Wykłady Wstęp Do Językoznawstwa

Introduction to linguistics with elements of descriptive grammar
Wykład 1: Functions of language
What is natural language?
It is the language that has developed in the usual way as a method of communicating between people,
rather than the language that has been created, for example for computers (artificial language)
ROMAN JAKOBSON (1896 – 1982):

Russian – American linguist, founder of the model of the functions of language
Components of the act of verbal communication (according to Jakobson):

1. Context (or co-text) – the world in which the message takes place
2. Addresser (or sender)
3. Adressee (or receiver)
4. Contact between an addresser and an addressee
5. Common code
6. Message
Six functions of language (according to Jakobson):
1. REFERENTIAL FUNCTION
Description of a place, event or state
2. EMOTIVE FUNCTION
Describes expressing something (interjections and expressions of emotional state)
3. CONATIVE FUNCTION
Concerned with commanding
4. POETIC FUNCTION
Appreciation for the literary ans spoken word tradition
5. PHATIC FUNCTION
Engaging for the sake of conversation (small talk)
6. METALINGUAL FUNCTION
Analyzing language
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J.L. Austin (1911-1960)

∟ A British philosopher of language
∟ Widely associated with the concept of the speech act and the idea that speech is itself a form of
action
∟ How to Do Things With Words. Oxford: Clarendon, 1962, (Written version of Austin’s William
James Lectures delivered at Harvard in 1955)
Austin claimed that one of the functions of language is the performative function which refers to
performing a specific action – SPEECH ACT THEORY
LOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT – the act of saying something
ILLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT – a sentence is used to express an attitude with a certain function
(force), what one does in uttering something
PERLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT – the effect a given utterance evokes
Example:
You are going to fail this course.
What is the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary

force of this utterance?
∟ Michael A. K. Halliday (1925 – 2018) British linguist, developed the model of functional
grammar and theory of language functions.
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Wykład 1: Act of communication
Communication
The exchange of ideas, information, etc. between two or more persons. In an act of communication there
is usually at least a speaker or sender, a message which is transmitted, and a person or persons for
whom this message is intended (the receiver).
The process that occurs when ideas, information and feelings are conveyed between individuals or
groups of individuals for deliberate purposes. (Buguley 1994)
A process of transmitting and receiving verbal or non-verbal messages that produces a response
(Murphy and Hildebrandt 1991)
Components of the Communication Process

∟ Source/sender is the person who initiates the message
∟ Message is the information transmitted * verbal and non-verbal
∟ Channel is medium through which messages reaches the receiver (auditory, visual, etc)
∟ Receiver is the person to whom the message is targeted/addressed
What are the factors influencing communication?
o The factors influencing communication are the individual’s perception of the environment;
o the cultural context of the interaction;
o the individual’s definition of acceptable space and distance, or personal space;
and the amount of time available for the communication.
∟ These factors interact with the components of the communication process (sender, message, channel,
and receiver).
What are the modes of communication?

The modes of communication are both verbal and nonverbal.
• Verbal communication includes messages sent with words / language. Verbal communication can
be spoken or written.
• Nonverbal communication includes messages sent through body language, such as posture,
gestures, touch, facial expressions, and physical appearance.
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Verbal /Nonverbal communication

A great deal of information is exchanged through nonverbal channels
Ex: a clenched jaw, narrowed eyes, or slumped posture can be interpreted as conveying anger, distrust, or disinterest.
Steady eye contact, a tilted head, and a reassuring smile can demonstrate interest and empathy.
Body language
∟ The human body signals identity (gender, race, ethnicity, age, occupation, social class, personality,
and more )
∟ Space, gaze, and touch signal approach or avoidance
∟ Facial expressions communicate emotions (consciouosly or unconciously)
∟ Gestures accompany and substitute speech
∟ Voice conveys the nonverbal elements of speech (pitch, speech rate, pronunciation, volume)
Roman Jakobson’s model of verbal communication

In 1950 Roman Jakobson (Russian linguist) introduced a theory concerning the purposes of the
language used in human communication.
This model of communication functions consists of two layers of description:
• the various elements of language use (factors/components of verbal communication)
• what humans do with the language when they use it (functions of verbal communication).
Jakobson’s Language Functions
Factors Functions
Sender Expressive / emotive
Receiver directive / conative
Message poetic
Context informative / referential
Channel phatic
Code metalingual
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Examples
 I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.
(emotive / expressive function → focus on the sender)
 I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but if you would be so kind as to lower your voices a little.
(emotive / expressive function → focus on the sender)
 It was a burning hot day; the air was stifling; one could hardly breathe even near the sea.
(informative / referential funtion → focus on the content)
 It was a beautiful warm day; the air was like velvet; the sea air was invigorating.
(poetic function → focus on the message)
 Nice weather today!
(phatic funtion → focus on the contact/channel)
Model for textual analysis
1. Informative/referential function
∟ Focus on content: explanation, definition, description
2. Expressive / emotive function
∟ Focus on sender’s attitude to topic: positive, negative, ironical, sentimental etc.
∟ Focus on sender’s attitude to receiver: equal, authority, personal, impersonal, solidarity
etc.
∟ As reflected in choice of words, sentence structure etc.
3. Directive /conative function
∟ Focus on receiver:
Explicit – order, request, demand, warning, advice etc.
Implicit – through expressive means changing people’s mind
4. Phatic function
∟ Focus on the ’channel’ between sender and receiver for the purpose of inviting or
maintaining communication
∟ Reflected in use of pronouns, rhetorical expressions
5. Poetic function
∟ Focus on the form of the message
∟ Reflected in: imagery such as metaphor, simile, puns, allegory, assonance, etc.
6. Metalingual function
∟ Focus on language itself (the code). Language turned back on itself, language about
language:
∟ Reflected in terminology of linguistics: adjective, pronoun, sentence, etc. – and questions
like ’What do you mean when you say…..?’
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Wykład 2: Phonological system of English
Linguistics - The scientific study of language.

Phonetics
∟ Part of linguistics. The scientific study of speech sound.
∟ Articulatory phonetics: How speech sounds are articulated. → Description and classification of
speech sounds.
∟ Acoustic phonetics: How speech sounds are generated and how they are transmitted. → The
relationship between articulation and acoustic output.
∟ Auditory phonetics: How human ears perceive speech sounds.
Phonology
∟ How speech sounds are used in languages.
∟ Study of systems of speech sounds and the rules which govern them
Speech sounds
∟ Sounds are not the same things as orthography.
∟ The IPA was created to represent actual speech sounds.
∟ IPA was designed to consider grouping of sounds.
▪ Voiced/voiceless
▪ Place of articulation
▪ Manner of articulation
∟ Sounds change based on speech context
Phone - An individual sound of speech; an elementary sound unit.

Phoneme - The smallest sound unit in a language that distinguishes word meanings.
Vowels – tense, lax
∟ Tense vowels - occur in words with a final so-called silent “e” in the spelling (e.g., “mate”, “mete”,
“kite”, and “cute”). These vowels CAN occur in open syllables (V, CV, CCV, etc.)
∟ Lax vowels - occur in the words without a “silent e” such as “mat”, “met”, “kit” and “cut”. These
vowels CANNOT occur in open syllables, but are only found in closed syllables.
Minimal pair
∟ Two words that have exactly the same phonemes except one.
∟ Minimal pairs are useful for determining which sounds are phonemes in a language.
∟ EXAMPLES:
/pit/ - /bit/
/pit/ - /pæt/
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Allophone – [ ]
∟ A variant of a phoneme. The allophones of a phoneme form a set of sounds that:
o Do not change the meaning of a word,
o Are all very similar to one another, and
o Occur in phonetic contexts different from one another (for example, syllable-initial as
opposed to syllable-final.
∟ The differences among allophones can be stated in terms of phonological rules.
Monophthongs vs. Diphthongs

▪ Monophthongs
A vowel in which there is no appreciable change in quality during a syllable, as in “father.”
▪ Diphthongs
A vowel in which there is a change in quality during a single syllable, as in “high.”
Diphthongs Tense vowels with a little bit of offglide

/aɪ/ - As in “high, buy,” moves toward a high front But these are not full diphthongs.
vowel, but in most forms of English it does not go
/e/ = /e/
much beyond a mid front vowel.
/i/ = /ij/
/ɔɪ/ - As in “boy”
/o/ = /oʊ/
/aʊ/ - As in “how”; Usually starts with a very similar
/u/ = /uw/
quality to that at the beginning of “high”
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Connected speech
o The way we talk daily.
o Our talk is “connected” because we do not separate each word as we talk.
o Connected speech is not like citation form.
Citation form
o Citation form is a teacher type of talk. Each word is articulated separately.
o We rarely talk in citation form.
Syllable
o A unit of speech consisting of either a single vowel (or a syllabic consonant) or a vowel and one
or more consonants associated with it.
o The syllable is often used to describe patterns of stress and timing in speech.
▪ Open syllable → starts with one or more consonants and ends with V
• CV
▪ Closed syllable → consonants at the end.
• CVC, CVCC (etc.)
Geminate consonant
o Long consonants that can be analyzed as double are called geminates.
o E.g. middle of Italian “folla”
o Careful: many English words are spelled with two consonants, but these are usually NOT
geminates (e.g., “running”)
Homorganic
o Two sounds that have the same place of articulation.
o For example, /d/ and /n/, as in English “hand,” are homorganic. They are both articulated on the
alveolar ridge.
1. Airstream mechanism
1. Airstream mechanism: The manner in which an airstream is set in motion for the purposes of
speech.
2. Airstream mechanisms may produce ingressive (inward) or egressive (outward) airflow.
3. An airstream mechanism consists of the movement of an initiator. Speech sounds are produced
with one of three airstream mechanisms, or occasionally by a combination of two of these.
2. Pulmonic, Glottalic and Velaric airstreams
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3. How to describe vowels

Main classification
▪ Tongue height ➔ high, mid, or low.
▪ Tongue advancement ➔ front, central, or back.
Also, we talk about…
▪ Tenseness ➔ tense or lax
▪ Lip rounding
Examples: /i/ is a (high, mid, low) (back, central, front) vowel.
/u/ is a (high, mid, low) (back, central, front) vowel.
4. Basic Speech Anatomy
5. Vocal Cord
1. Glottis is the space between the vocal folds.
2. Vocal folds are the two moving parts.
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Wykład 3: Consonants in English, aspects of connected speech
6. Aspects of Connected Speech

 Weak Forms
 Yod coalescence
 Elision
 Assimilation
 Linking
WEAK FORMS
o When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics of English this regards a series of words which
have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated, and another (weak) when not stressed within
a phrase.
a car I bought a car

/ˈeɪ ˈkɑ:/ /aɪ ˈbɔ:t ə ˈkɑ:/
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Look at this phrase:

I went to the hotel and booked a room for two nights for my father and his best friend.
7. What are the most important words?
I went to the hotel and booked a room for two nights for my father and his best friend.
8. If we eliminate the other words can we still understand the message?
went hotel booked room two nights father best friend.
9. Let’s look at the phrase transcribed:
/aɪ ˈwent tə ðə həʊ ˈtel ən ˈbʊkt ə ˈru:m fə ˈtu: ˈnaɪts fə maɪ ˈfɑ:ðər ən hɪz ˈbest ˈfrend/
10. There is a tendency for vowels in unstressed syllables to shift towards the schwa (central position)
11. Weak form are commonly used words

1. Prepositions
2. Auxiliary verbs
3. Conjunctions
Prepositions Strong form Weak form Auxilary verbs Strong form Weak form Others Strong form Weak form
to are and
for was but
from were than
into would that
of could you
as should her
at can a
must an
the
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12. Weak=unstressed
In the following sentences the underlined words are stressed and so would be pronounced using the
strong form:
I do like chocolate.
She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.
We were surprised when she told us her secret. (stress on ‘were’ for emphasis)
YOD COALESCENCE
In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of assimilation – it is a phenomenon which takes place
when /j/ is preceded by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/:
13. /t/ + /j/ = /tʃ/
…but use your head!

/bətʃu:z jɔ: hed/
What you need….
/wɒtʃu ni:d/
The ball that you brought….
/ðə bɔ:l ðətʃu: brɔ:t/
Last year….
/lɑ:stʃɪə/
Examples:
 1- ‘Betcha’ for
‘( I ) bet you’ as in ‘Betcha can’t catch me.
 2- ‘Gotcha’ for
‘( I’ ve ) got you’ as in ‘Gotcha at last’
14. /d/ + /j/ = /dʒ/
Could you help me?

/kʊdʒu help mi:/
Would yours work?
/wʊdʒɔ:z wɜ:k/
She had university students…
/ʃi: hædʒu:ni:vɜ:sɪti stju:dənts
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Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following phrases:
What you need is a good job!

You told me that you had your homework done.
She didn’t go to France that year.
Could you open the window please?
You’ve already had yours!
ELISION
Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain contexts. The most important
occurrences of this phenomenon regard:
Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two consonants
The next day… /ðə ˈneks ˈdeɪ/
The last car… /ðə ˈlɑ:s ˈkɑ:/
Hold the dog! /ˈhəʊl ðə ˈdɒg/
Send Frank a card. /sen ˈfræŋk ə ˈkɑ:d/
15. Affricates /t/ and /d/

This can also take place within affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ when preceded by a consonant, e.g.
lunchtime /ˈlʌntʃtaɪm/
becomes /bɪˈkʌms/
strange days /ˈstreɪndʒˈdeɪz/ → /ˈstreɪnʒˈdeɪz/
16. Elision of ‘not’

The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not, the possibility of it being elided
makes the foreign students life more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a consonant
the /t/ may easily disappear and the only difference between the positive and the negative is a different,
longer vowel sound in the second:
+ I can speak…. /aɪ kən ˈspi:k/

- I can’t speak… /aɪ ˈkɑ:n(t) ˈspi:k/
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ASSIMILATION
A significant difference in natural connected speech is the way that sounds belonging to one word can
cause change in sounds belonging to neighbouring words.
Assimilation can be:
of Place
of Voicing
of Manner
17. Regressive & Progressive
1. That person /ðæpesn/
2. Good boy /gubboi/
3. Get them /geðƏm/
4. Read these /riddi:z/
Assimilation of Place
The most common form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and
/n/ to a position closer to that of the following sound.
For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a velar position, so that the
tongue will be ready to produce the following velar sound /k/.
Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, to prepare for the articulation of the
bilabial /b/.
BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)
/d/ → /g/
e.g. good girl / gugƏ:l/
/t/ → /k/
e.g. that kid /ðækid/
BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)
/n/ → /m/
e.g. ten men /tem men/
/d/ → /b/
e.g. bad boys /bæb ˈbɔɪz/
/t/ → /p/
e.g. hot mushrooms / hɒp ˈmʌʃru:mz/
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ASSIMILATION OF VOICING
The vibration of the vocal folds is not something that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as a result
groups of consonants tend to be either all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the different endings of
‘books’, bags and ‘catches’.
LINKING
The phoneme ‘r’ does not occur in syllable final position in BBC accent.
When a word’s spelling suggests a final r, and a word beginning with a vowel follows the usual
pronunciation is to pronounce with ‘r’.
Examples:
‘Here’ / hiƏ/ but if
Here are /hiƏra /
‘Four’ / fo:/ but if
Four eggs / fo:r egz /
Conclusion
There is a great deal of difference between words pronounced in isolation and in the context of
connected speech.
Learners of English must be aware of the problem they will meet in listening to colloquial connected
speech.
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Wykład 4: The concepts of tense, aspect and mood, basic concepts of morphology
What is a Verb?
A verb is a part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence.
There is a book on the table.
He is studying Japanese now.
Father bought me a new cap.
This is the most important part of a sentence. A sentence can have only one word as long as that word is
a verb.
Classification of verbs
1. Simple verb phrase vs. complex verb phrase
2. Main verb (notional verb, the head and indicating the basic meaning of a verb phrase) and auxiliary (to help
main verbs )
transitive verb main verb intransitive verb verb linking verb
primary auxiliary auxiliary modal auxiliary semi-auxiliary
Classification of main verb

1. Transitive verbs vs. intransitive verbs vs. linking verbs (copula)
The fish is fresh. You don’t have to smell it. The milk is going bad. It smells.
This dish smells delicious.
2. Dynamic verbs vs. stative (non-progressive) verbs

Dynamic verbs are verbs that refer to actions.
Stative verbs are verbs that refer to states, including Transitive verbs vs. intransitive verbs vs. linking
verbs (copula)
The fish is fresh. You don’t have to smell it.
The milk is going bad. It smells.
This dish smells delicious.
main verb be and have, verbs meaning being and having, verbs referring to a sense perception, verbs referring
to a feeling, a state of mind or an opinion.
The workers are building a new railroad.

This rule applies to everyone.
She doesn’t hear very well.
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3. Finite verbs vs. non-finite verbs
4. Regular verbs vs. irregular verbs
5. Single-word verbs vs. phrasal verbs
Classification of auxiliary
• Primary Auxiliaries : be, do, have
We are learning English. (help to form the progressive aspect or the passive voice )
She didn’t come back last night. (help to form negative and interrogative sentences )
I have finished my homework. (help to form the perfective or the perfective progressive aspect.)
• Modal Auxiliaries:13
Phrasal verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb that is composed of two or more words. Some can be used as transitive verbs,
while some intransitive.
Three categories:
1. Verb + preposition (transitive)
We must look into the matter immediately.
He couldn’t account for his long absence from school.
more: apply for, break into, come across, insist on, consist of, do without, complain of, look after, adjust to, allow for,
ask for, call on, long for, listen to, care for, resort to, speak of, etc.
• Compare:
She answered my question.
She will answer for his safety.
She attended the meeting.
She attended on the wounded.
She called me.
She called on me.
She called to me.
I know her.
I know of her.
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2. Verb + adverb particle
A particle, in grammar, is a function word ,but does not fit into the main parts of speech (i.e. noun, verb,
adverb). Particles do not change. It is mostly used for words that help to encode grammatical categories (such
as negation, mood or case).
The infinitive 'to' in 'to fly' is an example of a particle, although it can also act as a preposition.
I'm going to Spain next week.
Adverbial particle: up, down, on, off, in, out, over, away
A fire broke out during the night.

The meeting has been called off.
• Compare:
The lights went out.
He put on his coat and went out.
The wind blew up the valley.
He blew up the bridge.
More: back up, call off, give up, hand in, hand out, pick up, take in, turn on, turn off, set up, show off, turn up etc.
3. Verb + adverb particle + preposition
Please keep out of her affairs.
Will this enthusiasm carry over to the next week?

I don’t want to come down with the flu again.
I will have to fill in for Wally until he gets back.
Attention: Phrasal verbs are verbal idioms, different form simple verbal combinations.
More: catch up with, go in for, look up to, run out of, live up to, look out for, etc.
4. verb + noun + preposition and verb + noun
She soon realized that she was being made fun of.
She indulged in luxury and made a mess of her life.
More: get rid of, put an end to, keep pace with, make a fool of, keep an eye on, give rise to, etc.
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A survey of tense, aspect, voice and mood

1. Tense
Tense is a grammatical form associated with verbs that tells of the distinctions of time. It shows the relationship
between the form of the verb and the time of the action or state it describes.
Differences between tenses and time
Time is a concept universally existent with three divisions: past time, present time and future time. and tense
may be a grammatical device or vocabulary device specific to a language.
English verbs have two tenses: the present tense and the past tense.
2. Aspect
Aspect is a grammatical term indicating whether an action or state at a given time is viewed as complete or
incomplete.
English verbs have two aspects: the progressive aspect and the perfective aspect.
• A combination of the two tenses and the two aspects makes it possible for a finite verb phrase to take
the following eight forms (with the main verb play as an example):
• TENSE-ASPECT
Simple Present plays

Simple Past played
Present Progressive is playing
Past Progressive was playing
Present Perfective has played
Past Perfective had played
Present Perfective Progressive has been playing
Past Perfective Progressive had been playing
3. Voice
Voice is a grammatical category, a form of the verb which shows whether the subject of a sentence acts or is
acted on.
the active voice

the passive voice
He published his second novel in 1998.
This book was published in 1998.
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4. Mood
Mood is a finite verb form that indicates whether an utterance expresses a fact, a command or request, or a
non-fact and hypothesis.
the indicative mood

the imperative mood
the subjunctive mood
He goes to church every Sunday.

