What Is Grammar? Flashcards
Initial attempts to describe Grammar were
Prescriptivist
Some qualities of grammar?
Meaningfulness, synonymity
Grammar includes…
Morphology
Grammar operates between…
Phonology and semantics
Basic ingredient of grammar is…
Study of syntax/SENTENCES
Unit of grammar: define morpheme?
Minimal meaningful unit in a language
Units of grammar: define Word?
Morphemes combine to form words. Basic unit of lexicography for dictionaries.
Unit of grammar: define Phrase?
Any group of words without subject and predicate
Units of grammar: define clause?
Has a subject and predicate and is part of a larger sentence
Units of grammar: define sentence?
A group of words that make sense– largest independent unit of grammar
Linguists since starting have been trying to divide langauge into several categories called…
Parts of speech
What they ARE( fits which label?)
Categorical labels
What they DO( fits which label?)
Functional labels
Examples under categorical label
Nouns, verbs , adjs, advs , pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, ordinals, quantifiers
Examples under functional label
Subject/object, subject complement, object complement
Some classes are called open class because…
More and more words can be added to class
Some classes are called closed class because…
They are fixed.
Examples under open class
Nouns, verbs etc
Examples under closed class
Determiners, prepositions etc
Form and structure class words are also called…
Full and empty class words
What are full words?
Have a high meaning value and new words can be added
What are empty class words?
Have low meaning value and limited membership. Role is grammatical relationships.
Examples under full class words
Nouns, verbs etc
Why is traditional definitions of grammar insufficient?
Tended to give terminology based identification to word classes instead of figuring out structure and process
Traditional definition of noun?
Name of person,place, thing
Characteristics of noun: they form plurals by..
Taking e(s)
Characteristics of noun: they form which case?
Possessive case
Characteristics of noun: they are typically preceded by…
Articles
Characteristics of noun: their form ends in a..
Noun forming derivational suffix eg -hood(boyhood)
Four main positional classes?
Nominal, adverbial, adjectival, verbal
Membership of words in positional classes is decided by…
Position/word order
A nominal may not necessarily be a noun(true/false)
True
Any sentence has essential/nuclear part and a part that can be left out called…
Adjunct
