Simple Syntax and Structure (Revise)
Name: 辛婷 Student ID: [1**********]2
Abstract The field of linguistics, the scientific study of human natural language, is a growing and exciting area of study, with an important impact on fields as diverse as education , anthropology, sociology, language teaching, cognitive psychology, philosophy, computer science, neuroscience, and antificial intelligence, among others. More and more scholars are now showing an interest in adopting linguistic approaches to syntax studies. Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules that govern the formation of sentences. In this paper it is concerned with the composition of sentences by introducting some of the most common categories of words in English as well as some simple rules that govern the organization of these categories into larger structural units. Sentences can be studied in two different ways: Statically, we can describe the structures of sentences to illustrate the relationship among the elements of a sentence.
Key words Syntax; lexical categories; phrase structure rule; the S rule; trasformations
1. Introduction
There are half a dozen major different syntactic theories. In all languages, sentences are structured in certain specific ways. What is syntactic structure, and what does it mean to say that sentences are structured? Like many other questions that can be posed about human language, it is difficult to answer this one in any direct fashion. In fact, it is impossible to answer the question What is structure? Without actually constructing a theory of syntax, and indeed one of the central concerns of current theories of syntax is to provide an answer to this question. Rather, our study of syntax will be an attempt to find a definition. That is, given that we can recognize that sentences are made up of individual words(which we can isolate), it would seem that the minimal assumption we could make would be that sentences are nothing more than words strung out in linear order, one after the other.
2. Categories
Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. 2.1 Word-level categories
Word Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language. Traditionally, category is termed as “parts of speech ”. Some lexical categories:
To Determine a word’s category, three criteria are usually played.
① Word category often bear some relationship with its meaning. meaning. ② Words of different categories take different inflections. ③ Distribution means a certain type of elements can co-occur with a certain word.
2.2 Phrase categories
Definition: A word or group of words written or spoken as a unit and separated by pauses or other junctures. Types:
Noun phrase (NP): the pretty girl; Verb phrase (VP): often dream; Adjective phrase (AP): very pessimistic; Prepositional phrase (PP): in the house; Adverbial phrase (ADVP) : very quickly. Phrases that are formed of more than one word usually contain the following complement: Head, specifier and complement.
3. Phrase structure rule
There must be certain grammatical mechanism that ensures the appropriate positions that specials,
heads, and complements occupy in phrase structure. Such special type of grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule. 3.1 The XP rule
The XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement)
In all phrases, the specifier is attached at the top level to the left of the head while the complement is attached to the right. These similarities can be summarized as an XP rule, in which X stands for the head N, V, A, or P.
In addition, we know the revised XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement*). This rule also captures the simple but important fact that complements, however many there are, occur to the right of the head in English.Sometimes a sentence-like construction functions as a complement
And the Expanded XP rule: XP →(Spec) (Mod) X (Complement*) (Mod)
4. Sentences (The S Rule)
The S rule: S → NP VP, which combines an NP (often called the subject) with a VP to yield a sentence such as the one below. The apple might hit the man.
Now, we learn some basic knowledge about surface structure and deep structure.
5. Conclusion
Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. In this paper I have first introduced word categories and phrase categories. Then I have focused on some of the fundamental mechanisms employed in the analysis of sentence formation.
References
[1]Adrian Akmajian；Richard A. Derners；Ann K. Farmer；Robert M. Harnish, and Linguistics - An Introduction to Language and Communication: the MIT Press, 2001 P160-161
[2] Andrew Radford. Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction : The Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000 P67-70
[3]王兴中，王渝光，《语言学概论》，云南大学出版社，2005 P121-125
Simple Syntax and Structure (Revise)
Name: 辛婷 Student ID: [1**********]2
Abstract The field of linguistics, the scientific study of human natural language, is a growing and exciting area of study, with an important impact on fields as diverse as education , anthropology, sociology, language teaching, cognitive psychology, philosophy, computer science, neuroscience, and antificial intelligence, among others. More and more scholars are now showing an interest in adopting linguistic approaches to syntax studies. Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules that govern the formation of sentences. In this paper it is concerned with the composition of sentences by introducting some of the most common categories of words in English as well as some simple rules that govern the organization of these categories into larger structural units. Sentences can be studied in two different ways: Statically, we can describe the structures of sentences to illustrate the relationship among the elements of a sentence.
Key words Syntax; lexical categories; phrase structure rule; the S rule; trasformations
1. Introduction
There are half a dozen major different syntactic theories. In all languages, sentences are structured in certain specific ways. What is syntactic structure, and what does it mean to say that sentences are structured? Like many other questions that can be posed about human language, it is difficult to answer this one in any direct fashion. In fact, it is impossible to answer the question What is structure? Without actually constructing a theory of syntax, and indeed one of the central concerns of current theories of syntax is to provide an answer to this question. Rather, our study of syntax will be an attempt to find a definition. That is, given that we can recognize that sentences are made up of individual words(which we can isolate), it would seem that the minimal assumption we could make would be that sentences are nothing more than words strung out in linear order, one after the other.
2. Categories
Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. 2.1 Word-level categories
Word Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language. Traditionally, category is termed as “parts of speech ”. Some lexical categories:
To Determine a word’s category, three criteria are usually played.
① Word category often bear some relationship with its meaning. meaning. ② Words of different categories take different inflections. ③ Distribution means a certain type of elements can co-occur with a certain word.
2.2 Phrase categories
Definition: A word or group of words written or spoken as a unit and separated by pauses or other junctures. Types:
Noun phrase (NP): the pretty girl; Verb phrase (VP): often dream; Adjective phrase (AP): very pessimistic; Prepositional phrase (PP): in the house; Adverbial phrase (ADVP) : very quickly. Phrases that are formed of more than one word usually contain the following complement: Head, specifier and complement.
3. Phrase structure rule
There must be certain grammatical mechanism that ensures the appropriate positions that specials,
heads, and complements occupy in phrase structure. Such special type of grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule. 3.1 The XP rule
The XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement)
In all phrases, the specifier is attached at the top level to the left of the head while the complement is attached to the right. These similarities can be summarized as an XP rule, in which X stands for the head N, V, A, or P.
In addition, we know the revised XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement*). This rule also captures the simple but important fact that complements, however many there are, occur to the right of the head in English.Sometimes a sentence-like construction functions as a complement
And the Expanded XP rule: XP →(Spec) (Mod) X (Complement*) (Mod)
4. Sentences (The S Rule)
The S rule: S → NP VP, which combines an NP (often called the subject) with a VP to yield a sentence such as the one below. The apple might hit the man.
Now, we learn some basic knowledge about surface structure and deep structure.
5. Conclusion
Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. In this paper I have first introduced word categories and phrase categories. Then I have focused on some of the fundamental mechanisms employed in the analysis of sentence formation.
References
[1]Adrian Akmajian；Richard A. Derners；Ann K. Farmer；Robert M. Harnish, and Linguistics - An Introduction to Language and Communication: the MIT Press, 2001 P160-161
[2] Andrew Radford. Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction : The Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000 P67-70
[3]王兴中，王渝光，《语言学概论》，云南大学出版社，2005 P121-125