1、From word to text,Chapter 4,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),The use of language, like games,has its own rules. To play the games well,you should know the rules. Words,word groups and phrases, and clauses cannot occur at random, they have to follow certain rules of ordering. Syntax is the study of
2、 the rules governing the ways different constituents are combined to form sentences in a language, or the study of the interrelationships between elements in sentence structures.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.1 syntactic relations 句法关系Syntactic relations can be analysed into three kinds: posi
3、tional relations位置关系, relations of substitutability 替代关系and relations of cooccurrence同现关系. 4.4.1positional relations位置关系 Positional relation or word order refers to the sequential arrangement of words in a language.位置关系或词序指一门语言中词语的排列顺序 If the words in a sentence fail to occur in a fixed order requir
4、ed by the convention of a language, one tends to produce an uttereance either ungrammatical or nonsensical at all.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),The boy kicked the ball. Boy the ball kicked the The ball kicked the boy. The two sentences have exactly the same words in number and form and are bot
5、h grammatically well-formed,but have opposite meanings. The girl saw the boy. The boy saw the girl. Positional relations are a manifestation of one aspect of “syntagmatic relations”横组合关系 observed by F.de Saussure索绪尔. They are also called horizontal relations横向关系 or chain relations链状关系.,From word to
6、text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Word order is among the three basic ways to classify languaes in the world.(word order词序/ genetic亲缘划分 and areal classifications 区域划分) According to this classification, there are totally six possible types of languae, they are SVO主谓宾,VSO谓主宾,SOV主宾谓,OVS宾谓主,OSV宾主谓,and VOS谓宾主. Engli
7、sh belongs to SVO type. 4.1.2 Relation of substitutability替代关系It refers to classes or sets of words ( or groups of more than one word) substitutable for each other grammatically in sentences with the same structure.指在相同结构的句子中,语法上可以相互替代的词类或语词的集合.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),The _ smiles. (nomi
8、nal groups)boy girlman strong manclever boypretty girlHe went there _. (adverbial groups)yesterdaylast weekthe day before.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),This is what Saussure索绪尔 called Associative relations联想关系, or Hjemslevs叶列姆斯列夫 term, paradigmatic relations纵聚合关系. They are also called vertical
9、 relations纵向关系 or choice relations选择关系. 4.1.3 relation of coocurrence同现关系 It means that words of different sets of clauses may permit, or require, the occurrence of a word of another set or class to form a sentence or a particular part of a sentence.指小句中不同集合的词语允许或要求和另一集合或类别中的词语一起组成句子或句子的某一特定部分.,From
10、 word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),(preceded by) NP (followed by)A pretty girl smilesThe tallest boy criesThe African man sings Relations of cooccurrence partly belong to syntagmatic relations, partly to paradigmatic relations.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.2 Grammatical construction and its cons
11、tituents 语法结构和成分 4.2.1 grammatical construction Grammatical construction or construct can be used to mean any syntactic construct which is assigned one or more conventional functions in a language, together with whatever is linguistically conventionalized about its contribution to the meaning or use
12、 the construct contains.语法结构或建构用来指语言中被赋予一种或多种功能的任何句法建构,包括在语言学上该建构所拥有的常规意义和用法.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),We can distinguish any construction its external and internal properties. The external syntax of a construction refers to the properties of the construction as a whole, its relevance to t
13、he larger syntactic contexts结构的外部句法特征指整体结构所具有的特征,在更大的句法上下文中与此结构有关的方方面面. Such as clausal type, phrasal type. The internal syntax of a construction is the constructions “make-up”结构组成成分. Such as “subject, predicate, object, determiner, noun.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.2.2 immediate constituen
14、ts直接成分 Constituent refers to every linguistic unit, which is a part of a larger linguistic unit. Several constituents together form a construction. If two constituents are joined to form a hierarchically higher constituent, the two constituents are said to be the immediate constituents.成分指任何语言单位,而该单
15、位又是更大的语言单位的一部分,若干成分共同组成一个结构.如果两个成分结合起来形成一个更高一级的成分,那么这两个成分就是直接成分.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),A (sentence) mother node,B (the boy) C (ate the apple) sister nodes To dismantle a grammatical construction in this way is called immediate constituent analysis or IC analysis. When a tree diagram is
16、used to represent the constituent structure of a grammatical unit , syntactic categories are used to label the nodes; the most common are:,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Word-level: N, A, V, P, Det, Adv, Conj Phrasal: NP, AP, VP, PP, S Bracketing: 括号法It is not so common as tree diagram, but it i
