Syntax
Chapter Four Syntax
1,What is syntax?
Syntax is the study of the rules governing
the way words are combined to form
sentences in a language,Simply speaking,it
is the study of the formation of sentences.
There are different approaches to syntax
in the linguistic field.
2,The traditional approach
? The traditional approach views a sentence as a
sequence of words,The study of sentence formation
thus involves the study of the parts of speech and
grammatical functions of words,and other categories
such as number,gender,case,tense,aspect,voice,
concord and government.
? Read the textbook,and you can get a better
understanding of the grammatical knowledge of
English that you have already known,Particularly,
pay attention to how linguists distinguish time from
tense (P117).
3.The structural approach
This approach was started by the Swiss
linguist Ferdinand de Saussure,the father of
modern linguistics,in the beginning of the 20th
century,All the linguistic theories after Saussure
are structural in that they all regard linguistic
units as interrelated with each other in a
structure (or system),not as isolated bits.
Only one of Saussure’s main idea and the
American structuralist model of sentence
analysis are talked about here.
3.1 Syntagmatic vs,Paradigmatic
Relations (P120-22)
3.1.1 Defining the two relations
? In Saussure’s view,language is a system of
signs (i.e,words),and the value of each
individual sign must be explained from its
relations to others,or its position in the system.
The two principle types of relations which
Saussure identified are syntagmatic and
paradigmatic relations.
Term Definition
? The syntagmatic relation (组合关系 ),nowadays also
referred to as the horizontal relation or the chain
relation,is the relation between one item ant others in
a linear sequence,or between elements which are all
present.
? The paradigmatic relation (聚合关系 ),nowadays also
referred to as the vertical relation or the choice
relation,is a relation holding between elements
replaceable with each other at a particular place in a
structure,or between one element present and the
others absent.
? The sequence which a sign forms with
others,with which it is in a
syntagmatic relation,is called a
structure by some linguists.
? The class of signs which are in a
paradigmatic relation are referred to
as a system by some linguists.
3.2 Immediate constituent analysis (P122-29)
3.2.1 What is immediate constituent
analysis?
Immediate constituent analysis,often
shortened as IC Analysis,is an approach to
the analysis of sentence structures,The
following notions are essential to the full
understanding of it.
3.2 Immediate constituent analysis (P122-29)
3.2.1.1 Constituent
The component elements of a construction,i.e.
a linguistic form or group of linguistic forms,
are called its constituents,For example,John’s,
mother,left,yesterday,John’s mother,and left
yesterday are all constituents of the sentence
John’s mother left yesterday.
3.2.1.2 Binary cutting
In analyzing a construction,a common
practice is to cut it into two parts and then
cut each of the two parts into two and
continue with this segmentation until we
reach the smallest grammatical unit,the
morpheme,This practice is called binary
cutting.
（ Illustration with a tree diagram,see
P123,125）
3.2.1.3 Immediate constituent
Immediate constituents refer to the
constituents immediately,directly,below the
level of a construction,For example,John’s
mother and left yesterday are the immediate
constituents of the sentence John’s mother left
yesterday,while John’s and mother are the
immediate constituents of John’s mother,and
John and -’s are the immediate constituents of
John’s.
3.2.1.4 Ultimate constituent
? Ultimate constituents refer to the smallest
grammatical unit in a construction,
obtained through binary cuttings.
? So far,we can give a definition-like
statement about IC Analysis,IC Analysis
refers to the approach to divide a
construction up into its immediate
constituents by using binary cuttings until
obtaining its ultimate constituents.
3.2.2 Its advantages and problems (P124-29)
It is important and helpful to know
that IC Analysis helps to analyze some
structural ambiguities,Read the
textbook and pay attention to how logical
and dialectical analyses of things are
made.
3.3 Endocentric vs Exocentric (P129-31)
3.3.1 Endocentric constructions (内向结构 )
? An endocentric construction is one
whose distribution is functionally
equivalent,or approaching equivalence,
to one of its constituents,which serves
as the centre,or head,of the whole.
Hence an endocentric construction is
known as a headed construction (中心结
构 ).
3.3.1 Endocentric constructions (内向结构 )
? Endocentric constructions may be further divided into
two subtypes,SUBORDINATE and COORDINATE
constructions.
? Those in which there is only one head,with the head
being dominant and the other constituents dependent,
are subordinate constructions （ 从属结构 ）,for
example,pretty girls.
? Coordinate constructions （ 并列结构 ） are those in
which there are more than one head,e.g,boys and girls,
in which the two content constituents,boys and girls,
are of equal syntactic status,and no one is dependent
on the other,In other words,both are capable of
serving as the head.
