-COURSE OUTLINE FOR ENGL4702: ENGLISH SYNTAX

Doctor Chimwemwe Kamanga

(2022)

(Department of Language, Cultural and Creative Studies- Mzuzu

University)

1. Programme: Bachelor of Arts (Education)

2. Subject: English

3. Level of Study: Four

4. Course Title: English Syntax

5. Course Code: ENGL 4702

6. Duration: 16 Weeks

7. Presented to: Senate

8: Presented by: Faculty of Education

9. Lecture hours per week: Four

10. Tutorial hours per week: One

11. Practical hours: None

12. Student independent learning hours: One

13. Total course credits: Six

14. Prerequisite course: None

15. Corequisite course: None

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16. Delivery methods

16.1. Mode of delivery: Distance (Moodle)

16.2. Teaching methods: Lecture

17. Assessment methods: One assignment, one mid semester examination.

and one end of semester examination

18. Assessment weighting: 40% continuous assessment, 60% summative

assessment

19. Aim of the Course

To introduce students to the theory of Universal Grammar and selected

categories and principal structures of English Syntax.

20. Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

 Explain the theory of Universal Grammar

 Generate syntactic structures using Phrase Structures rules

 Analyse English sentences from a syntactic perspective

 Discuss the central role of the Principles and Parameters Theory within
the larger framework of Universal Grammar.

21. Topics of Study

(i) The theory of Universal Grammar: Principles and Parameters

(ii) Constituent structure

(a) Heads, modifiers, and arrangements of words

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(b) Phrase structure rules.

(iii) Transformations: Deep structure and surface structure

(a) Movement

(b) Deletion

(b) Passive construction

(c) Question formation

(iv) Government and Binding

(a) X-bar Theory

(b) Theta (θ) Theory

(c) Case Theory

(d) Binding Theory

(e) Bounding Theory

(f) Government theory

22. Prescribed Texts

Radford, A. (2004). English Syntax: an Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge

Radford, A. (2009). Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

23. Recommended reading

Cook, Y.J. (1988). Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: At Introduction.

Oxford: Blackwell.

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Miller, J. (2002). An Introduction to English Syntax. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
Press

Ouhalla, J. (1999). Transformational grammar from principles and

parameters to minimalism. London: Arnold.

Radford, A. (1990). Syntactic Theory & the Acquisition of English Syntax.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Radford, A. (1997). Syntactic Theory & the Structure of English.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Radford, A. (2009). Syntax: A Minimalist Introduction. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Baker, C.L. (1989). English Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chomsky, Noam. (2000). New Horizons in the Study of Language and

Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressSells, Peter. (1985).
Lecturers on Contemporary Syntactic Theories. Stanford, CA: Centre for
the study of language and information.

Smith, Neil. (1990). Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

BASIC INFORMATION IN SYNTAX

Syntax defined

 Syntax is the study of how words are combined into syntactic structures.

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 Syntax studies the organisation of words into phrases and phrases into
sentences.

 The way a sentence is organised determines its meaning.

 Syntax is concerned with the way words and phrases are arranged.

 The study of phrase and sentence structure is also called grammar.

Exercise

 Consider the following words:

 Misses, Emmanuel, NkhataBay, again

 These words can be arranged in many different ways, but only a few of
them can make sentences in English.

 Make as many English sentences as possible using these words.

Concerns in Syntax

1. Word order (I want these books. vs *Want these I books.)

2. Agreement – subject and verb, determiner and noun (He wants this book.
vs *He want this book.)

3. Hierarchical structure – what modifies what (We need more intelligent

leaders. More of intelligent leaders vs Leaders that are more intelligent)

Word classes

 The analysis of a sentence structure starts with the classification of words.

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 Words can be categorised into two classes based on their morphological
properties (formation or form), semantic properties (meaning), and
syntactic properties (structural function or part of speech).

Open words

 These are words that carry the fundamental meaning in a sentence.

 Open words include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

 They can be used to create new words (derivation).

