_Analysing.English.Sentences.A.Minimalist.Approach

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1、1Grammar1.1OverviewInbroadterms,thisbookisconcernedwithaspectsofgrammar.Grammaristraditionallysubdividedintotwodifferentbutinterrelatedareasofstudymorphologyandsyntax.Morphologyisthestudyofhowwordsareformedoutofsmallerunits(calledmorphemes),andsoaddressesquestionssuchasWhata

2、rethecomponentmorphemesofawordlikeantidisestablish-mentarianism,andwhatisthenatureofthemorphologicaloperationsbywhichtheyarecombinedtogethertoformtheoverallword?Syntaxisthestudyofthewayinwhichphrasesandsentencesarestructuredoutofwords,andsoaddressesquestionslikeWhatisthestru

3、ctureofasentencelikeWhat’sthepresidentdoing?andwhatisthenatureofthegrammaticaloperationsbywhichitscomponentwordsarecombinedtogethertoformtheoverallsentencestruc-ture?Inthischapter,webegin(in}1.2)bytakingabrieflookattheapproachtothestudyofsyntaxtakenintraditionalgrammar:thisa

4、lsoprovidesanopportunitytointroducesomeusefulgrammaticalterminology.Intheremainderofthechapter,welookattheapproachtosyntaxadoptedwithinthetheoryofUniversalGrammardevelopedbyChomsky.1.2Traditionalgrammar:categoriesandfunctionsWithintraditionalgrammar,thesyntaxofalanguageisdes

5、cribedintermsofataxonomy(i.e.classificatorylist)oftherangeofdifferenttypesofsyntacticstructuresfoundinthelanguage.Thecentralassumptionunderpinningsyntacticanalysisintraditionalgrammaristhatphrasesandsentencesarebuiltupofaseriesofconstituents(i.e.syntacticunits),eachofwhichbe

6、longstoaspecificgrammaticalcategoryandservesaspecificgrammaticalfunction.Giventhisassumption,thetaskofthelinguistinanalysingthesyntacticstructureofanygiventypeofsentenceistoidentifyeachoftheconstituentsinthesentenceand(foreachconstituent)tosaywhatcategoryitbelongstoandwhatfu

7、nctionitserves.Forexample,inrelationtothesyntaxofasimplesentencelike:(1)Studentsprotesteditwouldtraditionallybesaidthatthesentenceconsistsoftwoconstituents(thewordstudentsandthewordprotested),thateachoftheseconstituentsbelongs12grammartoaspecificgrammaticalcategory(studentsb

8、eingapluralnounandprotestedapasttenseverb)andthateachservesaspecificgrammat