Rajarata
University of Sri Lanka
Department of Languages
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Online Lectures
|
Year
and Semester
|
Year-2
Semester-1
|
|
Subject
|
Syntax
and Semantics
|
|
Subject
Code
|
ENGL
2112
|
|
Course
Unit
|
Introduction
to Syntax-1
|
|
Date
|
05.05.2020
|
|
Time
|
Theory
(9.00 am-10.00 am) Practical (2.30 pm-3.30
pm)
|
|
Lecturer
|
D.N.
Aloysius
|
|
Theory
Hours
|
01
Total No of Hours: 01
|
|
Practical
Hours
|
01
Total No of Hours: 01
|
Introduction to Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules,
principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a
given language, usually
including word
order.
Etymology
The
word syntax comes
from Ancient Greek: "coordination",
which consists of "together", and "an
ordering".
One basic
description of a language's syntax is the sequence in which the subject (S), verb (V), and object (O)
usually appear in sentences. Over 85% of languages usually place the subject
first, either in the sequence SVO or the
sequence SOV. The other
possible sequences are VSO, VOS, OVS, and OSV, the last three
of which are rare. In most generative theories of syntax, these surface
differences arise from a more complex clausal phrase structure, and each order
may be compatible with multiple derivations.
In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax" comes from the Greek, meaning
"arrange together." The term is also used to mean the study of the
syntactic properties of a language.
Syntax is one of the
major components of grammar. It's the concept that enables people to know how to start a
question with a question word ("What is that?"), or that adjectives
generally come before the nouns they describe ("green chair"),
subjects often come before verbs in non-question sentences ("She
jogged"), prepositional phrases start with prepositions ("to the
store"), helping verbs come before main verbs ("can go" or
"will do"), and so on.
For native speakers,
using correct syntax is something that comes naturally, as word order is
learned as soon as an infant starts absorbing the language. Native speakers can
tell something isn't said quite right because it "sounds weird," even
if they can't detail the exact grammar rule that makes something sound
"off" to the ear.
Syntactic Rules
English parts of
speech often follow ordering patterns in sentences and clauses, such as
compound sentences are joined by conjunctions (and, but, or) or that multiple
adjectives modifying the same noun follow a particular order according to their
class (such as number-size-color, as in "six small green chairs").
The rules of how to order words help the language parts make sense.
Syntax vs. Diction and Formal vs.
Informal
Diction refers to the style of writing or
speaking that someone uses, brought about by their choice of words, whereas
syntax is the order in which they're arranged in the spoken or written
sentence. Something written using a very high level of diction, like a paper
published in an academic journal or a lecture given in a college classroom, is
written very formally. Speaking to friends or texting is informal, meaning they
have a low level of diction.
Practical Activity: Explain
the term Syntax and discuss its role in the English Language with relevant
examples.
References:
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