Productivity of open words

Word type Example Morphological Syntactic Semantic

properties properties properties
(form) (structure) (meaning)

Noun HOUSE Adding –S to Names an Names a

HOUSE to entity structure or
make it a dwelling
HOUSES place

Verb WALK Adding –ED to Denotes an Denotes

WALK to action action of
make it movement
WALKED

Adjective BIG Adding –ER to Qualifies a Denotes size

BIG to make it noun
BIGGER,

Adverb SLOWLY Adding –LY to Modifies a Denotes

SLOW verb speed of
movement

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 Closed words

 Closed words are made up of grammatical words.

 Examples include determiners (e.g. THE), pronouns (e.g. HE),

prepositions (e.g. ON) and conjunctions (e.g. AND).

 Words in this class have a grammatical function.

Lexical categories

 A lexical category is a syntactic grouping for elements that are part of the
lexicon of a language.

 Lexical categories are also known as parts of speech, grammatical

categories and grammatical classes.

 Words are categorised on the basis of their grammatical function in

syntactic structures and not necessarily their meanings.

Major lexical categories

 Noun

 Verb

 Adjective

 Adverb

Minor lexical categories

 Conjunctions

 Particles

 Adpositions- Prepositions and Postpositions

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 Determiners- Articles, Demonstratives, Possessive determiners, Cardinal
numerals, Quantifiers, Distributive determiners, and Interrogative
determiners

Note

 Lexical categories may be defined in terms of core notions or prototypes.

 Given forms may or may not fit neatly into a grammatical category.

 The category membership of a form can vary according to how that form
is used in discourse.

 Grammatical categories are distinct from formal relational categories

such as subject, object and predicate or functional categories such as
agent, topic or definite.

Phrasal categories

 Phrasal categories constitute an intermediate form between an individual

lexical item and a larger form such as a clause and a sentence.

 Phrasal categories are thus basic elements from which larger structures
such as clauses and sentences are assumed to be constructed.

Examples of phrasal categories

 Adjectival phrase (AP)

 Adverbial phrase (AdvP)

 Prepositional phrase (PP)

 Noun phrase (NP)

 Verb phrase (VP)

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 THE NOTION OF GRAMMAR IN SYNTAX

Definition of Grammar

 Grammar refers to the structure and the system of language usually

considered to consist of Syntax and Morphology.

 Grammar is the set of rules that help us to use language with

understanding.

 Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves.

 The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the
meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language.

 Knowing a language is knowing the grammar of the language and using a

language is using the grammar of the language.

 There are different ways in which the concept of grammar can be

perceived.

Prescriptive Grammar

 Prescriptive Grammar refers to the structure of language as certain people

think it should be.

 Prescriptive grammarians lay out the rules about what they believe to be
“correct” use of language or “incorrect” use of language.

 Prescriptive Grammar is a kind of grammar that outlines the dos and

don’ts of language use.

Traditional Grammar

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 Traditional Grammar is the collection of prescriptive rules and concepts
about the structure of language that is commonly taught in school.

 The rules are collected and taught to guide the proper use of language.

Descriptive Grammar

 Descriptive Grammar refers to the structure of a language as it is actually

used by speakers and writers.

 Descriptive grammarians (linguists) study the rules or the patterns that

underlie our use of how, phrases, clauses and sentences.

 The rules are generated upon observing how people use a language.

Comparative Grammar

 Comparative Grammar refers to the comparison of the grammatical

structures of related languages.

 The focus for Comparative Grammar is on the relationships among

languages.

Generative Grammar

 Generative Grammar refers to the set of rules that indicate the structures
and interpretation of sentences that native speakers of a language accept
as belonging to the language.

 Basic areas of study in Generative Grammar include Phonology,

Morphology, Syntax and Semantics.

Mental Grammar

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 Mental Grammar refers to the generative grammar that is stored in the
brain that allows a speaker to produce language that other speakers can
understand.

 All humans are born with the capacity to form a mental grammar given
linguistic experience.

 This is also known as the language faculty.

Performance Grammar

 Performance Grammar refers to the intuitive judgements concerning the

well-formedness of sentences of a language.

