GRAMMAR

The Parts of Speech (Grammatical Category)

The parts of the speech are the basic categories of words in a language, and they play a crucial role
in understanding how words function in sentences.

Noun: A word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea.

Article: A word that defines a noun as specific or unspecific.

Adjective: A word that describes or modifies a noun.

Verb: A word that describes an action or occurrence.

Adverb: A word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.

Preposition: A word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other elements in
the sentence.

Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun.

Conjunction: A word that connects words, phrases, or clauses.

Transitive Verbs: A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning. The
action of the verb is directed toward someone or something.

Intransitive Verbs: An intransitive verb is a verb that does not require an object to complete its
meaning. The action of the verb is complete without needing to act on someone or something.

Linguistic principles (similarities) and parameters (differences) are concepts within Noam
Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar (UG). Universal Grammar proposes that the ability to
acquire language is innate to humans, and it suggests that there is a set of universal principles
common to all languages, as well as specific parameters that vary across languages. The theory
posits that children are born with a biological predisposition for language acquisition and that
exposure to linguistic input triggers the setting of specific parameters in the brain.

Agreement
Agreement in linguistics refers to the correspondence between different elements in a sentence,
typically in terms of features such as number, gender, person, or case. This agreement helps
establish relationships between different parts of a sentence and contributes to grammatical
correctness. For example, we say that the verb loves ‘’agrees with’’ the noun Cathy in the sentence
Cathy loves her dog.

Grammatical Gender
Natural gender is based on sex (male and female), but grammatical gender is based on the type of
noun (masculine and feminine) and is not tied to sex.

The Prescriptive Approach

The prescriptive approach to language is a perspective that emphasizes the establishment of rules
and norms for ‘’correct’’ language usage. It is concerned with providing guidelines for how language
should be used, adhering to established standards and traditions. The prescriptive approach often
involves the creation of style guides, grammar rules, and usage recommendations to maintain
linguistic consistency and clarity.

The Descriptive Approach

The descriptive approach to language is a perspective that focuses on objectively describing and
analyzing how language is naturally used by speakers in various contexts. Unlike the perspective
approach, which prescribes rules and norms for ‘’correct’’ language usage, the descriptive approach
seeks to understand and document the diversity of linguistic phenomena without judgment.

Structural Analysis
Structural analysis in linguistics refers to the examination and description of the structure of language
at various levels, including phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Linguists conduct
structural analysis to understand how linguistic elements are organized and how they function in a
language.

Constituent Analysis
Constituent analysis, also known as syntactic or grammatical analysis, is a linguistic approach that
involves identifying and analyzing the grammatical units, or constituents (parts), within a sentence.
The goal is to break down a sentence into its basic structural components to understand how words
combine to form larger units and how these units contribute to the overall meaning of the sentence.

-The old woman brought a large snake from Brazil.

The old woman, a large snake, Brazil (noun phrases), from Brazil (a prepositional phrase) and
brought (a verb).

Subjects and Objects

In grammar, subjects and objects are two essential components of a sentence, each serving a distinct
syntactic role.

Subject
The subject is a core element of a sentence that typically indicates who or what performs the action
expressed by the verb. In English, the subject is usually a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.

Object
The object is a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that receives the action of the verb or that is affected
by the action. There are two main types of objects: direct objects and indirect objects.

Adjunct
In linguistics, an adjunct is a type of adverbial or adnominal (adjective-like) modifier that provides
additional information in a sentence. Adjuncts are not essential to the sentence’s core meaning;
instead, they offer extra details, such as time, place, manner, frequency, or condition. They can modify
verbs, adjectives, or entire sentences. Unlike complements, which are necessary for the sentence to
be grammatically complete, adjuncts are optional.

Word Order
Word order refers to the arrangement of words in a sentence, and it plays a crucial role in conveying
meaning in a language. Different languages have different word order patterns, and the positioning of
words determines the syntactic structure of a sentence.
Language Typology
Language typology is a field of linguistics that classifies and categorizes languages based on shared
structural features. It aims to identify recurring patterns, similarities, and differences among
languages, allowing linguists to create typological classifications. The goal is to understand the
diversity of languages worldwide and to discover universal patterns that may exist across different
language families.