17、s an economic notation. (The) (boy) (ate) (the) (apple),From word to text,Tree diagramS,NP VP,Det N,V NP,Det N,The boy ate the apple.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.2.3 Endocentric and Exocentric constructions向心结构和离心结构 The syntactic constructions are of two types: endocentric and exocentric co
18、nstructions, depending on the distribution and the relation between their constituents. Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents, that is, a word or a group of words, which serves as a center or head.向心结构是指该结构的分布在功能上相当于它
19、的一个或多个成分,即一个词或词组可确定为”中心”或 “中心词”. Usually, noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to the Head.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),These two oldest stone bridges Will be leaving Very late” Exocentric construction is ju
20、st the opposite of endocentric construction. It refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole, that is, there is no “center” or “head” inside the group.离心结构是指一组句法上相互联系的词语,词组内的任何一个词在功能上不等于整个词组,即,在词组内部没有确定的中心或中心词. It include
21、s basic sentence, prepositional phrase, predicate (verb + object) construction, and connective (be + complement) construction. 包括基本句,介词短语,谓语结构,系表结构(系动词+补语),From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),The boy smiled. Behind the door. Kicked the ball. Seemed angry. 4.2.4 coordination and subordination并列关系和从属关系
22、 Endocentric constructions fall into two main types. Coordination: it is formed by grouping together two or more categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as and , but and or. These two or more words or phrases or clauses have equivalent syntactic status, each of the separate c
23、onstituents can stand for the original construction functionally.由同类型的两个或两个以上的范畴,借助连词组合而成.被组合的词,短语或小句具有平等的句法地位,每一个单独成分在功能上都可代表原结构.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),NPs: the lady or the tiger VBs: go to the library and read a book PPs: down the stairs and out the door APs: quite expensive and very
24、beautiful Ss: John loves Mary and Mary loves John too. Subordination refers to the process or result of linking linguistic units so that they have different syntactic status, one being dependent upon the other, and usually a constituent o f the other. Thus the subordinate constituents are words whic
25、h modify the Head, consequently, they can be called modifiers.从属关系是指一个语言单位依附于或从属于另一个的过程,由此语言单位具有不同的句法地位.从属成分指那些修饰中心词的词语,故而被称为修饰语.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Two dogs Can drink Swimming in the lake Hot beyond endurance. Clauses can be used as subordinate constituents: complement clauses, adju
26、nct (adverbial) clauses, and relative clauses.小句也可作为从属成分,三种基本从属小句指宾语从句,状语从句,和关系从句. John believes that the airplane was invented by an Irishman. Elizabeth opened her presents before John finished his dinner. The woman that I love is moving to the south.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.3 syntacti
27、c function It shows the relationship between a linguistic form and other parts of the linguistic pattern in which it is used. Syntactic functions are expressed in terms of subjects, objects, predicators谓语, modifiers, complements补语. 4.3.1 subject The subject of a sentence is often said to be the doer
28、 of the action动作的执行者(agent)施事者, the object is the person or thing acted upon by the doer被作用的人或事(patient受事者). Mary slapped John. John was bitten by a dog. The subject is not always the agent, the patient is not always the object.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),In order to account for the subject
29、in the passive voice, we have another two terms “grammatical subject” and “logical subject”. The object before the verb in the passive voice is called the grammtical subject. John was bitten by a dog. The object of the preposition is called the logical subject. Another traditional definition of subj
30、ect is “what the sentence is about? This definition seems to work for many sentences, but fails in others. A: Bill is a very crafty狡猾的 fellow. B: (Jack is pretty reliable, but ) Bill I dont trust. C: As for Bill, I wouldnt take his promises very seriously.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),All the
31、three sentences seem to be “about” Bill, thus we say Bill is the topic of the three sentences. But Bill is the subject in A, object in B, neither subject nor object in C. So topic is not always the grammatical subject. It seems that we can not reliably identify the subject with either the agent or t
32、he topic. The following are the properties of subjects in English. A: word order: subject ordinarily precedes the verb in statement. B: Pro-forms: 代词形式 The first and third person pronouns appear in a special form when the pronoun is a subject. This form is not used when the pronoun occurs in other p
33、ositions.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),I love him. We threw stones at them. They threw stones at us. He loves me. C: agreement with verb: in present tense, -s is added to the verb when a third person subject is singular. Other element have no effect on the form of the verb. She angers him. The