3.3.2 Exocentric constructions
The exocentric construction（ 外向结构 ） is
defined as a construction whose distribution
is not functionally equivalent to any of its
constituents,There is no noticeable centre,or
head,in it,Prepositional phrases and
subordinate clauses are typical examples of
this type.
4,The generative approach
This approach originated in the late 1950s
with the American linguist Noam Chomsky,
who gradually established the well-known
Transformational-Generative (TG) Grammar.
From its birth to the present day,TG
Grammar has seen several stages of
development,involving putting forward,
revising,and canceling of many specific rules,
hypotheses,mechanisms,and theoretical
models.
4,The generative approach
? Due to the complexity of the theory itself and the
brevity of the introduction that our textbook makes to
it,you are expected to have considerable difficulty in
understanding it,Therefore,you are only supposed to
get a rough idea about some important points of this
theory,Instead of reading the relevant content in our
textbook’s Chapter 4,you are suggested to read
Section Four of Chapter 12,ranging from Page 433 to
Page 452,where you may get a more systematic and
more readable introduction to TG Grammar.
4.1 The innateness hypothesis (P434)
? Chomsky believes that language is somewhat innate,
and that children are born with what he calls a
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE.
? Chomsky’s hypothesis is based on his observations that
some important facts can never be otherwise explained
adequately.
? Language or Linguistic universals (P436-37)
? Competence and performance
? A system of rules that in some explicit and well-defined
way assigns structural descriptions to sentences
? A means to explore the universal rules in the hope of
revealing human cognitive systems
? A linguist’s work is to discover a universal grammar
from particular grammars,(P438)
? Chomsky’s idea of an adequate grammar (P439-40)
? Read the textbook,and you can get a better
understanding of the grammatical knowledge of English
that you have already known.
4.2 What is a generative grammar? (P437-)
4.3 The transformational component of TG
grammar
? Surface structure vs deep structure and
implications of the distinction (P132,438)
? Transformational rules (P133,441-43)
4.4 Main features of TG Grammar (P452)
? deductive methodology (P438)
Chapter Four Syntax
Questions and Exercises
1,In what ways is IC Analysis better than
traditional parsing? (P124)
2,In employing IC Analysis,how do we know
where to make the cuts? (P123-24)
3,Comment on this idea,If nobody is there to
teach a child to speak,he can never have the
ability to talk,(P434-35)
Chapter Four Syntax
1,What is syntax?
Syntax is the study of the rules governing
the way words are combined to form
sentences in a language,Simply speaking,it
is the study of the formation of sentences.
There are different approaches to syntax
in the linguistic field.
2,The traditional approach
? The traditional approach views a sentence as a
sequence of words,The study of sentence formation
thus involves the study of the parts of speech and
grammatical functions of words,and other categories
such as number,gender,case,tense,aspect,voice,
concord and government.
? Read the textbook,and you can get a better
understanding of the grammatical knowledge of
English that you have already known,Particularly,
pay attention to how linguists distinguish time from
tense (P117).
3.The structural approach
This approach was started by the Swiss
linguist Ferdinand de Saussure,the father of
modern linguistics,in the beginning of the 20th
century,All the linguistic theories after Saussure
are structural in that they all regard linguistic
units as interrelated with each other in a
structure (or system),not as isolated bits.
Only one of Saussure’s main idea and the
American structuralist model of sentence
analysis are talked about here.
3.1 Syntagmatic vs,Paradigmatic
Relations (P120-22)
3.1.1 Defining the two relations
? In Saussure’s view,language is a system of
signs (i.e,words),and the value of each
individual sign must be explained from its
relations to others,or its position in the system.
The two principle types of relations which
Saussure identified are syntagmatic and
paradigmatic relations.
Term Definition
? The syntagmatic relation (组合关系 ),nowadays also
referred to as the horizontal relation or the chain
relation,is the relation between one item ant others in
a linear sequence,or between elements which are all
present.
? The paradigmatic relation (聚合关系 ),nowadays also
referred to as the vertical relation or the choice
relation,is a relation holding between elements
replaceable with each other at a particular place in a
structure,or between one element present and the
others absent.
? The sequence which a sign forms with
others,with which it is in a
syntagmatic relation,is called a
structure by some linguists.
? The class of signs which are in a
paradigmatic relation are referred to
as a system by some linguists.
3.2 Immediate constituent analysis (P122-29)
3.2.1 What is immediate constituent
analysis?
Immediate constituent analysis,often
shortened as IC Analysis,is an approach to
the analysis of sentence structures,The
following notions are essential to the full
understanding of it.