SYNTAX

Syntactic Rules
Syntactic rules are principles or guidelines that govern the structure of sentences in a language.
These rules define how words and phrases can be combined to form grammatically correct
sentences. Syntactic rules play a crucial role in determining the hierarchical organization of elements
within a sentence, including the relationships between subjects, verbs, objects, modifiers, and other
components.

Generative Grammar
Generative grammar is a theoretical framework in linguistics that aims to describe the implicit
knowledge that speakers of a language have about the structure and organization of their language.
The term ‘’ generative’’ emphasizes the idea that speakers can generate an infinite number of
grammatical sentences based on a finite set of rules.

Deep and Surface Structure

Deep Structure
Deep structure represents the underlying, abstract, and universal meaning of a sentence. It reflects
the core syntactic and semantic relationships that are independent of the specific grammatical rules
and word order of a particular language. Deep structure is associated with the intended or inherent
meaning of a sentence.

-Example: The deep structures for the sentences ‘’John loves Mary’’ and ‘’Mary is loved by John’’
would be the same, as they convey the same core meaning of love between John and Mary.

Surface Structure
Surface structure represents the actual arrangement of words in a sentence - the observable,
grammatical form that a sentence takes in a particular language. It includes word order, inflections,
and other grammatical features specific to the language being used.

-Example: The surface structures for the sentences ‘’John loves Mary’’ and ‘’Mary is loved by John’’
differ in terms of word order, but both surface structures derive from the same deep structure.

Structural Ambiguity
Structural ambiguity, also known as syntactic ambiguity, occurs when a sentence or phrase has more
than one possible interpretation due to its grammatical structure. In other words, the sentence can be
parsed in multiple ways, leading to different meanings or interpretations. Structural ambiguity often
arises from the arrangement of words and phrases within a sentence.

Syntactic Analysis
In syntactic analysis we use some conventional abbreviations for the parts of speech. Examples are N
(noun), Art (article), Adj (adjective), and V (verb). We also use abbreviations for phrases, such as NP
(noun phrase) and VP (verb phrase). In English, the verb phrase (VP) consists of the verb (V) plus the
following noun phrase (NP).
Phrase Structure Rules
Phrase structure rules state that the structure of a phrase of a specific type will consist of one or more
constituents in a particular order. The first rule in the following set of simple (and necessarily
incomplete) phrase structure rules captures a very general rule of English sentence structure: ‘’a
sentence (S) rewrites as a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP).’’ The second rule states that ‘’a
noun phrase rewrites as either an article plus an optional adjective plus a noun, or a pronoun, or a
proper noun.’’ In the third rule, a verb phrase rewrites as a verb plus a noun phrase.

S - NP VP
NP - [Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN]
VP - V NP

Lexical Rules
Phrase structure rules generate structures. In order to turn those structures into recognizable English,
we also need lexical rules that specify which words can be used when we rewrite constituents such
as PN. The first rule in the following set states that ‘’a proper noun rewrites as John or Mary.’’ (it is a
very small world.)

PN - [John, Mary] Art - [a, the]

N - [girl, dog, boy] Adj - [big, small]
V - [followed, helped, saw] Pro - [it, you]

We can rely on these rules to generate the grammatical sentences shown below in (1) - (6), but not
the ungrammatical sentences shown in (7) - (12).

(1) A dog followed the boy.

(2) You saw it.
(3) John saw the big dog.
(4) It followed Mary.
(5) The small boy helped you.
(6) Mary helped John.
(7) Dog followed boy.
(8) You it saw.
(9) John Mary small dog.
(10) Followed Mary the dog big.
(11) The helped you boy.
(12) Mary John helped.

Tree Diagrams
One of the best ways to create a visual representation of underlying syntactic structure is through tree
diagrams. We can use the symbols introduced earlier to label parts of the tree when we create a
representation of how each part fits into the underlying structure of phrases. The information in a
phrase structure rule, on the left, can be expressed in a tree diagram, on the right, as in Figure 8.2.

Figure 8.2 Noun phrase tree diagram

This kind of ‘’tree,’’ with its ‘’branches,’’ can grow down rather than up.

We can use a similar tree diagram to represent the more complex structure of an English verb phrase
(VP), as shown in Figure 8.3. This type of diagram provides a way of representing the hierarchical
nature of underlying structure. In this hierarchy, the verb phrase (VP) is higher than an contains verb
(V) and a noun phrase (NP). The noun phrase (NP) is higher than and contains the article (Art) and
the noun (N).

