LING 103. Introduction to. English Linguistics

Transcription

1 LING 103 Introduction to English Linguistics 2016

2 Review Three criteria allow us to assign words to a particular class: 1. The word s definition 2. The word s distribution 3. The word s shape Distribution frames Nouns Adjectives Lexical verbs the a The N The N is he, she, it s Verb Types Auxiliary verbs aux The cat might have been eating the food modal + HAVE + BE + lex

3 Review Complements and adjuncts Lexical verbs: intransitive no complement transitive one complement ditransitive two complements She vanished. He resembles the aardvark. They gave the cat a mouse. They gave a mouse to the cat. All lexical verbs, whether transitive, intransitive or copula may be followed by any number of adjuncts She vanished from the house with her cat on Thursday last week. He likes the aardvark in the local zoo. They gave the cat a mouse for dinner at Christmas this year. Always examine a verb s use in context Some verbs can be transitively and intransitively. Always look for the presence or absence of complements

4 Analysis of word class is always in context: a reminder We have already seen that English has a number of inflectional morphemes that look and sound the same, but mean different things cat + s run + s -s = plural noun -s = 3rd person singular verb Coincidence of form but different meaning also occurs in the closed classes e.g. That is nice She is nice That cat is nice The cat is nice This is the cat that is nice This is the cat who is nice It is well known that this cat is nice It is well known [ ] this cat is nice Each that is a different word class You must learn to identify features in context that tell you the class of the word, just as we did in Tuesday s tutorials

5 CLOSED CLASSES

6 Prepositions Traditional definition: locate an entity in time He ate at 5pm place She sat on a chair direction The alligator walked towards the zookeeper s house But they have a wide range of other uses as well e.g. possession bag of lollies accompaniment he went with her instrument write with a pencil etc. Distribution: Prepositions are most commonly followed by an NP (noun or pronoun) They went to the shop It is a present for her The girl from nextdoor *They went to *It is a present for *The girl from As these show, the NP is OBLIGATORY after a preposition

7 Shapes: simple complex of to on with in from in spite of into according to etc. English depends on prepositions to set up relationships between two NPs I have two boxes of chocolate from Belgium NP NP NP She likes the chocolate in spite of the flavour NP NP The evil alligator from the zoo in town annoyed the zookeeper with his laugh NP NP NP NP NP

8 Exercise. Identify all the prepositions in the following text 1. Round the corner of Crescent Bay, between the piled-up masses of broken 2. rock, a flock of sheep came pattering. They were huddled together, a small, 3. tossing, woolly mass, and their thin, stick-like legs trotted along quickly as if the 4. cold and the quiet frightened them. Behind them an old sheep-dog, his 5. soaking paws covered with sand, ran along with his nose to the ground, but 6. carelessly, as if thinking of something else. And then in the rocky gateway the 7. shepherd himself appeared. He was a lean, upright old man, in a frieze coat 8. that was covered with a web of tiny drops, velvet trousers tied under the knee, 9. and a wideawake with a folded blue handkerchief around the chin. One hand 10. was crammed into his belt, the other grasped a beautifully smooth yellow 11. stick. And as he walked, taking his time, he kept up a very soft, light whistling, 12. an airy, far-away fluting that sounded mournful and tender. Bay Extract from: Katherine Mansfield At the

9 Exercise. Identify all the prepositions in the following text 1. Round the corner of Crescent Bay, between the piled-up masses of broken 2. rock, a flock of sheep came pattering. They were huddled together, a small, 3. tossing, woolly mass, and their thin, stick-like legs trotted along quickly as if the 4. cold and the quiet frightened them. Behind them an old sheep-dog, his 5. soaking paws covered with sand, ran along with his nose to the ground, but 6. carelessly, as if thinking of something else. And then in the rocky gateway the 7. shepherd himself appeared. He was a lean, upright old man, in a frieze coat 8. that was covered with a web of tiny drops, velvet trousers tied under the knee, 9. and a wideawake with a folded blue handkerchief around the chin. One hand 10. was crammed into his belt, the other grasped a beautifully smooth yellow 11. stick. And as he walked, taking his time, he kept up a very soft, light whistling, 12. an airy, far-away fluting that sounded mournful and tender. Extract from: Katherine Mansfield At the Bay

