INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS:
SYNTAX
Compiled by :
Efi Kurniati (1501050062)
Delima
Nurazizah (1501050082)
C Class
This paper
is submitted to fulfill the assignment of Introduction to Linguistics.
Guided by
Aulia Nisa Khusnia, S.S., M.A.
ENGLISH
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TEACHER
TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
MUHAMMADIYAH
UNIVERSITY OF PURWOKERTO
2016
PREFACE
Assalamu’alaikum Wr.
Wb.
Thank to Almighty God
who has given His bless to writer for finishing the English paper assignment
entitled “Syntax”. The writer also wish to express her deep and sincere
gratitude for those who have guided in completing this paper. This paper
contains some definition of syntax and the example of tree structure. The phrasal
categories and genre of syntax is provided in this paper.
Hopefully, this paper
can help the readers to expand their knowledge about syntax.
Wassalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.
Purwokerto,
6th October 2016
Writer
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Studying syntax is
relevant to a lot of subject areas in linguistics. We must study syntax to
understand how children acquire their language, how they start constructing
sentences and what stage do they learn the tacit syntactic rules of the
language. It is also good to study syntax so we can understand how bilingual
and multilingual speakers are able to construct their sentences despite having
different structures for different languages.
Studying syntax
gives us many answers which are necessary for understanding how languages work,
as well as being the doorway to future research and theories on all aspects of
linguistics.
We also study syntax
to develop set rules and constraints on the language. We call these parameters. These parameters limit what we can and can not do in a
language, helping us establish an effective and working communicative system.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A.
Definition
Syntax is
the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in
particular languages. Syntactic investigation of a given language has as its
goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a device of some sort
for producing the sentences of the language under analysis (Noam Chomsky,
2002:11).
The term syntax is from the Ancient Greek syntaxis, a verbal noun
which literally means ‘arrangement’ or ‘setting out together’. Traditionally,
it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with
or without appropriate inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning
within the sentence.
Syntax is the grammatical arrangement of words in phrases,
clauses, sentences, and the study of the formation of sentences and the
relationship of their component parts.
B.
Categories of Words
1. Open Classes or Lexical Categories
Open
Classes – new and new items are added to the class over the time (nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs).
a.
Nouns
(N)
Noun is a part of speech that refers to person, place,
thing, animal, and idea.
Example : Michael,
garden, wheat, table, elephant, job, bravery.
b.
Verbs
(V)
Verb
is a word that describes an action or a state.
Example
: studying, arrive, discuss, melt, hear, and others.
c.
Adjectives
(A/Adj)
Adjectives are something called describing words and
commonly occur with nouns.
Example
: good, tall, old, intelligent, beautiful, fond, and so forth.
d.
Adverbs
(Adv)
Adverb is to describe verbs and to add information in
relation to circumstances of manner, time, place, and quantity.
Example
: slowly, quietly, now, always, perhaps, often, never.
There
are several types of adverbs :
Adverb
of time (yesterday, next month, now)
Adverb
of place (here)
Adverb
of manner (clearly)
Adverb
of degree or quantity (too)
2.
Closed
Classes or Nonlexical Categories
Closed
Classes – contains small number of words, new items are added very rarely
(determiners, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verb, and degree
word).
a.
Determiners
(D/Det)
Determiners are the closed lexical phrase categories used
to identity some words.
Example
: the, a, this, these, no (as in no books).
There
are different types of determiners :
Definite
(a/an).
Indefinite
articles (the).
Demonstratives
are such as this, that, these, and those.
Quantifiers
such as some, any, each, every, etc.
Possessives
such as my, his, her, and your.
Wh-determiners
such as whose, what, and which.
b.
Prepositions
(Prep)
Prepositions are another closed lexical phrase category
and belong to a small group or class if words, which express relations of
place, direction, time, or possession.
Example : to, in, on, near, at, by, about, with, of,
under, from, till, for,
beside, against,
up, down.
c.
Pronouns
(Pron)
Pronouns
are closed lexical categories that refer to specific entities.
Example
: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them.
d.
Conjunctions
(Con)
Conjunctions are another closed lexical categories that
used to link sentences or phrases in order to make the sentence understandable
and smoothly structures.
Example : For,
and, nor (not or), but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS).
e.
Auxiliary
verbs (Aux)
Auxiliary verbs are a closed lexical phrase category used
to specify the tense of the sentence.
Example
:
Modal à will/would, can/could,
may/might, shall/should, must/ought to.