Don’t be late for school. Go to school at once.
Mother insisted that he go to hospital at once.
VERB MOODS
Verb moods indicate a state of being or reality. Show the speaker’s attitude. They show the manner in which
the action or condition is intended.
1. Indicative Mood
Indicative states an apparent fact. This is the way verbs are normally used in English.
examples: (Choose 1)
• Last year, I ate a sandwich for lunch almost every day.
• Mrs. Freeman drives a very nice car.
• Bernie's cat likes to sit on a piano bench.
2. Interrogative Mood
indicates a state of questioning. In the interrogative, the subject-verb order is inverted.
Examples:
• Will Dad take out the trash tomorrow?

(Interrogative of: Dad will take out the trash tomorrow.)
3. Imperative Mood
Imperative states a command or request. Frequently, the subject does not appear in the sentence, but it is
implied.
Examples: (Choose 1)
• (You) Wait and watch before crossing the street.

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• Come here.
• Hang on!
4. Subjunctive Mood
Examples: (Choose 1)
• If I were you, I would study very hard for Friday's test.
• I prefer Mom to drive me to the store instead of my cousin Bob.
• Principal Andrews insists that we students walk on the right side of the hallway.
5. Conditional Mood
Conditional indicates a conditional state that will cause something else to happen.
It is marked by the words "might," "could," and "would."
MORPHOLOGY
Morphology is the study of word formation. It covers:

INFLECTION and DERIVATION.
INFLECTION deals with changes to an individual lexeme for grammatical reasons.
English is a relatively uninflected language.
• Verbs inflect for:
- 3rd person singular in the present simple tense (e.g. looks)
- past simple (looked)
- present participle (looking)
- past participle (looked)
Nouns inflect for:

- plural (girls)
- possessive (girl’s, girls’)
Some adjectives and adverbs inflect for:
- the comparative (nicer, hotter, sooner)
- the superlative (nicest, hottest, soonest)
INFLECTION does not change the word-class to which a word belongs.
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Word-forms which represent a given lexeme are organized into PARADIGMS, i.e. closed sets of forms of which
only one may fill a particular syntactic slot (e.g. paradigms of noun declension and verb conjugation in Polish).
DERIVATION deals with the methods of forming new lexemes from the already existing ones.
MORPHEME
Morpheme is the smallest individually meaningful element in the utterances of a language.
A minimal unit of meaning or grammatical function that is the central concern of morphology.
• Bound morpheme can never occur in isolation. Affixes are bound morphemes.
• Free morpheme can function as an independent word
MORPH AND ALLOMORPH

Morph is the actual (physical) realization of an abstract morpheme. E.g. the present participle morpheme is
always the morph –ing.
Allomorph is an alternant of a morpheme. It is any form in which a morpheme is actually realized.
• Phonologically conditioned allomorph - English plural endings can be pronounced as /s/, /z/ or /iz/.
• Grammatically conditioned allomorphs – German der, die, das.
• Lexically conditioned allomorph – English plural ending –en (children, bretheren, oxen)
STEM, BASE, ROOT
STEM is the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional affixes have been removed, e.g.
book-s.
BASE is the part of the word-form which remains when all derivational affixes have been removed, e.g.
un-happy.
ROOT is the part of the word-form which remains when all inflectional and derivational affixes have
been removed, e.g. un-happi-ness
MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES
• CONCATENATIVE:
- Compounding
- Incorporation
- Affixation
• NONCONCATENATIVE:
- Reduplication
- Internal modification
- Conversion
- Back-derivation
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COMPOUNDING
It involves putting together two or more lexical items, representing the major syntactic categories N, V, A.
• TYPES OF COMPOUNDS:
1. Endocentric (modifier + head construction), e.g. pipe tobacco
2. Exocentric (bahuvrihi), e.g. greenhorn, birdbrain, loudmouth
3. Appositional, e.g. boy servant (they are reversible)
4. Dvandva, e.g. sofa-bed, Austria-Hungary
5. Neo-classical compounds, e.g. microscope, telescope
6. Hybrids, e.g. drunkom
INCORPORATION – does not exist in English
AFFIXATION
Affixation is the combination of a bound morpheme with a stem or root.
SUFFIXATION –consists in attaching a suffix to a base (root). A suffix is an affix which follows the base-
form, e.g. care-ful
PREFIXATION – consists in the attachment of a bound morpheme (prefix) in front of the base-form, e.g.
dis-honest, un-usual, re-organize
INFIXATION – a process in which a bound morpheme is inserted into the base form, e.g. al-bloody-
mighty, air con-bloody-ditioner, kanga-bloody-roo
PREFIXAL-SUFFIXAL DERIVATION – e.g. em-bold-en, en-liv-en
REDUPLICATION
Reduplication (repetition) involves repetition of the whole base element (root or stem) or just a part of it. Thus,
we can distinguish COMPLETE REDUPLICATION (e.g. blah-blah) or PARTIAL REDUPLICATION (e.g. zig-zag,
ding-dong, ping-pong).
A very specific type of reduplication are ONOMATOPOEIC EXPRESSIONS (e.g. woof-woof, chirp-chirp, oink-
oink)
INTERNAL MODIFICATION (APOPHONY)

Known also as APOPHONY. It consists in replacing, within a word, a particular phonological segment with
another one.
• VOWEL MODIFICATION:
• begin – began mouse – mice
• speak – spoke man - men
• bind – bound foot – feet
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CONSONANT MODIFICATION:
belief – believe
defence – defend
advice – advise
MIXED MODIFICATION:
catch – caught
live – life
bathe - bath
CONVERSION
It is a process by which a word belonging to one word class is used as part of another word class without the
addition of an affix. Known also as zero derivation, reclassification or functional shift, e.g.
[cook]V + Ø = [cook]N
Ø = zero morpheme
Conversion can be divided into: TRANSCATEGORIAL (shifting from one class to another) and
INTRACATEGORIAL (e.g. in Polish fizyka – fizyk)
BACK DERIVATION
Also known as BACK FORMATION. It consists in the deletion of a suffix from a complex form, e.g.
beggar – to beg
editor – to edit
negation – to negate
television – to televise
CLIPPING
A process of shortening of a polysyllabic lexeme
BACK CLIPPING: MIXED CLIPPING:
• ad – advertisement • flu – influenza
• dorm – dormitory • fridge – refrigerator
• intro- introduction CLIPPING COMPOUNDS:
• photo – photograph • Amerind - American Indian
FORE CLIPPING: • hi-fi – high fidelity
• burger – hamburger
• phone – telephone
• van – caravan
• plane – aeroplane
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BLENDING
The process, known also as contamination, involves coining new word from phonetic fragments of two (or more)
basic words, e.g.
• slang + language = slanguage
• motor + hotel = motel
• smoke + fog = smog
• breakfast + lunch = brunch
ACRONYMIZATION
• LETTER-WORDS: AIDS, NASA, UNESCO

• SYLLABLE-WORDS: Benelux
MORPHOLOGY CONTINUED
• Morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of words.

• In English and many other languages, many words can be broken down into parts. For example:
unhappiness un-happi-ness
horses horse-s
walking walk-ing
un - carries a negative meaning

ness - expresses a state or quality
s - expresses plurality
ing - conveys a sense of duration
A word like “yes”, however, has no internal grammatical structure. We can analyze the sounds, but
none of them has any meaning in isolation.
• The smallest unit which has a meaning or grammatical function that words can be broken down into are known
as morphemes.
• So to be clear: “un” is a morpheme.
• “yes” is also a morpheme, but also happens to be a word.
There are several important distinctions that must be made when it comes to morphemes:
(1) – Free vs. Bound morphemes
Free morphemes are morphemes which can stand alone. We have already seen the example of “yes”.
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Bound morphemes: never exist as words themselves, but are always attached to some other
morpheme. We have already seen the example of “un”.
When we identify the number and types of morphemes that a given word consists of, we are looking at
what is referred to as the structure of a word.
Every word has at least one free morpheme, which is referred to as the root, stem, or base.
We can further divide bound morphemes into three categories:
prefix un-happy
suffix happi-ness
infix abso-blooming-lutely
The general term for all three is affix.
(2) – Derivational vs. Inflectional morphemes

Derivational morphemes create or derive new words by changing the meaning or by changing the word
class of the word.
For example:
happy → unhappy
Both words are adjectives, but the meaning changes.
quick → quickness
The affix changes both meaning and word class - adjective to a noun.
In English: Derivational morphemes can be either prefixes or suffixes.
Inflectional morphemes don’t alter words the meaning or word class of a word; instead they only refine
and give extra grammatical information about the word’s already existing meaning.
For example:
Cat → cats
walk → walking
• In English: Inflectional morphemes are all suffixes (by chance, since in other languages this is not true).
There are only 8 inflectional morphemes in English:

• -s 3rd person sg. Present “He waits”
• -ed past tense “He waited”
• -ing progressive “He is waiting”
• -en past participle “I had eaten”
• -s plural “Both chairs are broken”
• -’s possessive “The chair’s leg is broken”
• -er comparative “He was faster”
• -est superlative “He was the fastest”
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Inflectional morphemes are required by syntax. (that is, they indicate syntactic or semantic relations
between different words in a sentence).
For example: Nim loves bananas. but They love bananas.
Derivational morphemes are different in that syntax does not require the presence of derivational
morphemes; they do, however, indicate sematic relations within a word (that is, they change the
meaning of the word).
For example:
kind → unkind He is unkind. They are unkind.
A morpheme is not equal to a syllable:
"coats" has 1 syllable, but 2 morphemes.
"syllable" has 2 syllables, but only 1 morpheme.
Types of Word-Formation Processes

AFFIXATION
• One of the most productive ways to form new words is through affixation, which is forming new words by
the combination of bound affixes and free morphemes.
There are three types of affixation:

prefixation: where an affix is placed before the base of the word
suffixation: where an affix is placed after the base of the word
infixation: where an affix is placed within a stem (abso-blooming-lutely)
• While English uses primarily prefixation and suffixation, many other languages use infixes.
COMPOUNDING
A second word-formation process is known as Compounding, which is forming new words not from bound affixes
but from two or more independent words: the words can be free morphemes, words derived by affixation, or even
words formed by compounds themselves.
• e.g. girlfriend air-conditioner blackbird looking-glass
textbook watchmaker
Compound words have different stress, as in the following examples:
1. The wool sweater gave the man a red neck.
2. The redneck in the bar got drunk and started yelling
In compounds, the primary stress is on the first word only, while individual words in phrases have independent
primary stress.
• blackbird black bird
makeup make up
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REDUPLICATION
A third word-formation process is known as Reduplication, which is forming new words either by doubling an entire
free morpheme (total reduplication) or part of a morpheme (partial reduplication).
English doesn’t use this, but other languages make much more extensive use of reduplication.
BLENDING
A fourth type of word-formation process is known as Blending, where two words merge into each other, such as:
• brunch from breakfast and lunch
• smog from smoke and fog
MORPHEMES (continued)
the teacher restructured the final exam.
re- (minimal unit of meaning standing for again)
-structur (minimal unit of meaning)
-ed (minimal unit of grammatical function)
Morphemes are commonly classified into:

• free morphemes – morphemes which can stand by themselves as separate words,
e.g. structure, like, go, work, friend etc.
• bound morphemes – morphemes which cannot normally stand alone but need to be attached to other
forms,
e.g. re-, -ed, -s, -ing etc.
- unit of meaning which can only exist alongside a free morpheme.
These are most commonly prefixes and suffixes:
• ungrateful
• insufficient
• childish
• goodness
A handful of examples:
• His un-happi-ness is contagious.
• He is talking rubbish.
• Stop listening to his disruptive comments.
• Oh goodness me! He has unraveled the mistery.
• That essay is illegible.
• She finds it stressful to keep travelling.
A free morpheme is also called STEM
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FREE MORPHEMES
• lexical morphemes:
– red, house, colour, kitchen, etc.
• functional morphemes:
– to, near, because, since, as, for, etc.
BOUND MORPHEMES
Derivational morphemes are affixes (prefixes or suffixes) that are added to words to form new words (e.g.,
possible / im-possible / im-possibil-ity).
Inflectional morphemes are suffixes as in -Sally’s daughters – or – I wanted it – they provide grammatical
information about gender, number, person, case, degree, and verb form. They are not used to change
the grammatical category of a word.
English inflectional morphology

English has only three categories of meaning which are expressed inflectionally, known as inflectional
categories. They are number in nouns, tense/aspect in verbs, and comparison in adjectives.
Word class to which Inflectional category Regular affix used to express
inflection applies category
Nouns Number -s, -es: book/books, bush/bushes
. Possessive -'s, -': the cat's tail, Charles' toe
Verbs 3rd person singular present -s, -es: it rains, Karen writes, the
water sloshes
. past tense -ed: paint/painted
. perfect aspect -ed: paint/painted ('has painted)
(past participle)
. progressive or continunous aspect -ing: fall/falling, write/writing
(present participle)
Adjectives comparative (comparing two items) -er: tall/taller
. superlative (comparing +2 items) -est: tall/tallest
untouchables
un-touch-able-s
stem
derivational suffix
UN-TOUCH-ABLE-S
Derivational prefix
Inflectional suffix
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• Though most inflectional morphemes are suffixes, some irregular forms do exist (e.g., men is the plural
of man).
• Some words of foreign origins will have irregular inflections (e.g. curriculum/a, corpus – corpora)
The genitive case

Not only expressing possession (the cat’s food)
The notion of origin (the traveller’s story)
A description (a summer’s day)
A period is measured (three months’ holiday)
Doing the action or receiving the action (the man’s application)
Personal and higher animal’s nouns (Hilary’s book)
Nouns of special human relevance (my life’s aim)
The of- genitive

o Inanimate nouns (a part of the difficulty)
o Titles (the Duke of York)
o Some nouns can have both forms….
▪ the ship’s name or the name of the ship
How is the plural morpheme realised?

• (1) witch, horse, wish (1) witches, horses, wishes
• (2) wand, professor, injury (2) wands, professors, injuries
• (3) rat (3) rats
• (4) ox, goose, tooth (4) oxen, geese, teeth
• (5) werewolf (5) werewolves
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Regular and irregular inflectional morphology
Type of irregularity Noun plurals Verbs: past tense Verbs: past participle
Unusual suffix oxen, syllabi, antennae taken, seen, fallen, eaten
run/ran, come/came,
flee/fled, meet/met,
Change of stem vowel foot/feet, mouse/mice swim/swum, sing/sung
fly/flew, stick/stuck,
get/got, break/broke
Change of stem vowel with write/written, do/done,

brother/brethren/ feel/felt, kneel/knelt
unusual suffix break/broken, fly/flown
send/sent, bend/bent, send/sent, bend/bent,

Change in base/stem form
think/thought, think/thought,
(sometimes with unusual
teach/taught, teach/taught,
suffix)
buy/bought buy/bought
Zero-marking (no suffix, no

deer, sheep, moose, fish hit, beat hit, beat, come
stem change)
• MORPHOPHONEMICS/ALLOMORPHY = the study of the processes by which morphemes change

their pronunciation in certain situations.
• ALLOMORPHS = the different forms (pronunciations) of a single morpheme. Ex: the plural morpheme
in English is {-z}. Its allomorphs are / s /, / z /, / @z /.** Also, the morpheme 'leaf' has two allomorphs:
'leaf' in words built from it (e.g.'leafy') and 'leav-', found only in the plural: 'leaves'.
WORD
The smallest unit of meaning that appears as the headword in an dictionary and therefore can stand alone. It is
separated by spaces in written language.
When we find a unit such as ‘come in’, for example, that is a unit of meaning which is longer than a word
we use the term lexeme.
it is very difficult to decide word boundaries in a unit such as ‘washing machine’: two words or one?
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LEXEME
• A lexeme can be a single word: walk, cat, push
• A compoud noun: washing machine
• An idiomatic phrase: seize the day
WORDS
A further distinction is made between lexical and grammatical words
▪ Full words (LEXICAL) mainly ‘carry’ meaning, e.g. doctor, make, happy.
▪ Empty words (GRAMMATICAL)mainly fulfil a grammatical function, e.g. and, in, to, for, because.
▪ A word may be formed by one or more than one morpheme.
▪ SIMPLE WORD = a word consisting of a single morpheme; a word that cannot be analyzed into smaller
meaningful parts, e.g. 'item', 'five', 'chunk', 'the'.
▪ COMPLEX WORD = a word consisting of a root plus one or more affixes (e.g. 'items', 'walked', 'dirty').
▪ COMPOUND WORD = a word that is formed from two or more simple or complex words (e.g.
landlord, red-hot, window cleaner).
Word formation
The term refers to the whole process of morphological variation in the constitution of words, including
inflection (word variation due to grammatical relationships) and derivation (word variation due to lexical
relationships).
In a more restricted sense, word formation refers only to the latter processes of derivation. But to be more
precise we have to distinguish between derivational processes and compositional processes or compounding.
Word formation processes

• Ways of creating new words
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COINAGE
The invention of totally new terms.
Often a brand name becomes the name for the item or process associated with the brand name
Examples:
o hoover
o Kleenex
o Xerox
o Kodak
BORROWING
Taking over words from other languages.
Examples from Italian
- pasta
- piano and what else?
Loan translation or calque:
− If there is a direct translation of the elements of a word into the borrowing language
− un grattacielo (– a skyscraper)
Compounding
A compound noun is made up of more than one word and functions as a noun.
They are often written as two words (e.g. bank account, tin opener, answering machine etc.)
Usually the main stress is on the first part of the compound. (e.g. alarm clock, tea bag, bus stop, etc.)
but they can be written also as a unique word:
o skateboard, whitewash
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Examples by word class

Modifier + Head = Compound
• Noun + noun football
• Adjective + noun blackboard
• Verb + noun breakwater
• Preposition + noun underworld
• Noun + adjective snowwhite
• Adjective + adjective blue-green
• Verb + adjective tumbledown
• Preposition + adjective over-ripe
• Noun + verb browbeat
• Adjective + verb highlight
• Verb + verb freeze-dry
• Preposition + verb undercut
• Noun + preposition love-in
• Adjective + preposition forthwith
• Verb + preposition takeout
• Preposition + preposition without
In general, the meaning of a compound noun is a specialization of the meaning of its head. The modifier limits
the meaning of the head. This is most obvious in descriptive compounds, in which the modifier is used in an
attributive or appositional manner.
A blackboard is a particular kind of board which is (generally) black, for instance.
• Endocentric compounds:
the whole meaning can be figured out by an analysis of its parts or "morphemes".
Ex.: "car-wash". semantically transparent
• Exocentric compounds
the whole meaning cannot be established by an analysis of parts;
Ex.: "hogwash". semantically opaque
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The words that follow are compounds. For each one, give the meaning of each member of the compound and
that of the compounded form. Say whether the compound is semantically transparent or not.
• a. battlefield
• b. scarecrow
• c. churchyard
• d. dogwood
• e. hoodwink
• f. handkerchief
• g. inmate
• h. postman
• i. ladysmock
Blending
smoke + fog = smog
• Blending consists of taking the beginning of the first word and the end of the second word to make
a new word.
• Examples: motel (motor hotel) brunch (breakfast & lunch), telethon (television & marathon),
• To describe the mixing of languages we use terms such as Spanglish (Spanish + English), Itanglish, Cinglish
Clipping
The shortening of a polysyllabic word.
o facsimile = fax
o advertisement = ad
o Other examples:
o bro (< brother), pro (< professional), prof (< professor), math (< mathematics), veg (< 'vegetate', as in veg
out in front of the TV), sub (< substitute or submarine).
Back formation
▪ A word of one type (usually a noun) is reduced to a word of a different type (usually a verb) through
widespread use.
o to donate from donation
o to opt from option
o Other examples: pronunciate (< pronunciation), resurrect (< resurrection), enthuse (< enthusiasm),
▪ Hypocorism: from a longer word we form a single syllable word and add –y or –ie. (e.g. television=telly,
vegetable= veggie, moving picture=movie)
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Conversion or category change