 This is the essence of linguistic performance.

Transformational Grammar

 Transformational Grammar refers to a theory of grammar that accounts

for the constructions of a language by linguistic transformations and
phrase structure rules.

 By linguistic transformations, we mean changes that happen to the order

of words in a sentence.

Universal Grammar

 Universal Grammar refers to the system of categories, operations and

principles that are shared by all human languages and considered to be
innate.

 Taken together, the linguistic principles of Universal Grammar constitute

a theory of the organisation of the mind or brain of the language learner.

Generative Grammar
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 Generative Grammar refers to the set of rules that indicate the structures
and interpretation of sentences that native speakers of a language accept
as belonging to the language.

 Basic areas of study in Generative Grammar include Phonology,

Morphology, Syntax and Semantics.

Properties of Generative Grammar

There are at least five properties of Generative Grammar

The all and only criterion

 The grammar will generate all the well-formed syntactic structures

(phrases, clauses, sentences) of the language and fail to generate any ill-
formed syntactic structures of the language.

The totally novel yet grammatical sentences criterion

 The grammar will have a finite (limited) number of rules, but it will be
capable of generating an infinitie (unlimited) number of well-formed
syntactic structures.

The recursion criterion

 The grammar will have the capacity to be applied more than once in
generating a syntactic structure.

The deep structure- surface structure criterion

 The grammar must be capable of showing that a singe underlying abstract

structural representation can become different surface structures.

The structural ambiguity criterion

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 The grammar must be capable of showing that a single surface structure
is capable of having different underlying structural representations
thereby generating different meanings.

 Ambiguity refers to the quality of being open to more than one

interpretation (inexactness).

 Structural ambiguity is refers to the quality of being open to more than

one interpretation (inexactness) on the basis of syntactic structure.

Example

 We need more intelligent presidents in this country.

 In one meaning, MORE is grouped with INTELLIGENT to form MORE

INTELLIGENT, while in another meaning, INTELLIGENT is grouped
with ADMINISTRATORS to form INTELLIGENT
ADMNISTRATORS.

Other types of ambiguity

 Lexical ambiguity is the kind of ambiguity that is created by virtue of

multiplicity of meaning in a lexical item.

 Example: I am going to the bank. BANK of a river or BANK of money?

 Pragmatic ambiguity is a king of ambiguity that is caused by

dependence of meaning on context.

 Example: Do you know where the library is? A question or a request?

IMMEDIATE CONSITUENT ANALYSIS

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 Immediate constituent analysis

 Immediate constituent analysis (ICA) is a descriptive approach in

syntactic analysis that aims at investigating the distribution of forms in a
language.

 The approach is designed to show how small constituents or components

in sentences go together to form larger constituents.

 For example, the sentence Her father brought a shotgun to the wedding
has eight constituents.

Constituents

 A constituent is one of two or more grammatical units that enter

syntactically or morphologically into a construction at any level.

 Examples of constituents are Immediate constituent, Ultimate constituent,

Construction, Discontinuous constituents, Morpheme, and Zero
constituents.

Immediate constituents

 An immediate constituent is any one of the larger grammatical units that

constitute a construction.

 Immediate constituents are often further reducible.

 Example: In the NP the dog that killed the rat, the, dog, and that killed
the rat are immediate constituents.

Ultimate constituents

 An ultimate constituent is one of the grammatically irreducible units that

constitute a construction.
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 Example: In the NP the dog that killed the rat, the, dog, that, kill, -ed, the,
and rat are ultimate constituents.

Constructions

 A construction is an ordered arrangement of grammatical units forming a

larger unit.

 Examples include Apposition, Clause chain, Direct speech, Elliptical

construction, Endocentric construction, Idiom, Indirect speech, Phrase,
Sentence, Serial verb construction, Stem, and Word

Discontinuous constructions

 Discontinuous constructions are constituents that are:

 Separated from each other by one or more intervening constituents;

and

 Considered either syntactically contiguous and unitary or realising

the same, single meaning.

