Morphosyntax 1

WORD CLASSES
 WORDS
The smallest building blocks of syntax

OPEN CLASS CLOSED CLASS

- nouns - determiners
- adjectives - pronouns
- adverbs - prepositions
- full verbs - conjunctions
- auxiliary verbs (modals and primary)
- interjections (oh, ah, ugh, phew)

WORDS of UNIQUE FUNCTION: not - negative particle

(traditionally adverb); the infinitive marker to or infinitival
particle
 NOUNS and DETERMINERS

- A notional definition of nouns - words that denote

people, animals, things and places (Jim, dog, chair,
London); a great number of words unaccounted for, e.g.
abstract concepts (death, sincerity, success), emotional
states (happiness, love), bodily sensations (dizziness,
pain, etc) and a host of others.
- A far better approach is to characterize nouns using
formal and distributional criteria
FORMAL: the shape words can take (derivational and
inflectional affixes)
DISTRIBUTIONAL: where they occur and how they
behave and function
 NOUNS: FORMAL CRITERIA
They are of value to us only if the word has affixes that
are typical of a certain word class.
Many affixes are typical of nouns:
-ANCE (alliance, defiance, reliance)
-HOOD (bachelorhood, fatherhood, adulthood)
-TION (abolition, demarcation, indication)
-NESS (darkness, kindness, wildness)
-SHIP (lectureship, tutorship, studentship)

Next, nouns also have some typical inflectional suffixes,

namely plural ending s and genitive ending s:
e.g. actor-actors, door-doors, lamp-lamps; man-mans,
pub-pubs, sister-sisters.
(exceptions: child-children, larva-larvae, etc)
 DISTRIBUTIONAL CRITERIA

these are, in fact, the most reliable. When we talk about

distributional criteria, we are referring to the way in which
nouns behave syntactically in sentences, i.e. the patterns
they typically occur in (or the environment).

EXAMPLES
nouns can be preceded by determiners (words such as the, a,
this, which, my, first, last, etc) , which specify more precisely
the meaning of the nouns they precede
they can also be preceded by adjectives (a nice person, a
difficult problem, this accessible and authoritative grammar)
they occur in particular syntactic contexts (the was wheel-
clamped by the police - car, motorcycle; the of nouns - list)
skyscraper analogy
 PRONOUNS

pro = for (Latin); instead of a noun/NP

EXAMPLES: I/me, you, she/her; my/mine,

your/yours, her/hers; myself, yourself, herself;
this/these; each other, one another; anybody,
nothing, somebody
 ADJECTIVES
FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS
Suffixes typical of adjectives
-FUL ( beautiful, useful); -LESS (careless, flightless); -IVE (constructive,
explosive); -OUS (monotonous, ambitious); -LY (cowardly, lovely); -Y
(sandy, starry); -ABLE (drinkable, washable)
Some, of course, have none of these suffixes (green, true, honest, fair, etc).
There are also some prefixes typical of adjectives, e.g. un- (unhappy,
undesirable,) - although we also find it used with verbs (undo, untie,
etc); in-/im-/ir-/il- (inadequate, improbable, irrelevant, illiterate).
Most are gradable, i.e. most can be preceded by words such as very,
extremely, less, etc. (very helpful, extremely nasty, less interesting, etc).
Exceptions: adjectives denoting material (wooden, plastic); nationality
(Russian, English).
Comparative and superlative endings or periphrasis: great, greater,
greatest; good, better, best; more/most beautiful; hopeless, eager, real,
etc.
 ADJECTIVES

DISTRIBUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
- typically two positions: attributive and
predicative (occasionally postpositive).
attributive: a beautiful spring, a careless
attitude, an impertinent remark
predicative: She is enchanting. This fabric feels
soft. The music sounds great!
postpositive: something incredible
 VERBS
FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS
endings which encode tense: -s (present tense inflection); -ed (past
tense inflection).
A verb that carries tense is called a finite verb, whereas a verb that
doesnt carry tense is a nonfinite verb.
(but we have to be careful as tense is not always overtly marked)
I describe we describe I described we described
you describe you describe you described you described
he/she/it describes they describe he/she/it described they described

Verbs can further be divided into main or lexical verbs and auxiliary
verbs.
e.g. Jeremy is laughing.
An auxiliary specifies from what point of view we should interpret the
meaning expressed by the main verb (here: ongoing situation)
 Is the verb BE an auxiliary in the sentence below?
He is friendly.

