Syntax

Question 1

accusative

Answer 1

In an inflectional language the formal marking of the direct object of a verb. A similar marking may be used after prepositions. As a term from traditional Latin grammar the term is inappropriate to modern English as the latter does not have any corresponding inflection.

Question 2

active

Answer 2

A reference to a type of sentence in which the semantic subject is also the formal subject; contrasts with passive in which this is not the case. This type is generally taken as more basic than a passive sentence.

Question 3

adjective

Answer 3

A word class which generally qualifies a noun. Because of this adjectives are found either before (in SVO languages) or after (in VSO languages) the noun they refer to. Adjectives in this position are termed ‘attributive’ while those placed after a copula are called ‘predicative’ as in The snow is very dry. Adjectives can themselves be qualified by adverbs (as in the example just given).

Question 4

adverb

Answer 4

A word class which encompasses those elements which qualify verbs/verb phrases (She smiled slyly) or nouns/noun phrases (A remarkably good linguist). The category is somewhat fuzzy and tends to be used as a bin for elements which cannot be assigned unequivocably to another word class. Some adverbs can qualify a clause or an entire sentence as in Surprisingly, John left for home.

Question 5

attributive

Answer 5

An adjective which is placed before a noun and specifies a quality as in His beautiful wife. Some adjectives can only occur in this role, e.g. German vorder in Ein vorderer Vokal which cannot occur as a predicative adjective: *Dieser Vokal ist vorder.

Question 6

clause

Answer 6

A syntactical unit which is smaller than a sentence. There are basically two types, main clauses and subordinate clauses, which are joined by certain grammatical words such as conjunctions or subordinators.

Question 7

concord

Answer 7

A feature of human languages where grammatical relationships are expressed by an agreement in form between at least two words, e.g. We are talking where the plural pronoun requires the form are and that in turn demands the progressive form of the verb. Concord is also a key feature of synthetic languages which have very strict agreement requirements for classes of inflections.

Question 8

conjugation

Answer 8

A term from inflectional morphology which refers to changes in ending for verbs depending on such factors as tense, mood, person and number. A set of verbal inflections is also termed an inflectional paradigm. The term is sometimes used to refer to the class of verbs which shares sets of forms, e.g. the weak conjugation would refer to all verbs in English (or German) which form their past tense by suffixation of an alveolar stop and not by an alteration of the root vowel.

Question 9

constituent

Answer 9

Any unit which is part of a larger one. This can be a recognisable part of a word as with lexical compounds or it can be a phrase in a sentence as indicated in tree representations in phrase structure grammar.

Question 10

copula

Answer 10

A particular verb — be in English, sein in German — which links elements in a sentence, usually in assigning attributes or qualities to nouns, e.g. Patrick is a miserable linguist.

Question 11

declarative

Answer 11

A type of sentence which makes a positive statement rather than negating a statement or asking a question. Taken as the basic type of sentence.

Question 12

deep structure

Answer 12

A level in grammar — specifically syntax — in which ambiguities in structure do not exist and in which the semantic interpretation of a sentence is clear. Contrast surface structure.

Question 13

dependent

Answer 13

Any linguistic element which requires the presence of another in a structure or whose form is determined by another element or a grammatical category, for instance the form of the definite article in German which depends on the gender, number and case of the noun it co-occurs with.

Question 14

determiner

Answer 14

A linguistic item, such as an article, a pronoun or a numeral, which co-occurs with a noun and in some way qualifies — or determines — the noun. This is a cover term for articles, demonstrative and possessive pronouns.

Question 15

direct object

Answer 15

An item in a sentence which indicates the object or being which is immediately affected by the action of the verb, e.g. He bought the book; She kissed the boy.

Question 16

embedding

Answer 16

The insertion of one syntactic phrase or unit within another, e.g. The girl who stood up is my sister.

Question 17

empty word

Answer 17

A word which does not carry any meaning of its own but which frequently plays a role in indicating a grammatical category or expressing a syntactic relationship, e.g. it in It’s Patrick’s turn to sing a song. It contrasts explicitly with a content word.

Question 18

gender

Answer 18

A feature of many synthetic languages such as German and Latin which group words — nouns and their determiners (articles, pronouns, adjectives) — according to different formal classes. In the Indo-European context these have the traditional names masculine, feminine, neuter, ultimately because of the connection with the sex of humans and animals — though this is not decisive for the gender system.

Question 19

generative linguistics

Answer 19

The main school of linguistics today which assumes that speakers’ knowledge of language is largely unconscious and essentially rule-governed. The models used by these linguists are intended to generate, i.e. properly describe, how deep structures are mapped onto actual sentences.

