Language Structure Lecture 1: Introduction & Overview Helena Frännhag Spring 2013

Outline Areas of linguistics Different kinds of grammar Reasons for studying grammar Building blocks of language: form - Morphemes - Phrases - Clauses - Sentences - Hierarchical structure of language Form and function

Areas of Linguistics Semantics & pragmatics Language meaning Phonology & phonetics Language sound Morphology & syntax Language structure (grammar)

Different kinds of grammar Mental vs formal grammar Monolingual vs contrastive grammar (both formal grammars) Descriptive vs prescriptive grammar (both formal grammars; see also p 4-5 in Huddleston & Pullum)

In this course… …we concentrate on monolingual, descriptive grammar.

Why study grammar? A good command of grammar… …is required in most professions; …simplifies language assessment; …enables comprehension of technical criticism from others; and …simplifies language learning

But perhaps most importantly…

Building blocks of language Phonemes  Syllables  Morphemes  Phrases  Clauses  Phrases  Clauses…..

Phonemes & syllables – phonology Morphemes, phrases, clauses – grammar

Morphemes The smallest meaningful units in language

Morphology The study of morphemes and how they combine

Kinds of morpheme Free morphemes Cat, table, sing, walk, on, beautiful, plenty … Bound morphemes -inflectional (cat) - s, (sing) -ing, (walk) -ed … -derivational (sing) -er, (beautiful) -ly, (plenty) -ful…

Word vs Lexeme Word – form Lexeme – concept

Word vs Lexeme walks ; walked ; walking – three words; one lexeme

Word classes Meaning, form and function Different classifications

Huddleston & Pullum Noun cat, he, air, John Verb jump, like, be, write Adjective black, tasty, polar, awkward Determinative many, three, the, a, some Adverb now, here, quickly, very Preposition on, behind, during, in Coordinator but, and, or Subordinator that, whether, if

Main differences Pronouns are subsumed under nouns Determinatives are seen as a class in its own right Coordinators and subordinators constitute two separate classes rather than subclasses of conjunctions The class of interjections is completely ignored

Phrases Noun phrases (NP) Verb phrases (VP) Adjective phrases (AdjP) Determinative phrases (DP) Adverb phrases (AdvP) Prepositional phrases (PP)

NP: cats; the old man; a bowl with plums VP: sang; may have arrived; bought a dress AdjP:black; very old; afraid of dogs DP:the; almost every, about three AdvP:closely; very well; much more PP:in the sauna; across the street

the word class of the head determines the kind of phrase

Length of phrases Cats are fascinating creatures. The terribly beautiful, but ever so expensive Siamese cats that my friend, who lives in that old shack down by the river, bought at that strange market place in China town, Manchester, which I told you about when we met at that crazy party that Lesley’s sister threw at her place the other week are fascinating creatures.

Clauses Virtually impossible to define Canonical clauses: subject + predicate But: Eat your porridge! If possible (as in If possible, we’d like to bring the kids )

Kinds of clause Main clauses/independent clauses Subclauses/dependent clauses

Further classifications of subclauses - -nominal/adverbial - -Relative clauses/ that- clauses/infinitive clauses… - -Conditional clauses/reason clauses/temporal clauses… - -finite/non-finite

Sentences Notional definition: Complete thought Orthographical definition: Begins with cap letter and ends with major punctuation mark

Kinds of sentence Clausal sentences (one single main clause): - Simple: We love sphynx cats. - Complex:If we could, we’d get a sphynx. Compound sentences (two or more coordinated main clauses): We all want a sphynx, but one of the kids is allergic.

Hierarchical structure of language Forms within forms, within forms, within forms We love sphynxes Level 1: Clause ( We love sphynxes) Level 2: NP ( we )+VP ( love sphynxes ) Level 3: Noun ( we )+Verb ( love ) + NP ( sphynxes ) Level 4: – – Noun ( sphynxes )

All forms (except the top- level one) take on a function when we use them

We love sphynxes Level 1: We love sphynxes [Clause] no function Level 2: we [NP] Subj + love sphynxes [Verb] Predicate Level 3: we [Noun] Head+ love [Verb] Head +sphynxes [NP] Complement (Direct object) Level 4:– – sphynxes [Noun] Head

Functions on the phrase level Head (in all phrases)The black dress Modifier (in all except PPs)The black dress Complement (in VPs, PPs, AdjPs)On the dress Determiner (in NPs only) The black dress

Functions on the clause level SubjectLuckily, he found his keys Predicate Luckily, he found his keys Supplement Luckily, he found his keys

Summing up Areas of linguistics Different kinds of grammar Reasons for studying grammar Building blocks of language: form - Morphemes - Phrases - Clauses - Sentences - Hierarchical structure of language Form and function