Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes for instructors and readers
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The structure of words
- 3 The structure of sentences
- 4 The structure of meaning
- 5 Integrating language structure
- 6 The structure of phrases
- 7 Complex structures
- 8 The structure of information
- 9 Language structure in context
- List of Languages
- Glossary
- Notes
- References
- Index
3 - The structure of sentences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes for instructors and readers
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The structure of words
- 3 The structure of sentences
- 4 The structure of meaning
- 5 Integrating language structure
- 6 The structure of phrases
- 7 Complex structures
- 8 The structure of information
- 9 Language structure in context
- List of Languages
- Glossary
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
KEY TOPICS
Constituency and hierarchy
Universal and non-universal aspects of syntactic structure
Non-verbal predicates
Operators
Head-marking constructions
Introduction to syntactic structure
In this chapter we will introduce syntax, the study of how words pattern together in sentences.
So far we have concentrated on the structure of words: morphology. Syntax is the study of the function of words and how they are arranged into groups (constituents) and sentences. We are interested firstly in the types of words we find and their linear order. From there we can look at the structural relationships between constituents; in other words, which constituents are dependent on others. We will also study the hierarchical relationships between constituents; in other words, how units sit inside other units.
To illustrate constituent structure, take a look at the examples in (1) and (2). They are both ambiguous.
(1) the tiny elephant hunter
(2) Parking attendant attacks rocket.
Both (1) and (2) illustrate structural ambiguity. They have two meanings because we can ‘chop them up’ in different ways, assigning different structures and forming different constituents. (3) and (4) show one way of representing the two meanings and the constituents involved.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Structure of LanguageAn Introduction to Grammatical Analysis, pp. 46 - 92Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010