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Syntax

This document discusses key concepts in linguistics including syntax, phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences. Phonology studies the sound systems of languages. Morphology examines how morphemes like prefixes and suffixes combine to form words. Semantics analyzes meaning at various levels including whole texts, words, and phrases. Pragmatics focuses on implied and inferred meanings in conversational contexts.

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CRISTELLE MAE DESCUTIDO
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67 views

Syntax

This document discusses key concepts in linguistics including syntax, phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences. Phonology studies the sound systems of languages. Morphology examines how morphemes like prefixes and suffixes combine to form words. Semantics analyzes meaning at various levels including whole texts, words, and phrases. Pragmatics focuses on implied and inferred meanings in conversational contexts.

Uploaded by

CRISTELLE MAE DESCUTIDO
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

Syntax - the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed


sentences in a language

Examples:

Below are a few examples of different types of syntax in English. Each of


these examples has different syntax.

Simple sentences follow a subject-verb format.

Simple Syntax Examples:

The boy jumped.


The girl sang.

Compound sentences have more than one subject or verb.

Compound Syntax Examples:

The boy jumped and the girl sang.


I did not go to the concert but I went to the fair.

2. Phonology - the system of contrastive relationships among the speech


sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language.

Examples:

3. Morphology - Morphology is a branch of linguistics that involves the


study of the grammatical structure of words and how words are formed
and varied within the lexicon of any given language. Morphology studies
the relationship between morphemes, referring to the smallest meaningful
unit in a word, and how these units can be arranged to create new words
or new forms of the same word.

Examples: Prefixes (Un, Im, Non, Mis)


Suffixes(able, ible, ful, al, er, est )

4. Semantics - Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be


applied to entire texts or to single words.
Examples:
Formal Semantics - Formal semantics uses techniques from math,
philosophy, and logic to analyze the broader relationship between
language and reality, truth and possibility. Has your teacher ever asked
you to use an “if… then” question? It breaks apart lines of information to
detect the underlying meaning or consequence of events.

Lexical Semantics - Lexical semantics deconstruct words and phrases


within a line of text to understand the meaning in terms of context. This
can include a study of individual nouns, verbs, adjectives, prefixes, root
words, suffixes, or longer phrases or idioms.

5. Pragmatics - Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics, which is the study


of language. Pragmatics focuses on conversational implicature, which is a
process in which the speaker implies and a listener infers. Simply put,
pragmatics studies language that is not directly spoken.

Examples: The definition of pragmatics and the use of pragmatics can be


tricky to grasp without studying examples. Here are three examples that
can help illustrate pragmatics in use in everyday conversation:

1. “How are you?” This everyday greeting is rarely met with a response
that involves discussing every medical and personal detail that may affect
how the person is feeling on a given day (which would make up a literal
response to the question). Instead, you might respond to the question
with: “Fine, how are you?” This would be a pragmatic response since you
are making a presupposition that the speaker’s intention was for the
question to be an implied greeting and not a literal question about how
you are doing at that exact moment.

2. “I have two sons.” While not necessarily ambiguous, this sentence


contains an implication that the speaker has no more than two sons;
however, it’s possible the speaker could have more than two sons and
the statement would still be truthful. Pragmatics incorporates the context
of an utterance to determine meaning. Therefore, a preceding question of
“Do you have any children?” would change the response’s implication to
be that the speaker only has two children—two sons. Furthermore, a
preceding question of “Do you have any sons?” would change the
response’s implication to be that the speaker might have one or more
daughters in addition to having two sons.

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