Transcript Example

English Syntax
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ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF SEMARANG
2011-2012
Week 1: introduction
Definition
In the old paradigm, grammar is meant as:
 a dead language (Latin)
 learning how to write good English
 learning how to speak properly
In the new paradigm, grammar is meant as:
 reference to the mechanism (rules which allow us to put
words together in certain ways) according to which language
works when it is used to communicate with other people
The meaning of a message conveyed by language has three
components:
SEMANTICS
GRAMMAR
PHONOLOGY
Variation in Language
 variation according to USER
- regional origin
- social-class membership
- age
- sex
 variation according to USE (register/ style)
- tenor
- mode
- domain/ field
Variation according to user
Regional origin: speech identification is based on the followings
A. pronunciation
example: the way American and British English pronunce ‘mother, father,
etc’ (for speacial case, it can be seen from Harry Potter films)
B. vocabularies
example: the way American and Brithish English name ‘train station/
C. grammar
example: the way between Black and White people in English speaking
countries speak and write
Variation according to user
Social class membership: things affecting the variety of language
A. Social class
example: the use of standard and non-standard English
B. Regional background
example: upper-middle class speakers
C. Work places
example: doctors, teachers, factories
Variation according to user
Ages: children-teenagers-adults
Most of distinguishabel features are in the grammatical features.
Exampla:
Do you have some money?
Youngers to adults in Britain
Speakers for all ages in America
Variation according to user
Sex:
Some characteristics are:
A. Women are more likely to use standard English than men
B. Women participate more actively than men in a formal situation such
discussion in a class.
C. Men are better speakers in an informal situation by dominating the topics
Variation according to USE
It is commonly refered as REGISTER:
Register cab be subdivided into three which affect the language variety:
A. Tenor: the relationship between a speaker and the addressee(s)/ <formal or
informal>
B. Mode: the effects of the medium in which the language is transmitted/
<spoken or written.
C. Domain/ filed: the activity in which it plays a part/ the topic being taken place
Example:
A. For sale
B. On behalf of the President of Indonesia, I would like .................
Categories of language use:
A. Tenor: informal Mode: written
B. Tenor: formal
Mode: spoken
Domain: advertising
Domain: politics
Grammar and Effective Communication
Function of language:
A. to communicate with other people
B. language should not be evaluated according to what type of grammatical
rules it follows
C. language is evaluated according to whether it conveys its message
effectively.
Week 2: the hierarchy of grammatical units
Introduction:
Sentence is the largest unit of language
Sentence can be analyzed into its part. It is called a process of PARSING
A sentence is composed of smaller units: CLAUSES, PHRASES and WORDS
GRAMMATICAL UNIT OF ENGLISH
Sentence
CLause
Phrase
Words
SYMBOL
Se
Cl
Ph
Wo
Clauses:
Clauses are the principal units of which sentences are composed.
Sentence may consist of one or more clauses
Example:
John watches TV every day (simple sentence consisting one clause)
John is watching TV while his mom is in the kitchen (one sentence consisting of
two clauses).
Phrase:
Phrases are units intermediate between clause and word.
Example:
(My uncle John) (is reading) (his favorite book) (with his old glasses)
Week 3: GRAMMATICAL NOTATIONS
 Bracketing
 Tree diagram
Bracketing:
 Sentences are marked with an initial capital letter and a final full stop
 Clauses are enclosed in square brackets [ ]
 Phrases are enclosed in round brackets ( )
 Words are separated by spaces
 If we need to separate the grammatical components of words, we can
use a dash:Example:
 [(Our land-lady) (keep-s) (a stuff-ed moose) (in her attic)].
 [(Uncle Olaf) (savage-ly) (devour-ed) (his six-th peach)].
Tree diagram:
It consists of the symbols Cl, Se, Ph and Wo
 Full labelling
 Abreviated tree diagram
 Unlabelled tree diagram
Example:
Look at the book, pp.29-30
Week 4: USING GRAMMATICAL TESTS