3.2 Immediate constituent analysis (P122-29)
3.2.1.1 Constituent
The component elements of a construction,i.e.
a linguistic form or group of linguistic forms,
are called its constituents,For example,John’s,
mother,left,yesterday,John’s mother,and left
yesterday are all constituents of the sentence
John’s mother left yesterday.
3.2.1.2 Binary cutting
In analyzing a construction,a common
practice is to cut it into two parts and then
cut each of the two parts into two and
continue with this segmentation until we
reach the smallest grammatical unit,the
morpheme,This practice is called binary
cutting.
（ Illustration with a tree diagram,see
P123,125）
3.2.1.3 Immediate constituent
Immediate constituents refer to the
constituents immediately,directly,below the
level of a construction,For example,John’s
mother and left yesterday are the immediate
constituents of the sentence John’s mother left
yesterday,while John’s and mother are the
immediate constituents of John’s mother,and
John and -’s are the immediate constituents of
John’s.
3.2.1.4 Ultimate constituent
? Ultimate constituents refer to the smallest
grammatical unit in a construction,
obtained through binary cuttings.
? So far,we can give a definition-like
statement about IC Analysis,IC Analysis
refers to the approach to divide a
construction up into its immediate
constituents by using binary cuttings until
obtaining its ultimate constituents.
3.2.2 Its advantages and problems (P124-29)
It is important and helpful to know
that IC Analysis helps to analyze some
structural ambiguities,Read the
textbook and pay attention to how logical
and dialectical analyses of things are
made.
3.3 Endocentric vs Exocentric (P129-31)
3.3.1 Endocentric constructions (内向结构 )
? An endocentric construction is one
whose distribution is functionally
equivalent,or approaching equivalence,
to one of its constituents,which serves
as the centre,or head,of the whole.
Hence an endocentric construction is
known as a headed construction (中心结
构 ).
3.3.1 Endocentric constructions (内向结构 )
? Endocentric constructions may be further divided into
two subtypes,SUBORDINATE and COORDINATE
constructions.
? Those in which there is only one head,with the head
being dominant and the other constituents dependent,
are subordinate constructions （ 从属结构 ）,for
example,pretty girls.
? Coordinate constructions （ 并列结构 ） are those in
which there are more than one head,e.g,boys and girls,
in which the two content constituents,boys and girls,
are of equal syntactic status,and no one is dependent
on the other,In other words,both are capable of
serving as the head.
3.3.2 Exocentric constructions
The exocentric construction（ 外向结构 ） is
defined as a construction whose distribution
is not functionally equivalent to any of its
constituents,There is no noticeable centre,or
head,in it,Prepositional phrases and
subordinate clauses are typical examples of
this type.
4,The generative approach
This approach originated in the late 1950s
with the American linguist Noam Chomsky,
who gradually established the well-known
Transformational-Generative (TG) Grammar.
From its birth to the present day,TG
Grammar has seen several stages of
development,involving putting forward,
revising,and canceling of many specific rules,
hypotheses,mechanisms,and theoretical
models.
4,The generative approach
? Due to the complexity of the theory itself and the
brevity of the introduction that our textbook makes to
it,you are expected to have considerable difficulty in
understanding it,Therefore,you are only supposed to
get a rough idea about some important points of this
theory,Instead of reading the relevant content in our
textbook’s Chapter 4,you are suggested to read
Section Four of Chapter 12,ranging from Page 433 to
Page 452,where you may get a more systematic and
more readable introduction to TG Grammar.
4.1 The innateness hypothesis (P434)
? Chomsky believes that language is somewhat innate,
and that children are born with what he calls a
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE.
? Chomsky’s hypothesis is based on his observations that
some important facts can never be otherwise explained
adequately.
? Language or Linguistic universals (P436-37)
? Competence and performance
? A system of rules that in some explicit and well-defined
way assigns structural descriptions to sentences
? A means to explore the universal rules in the hope of
revealing human cognitive systems
? A linguist’s work is to discover a universal grammar
from particular grammars,(P438)
? Chomsky’s idea of an adequate grammar (P439-40)
? Read the textbook,and you can get a better
understanding of the grammatical knowledge of English
that you have already known.
4.2 What is a generative grammar? (P437-)
4.3 The transformational component of TG
grammar
? Surface structure vs deep structure and
implications of the distinction (P132,438)
? Transformational rules (P133,441-43)
4.4 Main features of TG Grammar (P452)
? deductive methodology (P438)
Chapter Four Syntax
Questions and Exercises
1,In what ways is IC Analysis better than
traditional parsing? (P124)
2,In employing IC Analysis,how do we know
where to make the cuts? (P123-24)
3,Comment on this idea,If nobody is there to
teach a child to speak,he can never have the
ability to talk,(P434-35)