Nonmodal à be, have.
To be à was/were,
am/is/are, been.
To have à has/have,
had.
To do à did, do/does,
done.
f.
Degree
word (Deg)
Example : too, so, very, more, quite,
almost.
C.
Categories of Phrase
A phrase is defined as a group of related words that does
not contain a subject and a verb. Phrase consist of Noun Phrase (NP), Verb
Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (Adj P), Adverbial Phrase (Adv P), and
Prepositional Phrase (PP).
1.
Noun
Phrase (NP)
A noun phrase includes a noun (a person, place, or thing
and the modifiers, which distinguish it). In English, a noun phrase a
determiner followed by a noun, or determiner followed by an adjective and
followed by a noun, or single noun. In addition, a pronoun can be a noun
phrase.
Example : A book, the store.
NP Ã Det N the cat
NP Ã Det A N those noisy cats
NP Ã N cats
NP Ã A N noisy cats
NP Ã Pron she,
you, we
2.
Verb
Phrase (VP)
A verb phrase is the portion of a sentence that contains
both the verb and either a direct or indirect object (the verb’s dependents),
verb usually follows by NP or PP but not always.
Example : Ali arrived, I visited my friend, I stopped by
the your office yesterday.
3.
Adjective
Phrase (Adj P)
An adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a
noun or pronoun in a sentence.
Example : nice place.
4.
Adverbial
Phrase (Adv P)
An adverbial phrase is simply two or more words that act
as an adverb. It can modify a verb, adverb, or adjective.
Example : how, where, why, when.
5.
Prepositional
Phrase (PP)
A prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and
end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause, the “object” of the preposition.
In English, preposition is usually followed by a noun phrase
D.
Categories of Clause
A clause is defined as a group of related words that
contains a subject and predicate (verb). There are two major types of clauses :
main (independent) clause and subordinate (dependant) clause.
1.
Main
(independent) Clause
Main (independent) Clause is a clause that expresses a
complete thought and can stand as a sentence.
Example : I met the boy who had helped me.
She is wearing a shirt which looks nice.
The teacher asked a question but no one
answered.
He takes medicine because he suffers from
fever.
He became angry and smashed the vase into
peaces.
In the above sentences each underlined part shows main
clause. It expresses complete though and can stand as a sentence that is why a
main or an independent clause is normally referred as a simple sentence.
2.
Subordinate
(independent) clause
Subordinate (independent)
clause is a clause which does not express complete thought and depends on
another clause (main clause) to express complete thought. Subordinate clause
does not express complete idea and can’t stand as a sentence. A sentence having
a subordinate clause must have a main clause.
Example
: He likes Chinese rice which tastes good.
The clause “which
tastes good” in above sentence is a subordinate clause because it does not
express complete thought and can’t stand as a sentence. It depends on main
clause (he likes Chinese rise) to express complete thought.
Example : I met the boy who had
helped me.
I bought a table that costs $ 100.
He
takes medicine because he suffers from fever.
The
teacher asked a question but no one answered.
Subordinate (dependent)
clauses are further divided into tree types:
Noun Phrase (NP), Adjective Phrase (AP), and Adverb Phrase (Adv P).
Noun Phrase (NP), Adjective Phrase (AP), and Adverb Phrase (Adv P).
E. Sentence Pattern Definition
There are five important components in a sentence.
e.g.
|
Subject (S)
|
Verb (V)
|
Object (O)
|
|
Complement (C)
|
Adverbial (A)
|
1.
SUBJECT (S)
Definition : To get ‘S’ ask the quesiton
‘Who?’ before the verb.
e.g.
|
Nancy danced well
|
(Here “Nancy” -
Subject)
|
|
The child broke the glass
|
(Here “The child” -
Subject)
|
|
Subject (S)
|
consists of nouns
or pronouns
|
|
occurs before a
verb
|
2.
