We discuss about syntax, generative grammar, deep and surface structure, syntactic analysis.

1. Introduction to
English Syntax
Nanang Zubaidi
nanang.zubaidi.fs@um.ac.id
Introduction to Linguistics

2. Hello!
Today we will discuss about the introduction to
English syntax.
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3. 1.What is syntax?
2.Can you give an example of syntactic
case?

4. Structure of sentence
Putting together
Arrangement
Phrases: Noun phrase (The[Art] big[Adj] book [N])

5. Arrangement
Word-order
Grammatically-correct

7. 1.
Definition
.
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8. “
Syntax literally means “putting together” or
“arrangement.”
“The underlying rule
system used to generate sentences.”
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9. “
Syntactic rules: All and Only
(syntactic analysis must account for all the
grammatically correct phrases/sentences and only those
structures in language analyzed.
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10. 2.
Generative Grammar
.
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11. What is:
Traditional Grammar?
Generative Grammar?

12. Traditional Grammar Generative Grammar

13. Generative Grammar
small and finite (limited) set of rules that is capable of
generating a large and potentially infinite number of
well-formed structures
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14. Deep and surface structure
Surface structure [SS]: the different syntactic forms they have as
individual sentences.
Deep surface [DS]: abstract level of structural organization,
representation of all elements determining structural interpretation.
Relationship:
▧ One [DS] can be represented in different [SS]
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]
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15. Deep and surface structure
SS Charlie broke the window.
The window was broken by Charlie.
Was the window broken by Charlie?
DS It was Charlie who broke the window.
Relationship:
▧ One [DS] can be represented in different [SS]
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[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE

16. Deep and surface structure: Structural ambiguity
[SS] Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.
[DS] 1. Annie had an umbrella and she bumped into a man with it.
2. Annie bumped into a man and the man happened to be
carrying an umbrella
Relationship:
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]
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[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE

17. Deep and surface structure: Structural ambiguity (2)
[SS] Sue saw the man with the telescope
[DS] 1. The seeing is done with the telescope
2. The man is holding the telescope
Relationship:
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]
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[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE

18. 3.
Syntactic Analysis
.
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1. Constituent analysis
2. Tree diagram

19. Syntactic categories (Part of Speech)
⚫ Types:
⚫ Phrasal categories
⚫ Lexical categories
⚫ Symbols used:
⚫ → consists of
⚫
⚫ (cont.)

20. Syntactic categories (Part of Speech)

21. Phrase structure rules
▧ a sentence (S) = a noun phrase (NP) + a verb phrase (VP).
▧ A noun phrase rewrites as either:
▧ an article plus an optional adjective plus a noun,
▧ a pronoun,
▧ a proper noun.
▧ a verb phrase = as a verb + a noun phrase.
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22. 1. Constituent analysis

23. 2. Tree diagrams (Phrase/constituent structure trees)
Main concepts:
▧ Words are organized into
subunits/subtrees (constituents)
▧ Speakers mentally represent sentences
not as flat strings of words, but as complex
structures with an internal organization
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24. Tree diagrams
▧
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ROOT
CONSTITUENTS
NODE

25. Tree diagrams
▧
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26. Tree diagrams
▧
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27. Lexical rules
▧ A proper noun rewrites as John or Mary.” (It is a very small
world.)
▧
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28. Independent study
▧
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29. Independent study
▧ .
▧ .
▧ .
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30. Credits
Thanks to:
▧ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▧ Photographs by Unsplash
▧ Backgrounds by Pixeden
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