Introduction to the Study of Grammar

1
Introduction to the Study of Grammar

• BA, engelsk
• 1. Lexicon and Morphology
• tt

2
The components of language
Meaning

• A language is a system of cognitive procedures
  for
• Assigning a Meaning to a sequence of Sounds
• - Producing a sequence of Sounds to express a
  Meaning

Sound
3
The components of language study
4
The Lexicon and Morphology
5
Words
h i g h
about
the
rank
books
reading
English
that
bookmakers
writers
write
royalty
on
nowadays
lists
6
Words and Wordforms
about books bookmakers English high lists nowaday
s
on rank reading royalty that the write writers
7
Words make sentences
books
the
writers
nowadays
write
that
on
English
high
rank
about
royalty
bookmakers
reading
lists
8
Words make sentences
books
writers
nowadays
write
about
the
English
high
rank
royalty
that
bookmakers
reading
on
lists
9
Word make sentences.
books
bookmakers
writers
write
about
that
nowadays
on
English
high
rank
royalty
the
reading
lists
10
Words make sentences
writers
nowadays
English
lists
royalty
bookmakers
reading
write
about
that
books
the
on
high
rank
11
and sometimes Non-sentences
books
bookmakers
nowadays
rank
about
that
the
writers
on
English
high
royalty
reading
write
lists
12
Rules
Syntax describes the rules by which words
combine into sentences
13
Words and word classes
Closed
Open

• Pronoun (Pro)
• Determiner (Det)
• Particle (Prt)
• Preposition (P)
• Conjunction (Conj)
• (Adverb (Adv))
• Auxiliary (Aux)

• Proper Name (PN)
• Noun (N)
• Verb (V)
• Adjective (A)
• (Adverb)

14
the
books
that
writers
nowadays
write
the
books
that
writers
nowadays
write
about
English
royalty
rank
high
on
about
English
royalty
rank
high
on
bookmakers
reading
lists
bookmakers
reading
lists
N
V
A
Adv
P
on
high
about
nowadays
lists
Det
Pro
royalty
rank
writers
reading
bookmakers
that
the
write
English
books
15
writers
nowadays
English
royalty
high
lists
nowadays
high
royalty
lists
English
writers
that
write
about
on
bookmakers
reading
that
write
about
bookmakers
reading
on
the
books
rank
the
books
rank
N
V
A
Adv
P
rank
on
on
high
high
reading
about
about
nowadays
nowadays
lists
lists
books
lists
Det
Pro
royalty
high
royalty
rank
rank
reading
writers
writers
reading
bookmakers
bookmakers
that
that
the
write
English
English
write
the
books
books
16
Criteria for classifying words

• Formal e.g. English adverbs end in -ly

- but not vice versa manly, kindly and cowardly
are adjectives

• Semantic (meaning) e.g. Nouns refer to things

- but not always love, kindness and air do not

• Distribution (syntactic use in sentences)

• the best, but sometimes odd, e.g. to classify
  books as an
• adjective in books rank

17
Morphology, terms
Word Lexeme, word-form, grammatical word
- The shooters shots shot out like shooting stars
Affix prefix, suffix
- The upshot of the shooting was upsetting
Base root, stem
18
Lexemes Word-forms Grammatical words
SHOOT (V) shoot shoot (inf) shoot
(pres) shoots shoots (pres) shot shot
(past) shot (prf.ptc) shooting shootin
g (pres. ptc.) shooting (gerund) SHOT
(N) shot shot (sg) shots shots
(pl) shots (gen. sg.) shots (gen.
pl) SHOOTER (N) shooter shooter
(sg) shooters shooters (pl) shooters
(gen. sg) shooters (gen. pl)
19
Affixes prefix and suffix
20
Root, stem, base
touch
21
Morphology, types
Inflectional turns a lexeme into a grammatical
word
Conversion love (N) - love (V)
22
Inflection Derivation
Base
Morpheme
Wordform
writ Ø ( nil)
write

writes
writ -s
writ -en
written
wrote
writ past
-ing
writing
writ
writ
writ -Ø
writs
writ -s
writ -er
writer
23
Inflectional morphology, overview
24
The Inflection of NounsNumber
Irregulars
Regulars
N - N-s
One plural morpheme -s, but three regular
variants
/b??/ /b??z/
/hæt/ /hæts/
/b?s/ /b?s?z/
25
The Inflection of Verbs
Verbs have three main forms Base (V), Past
Tense (V-ed), Perfect Participle (V-en)
Several types of irregular verbs (see any
textbook)
NB. The V-ed form is the past tense form of any
regular V The V-en form is the Perfect
Participle form from the type of irregular V
represented by break
In addition, any V may take the endings -s and
-ing
26
The Inflection of Verbs
Regulars
Forms
Functions
27
The Inflection of Adjectives
Irregulars
good better best bad worse worst far
further furthest (also regular) .
Regulars (only short adjectives see any
textbook)
28
Compounds
- A lexeme that contains more than one root
There are three main types, depending on their
meaning
Endocentric beehive (a kind of hive), armchair
(a kind of chair) Appositional maidservant
(both a maid and a servant) Exocentric redskin
(not a kind of skin), highbrow (not a kind
of brow)