Figure 8.3 Verb phrase tree diagram

Tree Diagrams of English Sentences

SEMANTICS
Semantics studies the meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sentences.

Referential/Conceptual Meaning (Denotation): It covers the basic, essential, components of

meaning that are conveyed by the literal use of a word. It is the type of meaning that dictionaries are
designed to describe.

Some of the basic components of a word like needle in English might include ‘’thin, sharp, steel
instrument.’’ These components would be a part of the referential meaning of needle.

Emotive/Associative Meaning (Connotation): Ir refers to the mental connections or associations

that speakers have between words or expressions and related concepts, emotions, experiences, or
other words. These associations are not strictly part of the conventional, dictionary-based definitions
of words but are influenced by personal experiences, cultural factors, and individual perspectives. The
associative meanings of words contribute to the richness and nuance of language use.

Semantic Features
Semantic features are distinctive characteristics or attributes that contribute to the meaning of words
or concepts. These features help differentiate one word or concept from another and provide a basis
for categorization and classification. Semantic features play a crucial role in lexical semantics - the
study of word meanings and relationships between words.

Semantic features are essential for understanding the structure of word meanings and the
relationships between words in a language. They provide a systematic way to analyze and compare
the meanings of lexical items within a semantic framework.

Componential Analysis
Semantic features have been used to analyze how words in a language are (or are not) connected to
each other. Features such as [ + human] or [ + adult] can be treated as basic elements or components
of meaning in an approach called componential analysis.

Semantic (Thematic/Case) Roles

Semantic roles are linguistic concepts that represent the different functions that nouns and noun
phrases play in the action or state described by a verb. These roles help to identify the relationships
between the participants in an event and the action or state expressed by the verb.

Agent and Theme

The agent is the entity that performs the action or initiates the event described by the verb. It is
typically ‘’doer’’ of the action.

-The boy kicked the ball.

The theme (sometimes the ‘’patient’’) refers to the entity that undergoes an action or is involved in a
state. It often applies to states or changes of state.

-The dog caught the ball.

Instrument and Experiencer
The instrument is the means or tool used to perform an action.

-She cut the paper with scissors.

The experiencer is the entity that perceives or experiences a state or emotion. It is typically
associated with verbs expressing feelings, emotions, or perception.

-She loves ice cream.

Location, Source and Goal

The location is the place where the action or state occurs.

-Mary saw a fly on the wall.

The source is the starting point or origin of an action. It is also associated with verbs of motion or
transfer.

-She borrowed a magazine from George.

The goal is the endpoint or destination of an action. It is also associated with verbs of motion or
transfer.

-She handed the magazine back to George.

Lexical Relations
Lexical relations are the relationships that exist between words, particularly in terms of their
meanings. These relations help organize and structure the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language.

Synonymy
Synonymy refers to the relationships between words that have similar or identical meanings.
Synonyms are different words with equivalent meanings.

-almost/nearly
-big/large
-broad/wide
-buy/purchase
-handbag/purse

Antonymy
Antonymy involves the relationships between words with opposite meanings. Antonyms represent
contrasting concepts.

-alive/dead
-big/small
-buy/sell
-fast/slow
-rich/poor
Antonyms are usually divided into three main types, ‘’gradable’’ (opposite along a scale),
‘’non-gradable’’ (direct opposites) and ‘’reversives’’ (one is the reverse action of the other). We can
use gradable antonyms in comparative constructions involving adjectives.

-I’m smaller than you and slower, sadder, colder, shorter and older, but luckily quite a bit richer.

With non-gradable antonyms (also called ‘’complementary pairs’’), comparative constructions are
not normally used. We don’t typically describe someone as deader or more dead than another. Also,
using the ‘’negative test,’’ we can see that the negative of one member of a non-gradable pair does
imply the other member. That is, My grandparents aren’t alive does indeed mean My grandparents
are dead.

Although we can use the ‘’negative test’’ to identify non-gradable antonyms in a language, we usually
avoid describing one member of an antonymous pair as the negative of the other. For example, while
undress can be treated as the opposite of dress, it does not mean ‘’not dress.’’ It actually means ‘’do
the reverse of dress.’’ Antonyms of this type are called reversives. Other examples are enter/exit,
pack/unpack, lengthen/shorten, raise/lower, tie/untie.