10 Determiners A determiner occurs before an NP, expressing something about the NP in that context. Typical information encoded about an English NP definite or indefinite close or distant possession number or quantity questions about it Distribution Determiners are generally the FIRST word in an NP. They come before any adjectives that modify a noun a / the (big) cat Some determiners can occur with other determiners All the large leathery alligators

11 Demonstrative pronouns: Give a NP s position relative to the speaker singular plural proximal (close to speaker) this these distal (distant from speaker) that those Demonstrative pronouns often pair up with the adverbs of place here and there: This one here vs. That one there Possessive pronouns: Show ownership of and by an NP his her its their my etc. their cat her chocolate its sore foot Note: Only possessive pronouns can be determiners *they cat *she chocolate *it sore foot

12 Quantifiers (including numbers): tell us something about the amount or quantity of the NP some all ten no many etc. Some quantifiers can occur with other determiners. All the aardvarks Interrogative pronouns: who where whom whose what which An interrogative pronoun helps form a wh- question Who ate the biscuits? To whom am I speaking? Which biscuit is best? Zero Ø In some cases a complete NP can be formed without a determiner. This is referred to as a zero determiner Ø Cats are nice vs. The cats are nice

13 Closed classes linking phrases and units bigger than a phrase

14 Linking bigger units I can see one of the cats. She is happy. We can link these in a variety of ways I can see one of the cats and she is happy. I can see the cat that/who is happy I can see that the cat is happy Each link word here belongs to a different closed class

15 Coordinating Conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions join two or more units that are the same type and or but yet so nor for The cat ate the mouse and the ice-cream The aardvark is happy and contented The cat is happy but the dog is annoyed Notice that we can also create two equal parts that can stand free The cat ate the mouse The cat ate the ice-cream How is this possible? Because two units joined by coordinating conjunctions often share information. omitted The cat ate the mouse and [the cat ate] the icecream We usually omit shared bits that we know our listener/reader can easily recover. Of course we can t omit if something is different The cat ate the mouse and the dog licked the icecream

16 Subordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions link clauses together He studied Linguistics because he knew it was cool. clause clause Such subordinators include although after because though since etc. How do coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions differ? The two units linked with a subordinating conjunction are NOT equal. One of them CANNOT stand free.

17 Subordinate The clause that cannot stand free is said to be subordinate or dependent on the other clause She studied business although she preferred Linguistics She studied business. = Free *Although she preferred Linguistics. = Subordinate Why not just drop although (and any other subordinate conjunction)? She preferred Linguistics. = free!!

18 The movement test Only complete linguistic units can be moved around, so we can test any structure by movement He studied Linguistics because he knew it was cool Because he knew it was cool, he studied Linguistics Notice that when we move a subordinate clause the conjunction must remain Misusing subordinate clauses in writing. In formal writing (essays etc.), it is not uncommon to find subordinate clauses punctuated as if they were a complete sentence. He studied Linguistics. Because he knew it was cool. Because he knew it was cool. He studied Linguistics. In these cases, clauses like those beginning because are called sentence fragments

19 Relative pronouns: This is a man. He studies grammar This is a man who/that studies grammar Notice that section in yellow describes the NP. The yellow section is called a relative clause. It is linked to the NP with a relative pronoun. The relative pronouns are who whom whose where that which How easy is it to identify a relative clause? Very! Relative clauses ALWAYS immediately follow the NP that they modify This is [the cat] WHOSE fur is grey We went to [the beach] WHERE we first met NP Rel. CL. NP Rel. CL.