大学英语语言学-Chapter-4-From-Word-to-Text

ThenotionofSyntaxAGreekword:syn→co-,togethertax→sequence,order,arrangementSYNTAXisthestudyofhowsentencesarestructuredorhowwordsarecombinedwithotherstoformsentencesandinwhatorder.Syntaxattemptstosystematizedescriptivegrammar,andisunconcernedwithprescriptivegrammar.Lead-InSyntacticRelationsSyntacticrelationscanbeanalyzedintothreekinds:A.positionalrelationsB.relationsofsubstitutabilityC.relationsofco-occurrenceA.Syntagmatic/horizontal/chain/positionalrelationB.Paradigmatic/vertical/choice/substitutabilityrelationC.Relationofco-occurencethesequentialarrangementofwordsinalanguage,alsocalledwordorder.classesorsetsofwordsorwordgroupssubstitutableforeachothergrammaticallyinsentenceswiththesamestructure.partlybelongstosyntagmaticrelations,partlytoparadigmaticrelations.Itmeansthatwordsofdifferentsetsorclassesmaypermit,orrequire,theoccurrenceofawordofanothersetorclasstoformasentenceoraparticularpartofasentenceSYNTACTICFORMSKeyterms:a)Constituentsb)GrammaticalConstructionc)ImmediateConstituents(IC)ICanalysisanditsmainfunction:disambiguityEndocentricandExocentricConstructionsCoordinationandsubordination۝Construction۝Itreferstoanysyntacticconstructwhichisassignedoneormoreconventionalfunctionsinalanguage,togetherwithwhateverislinguisticallyconventionalizedaboutitscontributiontothemeaningorusetheconstructcontains.Itcanbefurtherdividedintotheexternalandinternalproperties.۝Theexternalpropertiesofaconstructionreferstothepropertiesoftheconstructionasawhole,whichcanbeclassifiedintodiscoursaltype,clausaltype,phrasaltype.۝Theinternalpropertiesofaconstructionisadescriptionoftheconstruction’smake-up,theinternalstructureoftheconstruction,withthetermssuchassubject,predicate,object,determiner,noun,etcCONSTITUENTConstituentisatermusedinstructuralsentenceanalysisforeverylinguisticunit,whichispartofalargerlinguisticunit.Severalconstituentstogetherformaconstruction.e.g.Theboyatetheapple.S(A)P(B)P(C)ICofAImmediateConstituentIftwoconstituents,BandC,arejoinedtoformahierarchicallyhigherconstituentA,thenBandCaresaidtobeimmediateconstituentsofA.◊Construction?external/internalproperties?◊Constituents?◊ImmediateConstituents?E.g.Themanfellontheground.ImmediateConstituentAnalysis(ICAnalysis)AmodelofsentenceanalysisdevelopedbyAmericanstructualists.Itistoanalyzealinguisticconstructionorexpressionintoahierarchicalseriesofconstituents.Theresultofanalysiscanbepresentedbyatreediagram,bracketing,oraboxdiagram(Money)((grows)(on(trees)))ICAnalysis--TreeDiagramFunctionofICanalysisICanalysiscandisambiguateconstructionswhichareambiguousAmbiguityIsawthatgascanexplode.(I)((saw)(that(gas)(canexplode))).(I)((saw)(thatgascan)(explode))).EndocentricandExocentricConstructionsEndocentricconstruction:onewhosedistributionisfunctionallyequivalenttothatofoneormoreofitsconstituents.i.e.,awordoragroupofwords.Thiswordorthisgroupofwordsservesasadefinablecenterorhead.e.g.,thisprettygirl.ExocentricConstructionjusttheoppositeofendocentricconstruction.Itreferstoagroupofsyntacticallyrelatedwordswherenoneofthewordsisfunctionallyequivalenttothegroupasawhole,thatis,thereisnodefinableCenterorHeadinsidethegroup.Exocentricconstructionusuallyincludesbasicsentence,prepositionalphrase,predicate(verb+object)construction,andconnective(be+complement)construction.e.g.,Theboysmiled.Inthisconstruction,noconstituentcansubstituteforthesentencestructureasawholeCoordinationandSubordinationEndocentricconstructionsfallintotwomaintypes,coordinationsubordinationdependingontherelationbetweenconstituentsCOORDINATIONAcommonsyntacticpatterninEnglishandotherlanguages.Itisformedbygroupingtogethertwoormorecategoriesofthesametypewiththehelpofaconjunctionsuchasand,butoror.Allthecategorieshaveequivalentsyntacticstatus,andeachoftheseparateconstituentscanstandfortheoriginalconstructionfunctionally.e.g.,theladyorthetigerSUBORDINATIONItreferstotheprocessorresultoflinkinglinguisticunitssothattheyhavedifferentsyntacticstatus,onebeingdependentupontheother,andusuallyaconstituentoftheother.ThusthesubordinateconstituentsarewordswhichmodifytheHead.Consequently,theycanbecalledmodifiers.e.g.,twodogsSwimminginthelakeisfun.Clausesassubordinateconstituents:complementclauses,adjunct/adverbialclausesandrelativeclausesSyntacticFunctionItshowstherelationshipbetweenalinguisticformandotherpartsofthelinguisticpatterninwhichitisused.Namesoffunctions:subjectsobjectspredicatorsmodifierscomplementsetc.IdentificationofSyntacticFunctionsSubjectusinggrammaticalcriteriainEnglishWordorder:PrecedestheverbinstatementPro-forms:SpecialformsofthefirstandthirdPersonpronouns:I-me,she-her,we-us,they-themAgreementwithverb:subjectcanaffecttheverbform,whileotherelementscannot.Contentquestions:aquestionwordsubjectdoesnotchangetherestofthesentenceTagquestion:italwayscontainsapronounwhichrefersbacktothesubject,andnevertoanyotherelementsinthesentence.IdentificationofSyntacticFunctions•Predicate•Inabinaryanalysis,thepredicatereferstoallobligatoryconstituentsotherthanthesubject;itisthemajorconstituentofasentencestructure.•Thusitcontai