Lectures in Theoretical Grammar

Syntactic function is the function of a unit on the basis of which it is included to a larger unit: in the word-group a smart student the word ‘smart’ is in subordinate attributive relations to the head element. In traditional terms it is used to denote syntactic function of a unit within the sentence (subject, predicate, etc.).

Syntactic position is the position of an element. The order of constituents in syntactic units is of principal importance in analytical languages. The syntactic position of an element may determine its relationship with the other elements of the same unit: his broad back, a back district, to go back, to back sm.

Syntactic relations are syntagmatic relations observed between syntactic units. They can be of three types – coordination, subordination and predication. 

1. Syntactic relations.

 

The syntactic units can go into three types of syntactic relations.

1. Coordination (SR1) – syntagmatic relations of independence. SR1 can be observed on the phrase, sentence and text levels. Coordination may be symmetric and asymmetric. Symmetric coordination is characterized by complete interchangeability of its elements – pens and pencils. Asymmetric coordination occurs when the position of elements is fixed: ladies and gentlemen. Forms of connection within SR1 may be copulative (you and me), disjunctive (you or me), adversative (strict but just) and causative-consecutive (sentence and text level only).
2. Subordination (SR2) – syntagmatic relations of dependence. SR2 are established between the constituents of different linguistic rank. They are observed on the phrase and sentence level. Subordination may be of three different kinds – adverbial (to speak slowly), objective (to see a house) and attributive (a beautiful flower). Forms of subordination may also be different – agreement (this book – these books), government (help us), adjournment (the use of modifying particles just, only, even, etc.) and enclosure (the use of modal words and their equivalents really, after all, etc.).
3. Predication (SR3) – syntagmatic relations of interdependence. Predication may be of two kinds – primary (sentence level) and secondary (phrase level). Primary predication is observed between the subject and the predicate of the sentence while secondary predication is observed between non-finite forms of the verb and nominal elements within the sentence. Secondary predication serves the basis for gerundial, infinitive and participial word-groups (predicative complexes).

                                                                                                                                    

 

            LECTURE 8: THE WORD-GROUP THEORY

1. Definition and general characteristics of the word-group.

 

There are a lot of definitions concerning the word-group. The most

adequate one seems to be the following: the word-group is a combination of at least two notional words which do not constitute the sentence but are syntactically connected. According to some other scholars (the majority of Western scholars and professors B.Ilyish and V.Burlakova – in Russia), a combination of a notional word with a function word (on the table) may be treated as a word-group as well. The problem is disputable as the role of function words is to show some abstract relations and they are devoid of nominative power. On the other hand, such combinations are syntactically bound and they should belong somewhere.

      General characteristics of the word-group are:

1) As a naming unit it differs from a compound word because the number of constituents in a word-group corresponds to the number of different denotates: a black bird – чорний птах (2), a blackbird – дрізд (1);

                 a loud speaker (2), a loudspeaker (1).

2) Each component of the word-group can undergo grammatical changes without destroying the identity of the whole unit: to see a house - to see houses.

3) A word-group is a dependent syntactic unit, it is not a communicative unit and has no intonation of its own. 

2. Classification of word-groups.

 

Word-groups can be classified on the basis of several principles:

1. According to the type of syntagmatic relations: coordinate (you and me), subordinate (to see a house, a nice dress), predicative (him coming, for him to come),
2. According to the structure: simple (all elements are obligatory), expanded (to read and translate the text – expanded elements are equal in rank), extended (a word takes a dependent element and this dependent element becomes the head for another word: a beautiful flower – a very beautiful flower).

 

3. Subordinate word-groups.

 

   Subordinate word-groups are based on the relations of dependence between the constituents. This presupposes the existence of a governing

Element which is called the head and the dependent element which is called the adjunct (in noun-phrases) or the complement (in verb-phrases).

  According to the nature of their heads, subordinate word-groups fall into noun-phrases (NP) – a cup of tea, verb-phrases (VP) – to run fast, to see a house, adjective phrases (AP) – good for you, adverbial phrases (DP) – so quickly, pronoun phrases (IP) – something strange, nothing to do.

      The formation of the subordinate word-group depends on the valency of its constituents. Valency is a potential ability of words to combine. Actual realization of valency in speech is called combinability.  

4. The noun-phrase (NP).

 

   Noun word-groups are widely spread in English. This may be explained

by a potential ability of the noun to go into combinations with practically all parts of speech. The NP consists of a noun-head and an adjunct or adjuncts with relations of modification between them. Three types of modification are distinguished here:

1. Premodification that comprises all the units placed before the head: two smart hard-working students. Adjuncts used in pre-head position are called pre-posed adjuncts.
2. Postmodification that comprises all the units all the units placed after the head: students from Boston. Adjuncts used in post-head position are called post-posed adjuncts.
3. Mixed modification that comprises all the units in both pre-head and post-head position: two smart hard-working students from Boston.

Pre-posed adjuncts                                        Post-posed adjuncts 

                                                  

                Pronoun                                                Adj.

                Adj.                                                       Ven

                 N2                                                                                Ving

                         N’s                                                        prep.N2

                  Ven                                                        prepVing

                  Ving                                                                              D

                  Num                                                                               Num

                 D                                                           wh-clause, that-clause

 

5. Noun-phrases with pre-posed adjuncts.

 

In noun-phrases with pre-posed modifiers we generally find adjectives, pronouns, numerals, participles, gerunds, nouns, nouns in the genitive case (see the table). According to their position all pre-posed adjuncts may be divided into pre-adjectivals and adjectiavals. The position of adjectivals is usually right before the noun-head. Pre-adjectivals occupy the position before adjectivals. They fall into two groups: a) limiters (to this group belong mostly particles): just, only, even, etc. and b) determiners (articles, possessive pronouns, quantifiers – the first, the last).

