TOPIC XI Sentence. Syntactic Structure. Models of Analysis
1. The model of parts of the sentence.
2. The distributional model. The model of immediate constituents.
(IC-model).
3. The transformational model (TM).
1. In order to state general rules of sentence construction it is necessary to refer to smaller units. The process of analysing sentences into their parts, or constituents, js known as parsing. '
The syntactic structure of the sentence can be analysed at two levels: pre-functional (constituents are words and word-groups) and functional (constituents are parts of the sentence).
Parts of the sentence are notional sentence constituents which are in certain syntactic relations to other constituents or to the sentence as a whole. Accordingly we distinguish between principal parts of the sentence, constituting the predication, or the basic structure of the sentence, and secondary parts of the sentence, extending, or expanding the basic structure.
Parts of the sentence are notional constituents as they name elements of events or situations denoted by the sentence: actions or states, different participants and circumstances. The formal properties of parts of the sentence are the type of syntactic relations and the morphological expression.
Principal parts of the sentence are interdependent. The subject is the structural centre of the sentence — the predicate agrees with the subject in person and number. The predicate is the semantic and communicative centre of the sentence.
Secondary parts of the sentence are modifiers of principal and other secondary parts: attributes are noun-adjuncts, objects and adverbial modifiers are primarily verb-adjuncts.
Structurally parts of the sentence may be of three types: simple, expressed by words and phrases; compound, consisting of the structural and notional part (compound verbal and nominal predicate, subject with the introductory it and there); complex, expressed by secondary predications (typical of secondary parts of the sentence).
As there is no direct correspondence between units of different levels of sentence structure and as grammatical phenomena have fuzzy boundaries which often overlap, there are difficulties in distinguishing between certain parts of the sentence:
(1) / want to leave (object or part of the predicate?)
(2) Features of her mother and fattier were blended in her face
(adverbial modifier or prepositional object?)
Besides the three "traditional" secondary parts, two more are singled out: the apposition and the objective predicative (Ttiey painted the door green). Objective predicative is co-referential with the object, subjective predicative is co-referential with the subject (The door is green). Both types are denoted by the term complement. This term may be also used to denote all verb-adjuncts.
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So the model of parts of the sentence shows the basic relations of
notional sentence constituents. It does not, however, show the linear order of
, constituents. The order of constituents is shown by two models of analysis
worked out by the American school of srtuctural (descriptive) linguistics: the
distributional model and the model of immediate constituents (IC-model). These models analyse the sentence structure at the pre-functional level.
2. Methods of structural linguistics are based on the notions of position, co-occurrence aand substitution (substitutability).
Position, or environment is the immediate neighbourhood of the element.
Co-occurence means that words of one class permit or require the occurrence of words of another class.
The total set of environments of a certain element is its distribution. The tenn distribution denotes the occurrence of an element relative to other elements. Elements may be in:
1) non-contrastive distribution (the same position, no difference in meaning; variants of the same element): hoofs — hooves (see Topic III).
2) contrastive distribution (the same position, different meanings):
She is charming. She is charmed.
3) complementary distribution (mutual exclusiveness of pairs of forms in a certain environment; the same meaning, different positioas; variants of the same element): cows — oxen.
The distributional model, worked out by Ch.Fries ("The Structure of English"), shows the linear order of sentence constituents (see Topic XI). The syntactic structure of the sentence is presented as a sequence of positional classes of words:
The old man saw a black dog there.
1) D A1 N1 V D A2 N2 Adv
2) D 3a la 2 D 3b lb 4
Showing the linear order of classes of words (their forms may also be indicated), the model does not show the syntactic relations of sentence constituents. The sentence
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/ saw a man with a telescope
is ambiguous, but the ambiguity cannot be shown by the distributional model. This drawback is overcome by the IC-inodel.
A sentence is not a mere sequence, or string of words, but a structured string of words, grouped into phrases. So sentence constituents are words and word-groups. The basic principle for grouping words into phrases (endo- or exocentric) is cohesion, or the possibility to substitute one word for the whole group without destroying the sentence structure. Applying the substitution test, (or the dropping test, dropping optional elements) we define syntactic relations and can reduce word-groups to words and longer sentences to basic structures:
(1) NP—i*-N poor John —^—John.
The phrase is endocentric, the adjunct poor is optional, the head-word John is obligatory.
(2)The old man saw a bisck dog there.
Word-groups are reduced to head-words and the sentence is reduced to the basic structure, directly built by two immediate constituents — NP and VP.