Question 20

government

Answer 20

In general any linguistic situation in which one form demands another, for instance in German the adverb ungeachtet governs the genitive case.

Question 21

grammar

Answer 21

A level of linguistics which is concerned with the manner in which words combine together structurally to form sentences. In this sense grammar is a descriptive phenomenon. It can also be used to refer to speakers’ knowledge of how to produce well-formed sentences in which case it is an ability, it is speakers’ competence in the generative sense.

Question 22

grammatical

Answer 22

A term which refers to whether a sentence, phrase or form is judged by native speakers to be well-formed in their language. Note carefully that grammatical and correct are two different terms. The latter refers to whether structures or words are deemed right in some externally imposed and putatively absolute sense. A structure or word is deemed grammatical if the majority of speakers accept it and use it in this form. Many so-called ‘correct’ forms are not in fact used by speakers, e.g. the inflected form whom as an accusative relative pronoun which has long since been abandoned in spoken English.

Question 23

indicative

Answer 23

A factual mood which is used to make statements rather than issue commands (imperative) or make uncertain, hypothetical statements (subjunctive).

Question 24

indirect object

Answer 24

An item in a sentence which accompanies the direct object and which frequently denotes the person affected by an action and as such is always animate. This is a semantic definition. Formally the indirect object may be an accusative as in German Sie lehrte ihn eine neue Sprache. In English there is only one pronominal form for both direct and indirect object, the latter being indicated by its position before the former or by a directional preposition like to: She wrote a letter to her cousin; She gave him the book.

Question 25

mood

Answer 25

A division in the verbal area which refers to whether the action of the verb represents a fact, a wish, a possibility, necessity or a command.

Question 26

negation

Answer 26

In a very general sense the process of denying something. There are many means of saying that something is not the case and most languages reflect this fact in their modes of expression for negation. The Indo-European languages have negation particles beginning in /n-/ which are normally positioned adjacent to the verb to negate it, Er kam nicht; He didn’t come. In addition there are usually means of negating an entire sentence Not all the students took their exams in June. Furthermore, languages have means of augmenting negation, by special adverbs or by doubling the negation particles: He definitely won’t stay; He don’t do no work for no-one (non-standard).

Question 27

nominative

Answer 27

A case which indicates the subject of a sentence and the obligatory complement of a verb. It is usually taken to be neutral or basic and is used for the citation form of a noun.

Question 28

noun phrase

Answer 28

Any part of a sentence which has a noun as its head. It can range from a single noun to a complex phrase. In behaviour and distribution it is similar to a noun.

Question 29

oblique case

Answer 29

A term referring to all cases except the nominative.

Question 30

open

Answer 30

A term in grammar which denotes a class which does not have a pre-determined number of members.

Question 31

parataxis

Answer 31

Two or more clauses which are linked by using conjunctions, i.e. the clauses have equal status, e.g. He came home and went to bed immediately.

Question 32

part of speech

Answer 32

Any set of words which form a grammatical group, i.e. which can indicate the same categories or relations, e.g. nouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions.

Question 33

participle

Answer 33

A non-finite form of the verb which in most Indo-European languages is used to express participation in an action, e.g. with the present participle as in He is writing a new book, or to show that an action has been completed, e.g. with the past participle as in He has written a new book. Participles can also appear in attributive form as adjectives, e.g. A crying baby, A written message.

Question 34

passive

Answer 34

A mood, present in Indo-European languages, and which serves to avoid indicating the subject of a verb and which highlights the object, e.g. The book was stolen (by a young student). Passive sentences are taken to be semantically identical with active ones and are derived from the latter by transformation in generative grammar.

Question 35

past tense

Answer 35

A tense which points backwards in time, i.e. which refers to the past viewed from the time at which an utterance is spoken. There may be varying time depths which receive expression in a language, such as the pluperfect in English which indicates that one action took place before another as in She had eaten before he arrived.

Question 36

perfect

Answer 36

The simple past tense which does not refer to great time depth (see Pluperfect) and which may in English express relevance of the action to the present, e.g. I have spoken to the boss (present perfect).

Question 37

phrase

Answer 37

Any group of words which are taken to be less than a sentence, e.g. by lacking a finite verb, but which are regarded as forming a unit grammatically.

Question 38

phrase-structure grammar

Answer 38

A type of primitive generative grammar which offers an analysis of sentences by showing the structure which lies behind them, usually with the help of tree diagrams.