Hyponymy (Sub-category)
Hyponymy is a relationship where the meaning of one word (hyponym) is included in the meaning of
another word (hypernym). We can also say that two or more words that share the same superordinate
term are co-hyponyms.

-animal/horse
-insect/ant
-flower/rose

Superordinate (Up-category)
The superordinate term is a more general or overarching term that encompasses a broader category.
It represents the higher-level concept that includes various specific instances or subcategories. For
example, ‘’animal’’ is a superordinate term that includes various subcategories like mammals, birds,
reptiles, etc.

Prototypes
The first image that comes to your mind, when you hear the term, is called prototype. The concept of
a prototype helps explain the meaning of certain words, like bird, not in terms of component features
(e.g. ‘’has feathers,’’ ‘’has wings’’), but in terms of resemblance to the clearest example.

Homophones and Homonyms

When two or more different (written) forms have the same pronunciation, they are described as
homophones.

-bare/bear
-flour-flower
-meat/meet
-pail/pale
-pair/pear
-right/write
We use the term homonyms when one form (written or spoken) has two or more unrelated meanings,
as in these examples:

-bat (flying creature - bat (used in sports)

-mole (on skin) - mole (small animal)
-pen (writing instrument) - pen (enclosed space)
-race (contest of speed) - race (ethnic group)
-sole (single) - sole (part of foot or shoe)

Polysemy
Polysemy refers to the situation where a single word has multiple related meanings. These meanings
are usually connected by a core concept. Examples of polysemy are foot (of a person, of a bed, of a
mountain), mouth (part of a face, a cave, a river), or run (person does, water does, colors do).

Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech in semantics and rhetoric where one word or phrase is substituted
with another word or phrase that is closely associated with it or has a specific conceptual relationship.
It involves a shift in the use of words based on contiguity or association, rather than similarity or
opposition (as in metaphor). Metonymy is a linguistic phenomenon used for rhetorical effect and to
convey nuanced meanings.

-’’The White House issued statement.’’ (Here, ‘’the White House’’ is used to refer to the President or
the administration.)

Collocation (Lexical Chunk)

Collocations are word combinations that frequently co-occur and have a tendency to appear together
more often than would be expected by chance.

Concordance
A concordance is a listing of each occurrence of a word (or phrase) in a corpus, along with the words
surrounding it. The word being studied is described as the ‘’key word in context’’ (KWIC).

PRAGMATICS
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics that studies how context influences the interpretation of meaning
in communication. It deals with the aspects of language use that go beyond the literal meaning of
words and sentence structures. Pragmatics explores the ways in which speakers use language in
real-life situations to achieve their communicative goals, taking into account the social and cultural
context in which communication occurs.

Pragmatics is the study of ‘’invisible’’ meaning, or how we recognize what is meant even when it is not
actually said or written. In order for that to happen, speakers (or writers) must be able to depend on a
lot of shared assumptions and expectations when they try to communicate.

Context
Context is a fundamental concept in pragmatics, influencing the interpretation and meaning of
utterances in communication. Context provides the necessary background information, shared
knowledge, and environmental cues that listeners use to interpret utterances appropriately.
Physical (Situational/Non-linguistic) Context
This context involves the physical, social, and cultural circumstances in which communication takes
place. It includes factors such as location, participants, relationships, and cultural forms.

-The interpretation of the phrase ‘’Can you open the window?’’ may depend on situational context -
whether it is hot, stuffy, or noisy in the room.

Linguistic Context
Linguistic context refers to the surrounding words, phrases, or sentences that help interpret the
meaning of a particular expression. It involves paying attention to the words that precede and follow a
specific utterance.

-In the sentence ‘’I need a hand,’’ the meaning of ‘’hand’’ is clarified by the linguistic context; it is likely
interpreted as assistance rather than a physical hand.

Deixis (Deictic Expressions)

Expressions such as tomorrow and here are technically known as deictic expressions, from the
Greek word deixis, which means ‘’pointing’’ via language. We use deixis to point to people (us, them,
those idiots), places (here, over there) and times (now, last week). All these deictic expressions are
interpreted in terms of which person, place or time the speaker has in mind. We also make a broad
distinction between what is close to the speaker (this, here, now) and what is distant or not close to
the speaker (that, there, then).

