LS1SG SOUNDS, GRAMMAR & MEANING Spring Term 2014 Grammar & Meaning B1 GRAMMAR & MEANING 1: INTRODUCTION Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia of Language, Section 13; Crystal (2004); Yule (2005) Ch. 8. 1) The place of grammar in the structure of language Language Sounds Grammar Meaning Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics 2) Prescriptive vs. Descriptive vs. Theoretical Grammars Prescriptive grammars: 'Good'/'bad' grammar - how people should speak - analogy with Classical languages e.g. 'Split infinitive' : to boldly go - appeal to logic e.g. ‘Double negative’: he hasn’t never been there Descriptive grammars: based on corpus data - how people actually do speak. E.g. Quirk et al. 1985 A comprehensive grammar of the English language, Longman. (Based on The Survey of English Usage, UCL, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/index.htm) Theoretical grammars: based on native speaker intuitions - what we know about our language. 3) Grammatical Analysis: Levels of Description Sentence Clause Phrase Word Sentence: One clause, or a series of connected, related clauses: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’ Clause: There are 7 major clause structures in English – a clause must contain a verb: Suddenly, she saw a White Rabbit with pink eyes Phrase: The constituents that make up a clause: Suddenly … she … saw … a White Rabbit with pink eyes a White Rabbit … with pink eyes Word: The constituents that make up Phrases: Suddenly … she … saw … a …White …Rabbit …with … pink … eyes 4) Review of Lexical (Content) Word Classes Open Classes o Nouns Concrete entities, abstract qualities or states: girl, chair, water, thing, beauty, thought o Verbs Actions and events: sing, walk, go, become, water, destroy, think, realise Verbs are a necessary requirement for a clause. o Adjectives Modify (describe or qualify) nouns: good, watery, calm, unlimited, friendly, able o Adverbs Modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs: calmly, very, now, there, past, away, today Open Classes: membership is indefinite or unlimited. New items are continually being added, and older ones fall into disuse. B2 Identify the Nouns, Verbs Adjectives and Adverbs in the following passage: She ran across the field after it, and fortunately, saw it disappear down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. Alice followed it and soon she was falling down a deep well very slowly. She looked at the sides of the well and saw rows of cupboards and shelves, and here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Now identify the Nouns, Verbs Adjectives and Adverbs look at the following passage: ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs 5) Review of Function (Grammatical) Word Classes Closed Classes o Pronouns Used in place of Noun Phrases: Tom likes this apple / He likes it / I, me, you, she, her, them, one, some, someone … o Prepositions Function words that introduce Noun Phrases: across the field of, in, on, at, before, under, past, from, to, by, for … o Determiners Function words specifying the type of noun: the / my / this / no experience a(n), that, those, these, your, his, her, their, some, any, all, many… o Conjunctions Function words that connect clauses, phrases or words: bread and butter or, but, if, when, because, that … Closed Classes: membership is fixed or delimited. New items are not regularly added. Identify the Pronouns, Prepositions Determiners and Conjunctions from the passage above: Pronouns Prepositions Determiners Conjunctions 6) Further Study Complete the exercises on Blackboard before next week. Check Crystal (2004) for definitions of Word Classes covered here. B3 GRAMMAR & MEANING 2: CLAUSE STRUCTURE Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Yule (2005) Ch 8; Crystal (2004) Units 1-4, 8-12. 1) Clause Structure Functional Elements and their Forms Function Level 1: Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial. Form Level 1: Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Adverb Phrase, Prepositional Phrase. There are 7 Clause Structures in English: 4 Simple Clause Structures: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA (today) 3 Complex Clause Structures: SVOO, SVOC, SVOA (Week 5) SV Subject-Verb Alice was dreaming Function -1 Subject (S) Verb (V) Form -1 Noun Phrase (NP) Verb Phrase (VP) SVO Subject-Verb-Object She saw a White Rabbit Function -1 S V Object (O) Form -1 NP VP NP SVC Subject-Verb-Complement (Subject Complement) – always BE Alice was curious Function -1 S V Complement (C) Form -1 NP VP Adjective Phrase (AdjP) Alice was a bright child Function -1 S V C Form -1 NP VP NP SVA Subject-Verb-Adverbial – verbs of movement and physical position White Rabbit lives in the hole Function -1 S V Adverbial (A) Form -1 NP VP Prepositional Phrase (PP) Identify the Function and Form elements of the following Clause Structures: A glass box was on the table Dinah was Alice’s cat Function -1 Form -1 The strange animal vanished Alice crouched under the table Function -1 Form -1 The door was open She heard footsteps Function -1 Form -1 The inquisitive girl searched the room The happy girl laughed Function -1 Form -1 B4 2) Definition of Clause Elements: Subject: Typically the main participant of the event described by the verb. Agrees with the verb: She was curious - they were curious – *she were curious. Can be identified by a question tag: Alice was curious, wasn’t she?/*he?/*they? Usually expressed as a NP: Noun / Pronoun: Alice / she was curious. Verb: Every clause MUST have a main verb. Main verbs are lexical: dream, follow, disappear, jump,… Auxiliary / Modal Verbs are functional: had jumped, was jumping, can/must jump. Expressed as a VP containing the Main verb and Auxiliary / Modal Verbs. Intransitive verbs do not take an Object: *she disappeared the rabbit (see below). Transitive verbs can take 1 or 2 Objects: (see below for 1, and Week 5 for 2). Object: Typically the participant affected by the event described by the verb. Refers to a different entity from the Subject: She saw the rabbit. Usually follows the verb directly: She saw the rabbit – *she saw suddenly the rabbit. Occur only with Transitive Verbs: She saw the rabbit – *she disappeared the rabbit. Usually expressed as a NP: Noun / Pronoun: She saw the rabbit – she saw it. Complement: Characterises a preceding NP (the Subject Complement in today’s lecture). Subject Complements refer to the same entity as the Subject: Alice was sleepy, she is a fictitious character Subject Complements follow Copula BE (equivalent to ‘equals’). Usually expressed as a AdjP / NP: Alice was hungry / She was a brave girl. Adverbials: Express ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’ or ‘why’ something happened the circumstances. Adverbial generic name for 1-word adverbs and many-word adverbial expressions: 1-word Adverbs: here, there, now, then, today, yesterday, calmly, fast, quickly. Adverbial expressions of ‘where’: at home, behind the curtain, across the road. Adverbial expressions of ‘when’: last week, at the weekend, at 3 o’clock. Adverbial expressions of ‘why’: because she was asleep, in order to escape. Adverbials may have an obligatory or optional role in clause structure Obligatory role of Adverbials: they are required by the Clause Structure; the clause is ungrammatical if they are omitted: White Rabbit lives in this hole (PP)/ here (AdvP) SVA The rabbit hole is under the hedge (PP) SVA The tea party was yesterday (AdvP)/ last week (NP) SVA Optional role of Adverbials: they are NOT required by the Clause Structure for grammaticality; they provide additional information relating to location, time, manner: White Rabbit disappeared quickly (AdvP) SV(A) Alice often / never followed the White Rabbit (AdvP) S(A)VO She followed him yesterday (AdvP)/ last week (NP) SVO(A) Alice was always attentive (AdvP) SV(A)C Identify the Function and Form Elements of the following Clause Structures: Alice saw a White Rabbit with pink eyes The Duchess was sitting on a wooden stool Funct -1 Form -1 The animal was a white rabbit A large cat with long whiskers was grinning Funct -1 Form -1 3) Further Study Complete the exercises on Blackboard before next week. B5 GRAMMAR & MEANING 3: DETERMINERS & PRONOUNS Reading: Crystal, Encyclopaedia, Sect. 16; Crystal (2004) Units 27-38, 43-47. 1) The Structure of Phrases All types of Phrases (NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PP) are made up of several Word or Phrase constituents: the blue book on the third shelf The Phrase level constituents of which are: the blue book (NP) ….. on the third shelf (PP) The Word level constituents of which are: the … blue … book on … the … third … shelf 2) Head of a Phrase the key component for grammaticality Phrases contain a HEAD which is the only element necessary for grammaticality, e.g., the Head of a Noun Phrase is a Noun; the Head of a Adjective Phrase is an Adjective. In the following: a large cat with long whiskers (NP) the Head = cat (N) … very confusing (AdjP) the Head = confusing (Adj) … extremely quickly (AdvP) the Head = quickly (Adv) … on the table (PP) the Head = on (P) Identify the Head elements of the following: Phrase: a white rabbit with pink eyes a wooden table surprisingly easy under the hedge Alice Head: Having identified the element that functions as the