Expansion Tests
Substitution Tests
Substraction Tests
Movement Tests
Expansion Tests
 Expanding a word by adding other words to it
 Showing that the word is acting as a phrase
 Adding meaning, but do not change the relations
between parts of speech
Example:
[
(Olaf)
(munched)
[(Uncle Olaf) (has munched)
(peaches)
(contntedly) ]
(his peaches) (very contentedly)
Substitution Tests
 Replacing each of the constituents by a word group
having the same function
 Replacing each of the constituents by a word group
having similiar meaning
 Even by subtituting a word, that word is behaving as
a phrase
Example:
[ (They)
(are playing)
[ (Their team) (are playing)
(Arsenal)
(our team)
(at home) (next week)]
(at home) (next week) ]
Substraction Tests
h
Example:
[ (They)
(are playing)
[ (Their team) (are playing)
(Arsenal)
(our team)
(at home) (next week)]
(at home) (next week) ]
Movement Tests
Changing constituent without changing its meaning or function in the
clause
Example:
[ (Uncle Olaf) (savagely)
*savagely can be put anywhere.
(devoured)
(his sixth peach) ]
Week 5: FORM AND FUNCTION
Form classes: the classification of phrases depends on how the unit
is composed of smaller units, or on how its form can vary.
Word Classes
 Noun (N)
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
Verb (V)
Adjective (Aj)
Adverb (Av)
Phrase Classes
 Noun phrase (NP)





Verb phrase (VP)
Adjective phrase (AjP)
Adverb phrase (AvP)
Genitive phrase (GP)
Prepositional phrase (PP)
Function classes: classification based on how they are
used to form larger units. A unit’s function class
determines such things as what positions it can fill,
and whether it is optional.
Terms:
 P (predicator): is the only element of a clause which
is a verb phrase
 S (subject): come before P, denotes the actor, be
present in a main declarative clause
 O (object): comes after P, denotes the sufferer of the
action
Example: Look at the book, p.34
Function classes: elements of the phrase
Terms:
 Head (H): the word which can not be omitted from
the phrase
 Modifier (M): it can be omitted from the prase
(optinal)
Example: Look at the book, p.35
Week 6: Words – Words Open Classes
Terms:
 Nouns (N)
 Verbs (V)
Nouns (N)
The class of nouns:
 Function of nouns
Nouns can function as the head (H) of a noun phrase
 Form of nouns
 Meaning of nouns
Concrete
Abstract
Subclasses of which are:
Count/ mass nouns
Proper/ common nouns
Collective nouns
Verbs (V)
The class of verbs:
 Function of verbs
 Form of verbs
regular
irregular
 Meaning of verbs
expressing action
expressing event
expressing processes
expressing activities
expressing state
etc.
Week 7: Words – Words Open Classes
Terms:
 Adjectives (Aj)
 Adverbs (Av)
Adjective (N)
The class of nouns:
 Function of adjectives
can function as the head (H) of an adjective phrase
can function as the modifier in a noun phrase
 Form of adjectives
it is gradable
 Meaning of adjectives
physical qualities of colour, shape, etc
psychological qualities of emotion
evaluative qualities
Subclasses of which are:
Count/ mass nouns
Proper/ common nouns
Collective nouns
Adverbs (Av)
The class of adverbs:
 Function of adverb
can function as the head (H) of an adverb phrase
can function as the modifier in an adverb phrase
 Form of adjectives
it is gradable
 Meaning of adjectives
Manner
Place
Direction
Time
Duration
Frequency
Degree
Attitude
Connective
Week 9:
Words: closed words classes
 Determiners (d)
the most common determiners are the article THE and A
 Pronouns (p)
 Enumerators (e)
 Prepositions (p)
 Conjunctions (cj)
 Operator-verbs (v)
 Interjections (ij)
 Particles