Basic concepts of linguistic syntax

1. Syntax
:: the grammar of clauses
:: higher constituents
MEE 105 Morphology and Syntax
MAY JOY C. CALCABEN

2. The learning
objectives are…
a. to familiarize the basic concepts
of linguistic syntax; and
b. to analyze phrases and
sentences accurately.
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3. What is Syntax?
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4. Terminologically, syntax can be analyzed this way:
Ancient Greek σύνταξις /sýn.tak.sis/
“arrangement”
σύν /syn/-: derived from Latin; Latin took it from
the Greek preposition ‘sun’ means “together”
τάξις /táxis/: derived from Greek root means “an
ordering”;
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5. Syntax has to do with how words are
put together to build phrases, with how
phrases are put together to build clauses
or bigger phrases, and with how clauses
are put together to build sentences.
(Miller, 2002)
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6. In the higher stage of syntax, it
concerns with analyzing the structure of
English sentence starting by larger units i.e.
immediate parts (constituents), thus can
include phrase, clause and sentence and
ending by smaller units i.e. ultimate
constituents (words which can be described
as the blocks of a language).
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7. The sentence is regarded as the highest-
ranking unit of grammar, and therefore that the
purpose of a grammatical description is to define,
making use of whatever descriptive apparatus that
may be necessary (rules, categories, etc.).
In a nutshell, syntax is the study of the way
in which phrases and sentences are structured out
of words.
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8. Syntactic
Analysis:
How to process?
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9. Syntactic analysis includes:
a. determining the relevant component parts
of a sentence; and
b. describing these parts grammatically;
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10. Michael Halliday’s Hierarchical Scale of Constituents
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Sentence Clause Phrase Word Morpheme
one 0r
more
clauses
one 0r
more
phrases
one 0r
more
words
one 0r
more
morphemes
the smallest
unit in form
and meaning
 The component parts of a sentence are called constituents.

11. In other words, syntax includes the two closely
related tasks of:
a. determining the relevant component parts of
a sentence
breaking down the sentence into constituents
b. describing these parts grammatically
assigning some grammatical label to each type of constituent,
stating what type (or grammatical category) it is, and what
grammatical function it has.
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12. Example:
Hopefully, every student will learn the procedure.
Label the identified constituents according to their form
and sentence function as follows:
Hopefully – adverb: form; sentence modifier: function
every student – noun phrase: form; subject: function
will learn – verb phrase: form; predicator; function
the procedure – noun phrase: form; direct object: function
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13. ACTIVITY TIME!
Label the identified constituents according to their
form and sentence function.
1. Mary had a little lamb.
2. The child found a puppy.
3. The glass suddenly broke.
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14. Modes of Syntactic
Description
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15. FORM
 Also termed as category
 Refers to the grammatical shape of the unit to
analyze
 Includes two major types:
1. Single words
2. Word groups
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16. FORM
Single words has two major classes according to
morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria:
1. Form classes (also known as lexical words, content
words, open classes…). These include nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs.
2. Structure classes (grammatical words, function words,
closed sets…) These include pronouns, prepositions,
auxiliaries and modals, conjunctions, numerals.
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FORM
Single
Words
Lexical
words
(form
classes)
Grammatical
words
(structure
classes)
Word
Groups
Phrases Clauses Sentences

18. FUNCTION
 can be broadly understood as the grammatical
job that a particular unit has within a larger unit
 Function therefore means ‘syntactic’ function
 Example: Girls enjoy chocolate.
The nouns girls and chocolate have the
function of the subject and direct object of the
sentence, respectively.
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19. POSITION
 usually refers to the position a linguistic unit can
take within another unit
 Thus, it is common to talk of elements occurring
in initial, medial or final positions within the
higher-order unit, or about pre- and post-
positions in relation to a specific unit.
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20. POSITION
 For example, a time modifier can occur either in
the initial (3a) or final (3b) position in a sentence:
 (3) a. Yesterday they had an enormous dinner.
b. They had an enormous dinner yesterday.
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21. Syntactic Units
The hierarchy of linguistic units would look like this:
 Phoneme
 Morpheme
 Word
 Phrase
 Clause
 Sentence
 (Paragraph)
 (Text/discourse)
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22. PHRASES
 A phrase can be considered the lowest syntactic unit.
 A syntactic unit that contains more than one word and
lacks the subject-predicate relationship.
 The head (constituent) of a phrase is the key word
which determines the properties of the phrase.
 Types of phrases include:
noun phrase (NP) prepositional phrase (PP)
verb phrase (VP) adjective phrase (AdjP)
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23. PHRASES
Noun Phrase (NP)
 consists of a noun and all the words and word groups
that cluster around the noun and add to its meaning.
Example: The car, a clever student
Verb Phrase (VP)
 of a verb and all the words and word groups that cluster
around the verb and add to its meaning, functioning as
auxiliaries, modifiers and complements.
Example: study hard, play the guitar
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24. PHRASES
Adjective Phrase (AdjP)
 consists of an adjective and all the words and word groups
that cluster around the adjective and add to its meaning.
Example: very small, too high
Prepositional Phrase
 consists of a preposition and a word/word group that
completes its meaning.
Example: in the class, above the earth
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25. THE MAIN STRUCTURE RULES
S NP (aux) VP
NP (det) (adv) (adj) N
VP V (NP) (adv)
PP Prep (NP)
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26. PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
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27. ACTIVITY TIME!
Choose one from the following sentences and
rewrite the sentence with phrase structure rules
using a tree diagram.
1. The child found a puppy.
2. Mary had a little lamb.
3. The glass suddenly broke.
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28. CONCLUSION
Learning and practicing English syntax comprehensively
help to illustrate the patterns of English more effectively and
clearly. It also enables us to analyze the structure of English
sentences in a systematic and explicit way. Furthermore, it
encourages language experts to generate new rules and formulate
new theories derived from results of proved hypotheses and
analytical processes of the different structures of phrase, clause
and sentence. Thus, can be generalized and applied in the study
and use of a language or languages.
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29. References
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 https://ufhb-dptanglais.com/storage/webographies/622-l3-la-
introduction-to-syntax-2019-20.pdf
 https://www.academia.edu/37598056/Syntax_ Lecture_ 1_ Introduction_ to_
Syntax_ Introduction_ to_ Syntax
 https://thisisenglish.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/english-grammar-a-
modern-course-in-english-syntax.pdf
 https://www.slideshare.net/zatoichifay/introduction-to-syntax-copy
 https://www.slideshare.net/AbdullahAlAsmari8/syntactic-
analysis12112484815984749

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