VERB (V)
Definition : In every sentence the most
important word is the verb. A verb shows action or
activity or work done.
e.g.
|
He is a doctor
|
(“Be” form verb)
|
|
Jems wrote a letter
|
(Main verb)
|
|
The baby is crying
|
(auxiliary verb +
Main verb)
|
|
Verb (V)
|
consists of (a)
auxiliaries
|
|
(b) finite verbs
|
(a) Auxiliaries
e.g.
|
am, is, are ,was,
were
|
|
has, have, had
|
|
does, do, did
|
|
Modals : can, could; will, would; shall, should; may,
might; must
|
|
Semi-modals / Quasi
Modals : dare to; need
to; used to; ought to
|
(b) Finte verbs - denote action
e.g.
|
talk, sing, write,
make, dance, play, cook, leave, teach, sleep
|
|
- verbs occur after
the subject
|
|
- vebs occur before
the object
|
3. OBJECT (O)
Definition : To get the object ‘O’ ask the
question ‘What’ or ‘Whome’. ‘What’ is for things and
‘Whome’ is for persons. Persons may be nouns or pronouns.
e.g.
|
He bought a pen
|
(a pen = Object)
|
|
He handles
the computer
|
(computer = Object)
|
|
I saw him
|
(him = Object)
|
Object (O) - consists of nouns or noun phrases or noun
clauses
|
(a) Do
|
- direct object
|
|
- answers the
question ‘what’
|
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
O (what)
|
|
I
|
like
|
animals
|
|
(b) IO
|
- indirect object
|
|
- answers the
question ‘whom’
|
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
IO (whom)
|
DO
|
|
I
|
gave
|
Rosy
|
a pen
|
4. COMPLEMENT (C)
Definition : The words required to complete
the meaning of a sentence are called Complement of the sentence.
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
C
|
|
He
|
is
|
a dentist
|
|
She
|
became
|
a journalist
|
|
It
|
grew
|
dark
|
Complement (C) - from the word ‘complete’
|
- completes the
meaning in the sentence
|
|
- wihtout it the,
meaning is incomplete
|
|
- wihtout it the,
meaning changes
|
|
occurs in two
pattern. (i) S V C pattern. (ii) S V O C pattern
|
(i) In S V C pattern,
the complement C
|
- complements the
subjects
|
|
- tells about the
subject
|
|
- wihtout it the,
meaning changes
|
|
- without C, the
sentence is incomplete or the sentence changes its meaning
|
|
- use to be forms,
grew, became, seems for verb
|
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
C
|
|
They
|
are
|
players
|
|
She
|
was
|
angry
|
|
It
|
seems
|
absurd
|
(ii) In S V O C pattern
|
- the complement
tells about the object
|
|
- the complement
and object are of the same person or thing
|
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
O
|
C
|
|
They
|
called
|
David
|
a genius
|
|
I
|
found
|
her
|
crying
|
|
They
|
elected
|
Michle
|
leader
|
Types of Complement
1. Subject Complement
Definition : The complement which expresses
the quality or identity or condition of the subject is called Subject Complement.
e.g.
|
She is a doctor
|
She looks sad
|
2. Object Complement
Definition : The complement which expresses
the quality or identity or condition of an object is called Object Complement.
e.g.
|
They made her angry
|
She called
him a liar
|
Adjunct
or Adverbial
Definition
: To get ‘A’ ask the question why, when, where, or how. The use of adverbial is optional whereas complement is
essential. It has adverb phrase, adverbial clause, noun-phrase and
prepositional phrase.
e.g.
|
Why? (reason)
|
When? (Time)
|
Where? (Place)
|
How? (Manner)
|
|
due to cold
|
now, later
|
here, there
|
by bus / cycle
|
|
through floods
|
after 2 years
|
every where
|
through efforts
|
|
under compulsion
|
when young
|
in the sky
|
by mixing
|
|
carefully
|
in the morning
|
at home
|
by hard work
|
Adjunct - A - answers the questions where?
when? how? why?
- without A, any change in the meaning of the sentence
- without A, any change in the meaning of the sentence
Examples of Adjuncts in sentences
e.g.
|
S
|
V
|
A
|
|
She
|
Comes
|
every day
|
|
-
|
Sit
|
here
|
F.
Phrase and Clause Structure Trees
CHAPTER III
CLOSING
‘Syntax’ means ‘sentence construction’: how
words group together to make phrases and sentences. Syntax is basically the
structure of sentences, how words group together to make phrases and sentences.
Syntax
allows speakers to express all the meanings that they need to put across. In
the simplest cases, this might mean altering the basic word order of a
sentence, to emphasize or downplay a particular phrase, or to ask a question,
or else grouping words together in different ways to modify the meaning.
REFERENCE
Baker, C. L. 1989. English
Syntax. United States of America: Halliday Lithograph.
O’Grady, W., Archibald John, Mark Aronoff, and Janie
Rees-Miller. 2005. Contemporary
Linguistics. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
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