Question 39

pluperfect

Answer 39

A form of verbs found in many Indo-European languages and which expresses an action which is in the remote past; those languages which possess such a tense also have a simple tense which is understood to refer to a time closer to the present.

Question 40

predicative

Answer 40

A reference to an adjective which occurs after a form of the copula be instead of before the noun it qualifies. Some adjectives can only occur in this position, e.g. The girl is awake but *The awake girl is ungrammatical.

Question 41

preposition

Answer 41

A grammatical word which occurs in conjunction with a noun or phrase and which expresses the relation it has to other elements in a sentence. In an analytic language like English prepositions play a central role in the grammar.

Question 42

prepositional phrase

Answer 42

A part of a sentence which consists of a noun phrase preceded by a preposition and which functions in its entirety as a complement to a verb, e.g. She cut the cake with a knife.

Question 43

principles and parameters model

Answer 43

[linguistic theory] ] A model of generative linguistics which assumes that everyone is born with an unconscious knowledge of what constitutes a basic language, i.e. what essential principles it embodies. The term parameters alludes to those sections of language structure which receive special values (within a given spectrum) from the particular language acquired by speakers in early childhood.

Question 44

reflexive

Answer 44

A type of structure where both subject and object have the same referent, e.g. He injured himself.

Question 45

relative pronoun

Answer 45

A linguistic item which is used to introduce a relative clause, e.g. that in English and dass in German.

Question 46

sentence

Answer 46

The basic unit of syntax. A structural unit which contains at least a subject and a verb possibly with other complements and which may occur with subordinate elements (in relative clauses) or which may be concatenated with other sentences.

Question 47

simple (2)

Answer 47

1) A reference to a sentence which consists of only one clause.
2) A form of a verb which does not involve the use of an auxiliary.

Question 48

slot

Answer 48

Any point in a syntagm — a linear structure such as a phrase or sentence — which can be occupied by a class of items such as a noun or verb.

Question 49

subject

Answer 49

The consituent of a clause which is the primary complement of the verb and about which something is said, e.g. speaker in the sentence The speaker was nervous.

Question 50

subordination

Answer 50

A general reference to a relationship of dependence between two elements, units or phrases, for instance, a subordinate clause is one which is dependent on a main clause which it usually follows He said that she was tired.

Question 51

surface structure

Answer 51

The form in which a sentence actually appears in speech; contrast this with deep structure.

Question 52

syntagm

Answer 52

Any set of elements which can be strung together as a linear sequence, i.e. as a syntactic unit (phrase or sentence).

Question 53

syntax

Answer 53

The investigation of the possible combinations of words in a language. The basic unit of syntax is the sentence which minimally consists of a verb and a subject and maximally of a string of clauses, possibly in a specific relationship to each other. As it is concerned with whole words, syntax is above morphology which examines the internal structure of words. Like other levels of language, syntax is governed by rules of well-formedness which specify which combinations are permissible and which not. It is the task of a syntactic theory (of which there are many) to determine these rules.

Question 54

tense

Answer 54

A reference to the point in time at which an action takes place from the stance of the speaker. Three common tenses which are frequently formally marked on verbs are past, future and present with the latter normally being the unmarked case. Languages may also have further divisions such as a remote past or a distant future and may use additional verbal elements, such as modals, to indicate these secondary tenses.

Question 55

TMA

Answer 55

(tense/mood/aspect)
The three axes along which verbs can make distinctions. Not all of these are equally well represented in a given language. For instance the tense system is well catered for in the Romance languages but Germanic languages only have a past and present tense with the future formed with the help of modals.

Question 56

tree diagram

Answer 56

A method of representing the structure of a sentence — or occasionally a compound — so that the internal hierarchical organisation is evident. Such structures can be equally well represented using bracketing but this is not as effective visually.

Question 57

transformation [applications]

Answer 57

In early versions of generative grammar this was a type of operation which showed a formal link between two types of sentence with more or less identical meaning, e.g. between active or passive sentences. A second usage was in the process of derivation, i.e. when moving from deep to surface structure. Here many linguists assumed that various transformations were necessary. The number of these has been greatly reduced so that present-day generative grammar believes that only one transformation is required, given the general form ‘move alpha’.

Question 58

word order

Answer 58

The arrangement of words in a linear sequence in a sentence. There is normally an unmarked, a so-called ‘canonical’, word order in a language — such as SVO in English, VSO in Irish, SOV in Turkish — but usually alternative word orders exist, particularly to allow for emphasis in a sentence such as the fronting of sentence elements for the purpose of topicalisation.

Question 59

Syntax

Answer 59

Syntax is the study of sentence structure.