LINGUISTICS DISCLAIMER EXPLANATION NOUNS A SIMPLE SENTENCE

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1 LINGUISTICS THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE Traditional Grammar You may also want to refer to the following Online Lexicon of Linguistics for further help with linguistic terminology: Linguistics 288b 2 DISCLAIMER While many of the observations of traditional grammarians are useful to us, there will be places where this class we will disagree with the conclusions of the traditional grammarians Do not hesitate to question a particular approach, definition, or explanation even one that has been unquestioningly accepted for years Linguistics 288b 3 EXPLANATION Traditional grammar is descriptive: (main) objective is to find generalizations and to formulate rules. Modern linguistics tries to go beyond description: objective is to provide explanations for the rules/generalizations. Explanation goes beyond observations; linguistics seeks to derive generalizations from more basic principles of the theory. Linguistics 288b 4 John A SIMPLE SENTENCE left Noun Verb Noun (N): names a person, a place, an idea, or a thing Verb (V): expresses action, condition or state of being Proper N: NOUNS Names a particular person, place, or thing Examples: Mary, Vienna, Cold War Does not occur with an article (also: determiner) in English (some exceptions): *the Mary Common N: Names something/someone in a more general way Examples: girl, city, era Occurs (generally) with an article/determiner in the singular (English): the girl Linguistics 288b 5 Linguistics 288b 6 1

2 A MORE COMPLEX SENTENCE The dog is playing in the garden Det N Aux V P Det N Article, Determiner (Det): the, a Auxiliary (Aux): have, be, will Preposition (P): expresses a meaning relationship (e.g., location, temporal) between its object and something else Linguistics 288b 7 PREPOSITIONS: EXAMPLES Temporal relationship: After/before lunch he took a nap. On Tuesday, they meet at the movies. Location: They put the books under their coats. Instrument: She signed the letter with a pencil. Other functions: I am proud of you. Will you write a letter to/for me? Linguistics 288b 8 SENTENCES Sentences are strings of words (and words are strings of sounds). The strings are grouped into bigger units phrases. The algorithms for grammar pick out phrases. The linear position of a word (first word, second word, etc.), is not relevant for the algorithm that composes structures. YES/NO QUESTIONS (1) The dog is eating the salami Is the dog eating the salami? (2) The dog has eaten the salami Has the dog eaten the salami? (3) The dog will eat the salami Will the dog eat the salami? Generalization: In English Yes/No questions, the auxiliary is moved to the beginning of the sentence. Linguistics 288b 9 Linguistics 288b 10 MORE ON Y/N QUESTIONS The dog that is eating the salami is running around in the garden. Is the dog that is eating the salami running around in the garden? Why isn t the first instance of the auxiliary moved to the beginning of the sentence? Why can t we say: * Is the dog that eating the salami is running around in the garden? PHRASES [ The dog that is eating the salami is running around in the garden ] SENTENCE The unit [ The dog that is eating the salami ] is a phrase The first is is embedded in a bigger phrase (it is part of the [phrase]), and invisible for the question formation rule Linguistics 288b 11 Linguistics 288b 12 2

3 FUNCTIONS Phrases have functions in the sentences Subject: (roughly) what the sentence is talking about; e.g., the doer of an action Predicate: what is said about the subject (a) [ John] [ left] (b) [ The dog that is eating the salami] [ is running around in the garden] Is THE QUESTION RULE The rule of English yes/no question formation does not look for the first occurrence of an auxiliary, but looks for the auxiliary after the subject. Rule: Subject-Aux-Inversion [[ The dog that is eating the salami ] is running around in the garden ] SENTENCE Linguistics 288b 13 Linguistics 288b 14 S The predicate can be further divided John [ found [ a mouse] ] (IN)DIRECT S A clause can have more than one object (but only one subject) John [ gave [ Mary ] [ a present ] ] PRED. Object: Phrase which follows a verb E.g., theme or receiver of the action Linguistics 288b 15 INDIRECT DIRECT Indirect Object: the first object in a Double Object construction, usually the object of an omitted to or for Linguistics 288b 16 VERB CLASSIFICATION Transitive V: Requires an object Example: Mary wore a red hat. Intransitive V: Does not require an object Example: Mary laughed. Active: VOICE (Simplified) The subject is the doer, perceiver, experiencer, or agent Example: Mary ate the cake. Passive: The theme, receiver, or object is the subject The doer or agent etc., is optional Example: The cake was eaten by Mary. N.B. Look for be+verb+en Linguistics 288b 17 Linguistics 288b 18 3

4 Present Past Future TENSE PAST Ø FUTURE They laugh. They are laughing. They laughed. They will laugh. Predicates are in a temporal relation with the speech time MODALS Modals (or modal auxiliaries): Function to indicate the mood or attitude of the speaker English: can, could, shall, should, will, would, may,must, might (1) I should have been studying harder last year. (2) They must be sleeping. (3) The books could have been taken earlier. Linguistics 288b 19 Linguistics 288b 20 OTHER CATEGORIES Categories: Parts of speech Adjective (A): Tells a characteristic or quality of a noun or a pronoun Examples: angry, fascinating, large, red Adverb (Adv) Modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb Examples: quickly, very, so, fast ADVERBS: EXAMPLES Verb modifier: They will open the presents quickly. Adjective modifier: They bought a very red hat. Adverb modifier/verb modifier : They opened the presents very quickly. Linguistics 288b 21 Linguistics 288b 22 Particles: PARTICLES Are like prepositions but can change the meaning of a verb Appear more closely linked to the verb. If the verb/particle combination has an object, then the object can appear on either side of the particle. PARTICLES: EXAMPLES They threw out the book out They looked up the number up They looked up the tree up a) OK: look up in a dictionary b) *: see what s up the tree a) look up is a verb+particle b) look up is a verb+preposition Linguistics 288b 23 Linguistics 288b 24 4

5 ASPECT Action is completed vs. ongoing Progressive: be+verb+ing Progressive in all tenses Present: They are laughing Past: Future: They were laughing They will be laughing PERFECT Perfect: have+verb+en/ed Perfect in all tenses Present: They have laughed Past: They had laughed Future: They will have laughed Linguistics 288b 25 Linguistics 288b 26 5