Introduction to the theory of grammar

Introduction to the theory of grammar

• Grammar as part of language and a linguistic discipline
• Parts of grammar.
• Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of grammatical units.
• Language and speech

Language is expressed and acquired through media

• 1 SPEECH
• 2 WRITING

• in ancient India (5th century B.C.) (Panini)
• and among Ancient Greeks (Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)).
• the Greeks founded the European tradition.
• the Romans conquered Greece (2nd century BC) and Roman scholars began to analyze Latin in the same tradition

Language structure

• Phonemes (meaningless)
• Words (meaningful)

- the smallest naming units

• Sentences ( the smallest units of communication)

Phonology,

Lexicology

Grammar

Morphology Syntax

Traditional definition Morphology Syntax

• Morphology is the part of grammar which deals with forms of words.

girl-I-saw-yesterday’s “has been found”

’ll never remember

• Syntax is the part of grammar which studies phrases and sentences

I’ll never forget the girl-I-saw-yesterday’s smile.

- Yes.

Types of relations between grammatical units

• Paradigmatic

exist between elements of the language system outside the strings in which they co-occur. Each language unit is included in a set of connections based on different formal and functional properties.

• Syntagmatic
• immediate linear relations between units in a segmental sequence (string).
• syntactic syntagma is the combination of at least 2 words or word-groups one of which is modified by the other.

Paradigmatic relations

• I forgot her name.

forget, forgot, forgetting, forgets, forgotten

• write, writes, writing, wrote, written; sing, sings, singing, sang, sung

Syntagmatic relations

• She writes poems.
• She has written a poem.
• She is writing a poem.

The girl-I-saw-yesterday’s

has been found – was found - found

’ll never remember

N + V

Adj + N

• Morphology studies the paradigmatic relations of words and sentences,
• Syntax studies the syntagmatic relations of words and sentences.

Angles of research:

1 a) paradigmatic morphology,

b) syntagmatic morphology

2 a) paradigmatic syntax,

b) syntagmatic syntax

• Practical grammar, studies the organization of words into various combinations, presents a set of rules of combining words into utterances, of modifying the forms of the words for particular purposes and for interpreting the results.

• Theoretical grammar gives a scientific explanation to the nature and peculiarities of the grammatical system of the language

The aims of the course are:

• to arm students with theoretical knowledge which will stimulate their active approach to the understanding of complex grammar phenomena;
• to enable students to clearly understand specific linguistic literature;
• to prepare them for carrying out their own research.
• As a result the student is meant to acquire the ability to form his own ideas on this or that question.

Language and speech according to I.A. Beaudoin de Courtenay (the end of 19th c.) and Ferdinand de Saussure

• Language and speech are inseparable, they form an organic unity
• Language is the system (phonological, lexical and grammatical) that lies at the base of all speaking
• Speech is the manifestation of language, or its use by various speakers and writers of the given language
• Language in the narrow sense of the word is a system of means of expression, while speech is a manifestation of the system of language in the process of communication.

He has written a letter.

• Pronoun + Verb + Noun

• She,He, They, We …
• Write,has written, wrote , will write…
• A letter, a book, a man, water…