      Premodification of nouns by nouns (N+N) is one of the most striking features about the grammatical organization of English. It is one of devices to make our speech both laconic and expressive at the same time. Noun-adjunct groups result from different kinds of transformational shifts. NPs with pre-posed adjuncts can signal a striking variety of meanings:

world  peace – peace all over the world

silver box – a box made of silver

table lamp – lamp for tables

table legs – the legs of the table

river sand – sand from the river

school child – a child who goes to school

      The grammatical relations observed in NPs with pre-posed adjuncts may convey the following meanings:

1. subject-predicate relations: weather change;
2. object relations: health service, women hater;
3. adverbial relations: a) of time: morning star,

                                     b) place: world peace, country house,

                                     c) comparison: button eyes,

                         d) purpose: tooth brush.

      It is important to remember that the noun-adjunct is usually marked by a stronger stress than the head.

   Of special interest is a kind of ‘grammatical idiom’ where the modifier is reinterpreted into the head: a devil of a man, an angel of a girl. 

6. Noun-phrases with post-posed adjuncts.

 

   NPs with post-posed may be classified according to the way of connection into prepositionless and prepositional. The basic prepositionless NPs with post-posed adjuncts are: Nadj. – tea strong, NVen – the shape unknown, NVing – the girl smiling, ND – the man downstairs, NVinf – a book to read, NNum – room ten.

The pattern of basic prepositional NPs is N1 prep. N2. The most common preposition here is ‘of’ – a cup of tea, a man of courage. It may have quite different meanings: qualitative - a woman of sense, predicative – the pleasure of the company, objective – the reading of the newspaper, partitive – the roof of the house. 

7. The verb-phrase.

 

   The VP is a definite kind of the subordinate phrase with the verb as the head. The verb is considered to be the semantic and structural centre not only of the VP but of the whole sentence as the verb plays an important role in making up primary predication that serves the basis for the sentence. VPs are more complex than NPs as there are a lot of ways in which verbs may be combined in actual usage. Valent properties of different verbs and their semantics make it possible to divide all the verbs into several groups depending on the nature of their complements (see the table ‘Syntagmatic properties of verbs’, Lecture 6). 

8. Classification of verb-phrases.

 

   VPs can be classified according to the nature of their complements – verb complements may be nominal (to see a house) and adverbial (to behave well). Consequently, we distinguish nominal, adverbial and mixed complementation.

   Nominal complementation takes place when one or more nominal complements (nouns or pronouns) are obligatory for the realization of potential valency of the verb: to give smth. to smb., to phone smb., to hear smth.(smb.), etc.

   Adverbial complementation occurs when the verb takes one or more adverbial elements obligatory for the realization of its potential valency: He behaved well, I live …in Kyiv (here).

   Mixed complementation – both nominal and adverbial elements are obligatory: He put his hat on he table (nominal-adverbial).

      According to the structure VPs may be basic or simple (to take a book) – all elements are obligatory; expanded (to read and translate the text, to read books and newspapers) and extended (to read an English book). 

9. Predicative word-groups.

 

   Predicative word combinations are distinguished on the basis of secondary predication. Like sentences, predicative word-groups are binary in their structure but actually differ essentially in their organization. The sentence is an independent communicative unit based on primary predication while the predicative word-group is a dependent syntactic unit that makes up a part of the sentence. The predicative word-group consists of a nominal element (noun, pronoun) and a non-finite form of the verb: N + Vnon-fin. There are Gerundial, Infinitive and Participial word-groups (complexes) in the English language: his reading, for me to know, the boy running, etc.)

 

        LECTURE 9: THE SENTENCE AND THE UTTERANCE 

2. The sentence.

 

It is rather difficult to define the sentence as it is connected with many lingual and extra lingual aspects – logical, psychological and philosophical. We will just stick to one of them - according to academician G.Pocheptsov, the sentence is the central syntactic construction used as the minimal communicative unit that has its primary predication, actualises a definite structural scheme and possesses definite intonation characteristics. This definition works only in case we do not take into account the difference between the sentence and the utterance. The distinction between the sentence and the utterance is of fundamental importance because the sentence is an abstract theoretical entity defined within the theory of grammar while the utterance is the actual use of the sentence. In other words, the sentence is a unit of language while the utterance is a unit of speech.

      The most essential features of the sentence as a linguistic unit are a) its structural characteristics – subject-predicate relations (primary predication), and b) its semantic characteristics – it refers to some fact in the objective reality. It is represented in the language through a conceptual reality:

                        conceptual reality                                                                      proposition

 
 
 
 

objective reality                 lingual representation    objective situation          predicative unit 

We may define the proposition as the main predicative form of thought. Basic predicative meanings of the typical English sentence are expressed by the finite verb that is immediately connected with the subject of the sentence (primary predication).

      To sum it up, the sentence is a syntactic level unit, it is a predicative language unit which is a lingual representation of predicative thought (proposition). 

3. Different approaches to the study of the sentence.

 

1. Principal and secondary parts of the sentence.
2. Immediate constituents of the sentence. IC analysis.

To grasp the real structure of the English sentence, one must understand not only words that occur but also the principles of their arrangement. Each language has its own way of structural grouping. English has dichotomous phrase structure, which means that the phrase in English can always be divided into two elements (constituents) until we get down to the single word. All groups of words are arranged in levels. The name given by linguists to these different levels of relationship is immediate constituents.

Thus, one way of analyzing a sentence is to cut it to its immediate constituents, that is, to single out different levels of meaning: 

The  old man    saw  a  black  dog   there                          S

                                                                                  NP          VP      

                                                                                        Det         NP   VP          D

                                                                                       A   N V     NP

                                                                                                     Det    NP