This document discusses syntax, which is the study of the structure of phrases and sentences. It addresses two key principles of sentence organization: linear order and hierarchical structure. Linear order refers to the specific sequence of words that determine a sentence's grammaticality and meaning. Hierarchical structure refers to the way words are organized into nested constituent groupings within a sentence, with the smallest constituents being individual words and the largest being the sentence itself. Tree diagrams can be used to represent a sentence's syntactic structure and constituent relationships.

1. By the end of this chapter….

2. Think ?????What is that enables us to produce and understand aninfinite number ofsentences?

3. Syntax: the structure and function of phrases and sentencesUnlike words, sentences are not finite in number, and are not learned individually. However, native speakers of a language can use and understand sentences in their language that they have not previously encountered. This is the question we will be concerned with as we consider syntax, the study of thestructure of phrases and sentences.

4. Syntax: the structure and function of phrases and sentencesDefinitionThe study of syntax addresses the structure of sentences and their structural and functional relationships to one another.Functional perspective:From the functional perspective point of view, the sentence has a daughter or bought an answering machine are predicates. From a grammatical point of view, these are verb phrases.

5. Constituency and tree diagramsA sentence consists not of words but as constituents.Consider the following example:Harry saw a ghost.What is it made up of?We could say it is made up of sounds like /g/, /o/, /s/ and /t/ in ghost, or made up of words like Harry and saw.

6. syntaxBut this analysis misses the point?This analysis is similar to describing a shopping mall…Why?The point in any analysis is to identify the structural units that are relevant to some purpose or level of organization.In analyzing sentences, those structural units are called CONSTITUENTS.

7. linear order and hierarchical structure.In this chapter, we will consider two basic principles of sentence organization: linear order and hierarchical structure.1.1 Linear orderThe most obvious principle of sentence organization is linear order: the words in a sentence must occur in a particular sequence if the sentence is to convey the desired meaning. Consider, for example, the following sentence of English.John glanced at Mary.If we rearrange the words in this sentence, we either come up with nonsense, as in (2), (the *denotes an ungrammatical expression):(2) *Mary John at glanced.Or with a sentence whose meaning is distinctly different from that of (1):(3) Mary glanced at John.Clearly, the ordering of the words in sentences determines, in part, whether a sentence is grammatical or not, and what the sentence means.One of the many rules of English requires that the grammatical subject of a sentence normally precedes the main verb, which in turn normally precedes its direct object; thus, she resembles him is English (where she is the subject and him is the object), but resembles she him and she him resembles are not.1.2 Hierarchical structureAlthough linear order is an important principle of sentence organization, sentences are more than just ordered sequences of words; they have internal hierarchical structure as well. That is, the individual words in a sentence are organized into natural, semantically coherent groupings, which are themselves organized into larger groupings, the largest grouping of all being the sentence itself(and the smallest of all being individual words). These groupings within a sentence are called constituents of that sentence. The relationships between constituents in a sentence form the constituent structure of the sentence.

8. For example, consider the sentence in (4).(4) Many executives eat at really fancy restaurants.We can easily distinguish a number of meaningful groups of words in this sentence: many executives and eat at really fancy restaurants, for instance, clearly have meanings of their own, and each makes a coherent contribution to the meaning of (4) as a whole. For these reasons, they are constituents of this sentence. On the other hand, some groups of words in sentence (4) do notnaturally form meaningful units; executives eat at and eat at really, for example, don't clearly have meanings of their own. Thus, these groups of words are not constituents of (4).

9. Tree diagramOne way of representing syntactic relationship is with TREE DIAGRAMS. SN V N Harry liked Sonya

10. Syntax