34、y anger him. D: Content questions: if the subjct is replaced by a question word( who or what), the rest of the sentence remains unchanged; when any other element is replaced by a question word, an auxiliary verb must appear before the subject.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),John stole Mikes pict
35、ure from the bedroom. Who stole Mikes picture from the bedroom? What did John steal from the bedroom? Where did John steal Mikes picture from？ E: Tag question反意疑问句: it is used to seek confirmation statement用来证实论断的确定性. It always contains a pronoun which refers back to subject never to any other eleme
36、nts in the sentence. John loves Mary, doesnt he? Mary loves John, doesnt she? John loves Mary, doesnt she? 4.3.2 predicate,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Predicate refers to a major constituent of sentence structure in a binary analysis in which all obligatory constituents other than the subject
37、 were considered together谓语指在句子结构二分法中除主语之外的其他所有成分. It usually expresses actions, processes and states that relate to the subject. 通常表达主语的动作,过程和状态. Jane must be mad! The boy is running. Predicate includes constituents such as verb, object, complement. The word predicator谓词 is suggested for verb inclu
38、ded in a predicate. 4.3.3 object Traditionally, subject can be defined as the doer of an action, further classified into direct object and indirect object.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Mother bought a doll. Mother gave my sister a doll. In English, object is recognized by tracing its relation
39、to word order( after the verb and preposition) and by inflections of pronouns. Modern linguistics suggest that object refers to such an item that it can become subject in a passive transformation. He died last week. The match lasted three hours.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.3.4 The relation
40、between classes and functions Classes and functions determine each other, but not in any one-to-one relation. A class item can perform several functions. For instance, a noun or a nominal phrase can function as the subject, object, modifier, adverbial and complement. The students are playing footbal
41、l. The Summer Palace He came here last month. He changed trains at Fengtai. A function can be fulfilled by several classes. For instances, the subject of a sentence can be realized by a noun, pronoun, numeral, infinitive etc.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),The dog is barking. We will stay here.
42、Only two-thirds of the population here are workers. To run fast can be dangerous. 4.4 category Category refers to classes and functions in its narrow sense范畴这一术语狭义上是指词类和功能, e.g. noun, verb, subject, predicate, noun phrase, verb phrase. More specifically, it refers to defining properties of these gen
43、eral units更确切地说,它专门指语言单位的特性: the categories of the noun, include number, gender, case and countability; and of the verb, include tense, aspect, voice etc. We are dealing with the grammatical categories in the second sense.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.4.1 number Number is a grammatical categ
44、ory used for the anslysis of word classes displaying such contrasts as singular, dual双数, plural etc.数是用来分析词类的语法范畴有单数,双数,复数等 .number is mainly observed in nouns, there are only two forms: singualr and plural. Number is also reflected in the inflections of pronouns and verbs, such as He laughs. They l
45、augh. This man, these men. In French, the manifestation of number can also be found in adjectives and articles.,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),4.2.2 Gender Gender displays such contrasts as “masculine; feminine, neuter”, “animate; inanimate” for the analysis of word classes. Natural gender refer
46、s to the sex of real-world entities. The grammatical gender may seem quite arbitrary. Gender is manifested both in adjectives and articles. English gender contrast can only be observed in pronouns and a small number of nouns, and they are mainly of the natural gender type. He she it Prince, princess
47、 Author, authoress Host, hostess Actor, actress,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Le cadeau la maison Beau cadeau belle maison 4.4.3 case It is a special form of the noun which frequentlly corresponds to a combination of preposition and noun, and it is realised in three channels: inflection; follow
48、ing a preposition; word order. 格是名词的一种特定形式,通常对应于介词与名词的结合,并通过三种渠道实现. Teachers With/to a man John kicked Peter; Peter kicked John. 4.4.4 Agreement,From word to text 从语词到篇章(syntax句法),Agreement (concord) may be defined as the requirement that the forms of two or more words of specific word classes that
49、stand in specific syntactic relationship with one another, shall also be characterized by the same paradigmatically marked category( or categories). This syntactic relationship may be anaphoric, as when a pronoun agrees with its antecedent, or it may involve a relation between a head and its dependent, as when a verb agrees with its subject.一致关系(协同关系),可定义为,特定词类中处于一定句法关系的两个或两个以上的词,要求在聚合关系中有相同的标记范畴.这种句法关系可以是照应关系,如代词与先行词应该保持一致;也可以是中心词和修饰语之间的关系,如动词应与主语保持一致. Whose is this pen? Its the one I lost.,