EXAMPLES: The company is being taxed / has been taxed / has been being
taxed (three times this year).
It is always the first auxiliary that carries tense, all the other verbs are
nonfinite.

Nonfinite verbs come in 4 types:

to-infinitive: TO DANCE I wanted him to dance.
bare infinitive: DANCE I saw him dance.
present participle: DANCING He is dancing. (is dancing pres. cont.)
past participle: DANCED He has often danced. (has danced pres. perf.)

BE CAREFUL NOT TO CONFUSE the past participle with the simple past, or
bare infinitive with the present simple or imperative (syncretism).

ORDER of AUXILIARIES
- modal - perfect - progressive - passive
 PREPOSITIONS
they cannot easily be defined by making reference to formal
characteristics as they do not have typical endings.

FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS
they tend to be very short (often 2-3 letters)
can be simple (of, with, at, by, in, on, for, off, after, before) or
complex (by means of, in spite of, due to, thanks to)
DISTRIBUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
normally precede nouns, i.e. noun phrases, pronouns or -ing
forms (with the dog, on her bicycle, behind her, after running
two miles)

Semantically, they denote a relationship of some sort between

two entities: The book is on the table.
The relationship can also be metaphorical: She is in big trouble.
 ADVERBS
FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS
-LY - a typical adverb ending (but also found in adjectives: friendly, lively,
masterly, woolly).
OTHER SUFFIXES: -WARDS (homewards, skywards), -WISE (clockwise, moneywise), -
WAYS (sideways, lengthways), -LONG (headlong, sidelong)

However, not all adverbs are formed with these suffixes, so looking at the suffix
alone is not a foolproof test for adverbhood.

Further caution is needed when looking at COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE

forms: fast, faster, fastest (adjective or adverb); soon, sooner, soonest.
DISTRIBUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
they are usually described as words that modify verbs, adjectives and other
adverbs, although they can modify many other constructions as well.

EXAMPLES:
Our colleague from Paris merrily marks student essays during his coffee break.
They are extremely unimpressed by his efforts.
She works very hard.
 CONJUNCTIONS

belong to a closed class of words that have a linking function.

There are two types of conjunctions:
1. coordinating c. (and, or, but)
2. subordinating c. (that, if, whether, because, although, when, etc)

EXAMPLES
I bought [a computer] and [a keyboard].
He is [pretty stupid] but [quite eager].
The books are [on the table] or [in the cupboard].
[We will not offer this student a place] but [we can recommend a
College that will].
 Coordinators link units of equal syntactic status (parataxis, i.e.
syntactic side-by-side arrangement).
Subordinators are mostly short single words, but there are also
some complex subordinators (as if/though, as long as, in order
that, so that)
EXAMPLES
He thinks [that we will agree].
I wonder [if it will ever change].
We dont know [whether he will come].
She left the course, [because she didnt like living in a big city].
My teachers are very strict, [although they are also very supportive].
They are going to meet her [when she arrives].

They introduce subordinate clauses. Unlike coordinators, they

link units of unequal syntactic status (hypotaxis, i.e. syntactic
underneath arrangement)
 INTERJECTIONS

expressions of emotion, physical state,

agreement, disagreement, etc.
EXAMPLES: ah, hmm, no, oh, ouch, phew, yes,
yuck, etc.

They are not really part of the sentence in which

they occur, but literally thrown in (inter-jected)