• It is a change in the function of a word. Usually from noun to verb
e.g. butter – have you buttered your toast?
Or verb to noun, or verb to adjective:
• Phrasal verbs: to print out – a printout (noun)
» to take over – a take over (noun)
• Verbs: to see through – a see through top (adjective)
Acronyms
They are formed from the initial letters of a set of other words.
▪ They are usually pronounced as single words (e.g. NATO, PIN, etc.)
▪ Or as a set of letters (e.g. CD, VIP, etc.)
Derivation
This is the most common word formation process to create new words.
• Affixes:
– Prefixes (e.g. dis-)
– Suffixes (e.g. –ness)
Some derivational affixes of English
Class(es) of word to Nature of change in

AFFIX Examples
which affix applies meaning
Noun: non-starter
Prefix 'non-' Noun, adjective Negation/opposite
Adj.: non-partisan
Suffix '-ity' Adjective Changes to noun electric/electricity obese/obesity
tie/untie,
Verb Reverses action fasten/unfasten
Prefix 'un-'
Adjective opposite quality clear/unclear,
safe/unsafe
fame/famous,
Suffix '-ous' Noun Changes to adjective
glamor/glamorous
tie/retie,
Prefix 're-' Verb Repeat action
write/rewrite
Changes to adjective;
print/printable,
Suffix '-able' Verb means 'can undergo
drink/drinkable
action of verb'
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Inflectional categories and affixes of English
Word class to which Regular affix used to express

Inflectional category
inflection applies category
Number -s, -es: book/books, bush/bushes

Nouns
Possessive -'s, -': the cat's tail, Charles' toe
-s, -es: it rains, Karen writes, the

3rd person singular present
water sloshes
past tense -ed: paint/painted
Verbs -ed: paint/painted ('has painted)

perfect aspect
(past participle)
-ing: fall/falling, write/writing

progressive or continunous aspect
(present participle)
comparative (comparing two items) -er: tall/taller

Adjectives
superlative (comparing +2 items) -est: tall/tallest
Derivational Suffixes
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Adverb-makers Verb makers Adjectives from nouns Adjectives from

verbs
-ly=quickly -ate= orchestrate -ed= pointed -able= drinkable
-ward(s)= onwards -en= ripen -esque= burlesque -ive= attractive
-wise= clockwise -ify= certify -ful= successful
-ize/ise= advertise -(i)al= accidental
-ic= atomic
-ish= foolish
-less= careless
-ly= friendly
-ous= ambitious
-y= hairy
Noun Suffixes
ROOT SUFFIX WORD
EMPLOY - ment EMPLOY-MENT

AGREE AGREE- MENT
DISCUSS - ion, tion, sion DISCUSS-ION

PRODUCE PRODUC-TION
PERMIT PERMI-S-SION
INVITE - ation, - ition INVIT – ATION

OPPOSE OPPOS – ITION
PREFER -ence, - ance PREFER- ENCE

DISTANT DISTAN- CE
CERTAIN - ty, - ity CERTAIN-TY

SECURE SECUR- ITY
SAD - ness SAD-NESS

ILL ILL-NESS
BUILD - ing BUILD-ING

UNDERSTAND UNDERSTAND-ING
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Nouns for People
SUFFIX ROOT WORD
- er, -or, - ress Drive DRIV-ER

Edit EDIT-OR
Wait WAIT-RESS
- ist Tour TOUR-IST

Science SCIENT-IST
- ant , - ent Assist ASSIST-ANT

Study STUD-ENT
-an, - ian Republic REPUBLIC-AN

Electric ELECTRIC-IAN
- ee Employ EMPLOY-EE
Examine EXAMIN-EE
Address ADDRESS-EE
Forming Adjectives
- y added to the names of common Rock = ROCKY

substances, objects and things that (full of rocks, like rocks)
are experienced Noise = NOISY
( producing noise)
- ly Added to time words and to certain Day = DAILY

family/personal words Week= WEEKLY
Man = MANLY
- ful Added when it indicates in a positive Use = USEFUL

way the presence of a quality or ability Skill = SKILFUL
- less Negatively suggests the absence of a Use = USELESS

quality or ability Meaning = MEANINGLESS
− al Added to certain nouns of Latin origin Addition = ADDITIONAL

ending in – ion, -ic(s) and -ure Music = MUSICAL
Ethics = ETHICAL
Nature = NATURAL
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TO SUM UP…
Words can often be divided into morphemes. Words can have prefixes, infixes, suffixes, show inflectional or
derivational morphology, and much more...
'Morphology is the study of the rules governing the formation of words.'
EXCERCISES
Identify the morphemes for each of the following words, in the order that they appear in the word.
• Inputs
• Components
• Elements
• Indo-European
• Persian
• Within
• Another
• notable
Identify the inflectional and derivational morphemes

elements ordering
gain one
and morphology
unkind Persians
as killed
some such
case cram
example tend
feature the
great these
have thought
linked within
Indo-European off
speech
egg
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This is an exercise in English derivational morphology. Analyse the following words into root and derivational
affix. Identify the function of each affix, the grammatical category of the root and that of the derived word.
• a. defamation
• b. childish
• c. lioness
• d. encircle
• e. resentful
• f. disability
• g. untruthful
• h. Disagreement
Exercise: Word Formation Processes

• supply three more English words that exemplify each of the above word formation processes.
A dictionary will be of some help. You will probably not be able to find examples of backformation; this
requires knowledge of the history of words that would be very difficult to track down without a lot of
extra work. Skip this category.
• Wykład 5: Word-formation processes

•
Word formation
Word formation process is basically how new words are created and become part of the language. In linguistics,
word formation is the creation of a new word. In other words, it refers to the ways in which new words are made
on the basis of other words or morphemes.
Types of Word Formation
Derivation: In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing
word. For e.g. the word happiness and unhappy are derived from the word happy. Similarly, the word
determination has been derived from determine. Derivation is the process of forming a new word by
means of affixation (prefix, inflix and suffix).
Compounding: A compound is a lexeme (a word) that consists of more than one other lexeme (word). It
is categorized in two ways:
An endocentric compound consists of a head and modifier.

For e.g. the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, which shows
that house is intended for a dog.
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Exocentric compounds do not have a head and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed
from its constituent parts. For e.g. the English compound white- collar is neither a kind of collar not a
white thing.
Examples of Compounding
One word is added to another word to form compound
words.
Atom bomb
Waiting list
Home work
Low paid
Dining room
Fire place
Cup cake
Email
Blending: A blend is a word formed by joining parts of two words after clipping. For e.g. When parts of
two separate words are combined to form a new word , it is Blending.
Motel – motor + hotel
Telecast – television + broadcast
Brunch – breakfast + lunch
Smog – smoke + fog
Chunnel – channel + tunnel
Biopic – biography + picture
Acronym: An acronym is a word made up from the first letter of the words that make up the name of
something.
For e.g.
NASA (is a name whose full form is)- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Acronym)
RADAR- Radio Detection and Ranging
Calque / Borrowing: Borrowing is just taking a word from another language. The borrowed words are
called loan words or calque. A loan word is a word directly taken into one language from another
language with little or no translation. English has many loan words.
For e.g.
• Biology, boxer, ozone- Taken from German language
• Jacket, yoghurt, Kiosh- Taken from Turkish language
• Pistol, robot- Taken from Czech language
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Neologism / Coinage: It is the invention of totally new words either deliberately or accidentally. This is
a very rare and uncommon method to create new words, but in the media, people try to outdo each
other with more and better words to name their products.
For e.g.
• Xerox, Kodak, google, nylon, band-aid
In other words, Coinage are words that somebody creates and people start using it. One category of neologism
is Eponym. These are words that are based on the name of a person or a place.
For e.g.
• Watt - this word has been taken from the name of a discoverer
• Jeans - this word has been taken from Italian city Jenewa
• Sandwich - this word has been taken from a person who makes his meal between two slices of bread.
Back - Formation: It refers to the process of creating a new lexeme (word) by removing actual or
supposed affixes. In other words, backformations are shortened words created from longer words.
For e.g.
The word resurrection was borrowed from Latin, the word resurrect was then back formed hundreds of years
later from it by removing –ion suffix.
Reduplication: It is the process of forming new words either by doubling an entire word or part of
a word. English makes use of reduplication very rarely.
For e.g.
• Humpty - dumpty
• Hustle - bustle
• Hotch – potch
Clipping: It is a word formation process which consists of reduction of a word. Clippings are also known
as shortenings. It has four types:
Back clipping
Fore- clipping
Middle- clipping
Complex- clipping
Back clipping or apocopation is the most common type in which the beginning of the word is retained.
For e.g.
• Ad- advertisement
• Doc- doctor
• Memo- memorandum
45
Fore - clipping or aphaeresis retains the final part.

For e.g.
• Phone- telephone
• Versity- university
Middle- clipping or syncope retains the middle part.

For e.g.
• Flu- influenza
Complex - clipping: In this clipped forms are used in compounds. One part of the original compound
most often remains intact.
For e.g.
• Cablegram- cabletelegram
• Op art- optical art
• Org man- organization man
WORD FORMATION CONTINUED

Word-formation is a branch of Lexicology which studies the process of building new words, derivative
structures and patterns of existing words.
All ways of forming new words can be classified into two big groups: major and minor types of creating
new words.
Two major types – word-derivation and word-composition
The minor types – comprise shortening, blending, acronymy, sound imitation, sound interchange, back-
formation, distinctive stress.
Major Types of Word-formation

→ Word-formation deals with words which can be analyzed both structurally and semantically.
→ Simple words are closely connected with word-formation: they serve as the foundation of derived and
compound words.
→ E.g., consumer, misunderstand, sugar free vs to consume, to understand, free are irrelevant to it.
Word-derivation: affixation and conversion.

→ Affixation is the formation of a new word with the help of affixes (happiness, misprint). Affixation →
suffixation and prefixation.
→ Suffixation is mostly to coin nouns and adjectives. Prefixation is mostly to coin verbs.
→ Word-derivation deals with the derivational structure of words: derivational bases, derivational
affixes and derivational patterns.
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→ A derivational base is the part of the word which establishes connection with the lexical unit that
motivates the derivative and determines its individual lexical meaning describing the difference
between words in one and the same derivative set.
→ For example, the individual lexical meaning of the words consumer, dealer, teacher which denote active
doers of the action is presented by the lexical meaning of the derivational bases: consume-, deal-,
teach-.
→ Derivational affixes are Immediate Constituents of derived words in all parts of speech.
→ Derivational affixes are added to derivational bases.
→ Affixes can be of two types: prefixes and suffixes.
Prefixes modify the lexical meaning but rarely transfer a word into a different part of speech: hear (v)
→ overhear (v), fair (adj) → unfair (adj), president (n) → ex-president (n), etc.
Suffixes also modify the lexical meaning but not necessarily transfer a word into a different part of
speech: king (n) → kingdom (n), book (n) → bookish (adj), rapid (adj) → rapidly (adv), etc.
A derivational pattern is a regular meaningful arrangement, which imposes rigid rules on the order
and the nature of the derivational base and affixes that may be brought together to create a new word.
Derivational patterns are also known as structural formulas. Here are some examples of derivational
patterns: n + -sf → N (friend + ship), v + -sf → N (sing + er), etc.
Conversion is the formation of a new word by putting a stem of the already existing word into a
different paradigm ( fly (noun) – fly (verb)), thus, by changing the category of a part of speech without
adding any derivative elements, so that the original and the converted words become homonyms.
E.g., the paradigm of the verb fly → fly, flies, flying, flew, flown,
the paradigm of the noun fly → fly (sg) and flies (pl).
Conversion is highly-productive and widely-spread among verbs and nouns. Converted words can
sound extremely colloquial, e.g. I’ll microwave the chicken for you.
Conversion can be explained by the analytical character of the English language, deficit of inflections
and abundance of monosyllabic and disyllabic words in different parts of speech.
 Compound words are words consisting of at least two stems which occur in the language as free
forms.
 Most compounds have the primary stress on the first syllable, e.g., blackboard.
Compound adjectives and numerals have two primary stresses, e.g. hot-tempered, new-born, seventy four, ninety
one.
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1. Compounds are binary in structure (consist of two or more constituent lexemes), e.g., vacuum-cleaner
manufacturer → vacuum-cleaner and manufacturer, while vacuum-cleaner → vacuum and cleaner.
2. Compounds usually have a head constituent. It is a part of the word which determines the syntactic
properties of the whole lexeme, e.g. snow-white → the noun snow and the adjective white. White is the
head constituent of snow-white.
Compound words can be found in all major syntactic categories:

 · nouns: sunlight, longboat;
 · verbs: window shop; safeguard;
 · adjectives: duty-bound, ice-cold;
 · prepositions: into, onto, upon.
 Morphologically compounds are classified according to the structure of immediate constituents:

· consisting of simple stems: strawberry, blackbird;
· where at least one of the constituents is a derived stem: gascooker, mill-owner;
· where one of the constituents is a clipped stem: V-day, Xmas;
· where one of the constituents is a compound stem: football player, wastepaper basket.
Structurally compounds can be:

1. words which are formed by a mere juxtaposition, i.e. without any connecting elements: e.g. saleboat,
schoolboy, heartbreak, sunshine;
2. stems which are connected with a vowel or a consonant placed between them: e.g. salesman,
handicraft.
 Semantically compounds may be non-idiomatic and idiomatic.

 Compounds are non-idiomatic when they are motivated morphologically, e.g., Suitcase is a sum of
meanings of the stems this compound word consists of (the meaning of each stem is retained).
 When the compound is not motivated morphologically, it is idiomatic. The meaning of each
component is either lost or weakened. It has a transferred meaning, e.g., Butterball – is not “a ball
made of butter”, it is “someone who is fat, especially child”.
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Minor Types of Word-formation

Minor types of modern word-formation are shortening, blending, acronymy, sound interchange, sound
imitation, distinctive stress, back-formation, and reduplication.
Shortening is the formation of a new word by cutting off a part of the word.
Types:
 · aphaeresis – initial part of the word is clipped, e.g. history → story, telephone → phone;
 · syncope – the middle part of the word is clipped, e.g. madam → ma'am; specs → spectacles
 · apocope – the final part of the word is clipped, e.g. professor → prof, vampire → vamp;
 · both initial and final, e.g. influenza → flu, detective → tec.
Polysemantic words are usually clipped in one meaning only.

E.g., doctor →1) someone who is trained to treat people who are ill;
2) someone who holds the highest level of degree given by a university. Thus, it can be clipped only in the first
meaning, e.g. doc.
 There can be distinguished homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical lexical unit may
represent different words,
e.g., vac – vacation and vacuum,
vet – veterinary surgeon and veteran.
Blending is the formation of a new word which combines the features of both clipping and
composition,
 e.g. boatel (boat + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog), modem (modulator + demodulator).
Several structural types of blends:

1) initial part of the word + final part of the word, e.g. electrocute (electricity+ execute);
2) initial part of the word + initial part of the word, e.g. lib-lab (liberal + labour);
3) initial part of the word + full word,
e.g. paratroops (parachute + troops);
4) full word + final part of the word,
e.g. slimnastics (slim + gymnastics).
Acronnymy is the formation of a new word by means of the initial letters of a word or phrase.
 Acronyms are commonly used for the names of institutions and organizations. No full stops are placed
between the letters.
 All acronyms can be divided into two groups. Acronyms in the first group are often pronounced as series
of letters: EEC (European Economic Community), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), PC (personal
computer).
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 Acronyms in the second group are pronounced according to the rules of reading: AIDS (Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
 Some words of the second group can be written without capital letters as they are no longer recognized
as acronyms: laser (light amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation), radar (radio detection and
ranging), jeep (general purpose car).
 Acronyms can be homonyms as well:
MP – Member of Parliament and Municipal Police,
PC – Personal Computer and Politically correct.
Sound-interchange is the formation of a new word due to an alteration in the phonemic composition
of the root of a word.
Sound-interchange can be of two types:
1) vowel-interchange, e.g. full – fill; in some cases vowel-interchange is combined with suffixation, e.g. long
– length;
2) consonant-interchange e.g. believe – belief.
 New words formed by sound imitation denote an action or a thing by more or less exact reproduction
of the sound which is associated with it.
 Let’s compare such words from English and Polish:
cock-a-dodoodle-do – ku-ku-ry-ku,
bang – bach.
According to the source of sound:

1. words denoting sounds produced by human beings in the process of communication or expressing their
feelings, e.g. chatter, boo;
2. words denoting sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, e.g. moo, buzz;
3. words imitating the sounds of water, the noise of metallic things, movements, e.g. splash, scratch, swing.
Distinctive stress is the formation of a new word by means of the shift of the stress in the source word,
e.g.,
 'increase (n) – in'crease (v),
 'subject (n) – sub'ject (v).
Backformation is the formation of a new word by cutting off a real or supposed suffix, as a result of
misinterpretation of the structure of the existing word.
 This type of word-formation is built on analogy, e.g.
cobbler – to cobble,
blood transfusion – to blood transfuse.
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 In reduplication new words are formed by doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes or with
a variation of the root-vowel or consonant, e.g. walkie-talkie, riff-raff, hurdy-gurdy.
 Some more examples:
bye-bye
chit-chat
walkie-talkie
MORPHOLOGY
• words are signs
• signifier = form = morphology (phonology)
• signified = meaning = semantics (pragmatics)
• combination of words = sentence structure = syntax
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Morphology
Inflection Word-Formation
Derivation Compounding
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Examples of derivation:
Examples of compounding:
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• Wykład 6: Major concepts of syntax

•
Syntax
Any speaker of any human language can produce and understand an infinite number of possible sentences
Thus, we can’t possibly have a mental dictionary of all the possible sentences
Rather, we have the rules for forming sentences stored in our brains
Syntax is the part of grammar that pertains to a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and their structures
What the Syntax Rules Do ?