When we know the rules of reducing the sentence to the basic, elementary structure, it is not difficult to state the rules of extending/expanding elementary sentences:
S —NP + VP /NP—A + N /VP —V + D (Adv)
So the sentence is built by two immediate constituents (NP+VP), each of which may have constituents of its own. Constituents which cannot be further divided, are called ultimate (UC). The IC-model exists in two main versions: the analytical mode! and the derivation tree. The analytical model divides the sentence into IC-s and UC-s:
The derivation tree shows the syntactic dependence of sentence constituents:
The. old man saw a black dog there.
The sentence:
I saw a man with a telescope will have 2 IC-sltuctures: (1) Prn V Т N Prp Т
N
(2) Prn V Т N Prp
N
So the IC-model shows both the syntactic relations and the linear order of elements.
3. Different sentence types are structurally and semantically related. So the syntactic structure of a given sentence may be described by making these relations explicit.
Sentences, in which all constituents are obligatory, are called basic structures, or elementary sentences, or kernel sentences. Linguists single out from 2 to 7 kernel sentences: 1) NV 2) NVN 3) NVPrepN 4) N is N 5) N is A 6) N is Adv. 7) N is PrepN.
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The structure of all other sentences may be explained as a result of certain changes, or transformations of kernel structures. This analysis, showing derivational relations of sentences, is called transformational (TM). TM is based on IC-model and it goes further showing semantic and syntactic relations of different sentence types.
TM was first discussed by the outstanding American linguist N.Chomsky and it greatly influenced further development of linguistics, other models either developing TM or being reactions to TM. In the course of the development of the model the focus of attention shifted from syntax to semantics.
TM describes paradigmatic relations of basic and derived structures, or the relations of syntactic derivation. Kemel sentences, which serve as the base for deriving other structures, are called deep, or underlying structures, opposed to surface structures of derived sentence types, or transforms. So both the deep and the surface structure belong to the syntactic level of analysis.
Transformations may be subdivided into intranodel, or single-base (changing the kernel structure) and two-base (combining 2 structures).
Single-base transformations may be of two types: modifying the kernel structure and changing the kernel structure:
(1) She. is working hard — She is not working hard.
(2) She. is working hard —• Her working hard—Her hard work. Some basic types of intrainodel transformations: substitution, deletion (Have you seen him?—See.n him?); permutation or movement (He is he.re— Is he here?);
nominalization (He arrived-----*-~His arrival); two-base
transformations: embedding (I know that he has come), word-sharing (I saw him cross the street).
TM shows that sentences with different surface structures paraphrase, because they are derived from the same deep structure: He arrived—his arrival—for him to arrive -his arriving.
TM shows that some sentences are ambiguous, because they derive from
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, distinct deep structures:
Flyfing planes can be dangerous— (1) Planes are dangerous.
—(2) Flying is dangerous. So TM is an effective method of deciding grammatical ambiguity.
A grammar which operates using TM is a transformational grammar (TG). In TG the IC-analysis is supplemented with rules for transforming one sentence into another. TG became an extremely infuental type of generative grammatical theory, also called generative grammar.
The status and classification of transformations varied a great deal in the 1960s and 1970s, and several models of generative grammar have been investigated, following N.Chomsky.
TOPIC XII
Sentence. Semantic Structure. Logico-Coinmuuicative Structure
1. The semantic structure of the sentence.
2. Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP).
3. The pragmatic aspect of the sentence.
1. Every linguistic unit may be analysed either from the form to the meaning or from the signification to the means of expression. Traditionally sentence analysis starts from syntactic structure. It is possible, however, to start with the semantic representation and then relate constituents of the semantic (underlying, deep) structure to the constituents of the grammatical (surface) structure.
Models of the analysis of semantic structure were worked out by the representatives of a new school of linguistic thought, called generative semantics. One of these models is Case Grammar devised by the American scholar Ch.Fillmore.
As shown above (see Topic XI), TM distinguished deep and surface structures within the syntactic level. In Case Grammar deep, or underlying structure is semantic and surface structure is syntactic. Deep, or semantic structure has two main constituents: modality (features of mood, tense, aspect, negation, relating to the sentence as a whole) and proposition (a tenseless set of relationships): "S—M + Pr". The proposition is constituted by the semantic predicate (the central element) and some nominal elements, called arguments or participants: "P—-V-+-N1+N2+N3 ...". The proposition is a reflection of situations and events of the outside world. The semantic predicate determines the number of arguments, or opens up places for arguments. Accordingly we may distinguish one-place predicates (She sang), two-place predicates (She broke the dish) and so on. Arguments are in different semantic relations to the predicate. These relations are called semantic roles or deep cases (P+V+C1+C2+C3 ...). The choice of semantic roles depends on the nature of the predicate. The American scholar W.Chafe divides predicates into states and non-states, or events, the latter being subdivided into actions and processes:
(1) Tfie wood is dry. — state
(2) She sang. (What did she do?) — action
(3) The wood dried. (What happened?) — process
Semantic roles, or deep cases are judgements about the events, such as: Who did it? Who did it happen to? What got changed?
