Intro to Language: Grammar chapter 7 – Flashcards
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Grammar
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Rules pertaining to how we construct phrases and sentences Process of describing the structure of phrases and sentences so that we can separate what is an appropriate construction from what is inappropriate
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What does our mental grammar allow us to do
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To recognize when a sentence is ungrammatical
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The "model" of grammar
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Grammar of Latin and Greek was the "model" of grammar, so big influence on some European languages like Spanish and Italian
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Latin and Greek Influence
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Languages of scholarship, religion, philosophy Influenced our labels English parts of speech, as well as the notion of "proper" English in 18th century England
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Number Agreement
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Whether noun is singular or plural
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Person Agreement
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First person (involving the speaker) I, we; second person (involving the hearer) he, she , it , they; and third person (involving any others) I,
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Tense Agreement
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Present or Passive Relates to time of action of verb Present tense or past tense
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Voice Agreement
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Active or Passive
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Prescriptive Approach (The "proper" use of English)
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Prescriptive approach to grammar or prescriptive linguistics describes the rules and correct standard for language that everyone should conform to
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Examples of prescriptive rules in English
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Do no split infinitives -Tsk Tsk Captain Kirk. To go boldly... NOT To boldly go... Do not end sentence with a preposition -With whom did you go? NOT Who did you go with?
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English vs. Latin Grammar
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Infinitives in Latin are single words, but in English they are two words: to go, to dance, to study. So infinitives can't be split in Latin. English infinitives are two words
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Descriptive Aproach
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Descriptive approach to grammar or descriptive linguistics simply studies the history, dialects, structure, and variation of language as it is
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Example of descriptive rules in English
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There is no "right" or "wrong" use of language No "bad" dialects
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Parts of Speech or Lexical Categories
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Word classes in a language Words that function in the same way in a sentence Some words can fit into more than one class
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What is included in Parts of Speech or Lexical Categories
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Nouns Articles Adjectives Verbs Adverbs Prepositions Pronouns Conjunctions
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Nouns Include
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People Objects Creatures Places Qualities (softness, length, shape) Phenomena (evolution, earthquakes, weather) Abstract ideas (love, truth, intelligence)
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Recognizing Nouns
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Often take a plural (-s) or possessive ('s) inflectional morpheme (towers, Bob's) Come after articles and demonstratives (a car, those boys) demonstrative= determiner, pronoun Modified by adjectives (small door, rare gem) Not all nouns conform to all of the above -ex: informations or deers or luggages
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Common Derivational Suffixes on Nouns
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-er/or (writer, actor, singer) -ism (criticism, optimism, magnetism) -ist (artist, journalist, scientist) -ment (development, improvement) -tion (superstition, recognition, motivation) -ness (brightness, eagerness, roughness) -ity (clarity, stupidity, sincerity)
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Articles
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Used before nouns to introduce a noun, specify a member of that class of nouns (an elephant) or identify a particular referent of the class (the referent) -a, an, the
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Adjectives
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Used with nouns to provide moer information about them (kind man, shiny fabric, helpless dog) Can be used in sentence constructions with BE verb -the book is HEAVY. he boy was HELPFUL Can be modified with adverbs very and too -(very CLEVER, too SWEET)
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Common Derivational Suffixes on Adjectives
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-able (noticeable, excitable, knowledgeable) -less (helpless, worthless, penniless) -ful (forgetful, hopeful, resourceful) -y (shiny, smelly, funny)
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Verbs
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Refer to various actions, processes, states of being (be, have) Can be inflected for tense (walked, sitting) Can be used with auxiliaries like should and can (should sing, can go, will calculate) Common derivational ending -ify (specify, clarify) or -ize (popularize, characterize) or -ate (activate, fabricate)
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Adverbs
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Provide more information about verbs Modify adjectives (completely helpless), verbs (left yesterday) or adverbs (very quickly) Notice derivational suffix -ly, but not all adverbs end in -ly (quite, seldom, very)
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Prepositions
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Used with nouns in phrases providing information about time, place, and other connections involving actions and things
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Examples of Prepositions
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At On Near With
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Pronouns
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Used in place of noun phrases, typically referring to nouns that have already been used
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Examples of Pronouns
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I Me You He Him She Her It We Herself They Them
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Conjunctions
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Make connections and indicate relationships between events
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Examples of Conjunctions
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And But So Because Or
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Natural gender agreement
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male (he, his, waiter, king) or female (she, her, lioness, princess) or neither (it, its).
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Grammatical gender agreement
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relates to masculinity and femininity of nouns. English does not have this
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Constituents
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Group of words that function together in a sentence. Can be embedded within other constituent groups
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Constituent Analysis
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Descriptive approach to see how grammatical categories are formed, how words group together
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Tests for constituency include:
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stand alone Pro-form substitution (sub pronouns for noun phrases and "did so" for verb phrases)
