.
Evidence of small NP (explaining specifiers, modifiers)
3.
Differentiating Complements and adjuncts; ambiguity and semantic identity.
4.
Analyses on NP constructions.
Session 10:
1.
Other phrases (such as AP, PP, VP, and AdvP).
2.
Analyses on AP, PP, VP, or AdvP
3.
Problems arising…may lead to cases for students’ research.
Session 11:
3.
SFG (brief explanations)
4.
Stratifications,
graphology
genres,
Session 12:
Exercises on analysis.
context,
metafunction,
lexico-grammar,
phonology-