• The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences
• They also specify the correct word order for a language
– For example, English is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language
• The President nominated a new Supreme Court justice
• *President the new Supreme justice Court a nominated
• They also describe the relationship between the meaning of a group of words and the arrangement of
the words
– I mean what I say vs. I say what I mean
• Syntax rules also tell us how words form groups and are hierarchically ordered in a sentence
“The captain ordered the old men and women off the ship”
• This sentence has two possible meanings:
– 1. The captain ordered the old men and the old women off the ship
– 2. The captain ordered the old men and the women of any age off the ship
• The meanings depend on how the words in the sentence are grouped (specifically, to which words is the
adjective ‘old’ applied?)
– 1. The captain ordered the [old [men and women]] off the ship
– 2. The captain ordered the [old men] and [women] off the ship
• These groupings can be shown hierarchically in a tree
• These trees reveal the structural ambiguity in the phrase “old men and women”. Each structure
corresponds to a different meaning
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• Structurally ambiguous sentences can often be humorous:
Catcher: “Watch out for this guy, he’s a great fastball hitter.”
Pitcher: “No problem. There’s no way I’ve got a great fastball.”
What Grammaticality Is Not Based On

• People can judge grammaticality without ever having heard the sentence before
“Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the prom.”
Grammaticality is not based on meaningfulness
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
“A verb crumpled the milk.”
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
Grammaticality is not based on truthfulness
Sentence Structure
We could say that the sentence “The child found the puppy” is based on the template Det—N—V—Det—N
o But this would imply that sentences are just strings of words without internal structure
o This sentence can actually be separated into several groups:
▪ [the child] [found a puppy]
▪ [the child] [found [a puppy]]
▪ [[the] [child]] [[found] [[a] [puppy]]
A tree diagram can be used to show the hierarchy of the sentence:
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Constituents and Constituency Tests

Constituents are the natural groupings in a sentence
Tests for constituency include:
o 1. “stand alone test”: if a group of words can stand alone, they form a constituent
▪ A: “What did you find?”
▪ B: “A puppy.”
o 2. “replacement by a pronoun”: pronouns can replace constituents
▪ A: “Where did you find a puppy?”
▪ B: “I found him in the park.”
o 3. “move as a unit” test: If a group of words can be moved together, they are a constituent
▪ A: “The child found a puppy.” → “A puppy was found by the child.”
Syntactic Categories
• A syntactic category is a family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of
grammaticality
The child found a puppy. The child found a puppy.
A police officer found a puppy. The child ate the cake.
Your neighbor found a puppy. The child slept.
• All the underlined groups constitute a syntactic category known as a noun phrase (NP)
– NPs may be a subject or an object of a sentence, may contain a determiner, proper name,
pronoun, or may be a noun alone
– All the bolded groups constitute a syntactic category known as a verb phrase (VP)
– VPs must always contain a verb but may also contain other constituents such as a noun phrase
or a prepositional phrase (PP)
Phrase Structure Trees and Rules

A phrase structure (PS) tree (or constituent structure tree) is a tree diagram with syntactic category
information:
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• In a PS tree, every higher node dominates all the categories beneath it

– S dominates everything
• A node immediately dominates
the categories directly below it
– The VP immediately dominates the
V and the NP
• Sisters are categories that are immediately dominated by the same node
– The V and the NP are sisters
• Phrase structure rules specify the well-formed structures of a sentence
– A tree must match the phrase structure rules to be grammatical
• This tree is formed using the following rules:
S → NP VP
NP → Det N
VP → V NP
• But, a VP could also contain:
– A verb only: The woman laughed.
– A PP: The woman laughed in the garden.
– A CP: The man said that the woman laughed.
– We therefore have to account for these possible sentences in our phrase structure rules and
need the following rules so far:
• Phrase structure rules are used as a guide for building trees

• To build a tree you expand every phrasal category until only the lexical categories remain
• By following the guidelines in the phrase structure rules, we can generate all the possible grammatical
sentences in a language
– Any tree that violates the phrase structure rules will represent an ungrammatical sentence
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The Infinity of Language: Recursive Rules

Recursive rules are rules in which a phrasal category can contain itself
o Such as an NP containing another NP…
▪ NP → NP PP allows for the sentence: I saw the man with the telescope in a box.
o …or a VP containing a VP…
▪ VP → VP PP allows for a sentence like: The girl walked down the street in the rain.
o …or a CP containing a S…
▪ CP → C S allows for embedding sentences inside sentences such as: The children hope
that the teacher knows that they are good students.
o Recursive rules allow a grammar to generate an infinite number of sentences (in this case by
adding PPs indefinitely)
The recursive phrase structure rule VP → VP PP allows the following tree:
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Recursive Adjectives and Possessive

• The case of multiple adjectives leads us to revise our PS rules:
– The kindhearted, intelligent,
handsome boy had many
girlfriends leads us to create
the PS rule NP → Adj NP
– However, this rule would allow
an adjective to come before
a determiner, which is not
possible in English
• The problem is that determiners and adjectives function differently

– They both modify a noun
– But, while an NP can have multiple adjectives, it can only have one determiner
– Also, an adjective directly modifies a noun whereas a determiner modifies the chunk of Adj + N
• Therefore the determiner must be
the sister of the group [Adj + N]
• So, we need to add one more level
of structure between the NP and the
N which is called N’
• Now we have the necessary sisterhood
requirements and we must revise our
phrase structure rules to account for N’
NP → Det N’
N’ → Adj N
N’ → N
• Possessor NPs such as in the girl’s shoes function as a determiner with the ‘s representing possession
(poss)
• So, we need to add another
PS rule to our inventory:
Det → NP poss
• This new rule forms a
recursive set with the
rule NP → Det N’
• The recursive nature of PS rules
is common to all languages
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Heads and Complements

Phrase structure trees also show the relationships among the elements in a sentence
o The NP immediately dominated by the S is the subject
o The NP immediately dominated by the VP is the direct object
Another relationship is between the head of a phrase and its sisters
o The head of a phrase names the phrase (e.g. the noun is the head of a noun phrase, a verb is the
head of a verb phrase, etc.)
o Every phrase has a head, but may or may not take a complement, or sister category
▪ For example, a VP will have a head (a verb) and may take a complement such as an NP or
a CP
Heads and Complements: Selection

Some heads require a certain type of complement and some don’t
o The verb find requires an NP: Alex found the ball.
o The verb put requires both an NP and a PP: Alex put the ball in the toy box.
o The verb sleep cannot take a complement: Alex slept.
o The noun belief optionally selects a PP: the belief in freedom of speech.
o The adjective proud optionally selects a PP: proud of herself
C-selection or subcategorization refers to the information about what types of complements a
head can or must take
• Verbs also select subjects and complements based on semantic properties (S-selection)
– The verb murder requires a human subject and object
!The beer murdered the lamp.
– The verb drink requires its subject to be animate and its optional complement object to be liquid
!The beer drank the lamp.
• For a sentence to be well-formed, it must conform to the structural constraints of PS rules and must also
obey the syntactic (C-selection) and semantic (S-selection) requirements of the head of each phrase
What Heads the Sentence

The category of Auxiliary verbs (such as will, has, is, and may as well as modals might, could, would, and can) heads
a sentence because a sentence is about a situation of state of affairs that happens at some point in time.
Particular kinds of auxiliaries go with certain kinds of VPs
o be selects the progressive form of the verb
▪ The baby is eating.
o have selects the past participle form of the verb
▪ The baby has eaten.
o The modals select the infinitival form of the verb
▪ The baby must eat.
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• Many linguists use the symbols T (tense) and TP (tense phrase)

instead of Aux and S, with the TP having an intermediate T’ category
• X-bar theory is the theory that all XPs have three

levels of structure
– 1. the XP
– 2. the specifier (modifier)
– 3. X’ with head X and a
complement
We can now add the rule VP → Aux VP into our PS rules

• However, not all sentences seem to have auxiliaries
– Sam kicked the soccer ball.
• But, this sentence does have
the past tense morpheme –ed,
and in sentences without an
auxiliary, the tense is the head
of the S
– Instead of having a word under Aux,
there is a tense specification
– The tense specification must match the inflection on the verb
Structural Ambiguities
• The following sentence has two meanings:
The boy saw the man with the telescope
• The meanings are:
– 1. The boy used the telescope to see the man
– 2. The boy saw the man who had a telescope
• Each of these meanings can be represented by a different phrase structure tree
– The two interpretations are possible because the PS rules allow more than one structure for the
same string of words
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The boy used a telescope to see the man
The boy saw the man who had a telescope

Other Structures
Thus far we have fourteen phrase structure rules in our inventory
However, this set is not complete and cannot account for sentences such as:
o 1. The dog completely destroyed the house.
o 2. The cat and the dog are friends.
o 3. The cat is coy.
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• Adverbs are modifiers that can specify how (quickly, slowly) and when (yesterday, often) an event
happens
Adverbs are sisters to phrasal categories and can go to the right or left of the phrasal categories VP
and S
VP → Adv VP VP → VP Adv S → Adv S
• A coordinate structure is formed when two constituents of the same category are joined with a
conjunction such as and or or
– In a coordinate structure, the second element of the coordination (NP 2) forms a constituent
with and (see “move as a unit” test)
• Sentences can also have the verb be followed by an adjective
– In these cases the main verb be acts like the auxiliaries be and have
Sentence Relatedness
Recognizing that some sentences are related to each other is another part of our syntactic competence
The boy is sleeping. Is the boy sleeping?
• The first sentence is a declarative sentence, meaning that it asserts that a particular situation exists
• The second sentence is a yes-no question, meaning that asks for confirmation of a situation
• The difference in meaning is indicated by different word orders, which means that certain structural
differences correspond to certain meaning differences
– For these sentences, the difference lies in where the auxiliary occurs in the sentence
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Transformational Rules
Yes-no questions are generated in two steps:
o 1. The PS rules generate a declarative sentence which represents the basic structure, or deep
structure (d-structure) of the sentence
o 2. A transformational rule then moves the auxiliary before the subject to create the surface
structure (s-structure)
▪ The “Move Aux” rule: Move the highest Aux to adjoin to (the root) S.
▪ When the Aux is moved, this results in a gap in the tree, which is represented by a “__”
▪ The gap represents the position from which a constituent has been moved
• Other sentence pairs that involve transformational rules are:

– Active to passive
• The cat chased the mouse. → The mouse was chased by the cat.
– there sentences
• There was a man on the roof. → A man was on the roof.
– PP preposing
• The astronomer saw the quasar with the telescope. → With the telescope, the astronomer
saw the quasar.
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The Structural Dependency of Rules

Transformations are structure-dependent, which means they act on phrase structures without caring what
words are in the structures
o PP preposing can be applied to any PP if it is immediately dominated by a VP
o The complementizer that may be omitted when it precedes an embedded sentence as long as
the embedded sentence does not occur in subject position
▪ I know that you know. I know you know
▪ That you know bothers me. *You know bothers me.
o Subject-verb agreement stretches across all structures between the subject and the verb
Wh Questions
Example: What will Max chase?
• Wh questions are formed in three steps:
– 1. The PS rules generate a CP d-structure with the wh phrase occupying an NP position within
the S (in this case a direct object position)
– 2. The transformational rule Move Aux moves the auxiliary (in this case will) to adjoin with the
S
– 3. The transformational rule Move wh moves the wh word (in this case what) to the beginning
of the sentence
• Deep structure for What will Max chase
• Surface structure for What will Max chase?
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Example: Which dog did Michael feed?

• Here the auxiliary do is not a part of the d-structure of the sentence
– The d-structure is: Michael fed which dog?
• The Move Aux rule will move the auxiliary, in this case only the past tense
• Another rule called “do support” will then insert a do in the Aux spot to carry the tense
• Deep structure for Which dog did Michael feed?
• Surface structure for Which dog did Michael feed?
UG Principles and Parameters

Universal Grammar (UG) provides the basic design for all languages, and each language has its own
parameters, or variations on the basic plan
o All languages have PS rules that generate d-structures
o All phrases consist of heads and complements
o All sentences are headed by Aux (or T)
o All languages seem to have movement rules
o However, languages have different word orders within phrases and sentences, so heads and
complements may be present in different orders across languages
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• Not all languages have wh movement, but for those that do:
– The question element always moves to C
• But this is done in various ways (Italian vs. English vs. German vs. Czech)
– A wh phrase cannot move out of certain relative clauses or clauses beginning with whether or if
– A wh phrase cannot be extracted from inside a possessive NP
– These features of wh movement are present in all languages that allow wh movement and are
part of the innate blueprint for language that is UG
THE PARTS OF SPEECH
What is a noun? → person place thing

Pronoun
A pronoun can replace a noun.
Example:
Mark----He
Mary-----She
Mark and Mary-----They
PRONOUN TYPES:
Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, whose, theirs
Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
Objective: me, you, him, her, it, us, whom, them
Subjective: I, you, he, she, it, we, who, they
Reflexive: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves
Indefinite: anybody, everybody, nobody, somebody
PRONOUNS (cont’d)
 The noun to which the pronoun refers is called the antecedent.
 For example:
Allen got off work at seven, then he went home.
He=pronoun Allen=antecedent
Maria is a very bright student; she made all A’s on her report card.
She, Her=pronouns Maria=antecedent
What is a verb?
There are two types of verbs that we will look out closely:
Action Verb
Linking Verb
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Action verbs
Action verbs express action, something that a person, animal, force of nature, or thing can do
Playing Driving
Linking/ Helping Verb
Linking verbs, on the other hand, do not express action. Instead, they connect the subject of a verb to additional
information about the subject.
Any form of the verb “Be”
o Am
o Were
o Has
o Been
o Are being
o is
Adjective
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing in the sentence
Adjectives are descriptive words!
 Descriptive adjectives: Describe the noun.
Ex: red house tall man large hut
Limiting Adjectives: Limits or specifies the noun
Ex: high school student, two teams, every employee
Adverbs
 Adverbs are words that modify
*a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
*an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
*another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)
 some adverbs can be identified by their characteristic "ly" suffix
 Answers questions such as: "how," "when," "where," "how much".
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Conjunctions
A conjunction is a joiner, a word that connects (conjoins) parts of a sentence.
Coordinating Conjunctions
o And
o Or
o But
o For
o Nor
o So
o Yet
A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause and indicates the nature of the relationship among
the independent clause(s) and the dependent clause(s).
The most common subordinating conjunctions are: after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since,
than, that, though, until, when, where, whether, and while.
 Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs -- you use them to link equivalent sentence elements.
 The most common correlative conjunctions are:
both...and, either...or, neither...nor,
not only...but also, so...as, and whether...or
Prepositions
 A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Some
common prepositions are:
at, under, over, of, to, in, out, beneath, beyond, for, among, after, before, within, down, up, during, without, with,
outside, inside, beside, between, by, on, out, from, until, toward, throughout, across, above, about, around.
Examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.
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Object of the preposition
 The Object of the Preposition
Recognize an object of the preposition when you see one.
Prepositions often begin prepositional phrases. To complete the phrase, the preposition usually teams up with
a noun, pronoun, or gerund, or the object of the preposition. Here are some examples:
At noon
At = preposition; noon = noun or the object of the preposition.
Behind them
Behind = preposition; them = pronoun or the object of the preposition.
Without sneezing
Without = preposition; sneezing = gerund or the object of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have modifiers that add description:
At the kitchen counter
At = preposition; the, kitchen = modifiers; counter = noun or the object of the preposition.
Between us only
Between = preposition; us = pronoun or the object of the preposition; only = modifier.
Without completely finishing
Without = preposition; completely = modifier; finishing = gerund or the object of the preposition.
Infrequently, a clause will be the object of the preposition, as in this example:
In class today, we talked about what Mr. Duncan expects in our next research essay.
About = preposition; what Mr. Duncan expects in our next research essay = noun clause or the object of the
preposition.
Prepositions vs. conjunctions
Prepositions are connecting words.

Prepositions are words like: on, over, to, from, about, for, against, with, between, etc.
In general, a preposition “glues” a noun or pronoun into a sentence.
That is, a preposition is only able to connect a noun element into a sentence.
Preposition=Introduces a noun into the sentence.
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Conjunctions are also connecting words, but they can do much more than a preposition.
Conjunctions are words like: and, but, or, because, then, etc.
In contrast to a preposition, a conjunction can connect any two like elements together in a sentence.
Most notably, conjunctions have the ability to connect verbs together.
This means that conjunctions can connect two sentences together.
Conjunctions=introduce verbs
PARTS OF A SENTENCE
SUBJECT
− The subject is Who or What is completing the action of the sentence

− The subject can be either a noun or a pronoun
− Often the subject appears at the beginning of the sentence
VERB
− The verb can show action -- either mental or physical action
− The verb can also show state of being
Action Verbs
Types of Mental Action Types of Physical Action

To Sing
To Think
To Dance
To Feel
To Play
To Dream To Work
To Believe To Juggle
To Laugh
To Remember
To Understand
Linking Verbs
Certain verbs can be used as either action or
Certain verbs are always used as linking verbs linking verbs
Forms of To Be: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been Sensory verbs: to feel, to taste,
to smell, to sound, to look
To Seem
To Grow
To Become
To Appear
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Example: Action Verb
Jennifer tasted the freshly baked bread.
(Notice that Jennifer, the subject, is doing the tasting of that wonderful bread!)
Example: Linking Verb
The freshly baked bread tasted terrific.
(Notice that now the verb is describing how wonderful that bread tasted; the bread is NOT doing the tasting
this time.)
Sentence Complements
Sentence Complements complete the meaning begun by the subject and the verb
Sentence Complements can be any one of the following: Direct Objects, Indirect Objects, Predicate Nouns (also
called Predicate Nominatives), or Predicate Adjectives
Complements for Action Verbs
Action Verbs will have:
Direct objects AND Indirect objects
Example:
Mrs. Witmyer gave the class the test. Direct object: the test Indirect object: the class
DIRECT OBJECTS
Direct Objects follow an action verb, and they receive the action of the verb
1. Direct Objects answer who or what after an action verb
2. In the example, Mrs. Witmyer gave the class the test, who or what did Mrs. Witmyer give?
The test. So, the test is the direct object in that sentence.
INDIRECT OBJECTS
Indirect Objects follow an action verb, and tell to whom or for whom the action was done.
1. Indirect Objects come before the direct object in the sentence.
2. In order to have an Indirect Object, there must be a direct object.
3. In the example, Mrs. Witmyer gave the class the test, to whom or for whom did Mrs. Witmyer
give the test?? The class. So, the class is the indirect object in that sentence.
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HINT: There is a test that can be used for indirect objects!
Since Indirect Objects answer to whom or for whom an action was done, they can be changed into
prepositional phrases and moved to the end of the sentence.
Mrs. Witmyer gave the class the test.
OR
Mrs. Witmyer gave the test to the class.
JUST REMEMBER!!!!
1. Action Verbs Can Use Both Direct and Indirect Objects
2. Direct Objects Can Be Used Without Indirect Objects
3. Indirect Objects Cannot Be Used Without a Direct Object
4. Indirect Objects Always Appear Before the Direct Object
Complements for Linking Verbs
Linking Verbs will have:
Predicate Nouns OR Predicate Adjectives
Notice that you can only have one or the other. You can not have both in the same sentence.
PREDICATE NOUN
Predicate Nouns rename the subject. They will most often follow a form of the verb “to be” or “to become”
Example: Mr. Price is our principal.
HINT: There is a test that can be used for predicate nouns!

