英语语言学chapter_4_syntax.ppt

Lecture Four Syntax Definition studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. (Transformational syntax to be introduced in the book.) Word-level categories syntactic category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language. Traditionally, category is termed as “parts of speech”. Major lexical categories and minor lexical categories Examples of some lexical categories Phrase categories Phrases: syntactic units that are built around a certain word category are called phrases. phrase category is determined by the word category around which the phrase is built . Types: Noun phrase (NP): the pretty girl Verb phrase (VP): often dream Adjective phrase (AP): very pessimistic Prepositional phrase (PP): in the house Adverbial phrase (ADVP): very quickly (Wen, p. 118) Whether formed of one or more than one word, they consist of two levels: phase level and word level Phrases that are formed of more than one word usually contain the following elements: Head(中心语), specifier（标志语） and complement（补足语） The word around which a phrase is formed is head. The words on the left side of the heads are specifiers. One the right are complements. Phrase structure rule (PS rule) A certain word can only concur with certain other words. There must be certain grammatical mechanism that ensures the appropriate positions that specifiers, heads and complements occupy in phrase structure. Such special type of grammatical mechanism that regulates the arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is called a phrase structure rule. Rule 1: S- NP +VP Rule 2:NP Det+ N (Pron) Rule3:Vp Be Pred VT np Vi Vlcomp Rule 4: Aux t Rule 5 : t past pres Phrase structure rule (Combinational rules: Xp rule) Introduction: S NP (Det) (Adj) N (PP) …