WELCOME TO
GRAMMAR I!!!
Some basic concepts
❖ Grammar: a description of the structure of a language and
the way in which linguistic units are combined to produce
sentences.
❖ Linguistic units: parts of a language system morphemes,
words, phrases, clauses, sentences, utterances.
❖ Utterance: what is said by one person before or after another
one speaks.
❖ Language: a system of communication consisting of a set of
small parts and a set of rules that decide the ways in which
these parts can be combined to produce messages that have
meaning.
Levels of
Language
Phonetics,
Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics
Phonology
o Phonetics: the study of the physical aspects of speech.
Some symbols are identical to the Roman letters used in many language
alphabets; for example: p and b. Other symbols are based on the Greek
alphabet, such as θ to represent the th- sound in thin and thought. Still others
have been specially invented; e.g. ð for the th- sound in the and then
o Phonology: the study of the way speech sounds are
structured and how these are combined to create meaning in
words, phrases and sentences in a particular language.
English has some speech sounds (phonemes) that do not exist in other
languages. It is no surprise, therefore, that native speakers of those languages
have difficulties producing or even perceiving such sounds.
The difference between ‘phonetics’ and ‘phonology’ is that of
generality and particularity.
o Morphology: the study of “morphemes” and their different
forms, and the way they combine in word formation.
o Syntax: the study of how words combine to form sentences
and the rules which govern the formation of sentences,
making some sentences possible and others not possible
within a particular language.
What do the rules do?
1. They specify the correct word order:
The president nominated a new Supreme Court judge.
*President the new Supreme judge Court a nominated.
2. They specify the grammatical relations in a sentence:
Your dog chased my cat . (S + V + O)
3. They describe the relationship between the meaning of a group of
words and the arrangement of the words.
Sara ate chocolates. *Chocolates ate Sara.
o Semantics: the study of meaning (what a language expresses
about the world we live in or any possible or imaginary world).
▪ Denotation: the exact, literal meaning; the dictionary definition.
▪ Connotation: the feelings or emotions associated with a word; it
goes beyond the actual meaning.
o Pragmatics: the study of the use of language in
communication, particularly the relationships between
sentences and the contexts and situations in which they are
used.
A: I have a fourteen-year-old son.
B: Well, that’s all right.
A: I also have a dog.
B: Oh, I’m sorry.
Can you understand the meaning of this exchange?
A is trying to rent a flat from B.
B doesn’t accept pets.
