英语语言学 3.4章总结

Chapter 3 Morphology

Definition :Morphology is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed. Morphology is divided into two sub-branches: inflectional morphology and lexical or derivational morphology. The former studies the inflections and the latter is the study of word formation.

Morpheme :The smallest meaningful unit of language.The meaning morphemes convey may be of two kinds: lexical meaning and grammatical meaning.

Types of morphemes

a)Free morphemes

Free morphemes are the morphemes which are independent units of meaning and can be used freely all by themselves or in combination with other morphemes.

b)Bound morphemes

Bound morphemes are the morphemes which cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.

Types of bound morphemes

A root is often seen as part of word; it can never stand by itself although it bears clear, definite meaning; it must be combined with another root or an affix to form a word. Affixes are of two types: inflectional and derivational

Morphological rules :

the rules that govern which affix can be added to what types of stem to form a new word.

Types of compound words

Noun + noun Adjective +noun Adjective +noun +ed Verb +noun

Adverb +noun Noun +verb Verb +adverb Noun +adjective

-ing form +noun Other forms

Features of compounds

Orthographically Syntactically Semantically Phonetically

Chapter 4 Syntax

Definition :Syntax studies the sentence structure of language. The term syntax came originally from Greek. It literally meant arrangement. It means that sentences are structured according to a particular arrangement of words. Well-arranged sentences are considered grammatical sentences. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.

Syntax as a system of :Syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences. A sentence is considered grammatical when it is in agreement with the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers.

The basic components of a sentence :A sentence is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to form a complete statement, question or command. Normally, a sentence consists of at least a subject and its predicate which contains a finite verb or a verb phrase.

Types of sentence :The simple sentence The coordinate sentence The complex sentence

The linear word order of a sentence :When a sentence is uttered or written down, the words of the sentence are produced one after another in a sequence. Meanwhile, they are heard or read as arranged one after another in a sequence. This sequential order of words in a sentence suggests that the structure of a sentence is linear.

The hierarchical structure of a sentence :The superficial arrangement of words in a linear sequence does not entail that sentences are simply linearly structured. Sentence structure is hierarchical in nature.

Tree diagrams of sentence structure :The hierarchical order can be best illustrated with a tree diagram of constituent structure. In addition, the hierarchical structure of sentences can also be illustrated by using brackets and subscript labels.

Lexical categories:Words are organized into groups of lexical categories, commonly known as parts of speech. A language has major and minor lexical categories. Major lexical categories are open categories that new words are constantly added. Minor lexical categories are closed categories because the number of the lexical items in these categories is fixed and no new members are allowed for.

Phrasal categories :Four phrasal categories are commonly recognized and discussed, namely, noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP), prepositional phrase (PP), and adjective phrase (AP).