Grammaire :

Exam 1h (analyse syntaxique/cours/exo) début janvier

I- Words:
Different units of linguistic analysis: sentence/clause (proposition)/phrase
(grp)
/word /morpheme /syllable / phoneme
Grammar = syntax + morphology
Phonology (aside)

Words and lexemes:

- They walk fast but they could walk faster. (different way of def it: 8
words, walk 2 times / fast and faster same thing?)
- They = word of unit 1 w/ a form speaking, writing – refer to a grp of
people a word is not just a form
- The word is part of a concrete unit in an abstract unit (higher) called
the lexeme every word to be found in a sentence is a realisation of a
lexeme
- lexemes: dictionary word
- word: smallest free sign
- sign in linguistics associate some kind of form structure (?)
- a. suffixes + prefixes: mis-, un-, -ing, -ness – different kind of affixes
but it's not free, it cannot occur on its own (units smaller than words)
b. phrasal verbs: take off, look forward to (CF cours first Cambridge
Delplace T°) unpredictable on a meaning level
c. idiom: kill two birds w/ one stone (=expression idiomatic / locution)
d. proverbs: Birds of a feather flock together
Only some signs are words:
Words are phonologically independent so they are qualified as free, possible
to have pauses btw words in a sentence
- She develops a taste for hopeless cases.
Units that are phonologically dependant because they can't' be stressed
(make diff btw a plain suffixes or prefixes)
syntax: study of structure
word: the smallest syntaxic unit
hopeless: the word hope is the base of the word hopeless – got a function:
epitète / attribute (in eng) – the adjective modifies the noun so in the
sentence here the adjective is a modifier in opposition w/ complement
(?)
hope in hopeless doesn't have a function in the sentence / hope is not a
word here but a part of it
taste = object complement of the verb develop
Contracted forms:
 1. a. It's not here.
b. I'll do it
2. a. Is it here? – Yes, it is / *it's
b. Will you do it? – yes, I will / *I'll
the apostrophe + ll / s cannot be stressed. Somewhere btw word forms and
affixes form
• Syncretism: same form, same lexeme, diff inflections
1. WALK v. – walk, walks, walked, walking may correspond to diff
inflections / conjugaisons – it may be in diff function
2. They walk fast but they could walk faster walk + present tense /
walk + infinitive
3. a. They walked fast.
b. They have walked fast.
4. a. There was only one sheep in the field. (singular)
b. There were many sheep in the field. (plural)
Compounding
1. a. policeman, delivery van, law-abiding
b. membership card, skin lightening cream
2. a. handbook, babysitter, fire alarm (n)
b. paper thin, breath-taking, fat-free (adj)
c. whitewash, blacklist, outline (v)
d. someone, anything, whatever (prn)
e. into, upon, within (prep)
3. [n ‘N1 N2]= a kind of N2
a. horse race= a kind of race
b. race horse= a kind of horse
4. biology, helicopter, photograph, telephone
Spelling:
1. handbook, grapefruit, bedroom (solid/closed)
good-looking, paper-thin, world-famous (hyphenated)
delivery van, fire alarm, news agency (spaced/open)

2. flower pot, flower-pot, flowerpot

pine cone, pine-cone, pinecone

3. short-sighted, bad-tempered (adj-ned)

user-friendly, paper-thin ( N-adj)
easy-going, far-reaching (Adv-ving)
 4. firefight (also fire fighter)
fire engine (note fireengine)

5. a novel from the nineteenth century ~ a nineteenth-century novel

people from the working class ~working-class people

6. a foreign stamp collector

a foreign-stamp collector
Most of them end up hyphenated when they’re used as an attribute
Accentuation:
1. ‘greenhouse, ‘handbook, ‘girlfriend, de’livery man, ‘news agency
2.
3. Sort-‘sighted, bad-‘tempered, heavy-‘handed
User-‘friendly, paper-‘thin, ice-‘cold
Down ‘stairs, over ‘head, north ‘east
Under’stand, over’look, back’fire

4. The middle ‘class ~a middle-class ‘family

She ran down ‘stairs ~a downstairs ‘bathroom

5. ‘apple juice ~apple ‘pie

Ele’mentary school ~elementary ‘particle
Ice-cream = BrE ice-‘cream / AmE ‘ice-cream
Compounds vs free phrases:
1. Textbook ~physics book
Cotton candy ~cotton shirt
Social worker ~local resident