DEICTIC EXPRESSIONS

Reference
We have to define reference as an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a
listener (or reader) to identify something. To perform an act of reference, we can use proper nouns
(Chomsky, Jennifer, Whiskas), other nouns in phrases (a writer, my friend, the cat) or pronouns (he,
she, it).

Inference
A successful act of reference depends more on the listener/reader’s ability to recognize what the
speaker/writer means than on the listener’s ‘’dictionary’’ knowledge of a word that is used. We can
use nouns associated with things to refer to people, and use names of people to refer to things. The
key process here is called inference.

Anaphora
We usually make a distinction between how we introduce new referents (a puppy) and how we refer
back to them (a puppy, it).

We saw a funny video about a boy washing a puppy in a small bath.

The puppy started struggling and shaking and the boy got really wet.
When he let go, it jumped out of the bath and ran away.

In this type of referential relationship, the second (or subsequent) referring expression is an example
of anaphora (‘’referring back’’). The first mention is called the antecedent. So, in our example, a boy,
a puppy and a small bath are antecedents and The puppy, the boy, he, it and the bath are anaphoric
expressions.

There is a much less common pattern, called cataphora, which reverses the antecedent-anaphora
relationship by beginning with a pronoun (it), then later revealing more specific information. This
device is more common in stories, as in this beginning: it suddenly appeared on the path a little ahead
of me, staring in my direction and sniffing the air. An enormous grizzly bear was checking me out.

Presupposition
Presupposition is a concept that refers to the implicit assumptions or background beliefs that speakers
or writers take for granted and expect their audience to share during communication. In other words,
presupposition involves conveying information with the assumption that certain background
knowledge is already known or accepted by the listener or reader. If someone tells you Hey, your
brother is looking for you, there is an obvious presupposition that you have a brother. If you are asked
the question When did you stop smoking?, there are at least two presuppositions involved: you used
to smoke and you no longer do so.

Pragmatic Markers (Gap fillers)

Speakers have other ways of indicating how their utterances are to be interpreted. They can include
short forms such as you know, well, I mean, I don’t know, which are optional and loosely attached to
the utterance. These are pragmatic markers and they can be used to mark a speaker’s attitude to the
listener or to what is being said.

Politeness
We can think of politeness in general terms as having to do with ideas like being tactful, modest and
nice to other people. The most relevant concept is ‘’face.’’ Your face in pragmatics is your public
self-image. Politeness can be defined as showing awareness and consideration of another person’s
face.

If you say something that represents a threat to another person’s self-image, that is called a
face-threatening act. For example, if you use a direct command to get someone to do something
(Give me that paper!), you are behaving as if you have more social power than the other person. An
indirect request, in the form associated with a question (Could you pass me that paper?), removes the
assumption of social power. Whenever you say something that lessens the possible threat to
another’s face, it can be described as a face-saving act.

-Face-saving act (Polite sentences)

-Face-threatening act (Imperatives, rude sentences)

Negative and Positive Face

We have both a negative face and a positive face. Negative face is the need to be independent and
free from imposition. Positive face is the need to be connected, to belong, to be a member of the
group. So, a face-saving act that emphasizes a person’s negative face will show concern about
imposition (I’m sorry to bother you . . . ; I know you’re busy, but . . .). A face-saving act that
emphasizes a person’s positive face will show solidarity and draw attention to a common goal (The
same thing happened to me . . . ; Let’s do this together . . .).
Speech Acts
We use the term speech act to describe an action that involves language such as ‘’requesting,’’
‘’commanding,’’ ‘’questioning’’ or ‘’informing.’’ To take a more specific example, if you say, I’ll be there
at six, you are not just uttering a sentence, you seem to be performing the speech act of ‘’promising.’’
We can define a speech act as the action performed by a speaker with an utterance.

SPEECH ACTS

Direct and Indirect Speech Acts

When an interrogative structure such as Did you . . . ?, Is she . . .? or Can you . . .? is used with the
function of a question, it is described as a direct speech act. When you seriously want to know the
answer to Is she wearing a wig?, that utterance is a direct speech act. If we really don’t know
something and we ask for the information (e.g. about ability), we normally use a direct speech act, as
in Can you ride a bicycle?.

Compare that utterance with Can you pass the salt?. In this second example, we are not really asking
a question about someone’s ability. We are using an interrogative structure to make a request. This is
an example of an indirect speech act.