The most general roles are agent (doer of the action) and patient (affected by the action or state). Actions are accompanied by agents, states and processes — by patients; predicates, denoting both actions and processes — by agents and patients: She broke the dish.
The original set of deep cases, proposed by Ch.Fillmore, includes 6 cases: agentive, objective, beneficiary, instrument, locative, factitive. Eg.:
(1) He dug the ground. (Objective)
(2) He dug a hole. (Factitive)
Sentences (1) and (2) have the same surface structure, but different deep structure. On the other hand different syntactic structures may refer to the same deep structure:
(1) John opened the door with the, key,
(2) The door was opeied by John.
(3) John used the key to open the door.
(4) The key opened the door.
The problems of formalizing the description of semantic relations have remained very great and case grammar came to attract somewhat less interest in the 1970s.
2. So far we have discussed the sentence as a unit of language. The sentence is also a unit of speech, a minimum free utterance, whose main purpose is to convey information, to express thoughts and feelings.
Linguistic analysis of utterances in terms of the information they contain is called the actual division or the analysis of the Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP). FSP was thoroughly analysed by the representatives of the Prague School of functional linguistics.
FSP refers to the way the speaker structures the information, the way he identifies the relative importance of utterance parts. Usually the utterance consists of two parts: the topic of discussion: something about which a statement is made and the new information, which adds most to the process of communication. These two sections are called the theme and the rheme, or topic and comment. Some sentences contain only the rheme, they are monorhematic: It is getting dark. In the majority of sentences the constituentsare either rhematic or thematic. There are also transitional elements. Sentences containing the theme and the rheme are called dirhematic.
A sentence acquires FSP in the context, but it also has it, taken separately, as it reflects certain contextual relations.
In Modern Russian the rheme is usually placed at the end and the main means of expressing FSP is word-order. As the main function of word-order in English is grammatical, English has other ways of expressing FSP. Thematic elements are indicated by the definite article, loose parenthesis (as for me...), detached parts of the sentence; rhematic elements — by the indefinite article, particles (even, only), negations, emphatic constructions (The, who...). But in the majority of sentences the rheme is also placed at the end, which is achieved by changing the syntactic structure of the sentence. According to V.Y.Shevyakova, only 6% of sentences have regressive structure Rh—Th, 94% have progressive -structure Th—Rh. Some means of preserving the progressive information structure:
1) passive transformations — UNESCO took the first steps. ----The first
steps were taken by UNESCO;
2) the use of conversives —
20 people died in a crush.—The crush killed 20 people.
3) The use of the personal subject and the nominal predicate — It was silent in the room.—The room turned silent.
Some means of making the subject rhematic: the constructions there is/there are., it is necessary, inversion, etc.
Thematic elements contribute little to the meaning of the utterance as they reflect what has already been communicated, in other words they have the lowest degree of communicative dynamism (CD). Rhematic elements, containing new information which advances the communicative process have the highest degree of CD.
3. The study of the communicative functions of utterances in particular contexts of use is the sphere of pragmatics. There is no general theory of pragmatics which is a field of study between semantics, socio-linguistics and extralinguistic context. It is interested in a variety of topics. It may be characterized as the analysis of speech acts, the study of principles of conversational performance: usage, understanding, appropriateness.
Semantics is concerned with sentence meaning, pragmatics - - with utterance interpretation. Consider the sentence
I have no cigarettes.
The sentence meaning is derived from the meanings of lexical items and grammatical structure. But this sentence may be interpreted differently, depending on the context and background knowledge of the interlocutors: (1) Could you spare me a cigarette?
(2) Give me some cigarettes.
(3) You promised to buy cigarettes.
In communication we expect the interlocutor to be co-operative, i.e. make an attempt to understand what we say and make relevant responses. The theory of co-operative behaviour was proposed by the American linguist H.P.Grice, who outlined the following maxims:
1) Maxim of Quality: be sincere, do not say what you believe to be false or that for what you lack adequate evidence;
2) Maxim of Quantity: be as informative as is required by the situation, no
more;
3) Maxim of Relation: be relevant;
4) Maxim of Manner: be brief, orderly and clear; avoid obscurity and
ambiguity.
Another aspect of speech act analysis is the study of relationships of utterances (discourse structure), for example, in classroom situations.
Teacher—Pupil: T-question, P-response, T-accept and comment; T-question, P-no response, T-prompt or repeat question; T-question, P-no response, T-prompt, P-no response, T-supply answer and seek corroboration, P-confirmation.
The development of pragmatics influenced the methodology of teaching, the present phase of which is communicative approach, defining the aim of language study as the use of appropriate language for particular situations.
TOPIC X1I1
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