Understanding Grammar, Syntax, and Morphology
Grammar is the study of the principles that govern the formation and interpretation of words, phrases, and sentences, and how they are put together.
Syntax is concerned with the formation and interpretation of phrases and sentences.
Morphology is a branch of grammar that studies the structure of words. It is also the study of the formation and interpretation of words, and how words are formed.
These are the definitions of grammar, syntax, and morphology according to Radford.
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language. There are three morphological processes:
- Suffixation: Adding either a suffix or a prefix to the word.
- Interchange: The word changes internally.
- Zero morpheme: The word does not undergo any change.
Examples: started – start, sat – sit, run – run.
Chomsky claims that the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are common to all human languages is known as Universal Grammar.
Lexical categories are the most important words in a sentence; they convey the most information. They are words full of meaning, and the first words acquired by a person, forming the core of the sentence.
Functional categories can be listed, are often unstressed, and are words that are not essential for the general meaning.
Lexical categories are those that give meaning to the sentence. They provide important information and cannot be listed, meaning they are an open class, and new words can be added. Word categories such as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are content, lexical words. Whereas functional categories are those that are not completely necessary to give meaning to the sentence but are needed for the sentence to be grammatically correct. Word categories such as determiners, pronouns, and prepositions are called function words. They can be listed, and no new words can be added to this category; therefore, they are a closed class.
Simple sentences are formed by one independent clause. They contain a subject and a verb, for example: The girl smiles.
Compound sentences are formed by two simple sentences joined by a coordinator (FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or a comma only when sentences are listed, for example: Samuel studies at Harvard, and John studies at Yale.
A compound-complex sentence is a combination of a compound and a complex sentence. It contains two dependent clauses and one or more independent clauses, for example: Even though I love hiking, I haven’t had time to do it, and I don’t have anybody who would come with me.
Six Operations/Processes:
- By forming yes/no questions: Did Jane give this book to Bill on Saturday?
- By forming a Wh- question: What did Jane give to Bill on Saturday?
- By fronting the adjunct PP: On Saturday, Jane gave this book to Bill.
- By passivizing the sentence: This book was given to Bill on Saturday.
- By Clefting: It was Jane who gave this book to Bill on Saturday.
- By pseudo-Clefting: What Jane did was give this book to Bill on Saturday.
Types of Questions
There are four types of questions:
- Yes/No: Did you measure the distance?
- Wh-questions: Why did you measure it?
- Direct questions: May I go with you? (SAI operation – movement transformation process)
- Indirect questions: I wonder if I can go with you.
Operations Relating Questions to Basic Sentence Patterns
There are three operations that relate questions to basic sentence patterns:
- Subject-Auxiliary Inversion (SAI)
- Do-insertion
- Wh-movement
Preposition Processes
Prepositions can undergo two processes:
- Pied-piping: I wonder to whom John talked.
- Stranding: The girl who John talked to.
Zero Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are called ZERO when they can be deleted. E.g., The film (that/which) we saw at the ABC has been banned.
Passivization
The process of Passivization crucially involves moving the Direct or Indirect Object from the Active VP into the Subject position.
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a process that enables us to economize in language. It’s a phenomenon by which you remove or leave out superfluous information that can be easily recovered from the situation or the context.