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Introduction to English Syntax

Presentation · February 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15157.76004

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Nanang Zubaidi
State University of Malang
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Introduction to
English Syntax
Nanang Zubaidi
nanang.zubaidi.fs@um.ac.id
Introduction to Linguistics
 Hello!
Today we will discuss about the introduction to
English syntax.

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1. What is syntax?
2. Can you give an example of syntactic
case?
Structure of sentence
Putting together
Arrangement

Phrases: Noun phrase (The[Art] big[Adj] book [N])

Arrangement
Word-order
Grammatically-correct
 1.
Definition
.

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 “
Syntax literally means “putting together” or
“arrangement.”

“The underlying rule

system used to generate sentences.”
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 “
Syntactic rules: All and Only

(syntactic analysis must account for all the

grammatically correct phrases/sentences and only those
structures in language analyzed.

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 2.
Generative Grammar
.

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 What is:
Traditional Grammar?
Generative Grammar?
Traditional Grammar Generative Grammar
 Generative Grammar

small and finite (limited) set of rules that is capable of

generating a large and potentially infinite number of
well-formed structures

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 Deep and surface structure
Surface structure [SS]: the different syntactic forms they have as
individual sentences.
Deep surface [DS]: abstract level of structural organization,
representation of all elements determining structural interpretation.

Relationship:
▧ One [DS] can be represented in different [SS]
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]

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 Deep and surface structure
SS Charlie broke the window.
The window was broken by Charlie.
Was the window broken by Charlie?

DS It was Charlie who broke the window.

Relationship:
▧ One [DS] can be represented in different [SS]
[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE 15
 Deep and surface structure: Structural ambiguity
[SS] Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.

[DS] 1. Annie had an umbrella and she bumped into a man with it.
2. Annie bumped into a man and the man happened to be
carrying an umbrella

Relationship:
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]

[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE 16

 Deep and surface structure: Structural ambiguity (2)
[SS] Sue saw the man with the telescope

[DS] 1. The seeing is done with the telescope

2. The man is holding the telescope

Relationship:
▧ One [SS] can represent different [DS]

[SS]: RED; [DS]: BLUE 17

 3.
Syntactic Analysis
.
1. Constituent analysis

2. Tree diagram

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 Syntactic categories (Part of Speech)

⚫ Types:
⚫ Phrasal categories
⚫ Lexical categories

⚫ Symbols used:
⚫ → consists of
⚫

⚫ (cont.)
Syntactic categories (Part of Speech)
 Phrase structure rules
▧ a sentence (S) = a noun phrase (NP) + a verb phrase (VP).
▧ A noun phrase rewrites as either:
▧ an article plus an optional adjective plus a noun,
▧ a pronoun,
▧ a proper noun.
▧ a verb phrase = as a verb + a noun phrase.

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1. Constituent analysis
 2. Tree diagrams (Phrase/constituent structure trees)

Main concepts:
▧ Words are organized into
subunits/subtrees (constituents)
▧ Speakers mentally represent sentences
not as flat strings of words, but as complex
structures with an internal organization

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 ROOT
Tree diagrams
▧
NODE

CONSTITUENTS

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 Tree diagrams

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 Tree diagrams
▧

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 Lexical rules
▧ A proper noun rewrites as John or Mary.” (It is a very small
world.)
▧

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 Independent study
▧

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 Independent study
▧ .

▧ .

▧ .

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 Credits

Thanks to:
▧ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▧ Photographs by Unsplash
▧ Backgrounds by Pixeden

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