Words Introduction to English Language Phrases Professor Sabine Mendes Moura

Different senses of the word ‘word’ Ortographic words: words we are familiar with in written language, where they are separated by spaces. Grammatical words: a word falls into one grammatical word class or another. leaves Lexemes: this is a set of grammatical words which share the same basic meaning, similar forms, and the same word class. leaves, left: verb lexeme leave Each occurrence of a word in a written or spoken text is a separate TOKEN, while word TYPES are the different vocabulary items. The birds and the deer and who knows what else. - Closed system and open class

Type-token ration

The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll: let’s identify lexical words Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

FEATURES/FAMILIESLEXICAL WORDSFUNCTION WORDSINSERTS MEMBERSNouns, lexical nouns, lexical verbs, adjectives and adverbs Prepositions, coordinators, auxiliary verbs and pronouns Yeah, Hm hm, Well, Cheers, Bye (and the like) MORPHOLOGYComplex internal structure – root- based (+ affixes Tend to be simple and stable. Simple forms Atypical pronunciation SEMANTICSMain carriers of information in a text or speech act. Show how units relate to one another, indicating meaning relationships Carry emotional and discursive meanings SYNTAXGenerally heads in noun phrases Generally remain in compressed sentences Occur frequently in almost any kind of construction Are mainly found in oral syntax Do not form part of the syntactic structure OPEN CLASSCLOSED CLASSOPEN CLASS (?)

Three major word classes

Morphology Inflection Derivation Compounding

Inflection In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood (indicative, imperative and subjunctive), grammatical voice (passive, active, reflexive), aspect (perfect, progressive), person, number, gender and case. Overt and covert inflection - Lead and led (a lexeme marked for tense) – covert.

Derivation Adding an affix (prefix or suffix) to a word, changing the identity of the word (≠ inflection)

Compounding Spelled as single words, main stress on the first element and meaning cannot be determined from the parts.

Multi-word units, collocations, and lexical bundles A multi-word unit is a sequence of orthographic words which function like a single grammatical unit. e.g. on top of An idiom is a multi-word unit with a meaning that cannot be predicted from the meaning of its constituent words. e.g. fall in love A collocation is the relationship between two or more independent words which commonly appear together. e.g. wide experience A lexical bundle is a sequence of words which co-occur very frequently, especially when the sequence consists of more than two words. e.g. Would you mind... recurs in conversation.

Lexical word classes: nouns MORPHOLOGICALSYNTACTICSEMANTIC Countable nouns: number and genitive case Uncountable nouns Often contain more than one morpheme Often heads of noun phrases Can be modified by many kinds of words (except for proper nouns) Normally refer to concrete, physical entities, but can also refer to qualities and states.

Lexical word classes: lexical verbs MORPHOLOGICALSYNTACTICSEMANTIC Signal tense, aspect and voice Verb lexemes may have a complex form Often single-word verb phrases which are the central part of the clause Can also occur in main verb positions Denote actions, processes and state of affairs. Define the role of human and non-human participants Distinct from auxiliary verbs PRIMARY VERBS BE, HAVE AND DO can occur as both classes

Lexical word classes: adjectives MORPHOLOGICALSYNTACTICSEMANTIC Can be composed by several morphemes Take inflectional suffixes (comparative and superlative) Head of adjective phrases More commonly modifiers in noun phrases Qualities of people, things and abstractions. Many express gradation.

Lexical word classes: adverbs MORPHOLOGICALSYNTACTICSEMANTIC Many are formed from adjectives Few adverbs allow comparative and superlative forms (soon, fast) Head of adverb phrases Modifiers of adjectives and adverbs Most often express degree Can express notions of time, place and manner Can convey attitudinal aspects Can express connections (though)

Accidentally in love: analysis WORD CLASSES: Lexical? Function? Inserts? So she said what's the problem baby? What's the problem I don't know Well, maybe I'm in love MORPHOLOGY: Inflection? Derivation? Compounding? Sunlight shimmering love LEXICAL WORDS: Nouns? Lexical verbs? Adjectives? Adverbs? I surrender to the strawberry ice cream We're accidentally in love

Lexical word classes

Borderline cases Nouns vs. Verbs The matter needed checking The matter needed checking carefully The matter needed careful checking

Borderline cases Nouns vs. Adjectives

What about “wide-eye wow”?

Borderline cases Verbs vs. Adjectives It was embarassing It was embarassing me It was very embarassing

Function word classes: determiners Definite article the Indefinite article a, an Demonstrative Possessive Quantifiers

Function word classes: pronouns Personal pronouns Demonstrative pronouns (≠ determiners, indicate space positioning) Reflexive pronouns Reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another) Possessive pronouns (related to determiners – mine, yours, hers)

Big Girls Don´t Cry (Fergie) “I hope you know I hope you know That this has nothing to do with you It's personal, myself and I We got some straightening out to do”

Big Girls Don´t Cry (Fergie) “I hope you know I hope you know That this has nothing to do with you It's personal, myself and I We got some straightening out to do”

Function word classes: auxiliary verbs Primary and modal Primary: be, have, do. Modal: will, can, shall, may, must, would, could, should, might

Function word classes: prepositions Linking words that introduce prepositional phrases, prepositional complement (on the phone), complex preposition (such as, with regard to)

Function word classes: adverbial particles used to build phrasal verbs (broke down) and extended prepositional phrases (back to the hotel).

Function word classes: coordinators coordinating conjunctions, relationship between two units such as phrases or clauses (and, but, or - nor); correlative coordinator (both... and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also).

Function word classes: subordinators subordinating conjunctions, linking words that introduce a dependent clause to a main clause, adverbial clause (if), degree clause (as), complement or nominal clause (that); complex subordinator (as if).

Special classes of words Wh-words (begin with wh, - how; determiners, pronouns, adverbs). – Introducing an interrogative clause What do they want? – Introducing a relative clause (relativizers) whose father died – Introducing a complement clause (complementizers)...whatever I have in my pocket – Adverbial clause links However they vary... Single word classes: (unique grammatically, do not fit a class) – Existential there There were four bowls of soup. – The negator not... but you can’t do that. – The infinitive marker to (complementizer preceding the infinitive) What do you want to drink? Numerals: (simple forms and complex forms built from the simple ones) – Cardinals: (How many?) Four of the yen traders have pleaded guilty. – Ordinals: (Which?) A fourth will be charged with having information...

Multi-class membership