Since Predicate nouns rename the subject, they can be interchanged with the subject and the sentence will
still say the same thing.
Mr. Price is our principal.
OR
Our principal is Mr. Price.
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PREDICATE ADJECTIVE
− Predicate Adjectives describe the subject
− They will follow any linking verb
− Be careful of sensory linking verbs
Example:
Mr. Bushong grew angry while driving.
Don’t Forget!!!!
1. Predicate Nouns can also be called Predicate Nominatives.
2. Predicate Nouns and Predicate Adjectives follow Linking Verbs only.
3. Predicate Nouns and Predicate Adjectives cannot be used together in the same sentence.
IMPORTANT:
One Final Reminder!!!!
No Verb MUST HAVE a Sentence Complement!
Some Verbs Express Complete Ideas on Their Own!
To Conclude:
Sentences have subjects, verbs, and complements
◼ Action verbs will have: ◼ Linking verbs will have:
Direct objects Predicate Nouns

Predicate Adjectives
Indirect objects
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• Wykład 7: Major types of phrases, verb subcategorization, types of sentences
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There are 5 phrase types:
Phrase Type Examples Main word (HEAD)
NOUN PHRASE The young girl Noun GIRL
VERB PHRASE Has been reading Verb READING
ADJECTIVE PHRASE Very noisy Adj. NOISY
ADVERB PHRASE Too quickly Adv. QUICKLY
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE After the match Prep. AFTER
Usually phrases are made of a HEAD and a series of MODIFIERS, i.e. words that give extra information about
the HEAD. They can precede (PREMODIFIERS) or follow (POSTMODIFIERS) the head.
Noun phrase – Determiners
The young girl who lives next door
IF THE CENTRAL WORD – OR HEAD - OF A PHRASE IS A NOUN, THEN WE CALL IT A NOUN PHRASE.
Determiners introduce noun phrases and come before any PREMODIFERS.
- Definite and indefinite articles
- Possessive pronouns
- Demonstrative pronouns
- Numerals
- Quantifiers (each, every, all, both, some, many, more, most)
DETERMINERS ARE UNIQUE TO NOUN PHRASES.
WHY?
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Noun phrase – Premodifiers
The young girl who lives next door
They occur before the noun and after any determiners. In a noun phrase the premodifier is typically an
adjective.
Young girls, a young girl, some young girl;
Premodifiers can co-occur (more than one adj.):
Lovely young girls; a mature young girl; some intelligent young girls.
Other words can function as premodifiers in a noun phrase:
Nouns: bathroom door; our history professor
Genitive: the teacher’s office; our child’s games
Noun phrase – Postmodifiers
Prepositional phrases usually occur after a noun, generally introduced by of:
− A box of chocolate, a piece of mind, a biography of Hitler

− The Tower of London.
Other prepositions: The cottage on the beach, the museum in New York, the road to Calcutta, a room with a shower,
people without cell phone…
Postmodifiers of noun phrases can also be:
- Relative clauses
- To-clauses
Co-occurring postmodifiers:
− A room [for two] [in a bed & breakfast];

− The shop [in via Roma] [that sells shoes];
− The phone [you borrowed] [from my mother.]
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Noun phrase – Postmodifiers and Complements
Complements are a type of noun-phrase Postmodifier. They are closely linked to the noun than ordinary
Postmofiers:
1. Postmodifier:
The fact that he reported today was a shock (the Postmodifier does not define the content of the news)
2. Complement:
The fact that he did not come was a shock (the Complement explains the fact)
There is also a grammatical difference. The Complement CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED BY THE RELATIVE
WHICH.
In the postmodifier we can usually replace that with which
The function of noun phrases
1. SUBJECT: Four men got killed
2. SUBJECT COMPLEMENT: Grace is my niece; She seems a young girl
3. DIRECT OBJECT: He bought a new car
4. INDIRECT OBJECT: She told her husband the truth
5. OBJECT COMPLEMENT: She called him an idiot
6. ADJUNCT OR ADVERBIAL: One day you’ll know what to do; She’s going to China next month.
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Verb phrases
Verb phrases usually contain lexical verbs as main verbs.

Lexical verbs may be preceded by one or more auxiliary verbs:
1 2 3 MAIN VERB
That car may have been stolen
When two or more auxiliary verbs appear before the main verb in a verb phrase they observe the following
order:
MODAL-PERFECTIVE-PROGRESSIVE-PASSIVE
Modal-Passive: The car can be parked
Progressive-Passive: The car is being parked
Perfective-Progressive: She has been parking her car for years;
Perfective-Passive: The car has been parked
Modal-Perfective-Passive: The car should have been parked
Verb phrases – Aspect
While TENSE refers to the absolute location of an event in time – either past or present – ASPECT refers to how
an event must be viewed with respect to time.
Aspect is a grammatical category that expresses how an action, event or state, denoted by a verb, relates to the
flow of time.
1. Mary lost his dog 3 months ago
2. Mary has lost his dog.
In the second example, the auxiliary has is a perfective auxiliary and expresses perfective aspect in the verb
phrase has lost. It indicates that an event occurred prior to (but has continuing relevance at) the time of
reference.
Mary had lost her dog
In this case, the event occurred in the past, but we know that it was still relevant at some later time:
Mary had lost her dog, so she could not take him to the show.
The idea of RELEVANCE is important when we want to distinguish TENSE and ASPECT.
Other examples of aspectual auxiliary is the progressive auxiliary be:
Mary is taking her dog out (present tense, progressive aspect)
Mary was taking her dog out when he got lost (past tense, progressive aspect)
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Verb phrases – Mood
Mood refers to distinctions in the form of a verb phrase that express the speaker’s attitude towards what is said
(for example, whether it is intended as a statement of fact, of desire, of command, etc.).
In linguistics, grammatical mood (sometimes mode) is a grammatical (usually morphologically marked) feature
of verbs.
There are three moods: INDICATIVE, IMPERATIVE AND SUBJUNCTIVE
Indicative mood: declarative, interrogative, and exclamative sentences;
Imperative mood: orders and exhortations;
Subjunctive mood: non-factual, hypothetical situations.
Subjunctive mood: non-factual, hypothetical situations:
1. Were-subjunctive:
If I were you, I wouldn’t accept the job.
If my brother were President of the Republic, what would he do?
2. Mandative subjunctive (with such verbs as: ask, insist, recommend, decide, suggest when followed by
that):
His professor suggested (that) he take up writing classes;
The board insisted that she resign immediately;
The judge asked he be given a life sentence.
The use of the mandative subjunctive is more common in American English. However, it has made a
considerable comeback in British English in recent years, probably under American influence. Yet in all
varieties of English, the mandative subjunctive is far more common in writing than in speech.
Adjective phrases
Adjective phrases usually have the following structure:

Premodifier Adjective (HEAD) Postmodifier
VERY SORRY TO GO
The premodifier in an adjective phrase is most commonly an adverb (intensifier), or another adjective:
It is extremely/very/ fairly/quite cold;
Or, a noun phrase (in measurements and age):
three months old; a metre long
Postmodifiers:
Happy you can make it; delighted to meet you; guilty of murder
Fond of animals;
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Function of adjective phrases

1. Subject complement:
My father is quite ill; I was really lucky; My old professor was happy to see me.
2. Object complement:
The air con keeps our house cool;
The new floor makes the room much brighter;
3. Premodifier of a noun:
She bought a wonderful long dress;
He’s a rather boring person;
They’ve used a slightly different approach.
Adverbial phrases
Adverbial phrases usually present an adverb as the HEAD:
The child cried loudly
The child cried very loudly

The child cried very loudly indeed
The Premodifier in an adverb phrase is always an intensifier:
VERY, TOO, EXTREMELY, QUITE
Postmodifiers in adverb phrases are RARE. Apart from indeed, only enough is commonly used:
Strange enough, funnily enough, oddly enough, naturally enough..
The function of adverbial phrases
1. Premodfier of an adjective phrase:
Extremely loud and incredibly close;
Lord of the Rings was a very successful film;
The meat was too salty.
2. Premodifier of an adverb:
I spoke to her very recently;
She talks far too slowly;
The temperature rose fare more quickly than expected.
3. Adjunct:
Suddenly the police broke into the room;

Students will receive an i.d. badge automatically;
He died quite recently.

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Prepositional phrases
Premodifier (rare) Preposition Complement (noun phrase)

soon/just after the match
around the world
straight across our street
from the town
through the open door
Clauses can also function as the complement in a prepositional phrase:
It’s a good way of reducing the debt; He won by playing better
Function of prepositional phrases

1. Postmodifier of a noun:
The population of Cagliari is growing
The demand for more jobs has increased

I’m reading a book on Japanese paintings
2. Adjunct:
I’ll see him on Monday;
Before the war, he worked as a clerk
We met Sophie along the river
3. Subject complement:
Your hat is on the sofa
That book is for Adam
Michael Jackson sang in a band called the Jacksons
4. Object complement:
She has a job placing bottles in regional order
Don’t keep me in suspense
5. Postmodifier of an adjective:
I am extremely happy of your results
The man was found guilty of wrong conduct
Both adverb and prepositional phrases function as ADVERBIALS OR ADJUNCTS, giving additional
information on time, mode and time.
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VERBS
What are verbs?
Verbs are used to express an action or a state of being. Those that are not auxiliary verbs have four principal
parts: present tense (or infinitive), present participle, past tense, and past participle. The base form of the
verb, which is the simple form of the verb (the infinitive without to) and the form that is found in a dictionary
are used to create all forms of verbs, especially verb tenses, often with the use of helping verbs or auxiliary
verbs.
Auxiliary Verbs
• All verbs are either auxiliary verbs or main verbs.
• Auxiliary verbs, also called helping verbs, consist of primary verbs (be, have, do) and modal verbs (can,
could, may, might, must, shall, will, etc).
• The most common auxiliary verbs are be, have, do. Each of these has different forms; for example, the
verb be/to be has eight different forms: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been. Have has
these forms: have, has, having, and had, and do has these: do, does, did, and done. Auxiliary verbs
combine with other verbs (main verbs) to form tenses, aspect, voice, modality and emphasis. They are
usually placed in front of the main verbs, and there can be two or more auxiliary verbs in a sentence.
They change the meaning or time of the action as expressed by the verbs: He does sing. / He is singing. /
He has sung. Auxiliary verbs can be used as main verbs in a sentence.
• All modal verbs are auxiliary verbs but not all auxiliary verbs are modal
verbs. They include can, will, might and should:
She can sing. / He will go. / They might come. / We should walk.
• Auxiliary verbs combine with other verbs to form tenses
Two verbs standing side by side in a sentence is a common sight. These two are most likely to be an auxiliary
verb coming before the main verb.
• Auxiliary verbs as main verbs
Auxiliary verbs do not always combine with the main verbs to form tenses. The auxiliary verbs be, have,
and do can be used independently as main verbs. When used on their own, they are no longer auxiliary verbs.
Examples:
• I am sleepy. / She is pretty. / He was tall. / We are lost. / We were tired.
• It has a long tail. / You have good looks. / They had dinner together.
• I do it every day. / Does she know you? Yes, she does. / He did nothing wrong.
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• Auxiliary verbs combine with other verbs to form aspect.
• Auxiliary verbs are used to form passive voice
• Besides being used to give emphasis, the auxiliary verbs do, does, and did are often used together with
the main verbs to form negative sentences and questions.
• Modals or modal verbs are also auxiliary verbs. They are also called modal auxiliary
verbs: can, could, will, would, may, might, shall, should, must, ought to, used to. Modal verbs are used
to express ability, etc.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
• Verbs can be classified into transitive and intransitive. A transitive verb needs an object while the
intransitive does not. Many verbs can be used as both transitive and intransitive depending on how
they are used in a sentence.
• A transitive verb has to be an action verb, and it must have an object. Without an object, it does not
convey a complete meaning.
Example:* He bought.
This following examples show each transitive verb (underlined) having a direct object (in bold) to complete the
sentence. If it doesn’t have a direct object, it makes the sentence meaningless.
Examples:
• I have to catch the earliest train tomorrow.
• We agreed to settle the lawsuit out of court.
• I pushed the button and nothing happened.
• They picked him as the captain.
• I wrote the number somewhere.
A transitive verb may take an indirect object. An indirect object is someone or something to
whom/which or for whom/which the action is carried out.
• (a) Example: He bought her a cake. / He bought a cake for her.
• (b) Example: She is reading grandma a fairy tale. / She is reading a fairy tale to grandma.
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Intransitive verb
An intransitive verb does not need an object to make the sentence’s meaning clear. It is enough to complete
a sentence without an object as the the meaning of the sentence is not affected. The following examples show
the intransitive verbs in bold.
Examples:
She smiles. The dog is barking.
The people next door are arguing loudly. Their plane has already taken off.
She has been sneezing since this morning.
• Many verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. When a transitive verb is used intransitively, the
meaning changes. In the following examples, the verbs are underlined and the direct objects are in bold.
Example:
• Transitive verb: It is better we eat something before we go.
• Intransitive verb: Our parents like to eat out on Sundays.
Since an intransitive verb cannot take an object, it can never be followed by a noun. But it can be followed by an
adverb or prepositional phrase, or both.
Examples:
• The family lives upstairs.

(Intransitive verb lives followed by adverb upstairs.)
• The stranger bumped into me.

(Intransitive verb bumped followed by prepositional phrase into me.)
• The beach slopes down to the sea.

(Intransitive verb slopes followed by adverb down and prepositional phrase to the sea.
Linking verbs
All verbs can be categorized as action verbs or linking verbs. Linking verbs are called copulative verbs or
copulas. A linking verb differs from an action verb as it does not indicate what the subject does but what the
subject is. A linking verb functions as a link between a subject and a complement. A complement can be a word,
an adjective, a noun, a pronoun, or a phrase acting as an adjective or noun. For example: She is the boss. In the
sentence, is is the linking verb that connects the complement the boss to the subject she. Here, the complement
identifies the subject.
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All linking verbs are intransitive verbs as they do not take an object, but not all intransitive verbs are linking
verbs. The most common linking verbs are the various forms of the auxiliary verb to be: am, is, are, was, were,
be, being, been, seem, become, and verbs related to the senses: feel, look, smell, sound, taste, and others that
include act, appear, get, go, grow, prove, remain, stay, turn.
• Some verbs are always linking verbs because they never describe an action such as:
• be: is, am, are, was, were, has been, have been, had been, is being, are being, was being, will have been,
etc.
• become: become, becomes, became, has become, have become, had become, will become, will have
become, etc.
• seem: seemed, seeming, seems, has seemed, have seemed, had seemed, is seeming, are seeming, was
seeming, were seeming, will seem
Linking verb is not action verb
• A linking verb is not an action word. Any verb that takes an object or expresses an action is not a linking
verb.
Examples:
• The last person to leave was my cousin, Tom.

(The word was is a linking verb, not an action verb. It names the last person.)
• She looked as if she was going to cry.

(It doesn't tell us what she did; only how she appeared to be; looked is a linking verb)
Linking verb followed by adjective
A linking verb is often followed by an adjective but not a direct object. The adjective is also called a predicate
adjective. A predicate adjective is an adjective that follows a linking verb.
Examples:
• I feel fine.
(Here, feel is not an action verb. It is a linking verb followed by the adjective fine.)
• The meal was really delicious.

(The adjective delicious follows the linking verb was. It describes the subject meal.)
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Linking verb followed by noun
A linking verb can be followed by a noun which is called a complement or subject complement or predicate
noun (or predicate nominative). The linking verb joins the complement to the subject.
Examples:
→ My uncle is a wrestler.
(The subject complement wrestler describes the subject uncle and is joined to the subject by the linking
verb is.)
→ She has been a nurse for the past ten years.
(The complement nurse tells us who she is. The linking verb used here is has been.)
Linking verb followed by pronoun
When a pronoun follows a linking verb, it should be in the subjective case, not objective case.
Examples:
• It was he they were looking for.

(He is a subjective pronoun. The subjective pronoun follows the linking verb was.)
• Not: It was him they were looking for.

(Him is an objective pronoun which cannot follow the linking verb to be [was].)
Linking verb followed by phrase
A linking verb may be followed by a noun phrase, an adjective phrase, or a prepositional phrase.
Examples:
• His father is a train driver.

(Linking verb is is followed by the noun phrase a train driver.)
• The new drug has proven to be very effective.

(Linking verb has proven is followed by adjectival phrase to be very effective.)
• Only four teams remain in the competition.

(Linking verb remains is followed by prepositional phrase in the competition.).
Differences between linking verb and action verb
• Linking verbs are followed by adjectives which are subject complements. Action verbs are followed by
adverbs, which are their modifiers. Verbs that can be used as either linking verbs or action verbs
include verbs feel, get, grow, look, prove, remain, smell, sound, stay, taste, and turn.
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Examples:
Linking verb: She acted dumb to believe his story.
Action verb: They acted quickly to stop the fire from spreading.
Linking verb: She appears angry whenever her boyfriend looks at another girl.
Action verb: I saw a dark figure by the roadside disappear as suddenly as it had appeared.
Linking verb: You don’t feel cold, but I’m shivering.

Action verb: He felt a sudden pain in his heart.
Linking verb: The three of us got seasick, so we lied down.

Action verb: You need to get someone to help you lose the fat around your waist.
Linking verb: We went in a cave and found no bats.

Action verb: Can you give me a lift if you are going my way?
There are two kinds of verbs: finite verbs and nonfinite verbs.
Finite verb
The finite verb in a sentence must have a subject as expressed (You sit here.) or implied (Sit here.). Every sentence
must have a finite verb to be complete. The finite verb can be a transitive verb, intransitive verb, or linking verb.
The finite verb agrees with the subject as it changes with the person (first, second, and third person) and number
(singular or plural) of the subject. This makes it similar to a main verb. The finite verb has the present or past
form, which means finite verb has tenses.
A finite verb can stand alone as the verb of a sentence without an accompanying helping verb, or it can be a verb
phrase comprising of a helping verb/auxiliary verb and a main verb. The following examples show the finite
verbs in bold.
Examples:
• He stared at me.
• He was shooting arrows into the air.
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Nonfinite verb
Nonfinite verbs do not change to reflect person, singular or plural, or tense. This means, unlike a finite verb,
it does not have to agree with the subject in person or number. There are three nonfinite forms of a verb:
the infinitives (with to followed by a main verb or without to); gerund (gerund is a form of verb that ends in
–ing and functions as a noun in a sentence); and participle (present participle that ends in –ing and past
participle that ends in –ed. Both forms of participles function as adjective).
• Further examples:
Infinitive form:
To talk with your mouth full is not a nice thing to do.
We are happy to have completed our research.
We watched him perform some magic tricks.
Gerund form:
I hate dining alone.
He saw her feeding rabbits.
Jogging is a good form of exercise.
Present participle form:
My grandson bought me a walking stick.
Having left by taxi, he should arrive there early.
She took a photo of them mending their fishing nets.
Past participle form:
The artifact stolen from the museum was never recovered.
These stamps bought at that post office are commemorative stamps.
The streets were filled with drunken revelers on New Year's Eve.
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Action verb
An action verb expresses the physical or mental action of the subject of a sentence.
An action verb is used for an action that has happened, or is still taking place at the time of speaking, or is done
habitually.
Examples:
He cycled to the shopping mall.
He is cycling to the shopping mall.
He cycles to work.
An action verb conveys the same meaning when used in different tenses.
Some action verbs cannot be used in the continuous tense.
Examples:
• My father owns that building.

Not: My father is owning that building.
• That book belongs to me.

Not: That book is belonging to me.
Lexical verbs
Lexical verbs are a classification of verbs, also called full or main verbs, that include all verbs except auxiliary
verbs. In other words, a lexical verb can be any verb, which is not an auxiliary verb. It is used as the main verb
in the sentence to show an action or a state of being of the subject. A verb phrase in a sentence begins with
a lexical verb.
• A lexical verb can be used on its own in the sentence without the need of an auxiliary verb. An auxiliary
verb however is used as a helping verb for a lexical verb to make sense of a sentence. It comes before he
lexical verb.
• Examples of sentences using lexical verbs:
Examples:
• She smiles. / She laughed.

(Subjects and lexical verbs in simple tenses.)
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• He dove into the swimming pool.

(The lexical verb dove shows what the subject he did. It introduces the phrase: dove into the swimming
pool.)
• I have eaten. / We had met.

(Lexical verbs used with auxiliary verbs: have, had.)
• The dog was barking. / The children were playing.