2. Horseman ~horse man

Breakfast ~break fast
Cupboard ~ cup board

3. Gospel <OE god ‘good’ +spel ‘story, message’

Lord <ME loverd, laverd <OE hlaford<hlafweard<half ‘bread, loaf+
weard ‘keeper, guardian’

4. A green ‘house x a ‘greenhouse

A black ‘bird x a ‘blackbird
A dark ‘room x a ‘darkroom

5. Buttercup, cakewalk, salad days

Bottle opener, baseball cap, work permit

6. It was a wet day

It was a very wet day
It was a wet and windy day
 The day was wet

7. He is a wet blanket (fr. Rabat-joie)

#he is a very wet blanket
#he is a wet and sad blanket
# the blanket is wet

8. They tried to downplay the significance of the event

They tried to play down the significance of the event

9. They tried to downplay it

They tried to play it down
Conversion (‘zero-derivation’)
N -> V
1. She was carrying a small shopping bag
Some supermarkets will bag your groceries for you
V-> N
2. Have you been spying on us
She was denounced as a foreign spy
Adj -> V
3. He was kind, humble man
The world champion was humbled last night in three rounds
Adj -> N
4. She began her professional career twenty years ago
Our officers are all highly trained professionals

5. Robin climbed the hill (prep)

I’ve only just got up (adv)
They’ve upped their offer by 5% (v)
We all have our ups and downs (n)

6. A weekly (newspaper)
The final (game)
A paperback (book)

7.

Verb (01) Noun (10)

contrast
Convict
Decrease
Insult
Transfer
Rebel
Record
Project
 protest

Minor word formation processes:

-initialism:
1) EU, UN, MP, DJ [abbreviations]
NATO, AIDS, WASP [ACRONYMS]
-clipping / truncation:
2) doc(tor), ad(vertisement), pro(fessional) [back clipping ]
(tele)phone, (omni)bus, (violon)cello [front clipping]
(in)flu(enza), (re)fridge(rator) [double clipping]
-blending (blends, portmanteau words):
3) email, infotainment, motel, sitcom
-Backformation:
4) V. baby-sit <N. baby-siiter
V. edit < N. editor
V. televise < N. televison
5) N. dancer < V. dance
N. swindler> V. swindle
II) Word-classes:
1) The young girl said that she was not worried.

1. Noun (N): Jim, London, book, kangaroo, injustice, water, savings

2. Verb (V): accept, build, drink, tell, be, may
3. Adjective (Adj): strange, blue, old, rectangular, American
4. Adverb (Adv): strangely, madly, soon, here, why?, when?
5. Pronoun (Pr): you, yours, yourself, each other, those, who?, whoever,
what
6. Determiner (Det): a, the, another, this, my, three, some, every, no,
either
7. Preposition (Prep): at, of, to, in, on, off, above, beyond, under, by,
between
8. Conjunction (Conj: that, if, whether; and, or, but
9. Interjection (Int): psst! hey! ouch! oh! alas!
Sub classes of words:
 1) Jim, London, Christmas [N>proper]
Air, information, justice [N>common>uncountable]
2) Accept, build, catch, dance [V>auxiliary>modal]
Can, may, must [Pr>personal]
3) She was not worried. [Pm>demonstrative]
That is strange. Who called? [Pr>interrogative]

4) She reacted (rapidly / *rapid}.

He behaved {strangely / *strange}.

5) her (rapid / *rapidly} reaction

his {strange / *strangely) behaviour

6) He was {strangely / *strange; distant.

She looked (unusually / *unusual} tired.

7) We should {discuss / work / sleep}.

We should (*discussion / *this / *mad / *madly / *into}.

8) {the / *_} capital of Australia

the capital of (*the /_) Australia
Homonymy: same form, different lexemes
1) The sun rose up.
He gave her a red rose.
2) She works hard
That's hard work.
3) Look at that man over there.
That is a nice dress.
She bought a machine that makes bread.
She said that the story was true.
Was it really that difficult?
Nouns:

1) London ~ *Londons
Boy ~ boys
Information ~ *informations
*trouser ~trousers
2) [n N-hood]: boyhood, neighbourhood, parenthood.
[n N-ship]: friendship, membership, partnership.
[n Adj-ness]: happiness, madness, strangeness.
[n V-(at)ion]: generation, resignation, selection.