English

Descriptive
Grammar
2016/17
English Descriptive Grammar

English = a language, spoken in many

countries, etc.
Descriptive = a type of grammar (it aims to
describe the language)
Grammar = ? (see slides below for an
answer...)
Objective of course:
 Introducing you to the main structures of
English grammar and providing you with
essential concepts and terminology to be
able to describe it scientifically.
Class organization

8 Units: based on a reading

(except first part of unit 1 = week 1)
Readings + questions (in campus virtual a
week before)
Assessment

2 assignments (2 x 15% 0 30%) : individual

work, at home
4 quizzes (4 x 5%): in class
1 final exam : in class 22 December

= all based on readings and lectures

Unit 1: Basic Notions
The notion of 'grammar '
Are these statements true?
(A)Some people know the grammar of their
language; others do not.

(B) There are languages with “little” or “no”

grammar.
What is 'grammar'?

"Grammar is the system of rules and

principles which is at the basis of all the
sentences of a language. Knowing a
language means knowing its grammar."

Haegeman, L & J. Guéron. 1999. English

Grammar: A Generative Perspective.
London: Blackwell.
The components of grammar
"A grammar includes everything one knows
about the structure of one’s language - its
lexicon (... ), its morphology (...), its syntax
(…), its semantics (... ) and its phonetics and
phonology (...)."

Fromkin, V.A. (ed.) Linguistics. An

Introduction to Linguistic Theory.
Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
The lexicon
The lexicon contains all the words that a
speaker knows.

table, laugh, smart, always, etc...

= lexical items
Speakers know the meaning, pronunciation,
morphology and syntax of words.
What do we know when we
learn the word 'laugh'?
1. "To make spontaneous sounds and
movements of face and body which are
indicative of lively amusement"
(meaning) = semantics
2. / laef / (pronunciation) = phonology
3. laugh+ed (form of word) = morphology
4. laugh = verb, head of VP, no object
(possible combinations) = syntax
Phonology
Phonology is the study of the speech
sounds of a particular language.
The set of distinctive speech sounds of a
language = phonemes

eg. /m/, as in make /meik/

/t/, as in take /teik/
Phonology
Each language has a set of phonemes,
which it may share with others or not.

eg. /x/ is not a phoneme in English,

but is it in Spanish (jarabe)
Phonology
Each language has specific possible
combinations of phonemes:
eg. /sp/ is a possible consonant cluster at
the beginning of a word, as in :
'spider'
Speakers know the set of phonemes of their
language and the possible combinations.
Morphology
Morphology is the study of the structure or
form of words in a particular language.
Structure of a word:
laugh + ed
= root + suffix
re + write
= prefix + root
Morphology
Inflectional morphology

= grammatical distinctions
eg. tense as in laughed
or number as in cats
= inflectional affixes are usually suffixes
Morphology
Derivational morphology , word formation
= new words formed

write + er (V --- N)
success + ful (N --- A)

Speakers know the possible combinations of

roots and affixes.
Syntax
Syntax is the study of the combination of
words into larger units.
Words group together into constituents:

The author of this book is J. K. Rowling

[The author of this book]NP [is J. K. Rowling]VP
Syntax
Words must follow an order when they are
grouped into constituents:

*[Of this book the author] [J. K. Rowling is]

Constiuents are the components of

sentences, the basic unit of syntax.
Semantics
Semantics is the study of how meaning is
conveyed.
Lexical semantics = meaning of words
Sentence semantics = meaning of
sentences
Sentences can be ambiguous, or have
similar meanings:
Semantics
Ambiguous sentence:
Visiting relatives can be a nuisance
a) For me to visit relatives ....
b) Relatives who come to visit me ...

Paraphrases:
a. A man is standing on the roof of that house
b. There is a man standing on the roof of that house
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of the functions of
language and its use in context:

"Please, close that window"

(direct request = imperative form)
"It is extremely cold in here"
(indirect request)

Pragmatics analyses utterances.

The notion of'grammaticality'

She drank a glass of water

= a grammatical sentence
= follows rules of the grammar of English

* Drank she a glass of water

= ungrammatical construction
= does not follow the rules of the grammar
= word order is incorrect, syntax
Why are these
ungrammatical?

1. * She to the cinema went

2. * She had been thought of him

1 = syntax (not a possible combination)

2 = morphology (wrong inflection of verb)
Forms vs function

Form = structure of a grammatical unit

This essay = NP (noun phrase)

Function = role of a grammatical unit

This essay is very long = subject
What is the function of the NPs in
these sentences?

1. Her daughter is doing her homework.

2. That book is on the table.

3. This summer we didn't travel.

What are these constructions? IS
their function the same?

Are you coming to the party tomorrow?

Can you bring me a cup of tea?

Forms vs function
Is there a one-to-one relationship between
form and function?
The examples considered reveal that:
a) the form NP can have different functions
in the sentence
b) the form 'yes/no question' can have
different functions in context
A grammatical function can be
realised by different forms.
Which function is realised by the underlined
forms in these sentences?
a) The candidate is speaking.
b) That children learn languages very
quickly is true.
c) After dinner is the best time to read a
novel.
 Forms vs function
A request (function) can be carried out by
different forms:

a) Listen to me, please.

b) Will you please listen to me?
c) I want you to listen to me.
Grammatical categories
Also word class, part of speech
= words which belong to the same one
share a common set of grammatical
properties.
What do these nouns share?
box – boxes ; face – faces
a box ; a face
(morphological and syntactic properties)
Major and minor categories
We can subdivide categories into two:
major and minor
Major categories have lexical meaning:
eg. Book, read, happy, never
Minor categories provide grammatical
information:
eg. that, of, she, has
What are the categories of these
words?
Noun (N), Verb (V), Adjective (A), Adverb
(Adv)
1. Nice
2. Talk
3. Apple
4. Quickly
5. Face
Major and minor categories

Find the categories of the words in this

sentence and say if they are major or minor:

I think that the new student may be from

Germany