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Summary English Syntax H1-7
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A summary of chapters 1 to 7 from the English Syntax of Andrew Radford
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Samenvatting English Syntax H8 en H12
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Summary Radford chapters 1-71.1
Grammar divided into morphology (the study of how words are formed out of smaller units, called
morphemes) and syntax (the study of the way in which phrases and sentences are structured out of
words).
1.2
Within traditional grammar, the syntax of a language is described in terms of a taxonomy
(classificatory list) of the range of different types of syntactic structures found in the language.
Central assumption: phrases and sentences are built up of a series of constituents (syntactic units),
each of which belongs to a specific grammatical category and serves a specific grammatical function.
Example: students protested vehemently. Students: noun (grammatical category), argument of
protested and subject. Protested: past tense verb, predicate. Vehemently: adverb, adjunct (an
expression which provides additional information about the time, place or manner of an event)
Overall sentence: categorial status of clause, finite of nature, semantic function of expressing
proposition which is declarative in force. Chomsky takes a cognitive approach to the study of
grammar. For him, the goal of the linguist is to determine what it is that native speakers know about
their language which enables them to speak and understand the language fluently -> the study of
language is part of the wider study of cognition (what human beings know). Native speakers know
how to combine words to form expressions; know how to interpret (assign meaning to) expressions
in their language. However, this grammatical knowledge is tacit (subconscious) rather than explicit
(conscious): no conscious awareness involved in the process involved in speaking and understanding
native language. Chomsky: native speakers have grammatical competence in their native language:
they have tacit knowledge of the grammar of their language; the fluent native speaker's tacit
knowledge of his language). Distinction between competence and performance (what people
actually say or understand by what someone else says on a given occasion). Competence: speaker-
hearer's knowledge of his language. Performance: the actual use of language in concrete situations.
Performance errors: misproductions or misinterpretations, due to tiredness, boredom, drugs, etc.
Grammar is concerned with competence rather than with performance. I-language: internalised
linguistic system, a cognitive internalised system within the brain/mind of native speakers
(Chomsky). Universal Grammar/UG: the theory of human I-languages... that identifies the I-
languages that are humanly accessible under normal conditions. Chomsky's ultimate goal is to devise
a theory about it, which generalises from the grammars of particular I-languages to the grammars of
all possible natural (human) I-languages. Criteria of adequacy which such a theory must satisfy. 1)
universality: a theory of UG must provide us with the tools needed to provide a descriptively
adequate grammar for any and every human I-language. 2) explanatory adequacy: the requirement
that a theory should explain why grammars have the properties they do. 3a) constrained: theory
must provide technical devices which are so constrained in their expressive power that they can only
be used to describe natural languages, and are not appropriate for the description of other
communication systems. 3b) minimal: linguistic theory should provide grammars which make use of
the minimal theoretical apparatus -> grammar should be as simple as possible. 4) learnability: theory
must provide grammars which are learnable by young children in a short period of time. Chomsky:
language is a perfect system with optimal design in the sense that natural language grammars create
structures which are designed to interface perfectly with other components of the mind. One
component of grammar is lexicon (dictionary = list of all the lexical items/words in the language and
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