syntax By WJQ

Syntax ： Syntax is the study of the rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences in a language, or simply, the study of the formation of sentences. Syntax has been the center of grammatical study.

Different approaches to syntax: Traditional approach: traditionally, sentences are seen as a sequence of words. e.g. the classification of words in terms of parts of speech; the identification of functions of words in terms of subject, predicate, etc. (the legacy of traditional grammar)

The structural approach to syntax: In the beginning of the 20 th century, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure,approached the analysis of language from the structural perspective. Structurism is an approach which stresses the importance of language as a system, not isolated bits.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations: Syntagmatic relations refers to the linear grouping of words and phrases within a sentence. E.g. the, boy, the, dog, saw The boy saw the dog. The dog saw the boy.

Syntagmatic relation suggests a language depends on word order. Possible word orders: SVO (English, French, Chinese) VSO(Irish) SOV (Japanese, Turkish) OVS, OSV, VOS (certain dialects)

Paradigmatic relation: If the words and phrases in a sentence can be replaced by words and phrases outside the sentence and the resulting sentence is still grammatical, then the replacing words and replaced words are said to be in a paradigmatic relations.

E.g. The boy saw the dog. The girl chases the cat. John kicked the ball. Mary read the book. They can substitute each other without violating syntactic rules. (of course not semantically) They have the same syntactic features.

Transformational - Generative approach: The transformational - generative approach was originated with the American linguist Noam.Chomsky.

Chomsky attempts to provide a model for the description of all languages. A transformational – generative grammar tries to show, with a system of rules, the knowledge which a native speaker of a language uses in forming grammatical sentences.

The functional approach: It is concerned with language as an instrument of social interaction rather as a system that is viewed in isolation. Sentences may also be analyzed from the functional side as well as the grammatical side. Language is a social phenomenon, and should be studied in relation to the functions it performs.