(Lexical verbs used with auxiliary verbs: was, were.)
VERB SUBCATEGORIZATION
MONOTRANSITIVE VERBS
Require a single Noun Phrase to complement them. These complemernts function as Direct Objects.
Max spotted those wildcats
INTRANSITIVE VERBS
Do not require any constituent.
Omar sighed
DITRANSITIVE VERBS
Require two Noun Phrases as their complements.
The staff has sent the general a message
Indirect object Direct object
INTENSIVE VERB
Is complemented by an Adjective Phrase or a Noun Phrase or a Prepositional Phrase.
Ed is being rather extravagant
Sigmund was an auctioneer
Oscar should be in an engine-room
AP, NP, PP are SUBJECT PREDICATIVES
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COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS
They combine complex transitive verbs with intensive verbs and can be complemented by NP, AP or PP.
Melvin found his jokes extremely funny
They are making Stella their spokesperson
Liza has been putting the liquor under her bed
They are called OBJECT PREDICATIVES
PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
Must be complemented by a Prepositional Phrase.
Max glanced at the falling acrobat
TYPES OF SENTENCES
• Simple
• Compound
• Complex
• Compound-Complex
Basic Elements of Every Sentence:
SUBJECT PREDICATE
Mary plays tennis
Simple Sentence
• A simple sentence has one subject and one predicate.
Observe how a simple sentence is constructed:
We went to San Juan yesterday.
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SIMPLE SENTENCE SIMPLE SENTENCE

with compound subject with compound subject and compound predicate
Tom and Mary play tennis Tom and Mary play tennis and swim.
COMPOUND SENTENCE
A compound sentence has more than one part that can stand alone (independent clauses).
• Independent clauses are connected by coordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs or a semi-

colon.
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Example:
We went to San Juan, and most of us danced all night.
Use of Coordinating Conjunctions
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COMPOUND SENTENCE:
COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
FOR AND NOR BUT OR YET SO
COMPOUND SENTENCE:
CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
MOREOVER HOWEVER OTHERWISE THEREFORE
Conjunctive Adverbs “float”
Conjunctive adverbs are sometimes called “floating” adverbs because they can be positioned at the beginning,
in the middle, or at the end of a clause.
Bob is handsome; moreover, he is rich.
Bob is handsome; he is, moreover, rich.
Bob is handsome; he is rich, moreover.
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Semicolons
“If the relation between the ideas expressed in the main clauses is very close and obvious without
a conjunction, you can separate the clauses with a semicolon” (Little, Brown Handbook, 9th Edition, p. 361).
Tom has benefited from his exercise program ; he is slim and energetic.
Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has at least two parts: one that can stand alone and another one that cannot
The part that cannot stand alone is linked to the rest of the sentence by a subordinating conjunction
Since my boyfriend and I wanted to have fun, we went to San Juan yesterday.
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COMPLEX SENTENCE:
SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS
The most common subordinating conjunctions are
"after," "although," "as," "because," "before," "how,"

"if," "once," "since," "than," "that," though," "till,"
"until," "when," "where," "whether,” and while."
Compound-Complex Sentence
This type of sentence has more than one part that can stand alone, and at least one that cannot.
Conjunctions link the different parts of this sentence.
Since we wanted to have fun, my boyfriend and I went to San Juan yesterday, and we danced all night.
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Exercises
Classify each of the following sentences:
1. The bell rang.
2. Bridget ran the first part of the race, and Tara biked the second part.
1. Simple
3. He stands at the bottom of the cliff while the climber moves up the rock. 2. Compound
3. Complex
4. The skier turned and jumped. 4. Simple
5. Compound-complex
5. Naoki passed the test because he studied hard and understood the material.
1. Because Kayla has so much climbing experience , we asked her to lead our group.
1. Complex
2. You and I need piano lessons.
2. Simple
3. I planned to go to the hockey game, but I couldn’t get tickets. 3. Compound
4. Compound
4. Dorothy likes white water rafting, but she also enjoys kayaking. 5. Compound-complex
5. There are many problems to solve before this program can be used, but engineers
believe that they will be able to solve them soon.
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• Wykład 8: Information structure and sentence structure
What is information structure (IS)?
Broadly speaking, information structure encodes which part of a sentence is more informative in relation to
a particular context.
Information packaging
Information structure can be said to package linguistic information with the aim of optimizing the information
transfer in discourse.
• It is primarily concerned with how a message is sent rather than what the message is about, just as the
packaging of toothpaste can affect its sales but not much of its contents.
Form vs. meaning
However, while information structure is more about FORM (how information is transferred) than MEANING
(information itself), it plays an essential role in several aspects of meaning
• Essential for the construction and coherence of a discourse, the choice of anaphoric elements.
• Also necessary for the interpretation of sentences with focus-sensitive particles (e.g. only, also, too), or
adverbs of quantification (e.g. always, sometimes)
Different focuses of only
Some examples showing different focuses of only.
The focus in each example is marked in blue, which would receive a pitch accent in speech
• John only introduced Bill to Sue.
There are a range of linguistic means that can encode information structure, e.g.
• Intonation and prosody in speech
• Syntactic structures
• Word order
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Place of IS
Information structure is a component of GRAMMAR, more specifically of SENTENCE GRAMMAR, i.e. it is

a determining factor in the formal structuring of sentences (Lambrecht, 1994)
Givenness and aboutness relationship
Q: What did John drink?
Information structure of a sentence typically consists of two parts
• one less informative part that relates the sentence to the preceding discourse (given, old,
presupposed information)
• one more informative part that moves the discourse forward by adding new information or by
modifying the old information given or presupposed in preceding discourse
Information-flow principle
Related to the normal ordering of information in English discourse, i.e. moving from given to new information.
• A question and two possible replies
Q: When will we come back?
- A) We’ll come back next week.
- B) Next week we’ll come back.
A) is better than B)
The given-new order of information can contribute to the cohesion of a text, because the given information at
the beginning links the sentence to the previous discourse while the new information is usually taken up in the
continuing message.
Principles of end-focus and end-weight principle
A clause normally has at least one point of focus, which typically falls upon the end of the clause.
End-weight principle
Since new information often needs to be presented more fully than the given information (e.g. by using a
longer, more complex, heavier structure), the end-weight principle often works hand in hand with the end-
focus principle.
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End-focus and end-weight principles
A pair of examples:
• A) It may take them a little while, but it is important that you contact them to make a housing application and
let them know of your needs.
• B) It may take them a little while, but that you contact them to make a housing application and let them know
of your needs is important.
Which sentence is more difficult to process? Why?
Sentence B) is more difficult
It is structurally unbalanced, and readers have to keep a lot in memory before they reach the end of the
sentence.
• The end-weight principle states that the end of a clause is the most important point of focus.
In addition to final position, the beginning of a clause is another point of focus.
Brilliant that was! (That was absolutely brilliant!)
• To this list it would be very desirable to add the status of women and the distribution of income, housing and
consumer durables.
• The primary focus falls upon the underlined part in final position
• To this list in initial position becomes a second focus, which also provides a cohesive link
Information-flow principle vs. end-focus/weight principles
• Normally agree with each other
• When the two are in conflict, the information-flow principle can overrule the end-weight principle
e.g. That similar relationships occur with these two species under field conditions in Saskatchewan was suggested by
Pickford (1960, 1966a).
• The that-clause is placed in initial position to serve the information-flow principle by giving old
information, even though this is a heavy structure.
Manifestations of IS
Passive Clefting Fronting
Existential there Extraposition Inversion
Adverbial clause Dislocation
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1) Passives
One important discourse function of passives is to accommodate information structure by presenting

information from given to new , maintaining the end-focus and end-weight , keeping the topic continuous in
discourse .
Most commonly, the subject contains given information while the agent presents new information, which
means that in most passive sentences, the subject has a higher level of givenness than the agent phrase.
• About 90 of the agent phrases bring in new information (Biber et al 1999)
Passives
Two-sentence mini discourse
• Almost all entrants to teaching in maintained and special schools in England and Wales complete a recognised
course of initial teacher training.
• A) Such courses are offered by university departments of education as well as by many polytechnics and
colleges.
• B) University departments of education as well as many polytechnics and colleges offer such courses.
Which option will you choose? Why?
Option A) is better - in accord with information-flow principle and in accord with end-focus/weight principles
• Anaphoric use of such in initial position links the sentence more closely to the preceding discourse.
In addition to maintaining information flow, passives can also help to keep the topic continuous so that the
discourse is coherent
• A) The town is a major centre for the timber industry and is surrounded by large industrial and shipping
complexes in the river Dvina, stretching away to the White Sea about thirty kilometers to the north.
Topic of 3 clauses is continuous (the town)
• B) The town is a major centre for the timber industry and large industrial and shipping complexes in the river
Dvina surrounded it, town stretching away to the White Sea about thirty kilometers to the north.
Topic is discontinuous (the town large industrial and shipping complexes the town).
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2) Existential there There BE/EXIST notional subject
Conveying more information than the mere existence of something, e.g. by indicating when or where it exists
• As the obligatory elements of an existential sentence convey little information, it usually has an
adverbial or a post-modifier for the notional subject
• There were four witnesses to the ceremony at the citys Hotel Crillon.
• Existential there, the notional subject of an existential clause is usually an indefinite noun phrase
introducing a new topic which is taken up in the continuing discourse
• There are some apparent contradictions. For instance, the republics are encouraged to seek membership of
the United Nations, although the union is to remain responsible for foreign relations.
• New topic some apparent contradictions is introduced by existential there
• One example of such contradictions (the republics vs. the union) is given in the continuing discourse
Existential there/Existential constructions can help to avoid unbalanced sentence structure
• A) There are many people who believe sincerely that you can train children for life without resorting to
punishment.
• B) Many people who believe sincerely that you can train children for life without resorting to punishment
exist.
Which option do you prefer? Why?
A) is better than B)
• Sentence balance, end-focus
3) Adverbial clauses
• The placement of adverbial clauses can help to maintain information flow
• If an adverbial clause contains given information, it is usually placed in initial position to help with
cohesion in this case, the main clause presents new information
• And if that crisis goes on for years, its hard for them to recollect what they were like before.
• that crisis in the conditional clause provides a cohesive link. New information is in end focus
• In order to answer this question it is necessary to begin to read the charts as a way of structuring meaning
• This question in the adverbial of purpose provides a cohesive link . New information is in end focus.
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Adverbial clauses
Conversely, when the main clause gives old information, the adverbial clause may appear in final position to
present new information
We had them at the hospital , although I didn’t use them that often.
4) Clefting
A cleft sentence breaks information in a sentence into two parts in order to provide an extra focus to one piece
of information
• Two types of clefting
it-cleft
wh-cleft
It-clefts
Nearly all syntactic roles other than the predicate can be brought into focus in it-cleft sentences to achieve
cohesion and contrast.
The new freedoms go furthest in NHS Trusts and it is there that we are seeing some of the greatest progress.
there provides a backward link to NHS Trusts, and also gives the sentence a primary focus in addition to the end
focus
Canonical word order: and we are seeing some of the greatest progress there. (less powerful)
Sir, I always thought it was bodies that required the seats, not souls .
The focused element bodies forms a contrast with souls
Canonical word order bodies, not souls, required the seats. (less powerful)
Wh-element s In wh-clefts: the focused elements can be a noun phrase, a nominal clause, or an infinitive
clause
What she needed was a solid core of self (noun phrase as focused element)
What he urges is that they should have a betterknowledge of the past (nominal clause as focused element)
What you must do is tell Irina to keep him in the clinic till I can come. (infinitive phrase as focused element)
In sentences like these, the part marked up in blue is the primary focus, while the underlined wh-clause forms a
second focus.
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Two special wh-clefts: Inverted wh-clefts and demonstrative wh-clefts
In both cases, the focused elements usually provide reference to the preceding discourse
Peace and quiet is what we want.
Peace and quiet was discussed in earlier text .
This is what will determine the outcome of the election.
• Focused demonstrative pronoun points backwards to the early text
• New information in the wh-clause forms the end focus
5) Extraposition
Extraposition means moving subject or object clauses outside their normal positions. When this happens,
the dummy it is used in subject position of the main clause, anticipating the extraposed clause as the logical
subject
• Extraposition can help with sentence balance to serve the end-focus principle
Four types of extraposition:
− Extraposed that-clause
− Extraposed wh-clause
− Extraposed infinitive clause
− Extraposed gerund clause
Extraposed that-clause
The dummy it functions as the subject while the that-clause is moved to the clause final position.
It is obvious that some Conservative Members are living in a dream world. (it BE adj. that)
Canonical That some Conservative Members are living in a dream world is obvious.
It seems unlikely that this provisional arrangement will last. (it SEEM/APPEAR adj. that)
Canonical That this provisional arrangement will last seems unlikely.
It appears that he is afraid of me. (it SEEM or APPEAR that)
Canonical That he is afraid of me appears (to be the case).
Canonical versions sound less natural, because they go against the principle of end-weight.
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Extraposed wh-clause
The dummy it functions as the subject while the wh-clause is moved to the clause final position.
It is not clear how reliable the measurements of heat flux from sonic devices are in cloud.
Canonical How reliable the measurements of heat flux from sonic devices are in cloud is not clear.
For the same reason as for extraposed that-clauses, the canonical version sounds less natural.
Extraposed infinitive clause
The dummy it functions as the subject while the infinitive clause is moved to the clause final position.
It is essential to read the entire book and then go back to this area.
Canonical To read the entire book and then go back to this area is essential.
James found it difficult to accept her explanation. (object)
Canonical James found to accept her explanation difficult.
These canonical versions clearly sound less natural than their extraposed counterparts
When the infinitive clause functions as an object, the canonical version is even less acceptable.
Extraposed gerund clause
The dummy it functions as the subject while the gerund clause is moved to the clause final position.
Its very difficult getting supplies into Sarajevo.
Canonical Getting supplies into Sarajevo is very difficult.
They found it fun skiing. (object)
Canonical They found skiing fun.
While a lengthy gerund clause can still destroy the balance in canonical word order, a short gerund clause in
canonical form sounds as good as the extraposed version.
6) Dislocation
A construction with a pronoun in the main clause and a definite noun phrase before or after the main clause,
which is used to mark the topic or for clarification.
Typically found in conversation or fictional dialogue.
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Two types of dislocation
Left-dislocation (preface) marking the topic
One of the guys I work with, he said he bought over 100 in Powerball tickets.
He - one of the guys I work with - topic
Underlined part focus
Right-dislocation (noun phrase tag) for clarification, sometimes also for the end-focus effect of the
noun phrase.
Has it got double doors, that shop?
Noun phrase tag clarifies what the pronoun it refers to it, also brings the noun phrase that shop into focus
7) Fronting
Placing in initial position a clause element which normally follows the verb. Used for achieving focus and
cohesion as it takes advantage of both final and initial points of focus. The fronted element usually refers to
given information, or forms a contrast.
Examples of fronting
What they can do, we can do.
Fronted object provides two points of focus and a contrast
Such at least was his observation.
Fronted element such provides a cohesive link and an end-focus
Far more serious were the severe head injuries.
Fronted predicative relates the sentence to preceding text through a comparison, it also activates two points
of focus.
Enclosed is a photograph of my late father Bert Wakefield on site just after the war.
Fronted non-finite construction achieves sentence balance by presenting the structurally heavy new
information in final position.
Brave though he is in facing adult audiences, the result is a bit of a cringe.
Underlined part moved before the subordinator though is clearly intensified in addition, the end-focus falls
upon new information.
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8) Inversion
Refers to a reversal of the normal word order so that the verb precedes the subject .
Helping with cohesion, information flow, intensification and placement of focus.
Examples of inversion
Next to it stood the engine which ran it,

and the engineer .
Full (subject-verb) inversion
Underlined part in initial position provides old information Referential it in initial position increases cohesion.
Long subject appears at the end of the sentence. Better than canonical with long subject
The engine which ran it, and the engineer stood next to it.
On no occasion did the number of protesters reach more than a few hundred.
Partial (subject-operator) inversion
Force of the negative element is intensified by its initial focus .More powerful than canonical.
The number of protesters did not reach more than a few hundred on any occasion.
Summary
The information structure of a sentence has two parts one for given information and one for new information,
and old information is normally presented before new information. The end and beginning of a clause are
usually points of focus, but the structurally complex and informationally heavier part is normally placed in final
position.
Information structure is manifested in a great variety of sentence structures in English.
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THEME VS RHEME
THEME – what the sentence is about
1. The chef is preparing dinner in the kitchen.
2. Dinner is being prepared in the kitchen.
3. In the kitchen the chef is preparing dinner.
4. In the kitchen dinner is being prepared by the chef.
DEFINITIONS OF THEME:
• the starting point of the clause message
• realized in English by first position in a clause
• must contain a participant, process or circumstance
• includes any element preceding the first participant, process or circumstance
THEME IN DECLARATIVE SENTENCES (Unmarked, Theme = Subject):
1. The two Indians stood waiting.
2. Nick and his father went into the stern of the boat.
3. Of course it’s an accident.
Marked (Theme  Subject):
1. Across the bay they found the other boat.
2. In February 1979 he was awarded the George Cross posthumously.
3. That I don’t know.
THEME IN INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES:
1. Polarity (yes/no questions): unmarked Theme = finite + Subject
a. Are you interested in syntax?
b. Would you like a cup of tea?
c. Oh, so is that your plan?
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2. Wh-questions: unmarked Theme = Wh-word:
a. What are you doing here?
b. Where are we going?
c. Then, in the name of goodness, why does she bother?
THEME IN IMPERATIVE SENTENCES:
1. Wake me up before the coffee break.
2. Don’t disturb me while I’m taking a nap.
3. Let’s have a look at this recipe.
THEME RHEME
Point of departure of clause as message; local Non-theme – where the presentation moves after
context of clause as piece of text. the point of departure; what is presented in the local
context set up by Theme.
Initial position in the clause Position following initial position.
THEME RHEME
For centuries yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in
mining.
Yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in mining for
centuries.
Miners have used yellow canaries to ‘test’ the air for

centuries.
In mining, yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air for
centuries.
The air has been ‘tested’ in mining for centuries by using

yellow canaries.
To ‘test’ the air in mining, yellow canaries have been used for centuries.
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Theme–Rheme analysis of some sentences (Underlined: downranked themes):
Newspaper article (from The Daily Telegraph)
Parts of Northern Britain were brought to a standstill by heavy snow and ice
yesterday with roads closed and dangerous driving
conditions.
Scotland was worst hit.
Two hundred schools were closed in Aberdeenshire, where roadswere

impassable,
and more than seven inches of snow was recorded at Aberdeen airport.
An injured climber survived 18 hours in sub-zero temperatures

