Chapter4Syntax精选.ppt

Chapter 4Syntax Outline 1. Categories范畴 2. Word-level categories词层面的范畴 3. Phrase structure rules短语结构规则 4. Phrase element 构成短语的元素 What is syntax? Syntax---a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. Transformational syntax 转换生成句法 1.Categories范畴 Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. 同一种有相同语法功能，语义特征的语言项目归为一类，称之为范畴 。 The most central categories to the syntactic study are the word-level categories traditionally, parts of speech 2.Word-level categories词层面的范畴 Major lexical categories（主要词类范畴）: N, V, Adj, Prep. Minor Lexical categories（次要词类范畴）: Det, Deg, Qual, Auxi, Conj. Det — Determiner 限定词 Deg — Degree word（程度词） Qual—Qualifier修饰词 Aux—Auxiliary 助动词 Con — Conjunction 连接词 The Criteria on Which Categories are Determined:确定词范畴的三个标准: Meaning意义 Inflection屈折变化 Distribution 分布 Note: the most reliable criterion of determining a word’s category is its distribution. Meaning The meanings associated with nouns and verbs can be elaborated in various ways. dilemma and friendship abstract word love and hate v. n be aware of and know about the same meaning, different word categories Inflection Example: boy and desk take the plural affix -s work and help take the past tense affix -ed quiet and clever take comparative affix -er Exceptions: some words do not take inflections: moisture, fog无复数, frequent, intelligent（无比较和最高级） Distribution分布性 Distribution What type of elements can co-occur with a certain word词的搭配使用 Nouns can typically appear with a determiner: eg. the girl and a card Verbs with an auxiliary e.g. should stay and will go Adjectives with a degree word e.g. very cool and too bright Note: The most reliable criterion of determining a word’s category is its distribution. 3.Phrase categories and their structures Phrase categories短语范畴---the syntactic u