syntax
Rosana Abigail Jovel
I
n this chapter, we will explore our knowledge of another system called syntax. It is namely system because syntax is a system of rules and principles that allow us to combine words into large units. We know that words must be organized in a certain order in the sentence (just as affixes
and roots occur in certain orders in words). In fact, the position of the word in a sentence is often the only way we know its syntactic category (part of speech). For example, the word walks can be either a verb or a noun, and we know how to interpret this word only when we see where it occurs in the sentence. Another thing we know about syntax is that word can be grouped or combined in certain ways. But actually we know that sentence is a general term for a long string of words but that sentences can be made up of one or more clauses, syntactic units that we are fully, if unconsciously aware of.
But also in this chapter we will explore a specific aspect of our intuitive knowledge of syntax, in particular your knowledge of syntactic categories such as nouns, verbs and so on, and how those categories can be combined with other words to form large categories or phrases. Where some syntactic unit or clauses are independent and others are subordinated.
We will introduce you to phrase structure rules, a notation that allows us to express this knowledge of syntactic units. But all our knowledge of categories is likely a part of
Universal Grammar.
1
Many children learn in the school that a noun is “a person, place or thing.”
WHAT IS
SYNTAX?
While this semantic definition is useful, it tell us nothing about the fact that we use a
It is a system of rules and principles that describe how we organize words into phrases and phrases into larger being the clause; also, the study of this system.
great deal of information, other than meaning, to identify nouns. For example we can recognize nouns even though we have no
I
n this chapter, we will explore our knowledge of another system called syntax. It is namely system because syntax is a system of rules and principles that allow us to combine words into large units. We know that words must be organized in a certain order in the sentence (just as affixes
and roots occur in certain orders in words). In fact, the position of the word in a sentence is often the only way we know its syntactic category (part of speech). For example, the word walks can be either a verb or a noun, and we know how to interpret this word only when we see where it occurs in the sentence. Another thing we know about syntax is that word can be grouped or combined in certain ways. But actually we know that sentence is a general term for a long string of words but that sentences can be made up of one or more clauses, syntactic units that we are fully, if unconsciously aware of.
But also in this chapter we will explore a specific aspect of our intuitive knowledge of syntax, in particular your knowledge of syntactic categories such as nouns, verbs and so on, and how those categories can be combined with other words to form large categories or phrases. Where some syntactic unit or clauses are independent and others are subordinated.
We will introduce you to phrase structure rules, a notation that allows us to express this knowledge of syntactic units. But all our knowledge of categories is likely a part of
Universal Grammar.
1
Many children learn in the school that a noun is “a person, place or thing.”
WHAT IS
SYNTAX?
While this semantic definition is useful, it tell us nothing about the fact that we use a
It is a system of rules and principles that describe how we organize words into phrases and phrases into larger being the clause; also, the study of this system.
great deal of information, other than meaning, to identify nouns. For example we can recognize nouns even though we have no