clinging to an ice-covered ledge after falling 400ft in
Glencoe.
Lawrence Reeve, 40, a computer operator from was recovering in hospital yesterday after suffering
Chessington, Surrey, severe facial injuries, a punctured lung and
frostbite.
The lone walker was making his way along a ridge when he fell into
Glen Cam, striking a boulder which saved him from
a further drop of 300ft.
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A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND of Theme And Rheme
This concept goes back to the founder of the Linguistic Circle of Prague school, Vilém Mathesius who
developed and applied the concept of “Functional Sentence Perspective” (FSP). According to Mathesius,
every utterance has two different structures: one is grammatical, and the other is informational termed:
“the information-bearing structure of the utterance
The basic elements of the formal structure of the sentence are the grammatical subject and the
grammatical predicate, the basic elements of the information-bearing structure are the foundation of
the utterance- whatever in a given situation is known or at least obvious and thus forms a point of
departure for the speaker- and the core of the utterance, that is, whatever the speaker affirms about the
foundation of the utterance or in terms of it.
The terms “foundation” and “core” are usually replaced, respectively, by “theme ”and “rheme”
Unless special effects are aimed at, theme usually precedes rheme (i.e. theme is unmarked). In marked
utterances, rheme is promoted to the first position followed by the theme
Examples:
a. The man is coming.
b. His hair I can’t stand.
c. Smith her name was.
Thus theme in (a) is unmarked, but is marked in (b, c) owing to the thematization of the new information.
• A sentence contains a point of departure and a goal of discourse. The point of departure, called the
theme, is the ground on which the speaker and the hearer meet.
• The goal of discourse, called the rheme, presents the very information that is to be imparted to the
hearer.
– Movement from theme to rheme reveals the movement of the mind itself.
Communicative dynamism (CD)
Jan Firbas (1921 – 2000), Czech linguist
Linguistic communication is dynamic, not static.
o CD measures the amount of info an element carries in a sentence. The degree of CD is the
effect contributed by a linguistic element.
Firbas pointed that an utterance is a process of gradually unfolding meaning wherein each part
dynamically contributes to the total communicative effect. Some utterance elements can have high
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degrees of contributions, others have low ones. The basic distribution of CD in an utterance is that the
opening element carries the lowest degree of CD, then gradually passes on to the elements carrying the
highest degree of CD.
Firbas maintains that theme is the element or elements carrying the lowest degree(s) of CD within a
sentence, and that rheme consists in element(s) carrying the highest degree of CD within the utterance.
He also recognizes various transitional utterance elements that are neither “thematic” nor “rhematic”
He was cross.
CD: The lowest degree of CD is carried by he, and the highest degree of CD is carried by cross, with
the degree carried by was ranking between them.
Normally the subject carries a lower degree of CD than the verb and/or the object and/or adverbial
provided either the verb or the object and/or adverbial are contextually independent.
This is because a known or unknown agent expressed by the subject appears to be communicatively less
important than an unknown action expressed by the finite verb and/or an unknown goal (object or
adverbial of place) at or towards which the action is directed.
For example,
o A man broke into the house and stole all the money.
The ultimate purpose of the communication is to state the action and/or its goal, not the agent.
• However, if the subject is followed by a verb expressing “existence or appearance on the scene” and is
contextually independent, then it will carry the highest degree of CD, because an unknown person or
thing appearing on the scene is communicatively more important than the act of appearing and the
scene itself, e.g.
– An old man appeared in the waiting room at five o’clock.
• If the subject is contextually dependent ↓
a contextually independent adverbial of time or place becomes an important local and temporal specification,
carrying greater degree of CD than both the subject and the finite verb, as in
– The old man was sitting in the waiting room
• Daneš (1974: 106) coins the term “Thematic Progression” (TP) to refer to the choice and ordering of
utterance themes, their mutual relationship and hierarchy, as well as their links to the main theme of the
macrostructure units (such as the paragraph, scene, chapter.. etc) and the theme of the whole text
• TP has three types: i) simple linear TP; ii) TP with a constant theme; and iii) TP with derived themes (ibid.:
109). In simple linear TP, the rheme (r2) of the first utterance (u1) appears in the next (u2) as its theme
(t2). In other words, each r becomes the t of the succeeding one as shown in the following figure:
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The London School
• B. Malinowski (1884-1942), professor of anthropology (1927).
• J. R. Firth (1890-1960), the first professor of linguistics in the UK (1944).
• M. A. K. Halliday (1925-2018), student of Firth.
– All three stressed the importance of context of situation and the system aspect of L.
Systemic-functional grammar
• M A K Halliday (1925-2018).
• Two components and inseparable parts:
– systemic grammar: internal relations in L as a system network, meaning potential.
– functional grammar: L as a means of social interaction, uses or functions of language form.
Characteristics of the Theme
The theme, then, is what speakers / writers use as their point of departure.
Formally, it is the left-most constituent of the sentence as realized in the grammar of English.
The theme is not necessarily a nominal group, it may also be an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase
In many unmarked cases, the theme of the declarative sentences will be a noun phrase; that of
interrogatives: the interrogative word; and that of the imperatives: the imperative form of the verb.
The Concept of Markedness
Definition: A concept found in linguistics to indicate whether a linguistic element or pattern is or is not
commonly found. For Example
• I. I am writing handouts for my students
• II. For my students I am writing handouts
• III. Handouts I am writing for my students
Clause i) is unmarked ,as the subject usually coincides with the theme in a declarative clause. The themes in ii)
and iii) are marked ,as the themes ,going against what is usually the case ,do not coincide with the subjects
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– Due to the fact that instances of thematised complements in declarative clauses are less common
than those in which( circumstantial) adjuncts are thematised ,iii) can be described as being more
marked than ii
FOCUS AND PRESUPPOSITION
FOCUS is a grammatical category that determines which part of the sentence contributes new, non-
derivable, or contrastive information.
It may be highlighted either prosodically or syntactically or both, depending on the language. In syntax this
can be done by assigning focus markers, e.g.:
I saw JOHN
Here focus is realized phonologically by a nuclear pitch accent.
JOHN I saw
This is the case of preposing (clefting) which induces an obligatory intonation break.
In the above example focus is marked via word order and a nuclear pitch accent.
The focus domain can be either broad or narrow
Did you see a grey dog or a cat? I saw [a grey DOG].
Did you see a grey dog or a grey cat? I saw a grey [DOG].
Did you see a grey dog or a black dog? I saw a [GREY] dog.
Focus directly affects the semantics of a sentence.
John only [introduced Bill to SUE] – the only thing John did was introduce Bill to Sue
John only introduced Bill to [SUE] – the only person to whom John introduced Bill is Sue
In the above examples focus is associated with the focus sensitive expression only.
PRESUPPOSITION is background belief relating to an utterance that:
• must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be considered
appropriate in context
• generally will remain a necessary assumption whether the utterance is placed in the form of an assertion,
denial, or question
• can generally be associated with a specific lexical item or grammatical feature in the utterance
(presupposition trigger)
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John regrets that he stopped doing linguistics before he left Cambridge has the following presuppositions:
• There is someone uniquely identifiable to speaker and addressee as John
• John stopped doing linguistics before he left Cambridge
• John was doing linguistics before he left Cambridge
• John left Cambridge
• John had been to Cambridge
Negation of an expression does not change its presupposition (e.g. I want to do it again and I don’t want to do it
again)
• Wykład 9: Chomsky's model of Transformational-Generative Grammar
RAISING involves the movement of an argument from an embedded or subordinate clause to a main
clause.
There are two types of raising verbs: Examples of raising-to-subject verbs:
- raising-to-subject verbs a. They seem to be trying
- raising-to-object verbs b. Prices appear to be increasing
c. You seem to be impatient
Examples of raising-to-object verbs:
a. Fred wants us to help
b. That proves him to be hiding something
c. She predicts there to be a problem
Raising verbs can be identified by the fact that they can take part in it-extraposition:
d. Tom seems to have won the race

It seems that Tom won the race
e. Larry appears to be doing the work
It appears that Larry is doing the work
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More examples of subject raising:
1. It seems [that you’re worried]
2. You seem [to be worried]
The subject of sentence 1 is it, a dummy subject, a subject with no meaning. However, the that-clause in 1 has a
real subject, you, which certainly has meaning.
Sentence 2 means the same as sentence 1. The only difference is that the subject of the sentence is now you.
It’s as if the subject from the that-clause has been lifted up to become subject of the whole sentence. The that-
clause has been reduced to a mere to-infinitive. This process is called subject raising and the subject of
sentence 2 is called a raised subject.
Which of the following pairs of sentences contain a raised subject?
a. It’s likely that they are waiting in the office.

b. They’re likely to be waiting in the office.
a. It appears that we missed them.

b. We appear to have missed them.
a. It happened that I saw Dave yesterday.

b. I happened to see Dave yesterday.
Subject raising applies to:
- verbs of seeming: appear, seem
- adjectives of probability: sure, certain, likely, unlikely
- passive reporting verbs: be said, be thought, be known, be believed, be rumoured, etc.
- passive verbs of expectation: be expected, be required, be supposed
- verbs of hapenning: happen, turn out
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TOPICALIZATION
Types of Generative Grammar
• Finite State Model
(sequential)
• Phrase Structure Model
(sequential + hierarchical) + (categorial)
• Transformational Model
(sequential + hierarchical + transformational) + (categorial + functional)
Transformational Model
• If a generative grammar makes use of all the three
– Sequential
– Hierarchical
– Transformational
breaking up and two
– categorial
– Functional
labeling is called a Transformational Grammar.
Transformations: Phrasal Categories
Topicalization
− Topicalized NP
− Topicalized PP
∟ I can solve this problem.
∟ I can solve *(this problem).
∟ *I solved.
∟ This problem, I can solve.
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• Subcategorization Frame
– solve: [V; _NP]
• PS Rules
S → NP VP
VP → Aux V NP
Aux → can
V → solve / [ _NP]
NP → Pron | Det N
Pron → I
Det → the
N → problem
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• This problem, I can solve.
• To John, Mary gave the book.
• Fix the car, I wonder whether John will.
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TRANSFORMATIONAL-GENERATIVE MODEL OF GRAMMAR
PREZENTACJA: General information on the TG model of grammar
How to build tree diagrams?
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Draw the tree Structure of phrase
1. repair the telephone
2. the success of the program
3. a film about pollution
4. move towards the window
5. The end of the road
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128
• Wykład 11: Semantics: definition and major concepts
SEMANTICS
MEANING
• Conceptual vs. associative meaning
• Denotative vs. connotative meaning
• conceptual/denotative= literal use of the word.
• Associative/ connotative= different associations with the conceptual meaning
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• E.g. needle= ‘thin, sharp, steel, instrument’ is associated with ‘pain’, ‘blood’ or ‘illness’
• Other examples: night- rose?
What is Semantics?
The study of meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.
- Lexical semantics (words and meaning relationship among words)
- Phrasal/ sentential semantics (syntactic units larger than a word)
What a speaker conventionally means (objective or general meaning)- not what he is trying to say
(subjective or local meaning)
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How can we describe the meaning of different words?
Three types of semantic analysis:
o Words as ‘containers’ → Semantic features
o ‘roles’ they fulfill → Semantic roles
o ‘relationship’ with other words → lexical relation
Semantic features
Syntactically correct sentences but semantically odd.
o The hamburger ate the man.
o My cat studies linguistics.
o The table listens to the radio
This relates to the conceptual components of the words ‘hamburger, cat & table’ not → human.
Semantic properties: The components of meaning of a word.
Meaning as collection of properties/features typically with two possible values (+ / -)
Example of componential analysis:
baby is [+ young], [+ human], [+animate]
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Semantic roles
Words are described according to the roles they fulfill with the situation described in a sentence.
o The boy kicked the ball
▪ verb indicates action
▪ Boy → performs the action= agent
▪ Ball → undergoes the action= theme
The NPs describe the role of entities (people or things) involved in the action, i.e. they have certain semantic (or
thematic) roles.
• John is writing with a pen
agent instrument
• Mary saw a mosquito on the wall
experiencer theme location
• The children ran from the playground to the pool
agent source goal
• The boy opened the door with a key
• The dog bit the stick
• With a stick, the man hit the dog.
Agent = the entity that performs the action

Theme = the entity that undergoes the action
Experience r= one who perceives something
Instrument = an entity used to perform an action
Location = the place where the action happens
Source = the place from which an action originates
Goal = the place where the action is directed
Synonymy
Synonymy: words that have the same meanings or that are closely related in meaning
E.g. answer/reply – almost/nearly – broad/wide – buy/purchase – freedom/ liberty
‘sameness’ is not ‘total sameness’- only one word would be appropriate in a sentence.
o E.g. Sandy only had one answer correct on the test. (but NOT reply)
Synonyms differ in formality
o E.g buy/purchase – automobile/car
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Antonymy
Antonymy: words that are opposites in meaning, e.g. hot & cold.
Types
• Gradable= not absolute, question of degree
– Hot & cold – small & big
• Non-gradable:
– Dead & alive – asleep & awake
E.g. happy/sad married/single
present/absent fast/slow
Hyponymy
Hyponymy: Words whose meanings are specific instances of a more general word, i.e. one thing is included
(kind of) in another thing.
o e.g. cats and dogs are hyponyms of the word animal.
In this case cats and dogs are co-hyponyms share the same ‘superordinate’
Other e.g. daffodil & flower / carrot & vegetable / ant & insect
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Metonymy
• What do you think about these sentence?
– He drank the whole bottle. (container-content)
– The White House announced. (king-crown)
– I gave her a hand. (whole-part)
• A word substituted for another word with which it is closely associated e.g. bottle is used for water
Metonymy is "a figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name
or designate something." A short definition is "part for whole."
Polysemy
• Polysemy: A word which has multiple meanings related by extension,
– e.g. bright: ‘shining’ ; ‘intelligent’
– ‘Head’ of the body and the person at the top of a company.
– ‘Foot’ of a body and of a mountain and of the bed or chair.
– ‘Run’ a person runs, the water runs
Collocation
Words tend to occur with other words.
• E.g. table/chair
• Butter/bread
• Salt/pepper
• Hammer/ nail
Homophones and Homonyms

• Homonymy: A word which has two or more entirely distinct (unrelated) meanings,
– e.g. bank: ‘financial institution’ ; ‘of a river’.
– Bat: ‘flying creature’ or ‘used in sports’
– Race: ‘contest of speed’ or ‘ethnic group’
• Homophony: Different words pronounced the same but spelled differently,
– e.g. two, to and too.
– Flour and flower
– Meat and meet
– Right and write
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SENSE AND REFERENCE
135
REFFERENCE
 These different expressions mean different things, have different content.
 However, they all pick out the same entity in this context (the Princess of Spain).
 i.e. they refer to the princess of Spain
 In a different context, the girl in the white dress could pick out something different.
 Sometimes, it can fail to pick out anything.
 an action on the part of a speaker
 it is context-bound
 but how do we pull it off?
SENSE
 We shall equate the sense of an expression with the CONCEPT (mental representation) associated
with the expression.
 This is a mentalistic view of the notion of sense. Other views are possible.
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DENOTATION
 If we understand an expression, i.e. know the concept/sense associated with it…
 …then we are able to determine what things (or situations) it can be predicated of
 this is the denotation of the expression (the set of things of which the expression is true)
THE SEMIOTIC TRIANGLE (II)
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EXAMPLE:
Denotation vs. Reference

We therefore distinguish between:
o the sense of an expression
o what the expression denotes
We should also distinguish:
o what a person intends to refer to by means of a linguistic expression
o in this view, reference is an action carried out by a speaker
o It relies on our knowledge of the sense and denotation of an expression.
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So denotation is a stable relationship between expressions and things:

o The word fish always denotes a certain kind of thing in the world. It can only apply to a specific
set of objects.
o This is independent of who uses the word and when.
o This is denotation or extension
o Reference depends on speakers and contexts:
o I can use fish to refer to different individual fish in different situations
o So in different situations, my use can pick out different referents
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DENOTATION AND CONOTATION

Denotation
The strict dictionary meaning of a word
Connotation
The emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word
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– Denotation is the dictionary or literal meaning of a word.
• Connotative words imply emotions.

Plump = a full, round.
Fat = While similar in meaning to plump,
it has a very harsh and mean tone.
WORD CHOICE
You may live in a house, but we live in a home.
The connotation in this sentence is that a “home” is much more than merely the structure of a house.
The connotation of a word is often either positive or negative
• Positive
We bought inexpensive souvenirs at the amusement park.
• Negative
We bought cheap souvenirs at the amusement park.
Which word has a positive connotation and which has a negative one?
• Everyone had a smirk on his/her face on the ride home. ← NEGATIVE
• Everyone had a smile on his/her face on the way home. ← POSITIVE
• You look a little odd today.
• You look really weird today.
Which one do think has a stronger, more negative feel to it?
Which word has a positive connotation? You Decide!
average mediocre
childish childlike
spit saliva
antique old-fashioned
Which words have negative connotations? You Decide!
1. The (odor, fragrance) of apple blossoms filled the entire valley.
2. A (swarm, bunch) of bees filled the air near the hive.
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HOMONYMY
Definition of Homonymy
◼ Greek homonymous – homos “the same”

onoma “name”
Two or more words identical in sound form and spelling, or in one of these aspects, but different in meaning,
distribution and (in many cases) in origin.
Classification of homonyms by Walter Skeat
identical in sound form and spelling but different in meaning
Perfect homonyms
Ball
Any spherical body A large dancing party
identical in sound form but different in spelling and meaning
Homophones
Piece Peace
Part separated from smth A situation without war conflicts
words different in sound-form and inmeaning but identical in spelling
Homographs
Lead [li:d] Lead [led]
The first position at a particular time during competition A soft heavy grey metal
Classification of homonyms:
• full homonyms
• partial homonyms
Full homonyms
◼ words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm
◼ have the same spelling an pronunciation
match, n. match, n.
a game, a contest a short piece of wood for producing fire
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Partial homonyms
1. simple lexico- grammatical
belong to the same part of speech their paradigms have only one identical form it is never the same form
to found, verb
found, verb
(Past Ind., Past. Part. of to find)
2. Complex lexico-grammatical
belong to different parts of speech and have one identical form in their paradigms
rose, noun one, numeral
rose, verb (Pat Ind. of to rise) won, verb (Past Ind., Past Part. of to win)
3. Partial lexical homonyms

belong to the same part of speech but identical only in corresponding forms of their paradigms
to lie (lay, lain), verb to can (canned, canned)
to lie (lied, lied), verb can (could)
Classification of homonyms by I.V. Arnold

• Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms but different in lexical
meaning
Board - a piece of wood \ a council
• Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms but different in lexical meaning
and paradigms
To lie- lied- lied To lie - lay- lain
• Homonyms different in in their grammatical meanings, lexical meaning and paradigms but identical in
basic forms
Light (lights) Light (lighter, the lightest)
• Homonyms different in their grammatical meanings, lexical meaning, basic forms and paradigms (but
coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms)
A bit Bit (to bite)
Classification of homonyms according to their meaning
◼ grammatical homonyms – different word-forms of one and the same word are identical
e.g. a seal – seals – seal’s – seals’
“Waiter!”
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“Yes, sir!”
“What’s this?”
“It’s bean soup, sir!”
“Never mind what it has been. I want to
know what it is now.”
Bean – been (homophones)
Reasons for intense development of homonyms in English
◼ monosyllabic character of the language
◼ analytic structure of English
◼ predominance of free forms in English
◼ highly-developed polysemy
Sources of Homonyms
• Phonetic changes
• Borrowing
• Conversion
• Shortening
• Split polysemy
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SOURCES OF HOMONYMY
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Synchronic Approach to Homonymy

1. the criteria distinguishing homonymy from polysemy
2. the formulation of rules for recognizing different meanings of homonyms in terms of their distribution
Homonymy and Polysemy
∟ Semantic criterion of related and unrelated meanings
connections between the various meanings are apprehended by speakers or not apprehended
∟ radiation - primary meaning stands in the center, secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays
POLYSEMY
∟ concatenation – secondary meanings develop like a chain. It is difficult to trace some meanings to the
primary one.
HOMONYMY
Distribution Criterion
◼ homonyms differ in their syntactic function
e.g. I think that this “that” is a conjunction but that “that” that that man used was a pronoun.
Classification of homonyms according to their meaning
◼ lexical homonyms – words that differ in their lexical meaning but identical in their grammatical
meaning
a seal a seal
◼ grammatical homonyms – different word-forms of one and the same word are identical
a seal – seals – seal’s – seals’
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Same sound Same spelling Same meaning
Homophones YES MAYBE MAYBE
air, heir, err No →air, heir, err No →air, heir, err
Yes →a tire, to tire Yes → gases, gasses
Homonyms YES YES NO
a scale, to scale a scale, to scale a scale, to scale
Homographs MAYBE YES MAYBE

Yes →a tire, to tire a tire, to tire No →a tire, to tire
No → to lead, lead (metal) to lead, lead (metal) Yes →been (“bin vs.
“bean”)
• Wykład 12: Polysemous lexemes, prototype theory, metonymy and metaphor
RADIAL NETWORKS
The radial network model describes a category structure in which a central case of the category radiates
towards novel instances: less central category uses are extended from the center.
The concept was first introduced by Claudia Brugman who studied the preposition over. She suggests that ‘the
above and the across’ reading of over (as in the plane flew over) is central but in over a period of time it has a
metaphorical reading.
SENSES OF THE WORD SCHOOL
1. Learning institution or building
2. Lessons
3. Pupils and/or staff of teachers
4. University faculty
5. Holiday course
6. Group of artists with similar style
7. Views shared by a group of people
8. A group of big fish swimming together
The eight senses form a cluster that is structured in the shape of a RADIAL NETWORK, i.e. a centre with radii
going in various directions.
There are four different processes that allow us to focus on one or more component in this general category.
1. Metonymy 3. Specialization
2. Metaphor 4. Generalization
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METONYMY
From Greek meta ‘change’ and onoma ‘name’
In metonymy the basic meaning of a word can be used for a part or the part for the whole. For instance,
school as a ‘learning institution for a group of people’ allows us to focus upon each subset (the pupils ,
the staff) of this complex category and we can take the subset (e.g. the head of the school) for the whole
category.
The semantic link between two or more senses of a word is based on a relationship of contiguity, i.e.
between the whole of something, e.g. school as an „institution for learning in group” and a part of it, e.g.
„the lessons”.
Contiguity – the state of being in some sort of contact such as that between a part and a whole, a container and
the contents, a place and its inhabitants, etc.
Example: He drank the whole bottle
METAPHOR
From Greek metapherein ‘carry over’.
It is based on perceived similarity. Referring to the bottom part of a mountain as the foot of the
mountain is based on a conceived similarity between the structure of the human body and a mountain.
SOURCE DOMAIN – elements of the human body
TARGET DOMAIN - the elements of a mountain
SPECIALIZATION
In this process the word’s original meaning is narrowed down to a smaller set of special referents, e.g.
school → academic unit of learning →any specialized institution for learning one specific subject
GENERALIZATION
Here the meaning component is broadened, e.g. moon → earth’s satellite → any planet’s satellite
POLYSEMY
Words are arbitrary symbols and are indepen -dent identities so far as their outer facet (spelling and
pronunciation) is concerned.
But semantically, all words are related in one way or another, hence sense relations
The subjects are polysemy, homonymy, synony-my, antonymy, hyponymy
 An overwhelming majority of words are polysemous in modern English
 Many words have two, three senses, or more.
 However, when a word is first coined, it is always monosemic.
 In the course of development, the same symbol must be used to express more meanings. The result is
polysemy.
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Two Approaches to Polysemy

Diachronic approach & Synchronic approach
1. Diachronic approach
Polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and
same word.
At the time when the word was created, it was endowed with only one meaning. This first meaning is the
primary meaning.
With the advance of time, it took on more and more meaning. These later meanings are called derived
meanings.
 For example: Face
(1) The front of the head
(2) the expression of the countenance
(3) A surface of a thing
(4) The side or surface that is marked, as of a clock, domino
(5) The appearance; outward aspect; resemblance
(6)[CH idiom] dignity; prestige, as in lose / save face
(7) The topography (of an area)
(8) The functional and striking surface (of a tool, golf club..)
(9)[colloquialism] effrontery, audacity
(10) What is shown by the language of a document
(11) [mining] the end of a tunnel
(12)[typography] the type surface on which a letter is cut
In many cases, the primary meaning became obsolete or disappeared altogether.

