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EA0916: Morphosyntax

An introduction

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What the hell is morphosyntax anyway?

Morphology= study of the structure of morphemes:

root words, word stems, affixes

Syntax= rules and principles governing sentence

structure

Morpho/syntax= study of the internal structure of

words and the way in which they are put together toform phrases and sentences

Basically, its grammarin a more formal linguistic sense

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VARIATIONS OF THELANGUAGE

Registers, dialects,

standard, non-standard

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CHOICE

Whenever we speak we are faced with two

important choices:

What to say

How to say it

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CHOICE

Factors influencing choice:

Purpose Setting

Participants

Mode of communication (e.g. speaking or writing)

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CHOICE

When studying grammar it is important to see:

The possibilities made available by the languagesystem

Why the speaker/writer has opted for thatparticular possibility and not another

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DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR

Describes real language use, not idealiseduse

how it isused, not how it should be used

Not correct vs. incorrect

user frequency / preference (more or less)

Accounts for preference and frequency

Accounts for language variation:

RegisterDialect

Standard

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PREFERENCE AND FREQUENCY

In some cases the language system offers

different options:

The bicycle was stolen

They stole my bicycle

Why is one option preferred over the other?

Possible factors:

Informational emphasis

Expressiveness

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LANGUAGE VARIATION

There is an underlying system of grammar, but

each different user uses the system differently

to meet their communicative needs

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LANGUAGE VARIATION

Register: variation responding to thecommunicative situation andcommunicativepurpose

Relationship between participantsSetting

Dialect: variation depending on the individual

Gender

Geography

Age

Social variables

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REGISTER

Register is closely related to pragmatics, the studyof how language is used.

Often, how you say something depends on:who you are talking to (relationship)

where you are (context)

what you want (intention)

How we choose to say something affects the resultsof saying it

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REGISTER

Imagine that your intention is to obtain a book,

how would you ask for it in the following

contexts?

Your brother has had it for 3 weeks and you are

angry with him

You need to borrow it from someone in your

university class who you dont know very wellYou need it to finish your TFG and you have to ask

your supervisor to lend it to you

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DIALECT

A dialect is not just a different accent

Linguists define dialects as sub-forms of

languages which are mutually comprehensible

You probably already know the difference

between British English (BrE) and American

English (AmE)

How many other major English dialects can you

think of?

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DIALECT

Just in English English (not even BrE!!) there are:

Cheshire

Cumbrian (Cumbria including Barrow-in-Furness)

Geordie (Tyneside)

Lancastrian (Lancashire) Mackem (Sunderland)

Mancunian-Salfordian (Manchester & Salford)

Northumbrian (rural Northumberland)

Pitmatic (Durham and Northumberland)

Scouse (Liverpool) Smoggie (spoken in Teesside)

Yorkshire (also known as Broad Yorkshire) (Spoken in Yorkshire)

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DIALECT

East Midlands

Black Country English

Brummie (Birmingham)

Potteries (north Staffordshire)

Telford accent

East Anglian

Norfolk dialect

Suffolk dialect

Southern Received Pronunciation(also known as Queen's English or BBC English)

Cockney (working-class London and surrounding areas)

Estuary (Thames Estuary)

Kentish (Kent) Multicultural London English (Inner London)

Sussex

Anglo-Cornish

Bristolian dialect

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STANDARD VS. VERNACULAR

Grammar tends to focus on standard language

(presented in usage manuals, dictionaries and

media)

Conversation contains many features that are

considered non-standard (not everybody

considers acceptable)

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STANDARD VS. VERNACULAR

Is there only one way to speak English?

Why use the standard?

Who owns English?

Why use the standard? ;)

Is it possible to speak more than one dialect?

Why might you switch between dialects?

Exercise: Standard and Non-Standard English

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GRAMMATICALUNITS

A basic introduction

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GRAMMATICAL UNITS

are meaningful elements

combine in a systematic and structured way

combine to create bigger units

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GRAMMATICAL UNITS

UNIT EXAMPLE DEFINITION

SENTENCE My car is broken, so I will take it

to the garage

Unit of written discourse

CLAUSE My car is broken Smallest independent unit

Complete description of an event or state of

affairs

PHRASE My car Group of words

Behave like a unit

WORD car Single lexical unit

MORPHEME Car/s (plural morpheme) Part of a word

Smallest meaningful unit

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PHRASES

Group of words (or simply one word) that

behaves like a unit

Identifiable by substitution and movement tests

My poor cat died yesterday

It died yesterday

Yesterday died my poor cat

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PHRASES

Can be embedded into another phrase

The house of my dreams

Different phrase structure cause differences in

meaning

[Mary] [hit] [the man] [with the umbrella]

[Mary] [hit] [the man with the umbrella]

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PHRASES

Phrase structure can be represented by tree

diagrams

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PHRASES

As tree diagrams can get a bit messy, we can

also use brackets

[[[Happy (adj)] [linguists (n)] (np)] [[make (v)] [[a

(det)] [diagram (n)] (np)] (vp)] (s)]

[[[Happy (adj)][linguists (n)] (np)] [[make (v)] [[a

(det)] [diagram (n)] (np)] (vp)] (s)]

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PHRASES

Still confused?