 Examples: Certain phrasal verbs such as switch the light on; word
segments separated by expletive insertions such as abso-bloomin-lutely;
and inflectional agreement markers.

Morphemes

 A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of a

language.

 Current approaches to Morphology conceive of morphemes as rules

involving the linguistic context, rather than as isolated pieces of linguistic
matter.

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 They acknowledge that:

 Meaning may be directly linked to suprasegmental phonological

units such as tone or stress; and

 The meaning of a morpheme with a given form may vary,

depending on its immediate environment.

 For example, the word Unladylike:

 Consists of three morphemes and four syllables;

 Has three morpheme breaks; un- (not), lady (well behaved female
adult human), and –like (having the characteristic of); and

 None of these morphemes can be broken up any more without

losing all sense of meaning.

Zero constituent

 A zero constituent is a constituent proposed in an analysis to represent an

element held to be present at an abstract level but not realised in the data.

 A zero constituent is a unit proposed as a contrast to an element that

might otherwise be present.

Examples of zero constituent

 A zero morpheme (ø) proposed for the plural for sheep.

 A zero conjunction proposed for he said ø he was coming, in contrast

with he said that he was coming.

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 A zero realisation of a semantic argument proposed for the second clause

in I eat breakfast before 7 A.M.; John eats ø about 8 A.M.

Stems

 A stem is the root or roots of a word together with any derivational

affixes, to which inflectional affixes are added.

 A stem consists minimally of a root, but may be analysed into a root plus
derivational morphemes.

 A stem may require an inflectional operation (often involving a prefix or

suffix) in order to ground it into discourse and make it a fully
understandable word.

 If a stem does not occur by itself in a meaningful way in a language, it is

referred to as a bound morpheme.

 Examples of morphemes are tie and untie, which can be inflected into ties
and unties using the inflectional suffix –s.

Words

 A word is a unit that is a constituent at the phrase level and above.

 It is sometimes identifiable according to such criteria as:

 Being the minimal possible unit in a reply;

 Having features such as a regular stress pattern and phonological

changes conditioned by or blocked at word boundaries;

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  Being the largest unit resistant to insertion of new constituents
within its boundaries; or

 Being the smallest constituent that can be moved within a sentence

without making the sentence ungrammatical.

 A word is sometimes placed, in a hierarchy of grammatical constituents,

above the morpheme level and below the phrase level.

 Words are single distinct meaningful elements of speech or writing used

with others or alone to form other syntactic structures.

 Examples of words include Adjective, Adposition, Adverb, Classifier,

Clitic, Conjunction, Determiner, Dummy word, Emphasis marker,
Exclamative, Existential marker, Fossilised term, Honorific, Ideophone,
Interjection, Particle, Pro-form, Substantive, and Verb.

Phrases

 A phrase is a syntactic structure that consists of one word or more than

one word but occurs within a clause or a sentence and does not make
complete sense on its own.

Examples of phrases are Adpositional Phrase, Noun Phrase and Verb

Phrase.

Clauses

 A clause is a unit of grammatical organisation next below the sentence in

rank, consisting of a subject and a predicate.

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 A clause is a grammatical unit that includes, at a minimum, a predicate
and an explicit or implied subject, which expresses a proposition.

Examples

Adverbial clause, Coordinate clause, Equative clause, Existential clause,

Final clause, Finite clause, Main clause, Marking clause, Medial clause,
Nominal clause, Nonfinite clause, Reference clause, Relative clause and
Subordinate clause.

Sentences

 A sentence is a grammatical unit that is composed of one or more clauses.

 The term sentence may be expanded to include elliptical material and

nonproductive items such as After lunch, Yes and Hello.

 Examples of sentences are Complex sentence, Compound sentence,

Matrix sentence and Simple sentence.

Predicates

 A predicate is a part of a sentence or a clause containing a verb and

stating something about the subject of the sentence or the clause.

 A predicate is something which is affirmed or denied concerning an

argument of a proposition.

 Example: went home in John went home.

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