 Harvest
The basic sense of word was ‘time of cutting’
Now it is used in the sense of ‘reaping and gathering the crops’ or ‘ ‘ a season’s yield of grain or fruit.’
 Pain
The basic meaning was ‘Penalty or punishment’ now
This meaning is preserved only in such phrases as
‘pains and penalties’, ‘upon/under pain of’
The derived meanings ‘Suffering’, ‘great discomfort of the body or mind’ have become prevalent
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2. Synchronic approach
Synchronically, polysemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meaning of the same word in a certain
historical period of time in Modern English.
In this way, the basic meaning of a word is the core of word-meaning called the central meaning. The
derived meanings are second-ary in comparison.
But it does not necessarily mean that the secondary meanings are secondary in importance.
There are cases where the central meaning has gradually diminished and one of the derived meanings has
become dominant.
For example ‘gay’
(1) Joyous and lively; merry ; happy
(2) Bright ; brilliant
(3) Given to social life and pleasure
(4) Wanton ; licentious
(5) Homosexual
In both CCELD and LDCE, Sense (5) is arranged as No. 1, because it is rated as the most frequently used
meaning.
Two processes of Development

radiation & concatenation.
The development of word meaning from monosemy to polysemy follows two courses, known as
radiation and concatenation.
They are closely related in many cases, they work together, complementing each other
1. Radiation is a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the centre and secondary meanings
proceed out of it in every direction.
The meanings are independent of one another, but can all be traced back to the central meaning.
For example: Neck
(1) that part of man or animal joining the head to the body.
(2) that part of the garment
(3) The neck of an animal used as food
(4) A narrow part between the head and body ex) the neck of a violin
(5) The narrowest part of anything : bottle
The primary meaning is (1).
They don’t have the same meaning, but they are all related to the central meaning.
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2. Concatenation, meaning ‘linking together’, is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves
gradually away from its first sense.
in many cases, by successive shifts, there is no sign of connection between the final sense and the beginning
term.
For example Treacle
(1) Wild beast

(2) Remedy for bites of venomous beasts
(3) Antidote for poison or remedy for poison
(4) effective remedy (BrE)
(5) molasses
(1),(2) are entirely lost; (3),(4) are obsolete
And only (5) remains common is use
PROTOTYPE THEORY
The classical approach:
• By Aristotle
• defines a category in terms of a set of necessary and sufficient criteria.

• for instance, the criteria for some X to qualify for inclusion in the category GIRL are:
• X is human
• X is female
• X is young
7.2.2 Some problems of the classical approach
Lack of plausible analyses

The words like girl, which apparently can be defined by means of a set of necessary and sufficient features are
small proportion of the vocabulary at large, and are confined to certain semantic areas, such as kinship, and
specialized terms for animals specifying age and sex, and so on.
• Wittgenstein's famous example is game.
• Its meaning cannot be captured by necessary and sufficient semantic features.
One might suggest the following as possible criteria:
(i) involves winning and losing:
(ii) involves more than one person:
(iii) has arbitrary rules:
(iv) done purely for enjoyment:
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Fuzzy boundaries
• An Aristotelian definition of a category implies a sharp, fixed boundary.

• However, much empirical research on category structure has shown that the boundaries of natural
categories are fuzzy.
Example: Judgments on the color seen by two people
Internal structure of categories
As far as the classical conception of categories goes, everything that satisfies the criteria has the same status,
that is to say, something is either in the category, or not in it, and that is all there is to say about the matter.
However, language users feel that some members are felt to be 'better' examples of the category than others.
• For instance, an apple is a better example of a fruit than is a date, or an olive.
In other words, categories have internal structure: there are central members, less central members, and borderline
cases
The standard prototype approach
• The 'standard' approach to prototype theory, (Eleanor Rosch, 1973, 1978).
• The main thrust of Rosch's work has been to argue that natural conceptual categories are structured
around the 'best' examples, or prototypes of the categories.
• Other items are assimilated to a category according to whether they sufficiently resemble the
prototype or not.
Eleanor Rosch
• Professor Rosch is known for her work in concepts and categorization in cognitive psychology which
has been influential in many fields (one of which is prototype theory in linguistics) and for her more
recent work on Eastern psychologies and the psychology of religion.
Characteristics of Conceptual Categories within Rosch’s Model
GOE and family resemblance

Rosch’s Goodness-of-Exemplar (GOE) ratings. Subjects are asked to give a numerical value to their estimate
of how good an example something is of a given category.
So, for instance, if the category was VEGETABLE, the ratings of various items might be as follows:
• POTATO, CARROT I
• TURNIP, CABBAGE 2
• CELERY, BEETROOT 3
• AUBERGINE, COURGETTE 4
• PARSLEY, BASIL 5
• RHUBARB 6
• LEMON 7
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7.2.3.1 GOE and family resemblance
• Ratings of GOE may be strongly culture dependent. For instance, in a British context (say, a typical class
of undergraduates), DATE typically receives a GOE score of 3-5 relative to the category of FRUIT, but
an audience of Jordanians accorded it an almost unanimous 1
• Wittgenstein described the instances of the category GAME as manifesting a relationship of family
resemblance:
• Prototype theory embraces Wittgenstein's notion that family resemblance unites the members of
a category, but adds to it the vital idea of central and peripheral members.
Characteristics of Conceptual Categories within Rosch’s Model
Intuitive unity, definitional polyvalence
A purely linguistic characterization of categories with a prototypic organization is that they show intuitive
unity, but are definitionally polyvalent.
They cannot be captured by means of a single definition, but require a set of definitions
Fuzzy boundaries
A common position is to maintain that only the prototype has 100 per cent membership of a category, the
degree of membership of other items being dependent on their degree of resemblance to the prototype, this, in
turn, being reflected by their GOE score. From this one would have to conclude that a natural category has no real
boundaries.
The mental representation of categories

The earliest hypotheses regarding the mental representation of categories suggested that there was some sort
of portrait of the prototypical member, against which the similarity of other items could be computed and their
status in the category determined. However, many prototype theorists (e.g. Lakoff) speak only of 'prototype effects',
and remain uncommitted on the subject of the form of mental representations (Criticism).
Basic-level categories
Categories occur at different levels of inclusiveness.
(a) vehicle—car—hatchback.
(b) fruit—apple—Granny Smith.
(c) living thing—creature—animal—cat—Manx cat.
(d) object—implement—cutlery—spoon—teaspoon.
One level of specificity in each set has a special status (shown in bold in (2)), called basic or generic level of
specificity.
Characteristics of basic-level items are as follows.
(i) The most inclusive level at which there are characteristic patterns of behavioural interaction.
(ii) The most inclusive level for which a clear visual image can be formed.
(iii) Used for neutral, everyday reference. Often felt by speakers to be the 'real' name of the referent.
(iv) The basic level is the level at which the best categories can be created. Good categories are those which
maximize the following characteristics:
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(a) distinctness from neighbouring categories;
(b) internal homogeneity;

(v) Names of basic level categories tend to be morphologically simple.
Take the case of spoon, which is a basic-level term; all the more specific categories have more complex names:
teaspoon, tablespoon, soup spoon, coffee spoon, etc.
Domains
An important aspect of conceptual structure is emphasized by Langacker and his followers, and that is that
concepts only make sense when viewed against the background of certain domains, which are usually
themselves concepts of a more general or inclusive nature.
Langacker refers to the region or aspect of a domain highlighted by a concept as the profile, and the domain
part is called the base; thus, WHEEL profiles a region of the base BICYCLE.
It is important to note that profile and base are relational terms, not absolute ones.
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Typicality ratings of items belonging to six categories. From Rosch and Mervis (1975)
Metaphor and metonymy

ANALOGY OF METAPHORS
∟ Metaphor is principally a way of conceiving of one thing in terms of another, and its primary function is
understanding.
∟ Therefore, “metaphor” is related to “simile,” “analogy,” and “parable.”
TYPICAL METAPHOR SOURCES

They are common, old, prototypical, simple, and concrete.
Body Parts, Animals, Plants, Weather, Containers, Journey, Buildings, Food and War
Also Up vs. Down, and Hot vs. Cold
TYPICAL METAPHOR TARGETS
They are abstract, complex, and new.
Technology (e.g. Computers), Social Change, Religious Change, Exploration, Invention, Discovery,
Paradigm Shifts
THE NATURE OF GROUND

KIDNEY BEANS: Same color and shape; different size, texture and taste
A HEAD OF LETTUCE: Same size and shape; different color and Intelligence
ELBOW MACARONI: Same shape and color; different size and taste
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BULWER LITTON FICTION CONTEST
Winning entries in the annual Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, which honors the “best of the worst” from
some 10,000 “bad” book beginnings, often include overdone or confused metaphors as in this 1990
winning sentence written by Linda Vernon:
“Delores breezed along the surface of her life like a flat stone forever skipping along smooth water, rippling
reality sporadically but oblivious to it consistently, until she finally lost momentum, sank, and, due to an
overdose of fluoride as a child which caused her to suffer from chronic apathy, doomed herself to lie forever on
the floor of her life as useless as an appendix and as lonely as a 500-pound barbell in a steroid-free fitness
center.”
CATCHING ONTO A METAPHOR
Catching onto a metaphor is like catching onto a joke. For both, people must see the item being referred
to (the goal) in relation to the basis of the comparison (the source) and then they must figure out the
nature of the grounding, which is what the source and the goal have in common.
Powerful metaphors result in a sudden insight that resembles “catching onto” a joke.
In writing about this “thrill,” Ralph Waldo Emerson said the following:
• When some familiar truth or fact appears in a new dress, mounted as on a fine horse, equipped
with a grand pair of ballooning wings, we cannot enough testify our surprise and pleasure.
• It is like a new virtue in some unprized old property, as when a boy finds that his pocketknife will
attract steel filings and attract a needle.
CLOSURE
Explain what the source and target in the following metaphors have in common, and knowing this, tell how these
metaphors might be insults rather than compliments.
• You’re the cream in my coffee.
• My love is a rose.
COMIC METAPHORS
With metaphors created for comic effect, listeners have to engage in an extra level of mental gymnastics
or they will miss the point.
On Welcome Back Kotter, Gabriel Kaplan said, “When you walk through the cow pasture of facts, you
are bound to step in some truth.”
The following newly coined metaphors from the field of business provide vivid mental images:
Jell-O Principle: The ability of an organization to survive meddling and intervention. (When an
object is placed into and removed from moderately set Jell-O, the Jell-O will flow back to its
original shape.)
Kangaroo Strategy: A company trying to increase its inadequate holdings. (Sometimes the
companies with the emptiest pockets are the ones that take the greatest leaps.)
156
CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
Metaphors give people a way to talk about the unknown through references to the known.
Many of the “cute” things that children say are original metaphors created because the children don’t
know the standard way of expressing an idea.
Adults create metaphors for the same reason, but they are more aware of what they are doing.
Life is a journey (time, place, progress)
Israel or America or Salt Lake City or Mecca is the promised land.
Life is a car trip.
Anger is heat.
Queen Bee Syndrome:

When a powerful woman strictly limits the development of her female subordinates.
In a swarm of bees, only one superior bee is allowed to lay the eggs.
Mouse Milking:
A venture that has reached the point of diminishing returns.
Because of a mouse’s size, milking it would be an intricately challenging operation producing very little milk.
• For some people, having more of something (wealth, cars, food, wives, etc.) is better, but for Trappist Monks and
others, having more of something is a bad thing.
• Explain how an argument is like war.
• Explain how life is a gamble.
• Explain how Anger is associated with hot, but fear is associated with cold.
• Explain how happiness is associated with up, but sadness is associated with down.
DEAD METAPHORS
Dead metaphors are ones that have been in the language so long that speakers take them for granted.
BODY METAPHORS: head of cabbage, shoulder of a road, arm of the government, foothills, mouth of
a river
SKELETON METAPHORS
However, body metaphors can be funny if there is something to attract readers’ or listeners’ attention
to contradictory images in a metaphor’s source and goal.
A “virgin forest” is defined as one “in which the hand of man has never set foot.”
“Virgin territory” is described as being “pregnant with possibilities.”
157
S.J. Perelman startled his readers with this mixed metaphor:
“The color drained slowly from my face, entered the auricle, shot up the escalator, and issued from the ladies’ and
misses’ section into the housewares department.”
“Kick the bucket” is a “dead” metaphor.
To commit suicide, a person would tie a rope around his neck, stand on a bucket, and then “kick the bucket.”
MAPPING
The source and the target of a metaphor have something in common, the ground.
Usually the source and the target have many things in common. In the “life is a journey” metaphor both
life and a journey have a beginning, an end, a path, a series of episodes, etc.
METAPHORS AND LIFE EXPERIENCES
One’s whole life experience goes into creating and understanding metaphors.
Cynthia Ozick wrote in a May 1986 Harper’s article, “Metaphor is what inspiration is not. Inspiration is ad
hoc and has no history. Metaphor relies on what has been experienced before; it transforms the strange into
the familiar.”
METAPHORS IN THE DICTIONARY
• The Editors of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary said that of the 100,000 new words added to their
1961 edition, nearly half came into the language through metaphorical processes (most of the others
were the result of blending).
WAR METAPHORS
Metaphors are very important in times of war. Discussing the US military action against Iraq in January
of 1993, the U.S. press used the following punishment metaphors:
U.S. warplanes punish Iraq.
A slap on the wrist for Saddam Hussein.
Saddam receives spanking.
SIMILES VS. METAPHORS
Whenever a metaphor uses “like” or “as” it is sometimes called a “simile.” Unlike metaphors, similes are
always literally true.
Emerson wrote that a fact “appears in a new dress,” and that a fine horse is “equipped with a grand pair
of ballooning wings.”
These statements are not literally true; they are, however, metaphorically true.
158
SIMPLIFICATION OF METAPHORS
Anthony Judge said, “simplifying reality to simplify the decision process is a dangerously unsustainable way
forward.”
Jacob Mey said, “The inherent danger of metaphor is in the uncritical acceptance of a single-minded model of
thinking and its continued, thoughtless recycling, leading to the adoption of one solution as the remedy to all
evils.”
SYMBOLS VS. METAPHORS
Symbols are trite.
Dead metaphors are trite; they’re used for reference and could be called “linguistic metaphors.”
Literary metaphors are fresh; but they can become trite, as in “Something’s rotten in Denmark.”
Unlike regular language, metaphors can’t be extended.
We can have a half-baked idea, but not a *stewed idea, or a *fried idea.
Metaphors and analogies highlight certain facts and hide other facts.
During the Nixon administration, Nixon wanted everyone to be a “team player.” But there were certain
people in the Nixon administration who felt that there was a cancer in the White House. These two
metaphors were incompatible. People had to believe in one or the other metaphor.
Something similar is happening in Trump’s administration. And Trump’s tweets are constantly changing
the playing field.
Some people think that Trump’s tweets should be taken seriously but not literally.
Other people think that Trump’s tweets should be taken literally, but not seriously.
And everybody is forced to select one of these metaphorical choices.
159

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Introduction to linguistics with elements of descriptive grammar

Wykład 1: Functions of language

What is natural language?

ROMAN JAKOBSON (1896 – 1982):

Components of the act of verbal communication (according to Jakobson):

Six functions of language (according to Jakobson):

J.L. Austin (1911-1960)

LOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT – the act of saying something

PERLOCUTIONARY SPEECH ACT – the effect a given utterance evokes

You are going to fail this course.

What is the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary

Wykład 1: Act of communication

Components of the Communication Process

What are the factors influencing communication?

What are the modes of communication?

Verbal /Nonverbal communication

Roman Jakobson’s model of verbal communication

Jakobson’s Language Functions

Model for textual analysis

Wykład 2: Phonological system of English

Linguistics - The scientific study of language.

∟ Sounds are not the same things as orthography.

∟ The IPA was created to represent actual speech sounds.

∟ IPA was designed to consider grouping of sounds.

∟ Sounds change based on speech context

Phone - An individual sound of speech; an elementary sound unit.

Monophthongs vs. Diphthongs

Diphthongs Tense vowels with a little bit of offglide

3. How to describe vowels

Examples: /i/ is a (high, mid, low) (back, central, front) vowel.

/u/ is a (high, mid, low) (back, central, front) vowel.

4. Basic Speech Anatomy

Wykład 3: Consonants in English, aspects of connected speech

6. Aspects of Connected Speech

a car I bought a car

Look at this phrase:

11. Weak form are commonly used words

for was but

from were than

into would that

…but use your head!

Could you help me?

What you need is a good job!

The next day… /ðə ˈneks ˈdeɪ/

The last car… /ðə ˈlɑ:s ˈkɑ:/

Hold the dog! /ˈhəʊl ðə ˈdɒg/

Send Frank a card. /sen ˈfræŋk ə ˈkɑ:d/

15. Affricates /t/ and /d/

16. Elision of ‘not’

+ I can speak…. /aɪ kən ˈspi:k/

BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)

e.g. good girl / gugƏ:l/

e.g. that kid /ðækid/

BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)

e.g. ten men /tem men/

e.g. bad boys /bæb ˈbɔɪz/

e.g. hot mushrooms / hɒp ˈmʌʃru:mz/

‘Here’ / hiƏ/ but if

Here are /hiƏra /

‘Four’ / fo:/ but if