Chapter 5 Flashcards
Syntax
- grammar
- the system of rules and categories that accounts for phrase, clause and sentence formation
Syntactic Units
- Phrase
- Clause
- Sentence
Phrase
- a combination of words that form a syntactic unit with cohesive meaning
- ex) “the beautiful house”, “a turkey”
Clause
- a combination of phrases that has to include a subject (doer) and predicate (action)
- ex) “she asked if I (subject) liked (predicate) the beautiful house”
Sentence
- often used synonymously with clause
- “I told John that I like that house” (2 clauses)
Prescriptive Grammar
- found in language grammars were particular grammar rules are presented as correct and their violations or deviations form them are considered wrong
- ex) “I am not” –> “I’m not” –> “I ain’t”
Descriptive Grammar
- attempt to describe what is actually happening in the use of language by native speakers
- “ain’t” becomes acceptable
Lexical Categories
- also known as word class, lexical class, part of speech
- when a word is created it immediately acquires a lexical category
- open and closed categories
Syntactic Categories Def.
- words as they function in sentences
- overlap with lexical categories, but there are some differences
- was of defining the word’s category (meaning, inflection, distribution)
Traditional Lexical Categories in English
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Adjective
- Adverb
- Pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Interjections
- Numeral
- Particle
- Article
Noun
meaning: a thing
inflection: -s, ‘s
ex) Canada, girl
Verb
meaning: action
inflection: -s, -ed, -ing
ex) repeat, study
Adjective
meaning: quality
inflection: -er, -est
ex) dark, quick
Adverb
meaning: action quality
inflection: -er, -est, -ly
ex) quickly, fast
Pronoun
meaning: substitute
inflection: n/a
ex) this, his, her
Preposition
meaning: relationships
inflection: n/a
ex) to, in, with, on
Conjunctions
meaning: relationships
inflection: n/a
ex) and, since, when
Interjections
meaning: emotions and filled in pauses
inflection: n/a
ex) oh, ouch, um, err
Numeral
meaning: numbers
inflection: n/a
ex) fifth, five
Particle
meaning: n/a
inflection: n/a
ex) yes, no
Article
meaning: specific/nonspecific
inflection: n/a
ex) a, an, the
Open Lexical Categories
- acquire new members regularly
- “content words” and “lexical words”
- nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
Closed Lexical Categories
- don’t acquire new word regularly
- “function words” or “grammar words”
- articles, prepositions, conjunctions, aux verbs, pronouns
- exception: “xe, xem, xyr” (gender neutral pronouns)
Meaning
- what school grammars traditionally relied on
- noun= person, place, thing
- adjective= quality/description word
Problems with Meaning
- the same word can belong to different categories without any appreciable change in meaning
- many nouns can be readily converted into verbs, sometimes with various meanings
Inflection
- different lexical categories have their own inflectional pattern (paradigms)
- a modification in the word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood
- nouns= -s
- verbs = -s, -ed, -ing
- adjectives, adverbs= (-er, -est)