Grammar and Lexicon Grammatical units - meaningful - combine with each other in a systematic way Repetition •difference of written and spoken texts •spoken texts – repetition is more often •the longer a text is, the more often words repeat • • •Q: Is repetition more common in academic texts or fiction? • Word Types 1)lexeme 2)grammatical words • 1) Lexeme • = a group of related words sharing the same meaning and belonging to the same parts of speech • •think x thought = one lexeme* (=> THINK) • is x was = one lexeme* (=> BE) • • 2) Grammatical words •GW - divided according to their grammatical behaviour (in different contexts) • • e.g.: THAT – demostr. pronoun (That‘s right!) • - conjunction (I was quite confident that I would stay…) • Grammatical Words •A) lexical words •B) function words •C) inserts A) Lexical Words •main carriers of meaning in a text (e.g. headlines) •in a speech – generally stressed •represent open class (=new words can be added) •usually: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs B) Function Words •bind the text together •wide range of meanings •serve to indicate relationship between lexical words and larger units •closed system (new words are rarely added) •usually short, lack of internal structure •unstressed in speech •auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions • C) Inserts •inserted rather freely in the text •marked off by intonation, pauses, punctuation marks in writing •emotional meaning •frequent in spoken texts •important in communication •e.g.: Yeah, I will. Bye. • Hm hm, very good. • Structure of Words •In most cases words consist of a single morpheme (= smallest unit carrying meaning) • •Functional words & Inserts – single morpheme •Lexical words – single morpheme BUT they are often more complex (processes of inflection, derivation, compounding) • • Inflection • = adding ‚something‘ to a word •doesn‘t change the identity of the word • •* suffixes – sometimes similar function as functional words (the girl‘s mother x the mother of the girl OR commoner x more common) Other examples of inflection •Nouns: boy x boys (plural) • •Verbs: live x lives x lived x living • •Adjectives: dark x darker x darkest • •Adverbs: soon x sooner x soonest Derivation •used to form new lexemes => change of the meaning x word class • •e.g.: prefixes: ex-president, unknown • suffixes: boyhood, greenish Compounding •= base + one or more affixes => new lexeme •N+N => girlfriend •ADJ + N => bluebird •V+N => playboy •N+ADV => care-free • •Note! compounds are stressed on the 1st element : •a bluebird = kind of a bird •a blue bird = a bird of a blue colour Lexical Words • 4 classes • •1) nouns •2) verbs •3) adjectives •4) adverbs 1) Nouns •a) common nouns – book, girl, gold,… •b) proper nous – Sarah, Oslo • • Characteristics: • a) morphological – nouns are inflected for (=skloňují se) • *number – one book, two books • * case – Sarah‘s book •Note: uncountable nouns are NOT inflected for number => information x informations • •b) syntactic – nouns = heads of noun phrases (e.g.: new information I found) •c) semantic – nouns – refer to people, things, qualities, states (=freedom, friendship) • • • 2) Verbs •Characteristics: • a) morphological – verbs vary for: •tense •aspect – simple x continuous •voice – active x passive • b) syntactic – verb= main verb of verb phrases • e.g.: has written •c) semantic – denoting actions, processes…etc. • 3) Adjectives •dark, heavy, guilty… • •Characteristics: • a) morphological – inflected for comparison • e.g.: dark x darker x darkest (not possible with all ajd. – e.g.: home-made) • b) syntactic – head of adj. phrases • c) semantic – description qualities of people, things (e.g.: a heavy box) • • 4) Adverbs •clearly, however, now… • •Characteristics: • a) morphological – formed from adj. by endings –LY (not all of them, e.g.: now) • b) syntactic – head of adv. phrases • c) semantic – function of modifiers & adverbials • Function Words Determiners •definite article – the (sth. known to the speaker & the addressee) •indefinite article – a x an •demonstrative determ. – this, that… •possessive determ. – my, your… •quantifiers – much, many, some… Pronouns •used instead of full noun phrases • Classes: •personal – I must tell you about it. •demonstrative – Look at this! •reflexive – I hurt myself. •reciprocal – They kissed each other. •possessive – I brought my camera. Did you bring yours? •indefinite – Everything in here is old. • • •relative – My sister, whom you met yesterday, owns a house which was built in the 18th cent. •interrogative – Who wrote this letter? Primary Auxiliaries •do •have •be Modal Auxiliaries •reject ‚do‘ insertion => Do you can swim? •express ABILITY, PERMISSION, NECESSITY, OBLIGATION Prepositions •introduce prepositional phrases •connect noun phrases with other structures Adverbial Particles •about, across, back, down, over, under, up… •closely linked to verbs (phrasal verbs) • Coordinators = Conjunctions •build coordinate structures •meaning of ADDITION, CONTRAST… Subordinators •serve to introduce dependent clauses (since, thought, while…) Wh- Words (+ how & that) •introduce clauses a)interrogative clause markers • e.g.: When are you leaving? • b) introduce relative clauses • e.g.: ..the car which she had abandoned… • •Some more: existential THERE, the negator NOT, the infinite marker TO, numerals • Inserts •interjenctions – Oh dear! •greetings – Good bye. •discourse markers – Right, we can do this. • . • . • . • etc. Reference list • Biber, D. et al.: Longman grammar of spoken and written English, Longman, 1999. • •