[Happy linguists make a diagram(s)][[Happy linguists (np)] [make a diagram (vp)] (s)]

[[Happy linguists (np)][[make (v)] [a diagram

(np)] (vp)] (s)][[[Happy (adj)][linguists (n)] (np)] [[make (v)] [[a

(det)] [diagram (n)] (np)] (vp)] (s)]

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PHRASES

Brackets can also be helpful to define other aspects

of the phrase:

My favourite uncle (sub)

gave (v)

me (i.o)

the keys to his house (d.o)

[My favourite uncle][gave][me][the keys to his house]

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PHRASES

Phrases can perform different syntactic roles: object,subject, etc

My expensive Ferrari drives down the street (subject)

I love my expensive Ferrari (object)

In written language embedding is more frequent andphrases are longer

Because they inadvertently write in ways that often use

technical jargon, lengthy noun strings, and the passive voice,engineers often have problems communicating with non-

specialists.

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TYPES OF PHRASES

(pp. 41-45)

NOUN PHRASES

VERB PHRASE ADJECTIVE PHRASE

ADVERB PHRASE

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

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NOUN PHRASES

Head can be:

Common or proper noun

Pronoun

Nominalised adjective

Optionally preceded by a determiner

Optionally preceded or followed by a modifier

(classifies or describes the head)Usually functions as subject or object in theclause (so pay attention to 3rdperson singular!)

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VERB PHRASE

The head is a verb

Head can be preceded by an auxiliary verb

Verbs can be finite (tense distinction) or non-finite (no tense)

Verbs are the main element in the clause

They denote states oractionsThey determinewhat other elements can

appear in the clause

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ADJECTIVE PHRASE

Adjective as head

Optional modifier, following or preceding head

(usually expresses degree)

Syntactic function:

Modifier of a noun inside a NP

Predicative = attribute (after verb to be)

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ADVERB PHRASES

Head is an adverb

Optional modifier, following or preceding head

(usually expresses degree)

Syntactic function:

Modifiers in adjective and adverb phrases

Adverbial: adds information to the clause regarding

place, time, manner, extent, attitude

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PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

Preposition + noun phrase

Sometimes preceded by adverb:

Exactly at three

Syntactic function:

Adverbial

Modifier of a noun in a NP

Stranded prepositions: not followed by NP, this is

omitted because it can be inferred.

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COMPLEMENTS

Modifiers of different heads of phrases cansometimes be other phrases or clauses(embedding)

Noun Phrase:Infinitive to- clauses: Her refusal to come

That-clauses: The man that came yesterday

Adjective Phrase:Guilty of a crime

Easy to follow

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COMPLEMENTS

Adverb Phrase:

Sofast you dont even notice

Prepositional Phrase:

Wh clauses: Instructions on how to do it

Ing clauses:After studying so hard for the exam

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EXERCISES

Recognising phrase types:

They could have signed that check

[They (np)] [could have signed (vp)] [that check (np)]

In which form is the verb phrase? (p.43)

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EXERCISES

Embedded phrases (p.38):

She stayed for a few days. This, in my view is

totally wrong.

She stayed [for [a few days]]. This, [in [my

view]], is totally wrong.

Describe the structure of the phrases between

brackets.

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EXERCISES

Clause elements and patterns:

My dislike of the man returned.

[My dislike of the man (s)] [returned (v)].

Now deconstruct the subject (s).

[Mydislike[of[the man]]]

[np [pp [np ]]]

[adj][noun][pr][det][noun]

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CLAUSE PATTERNS

Intransitive: S+V

The spirit vanished

Monotransitive: S+V+DO

I washed the dishes

Copular: S+V+SP and S+V+A

She was so beautiful

The book lay on the table

Ditransitive: S+V+IO+DO

You gave me a fright

Complex transitive: S+V+DO+OP and S+V+DO+A

The news made her so happy

They put their coats on the bed

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CLAUSE ELEMENTS

Verb phrase

Long verb phrase (pp. 51-52)

Subject

Object:Direct

Indirect

Predicative

Subject predicative

Object predicative

Adverbial

Obligatory

Optional

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VERB PHRASE (V)

Expresses action or state

The rest of the elements relate to it

Determines what other elements are

possible

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SUBJECT

Noun Phrase

Occurs with all verbs

Usually precedes the verbDetermines person and number of verb

Generally doer or agent(semantic point of

view)

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OBJECT

Noun phrase

Usually follows the verb

Occurs with transitive verbsDirect object: entity affected by the action

Indirect object: receives something or

benefits from the action of the verb

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PREDICATIVE (p.50)

Can be a noun phrase, an adjective phrase

or a prepositional phrase

Characterizes a preceding noun phrase

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PREDICATIVE (p.50)

Object predicative:

Refers to the direct object NP and immediatelyfollows it.

Example: They are making the road wider

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ADVERBIALS (p.51)

Obligatory:

Occur with copular verbs and complex transitive verbs

Your book is on the table

The receptionist treated us very rudely

Optional:Can occur with any type of verb

Usually adverb, prepositional or noun phrases

There can be more than one

They appear in different positions

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EXERCISES

He couldnt see very clearly

Identify:

np

vp

adv-p

Identify:

pron

mod

neg

vadv

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EXERCISES

Now complete the exercises on

page 20 of the workbook