语言学教程-chapter4

1ChapterFourFromWordtoText2Syntaxisthestudyoftherulesgoverningthewaysdifferentconstituentsarecombinedtoformsentencesinalanguage,orthestudyoftheinterrelationshipsbetweenelementsinsentencestructures.3Syntacticrelationscanbeanalyzedintothreekinds:relationsofpositionrelationsofsubstitutabilityrelationsofco-occurrence1.Syntacticrelations41.1RelationsofPositionForlanguagetofulfillitscommunicativefunction,itmusthaveawaytomarkthegrammaticalrolesofthevariousphrasesthatcanoccurinaclause.TheboykickedtheballNP1NP2SubjectObject5Positionalrelation,orWORDORDER,referstothesequentialarrangementofwordsinalanguage.Ifthewordsinasentencefailtooccurinafixedorderrequiredbytheconventionofalanguage,onetendstoproduceanutteranceeitherungrammaticalornonsensicalatall.Forexample,6Theboykickedtheball*Boytheballkickedthe*TheballkickedtheboyTheteachersawthestudentsThestudentssawtheteacher7PositionalrelationsareamanifestationofoneaspectofSyntagmaticRelationsobservedbyF.deSaussure.TheyarealsocalledHorizontalRelationsorsimplyChainRelations.8Wordorderisamongthethreebasicways(wordorder,geneticandarealclassifications)toclassifylanguagesintheworld:SVO,VSO,SOV,OVS,OSV,andVOS.EnglishbelongstoSVOtype,thoughthisdoesnotmeanthatSVOistheonlypossiblewordorder.91.2RelationofSubstitutabilityTheRelationofSubstitutabilityreferstoclassesorsetsofwordssubstitutableforeachothergrammaticallyinsentenceswiththesamestructure.The______smiles.manboygirl10Italsoreferstogroupsofmorethanonewordwhichmaybejointlysubstitutablegrammaticallyforasinglewordofaparticularset.strongmanThetallestboysmiles.prettygirlyesterday.Hewenttherelastweek.thedaybefore.11ThisisalsocalledAssociativeRelationsbySaussure,andParadigmaticRelationsbyHjemslev.Tomakeitmoreunderstandable,theyarecalledVerticalRelationsorChoiceRelations.121.3RelationofCo-occurrenceItmeansthatwordsofdifferentsetsofclausesmaypermit,orrequire,theoccurrenceofawordofanothersetorclasstoformasentenceoraparticularpartofasentence.Forinstance,anominalphrasecanbeprecededbyadeterminerandadjective(s)andfollowedbyaverbalphrase.13Relationsofco-occurrencepartlybelongtosyntagmaticrelations,partlytoparadigmaticrelations.(precededby)NP(followedby)AprettyThetallestTheAfrican…girlboymansmilessingscriesbreathes…142.Grammaticalconstructionanditsconstituents2.1GrammaticalConstructionAnysyntacticstringofwordsrangingfromsentencesoverphrasalstructurestocertaincomplexlexemes.anappleateanappleMaryateanapple152.2ConstituentsandPhraseStructureConstituentisapartofalargerlinguisticunit.Severalconstituentstogetherformaconstruction:thegirl(NP)atetheapple(VP)thegirlatetheapple(S)16ImmediateConstituentAnalysis(ICAnalysis)Thegirlatetheapple17PhraseStructureTreediagramSNPVPDetNVNPDetNThegirlatetheapple18Word-levelPhrasalN=nounA=adjectiveV=verbP=prepositionDet=determinerAdv=adverbConj=conjunctionNP=nounphraseAP=adjectivephraseVP=verbphrasePP=prepositionphraseS=sentenceorclause19BracketingBracketingisnotascommoninuse,butitisaneconomicnotationinrepresentingtheconstituent/phrasestructureofagrammaticalunit.(((The)(girl))((ate)((the)(apple))))[S[NP[DetThe][Ngirl]][VP[Vate][NP[Detthe][Napple]]]]202.3EndocentricandExocentricConstructionsEndocentricconstructionisonewhosedistributionisfunctionallyequivalenttothatofoneormoreofitsconstituents,i.e.,awordoragroupofwords,whichservesasadefinablecentreorhead.Usuallynounphrases,verbphrasesandadjectivephrasesbelongtoendocentrictypesbecausetheconstituentitemsaresubordinatetotheHead.2122Exocentricconstructionreferstoagroupofsyntacticallyrelatedwordswherenoneofthewordsisfunctionallyequivalenttothegroupasawhole,thatis,thereisnodefinable“Centre”or“Head”insidethegroup,usuallyincludingthebasicsentence,theprepositionalphrase,thepredicate(verb+object)construction,andtheconnective(be+complement)construction.23Theboysmiled.(Neitherconstituentcansubstituteforthesentencestructureasawhole.)Hehidbehindthedoor.(Neitherconstituentcanfunctionasanadverbial.)Hekickedtheball.(Neitherconstituentstandsfortheverb-objectsequence.)Johnseemedangry.(Afterdivision,theconnectiveconstructionnolongerexists.)242.4CoordinationandSubordinationEndocentricconstructionsfallintotwomaintypes,dependingontherelationbetweenconstituents:25CoordinationCoordinationisacommonsyntacticpatterninEnglishandotherlanguagesformedbygroupingtogethertwoormorecategoriesofthesametypewiththehelpofaconjunctionsuchasand,butandor.Thesetwoormorewordsorphrasesorclauseshaveequivalentsyntacticstatus,eachoftheseparateconstituentscanstandfortheoriginalconstructionfunctionally.26CoordinationofNPs:[NPthelady]or[NPthetiger]CoordinationofVPs:[VPgotothelibrary]and[VPreadabook]CoordinationofPPs:[PPdownthestairs]and[PPoutthedoor]CoordinationofAPs:[APquiteexpensive]and[APverybeautiful]CoordinationofSs:[SJohnlovesMary]and[SMarylovesJohntoo].27SubordinationSubordinationreferstotheprocessorresultoflinkinglinguisticunitssothattheyhavedifferentsyntacticstatus,onebeingdependentupontheother,andusuallyaconstituentoftheother.Thesubordinateconstitue