Scarica Understanding Italian Syntax: Identifying Key Clauses and Phrases e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity!
Mar Barat 2021-
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The soon-to-be-dismissed manager made one last-ditch attempt to persuade the board that his decisions, however unfortunate, had been made in good faith. Il direttore che sarebbe stato licenziato a breve fece un tentativo all’ultimo minuto di convincere il consiglio di amministrazione, che le sue decisioni per quanto di poco successo, erano state compiute in buona fede. ▶ EMBEDDING = there is an embedded structure in a pre-modifying position ( the soon-to-be-dismissed manager) which makes it difficult if you translate it into Italian because it doesn’t have this pre-modification but a post-modification. Instead of having it before the noun, you have it later ( il direttore che sarebbe stato licenziato a breve). The structure is important :
- in Italian there are a lot of incidental clauses, paratactical informations
- in English that paratactical informations can’t be maintained in the same order because of the PRINCIPLE OF NON INTERVENTION head words in the phrases that compose this clause show the reduced sentence to the bare bone ➭ starting point, need to be immediately identified so that we can get the bare structure and build a ?? [ The soon-to-be-dismissed manager ] [ made ] [ one last-ditch attempt ] [to persuade the board] [that] [his decisions [,however unfortunate,] had been made in good faith.] In qualsiasi azienda, a prescindere dalle dimensioni, è, come è noto, di particolare importanza la funzione delle risorse umanitarie. As is well known, the human resource function (S) plays (P) a key role (O) in every company (optional adverbial) regardless of its size. SUBJECT = la funzione delle risorse umane **- in Italian can be found in the last position
- in English it has to be in the first position,** to translate it you have to start with the subject followed by the predicator and then by the rest. KEY CLAUSE , everything else is additional information è di particolare importanza la funzione delle risorse umane
▶ PRINCIPLE OF NON SEPARATION between the subject, predicator and object : cannot be separated one from another ● understanding it all does not mean it can all be translated ● syntax helps with practical tasks ● some syntactic structures are pose challenges which can be overcome by analysing them contrastively Syntax has to do with the way phrases (larger units of texts) are built starting from minimal aspects which are meaningful. ES. sounds NOT all sounds are meaningful in the same way , in certain languages some sounds do not have functional properties but in others do. Sounds individually are rarely meaningful ➭ I More sounds together form a word In MINIMAL PAIRS single phonemes are meaningful /fit/ vs /fi:t/ ➭ the meaning of the words changes by changing one sound
love, loving, lover
- free morpheme
- lexical morphemes, from verb to adjective to noun by adding morphemes hope-less-ness => 2 different morphemes
- hope is a noun
- less is a morpheme which turns the noun “hope” in an adjective and symbolize the lack of something
- ness is a morpheme which turns again the word into a noun Is there a one-to-one correspondence between words and meaning? There are meanings below the word and sometimes above the word. The same word can have more meanings and 2 words units can have a single meaning. We have run out of handouts The boss finally gave in and agreed to a raise. We can look this word up in a dictionary We all would like to have our cake and eat it too => IDIOM Vorremmo tutti avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca Vorremmo avere la nostra parte e approfittare di essa => meaning, not idiomatic Idioms are multi units of meaning, so sometimes units of meaning can be quite large (idiomatic expressions). The translation of idiomatic expression can be semantically unrelated. In language there are phrasal metaphors, expressions used all the time, and they may not be the same from one language to another. Idiomatic expressions are replaced by different and alternative idiomatic expressions. Meaning resides in words but also in a lower and higher level. This can be relevant also in translations Tennis player = 2 words in English, 1 in Italia = tennista Ice skater = pattinatore su ghiaccio ( multi words units) Meaning is one of the key aspects of a word - table =piece of furniture used to put stuff on - love = feeling towards a person when you care for them - democracy = form of government where people are elected representatives - of - which - you - there - the - must These words are grammatical words and are functional words expressing relationships that have certain functions but don’t really have a meaning. One distinction that has to be made between different groups of words, is that some of them have a meaning, some others are
primarily functional words. These words don’t really have a meaning, but are meaningful only in relationship to other words. Words are identified based on their meanings and also on their function Words can be classified into classes. Words that have meanings (nouns, verbs, adj and adv) are open classes that means that new nouns and verbs can be invented. (stalkerare, friendzonare) on the other hand new prepositions can’t be invented ( di a da in con su per tra fra), pronouns are not gender neutral so people are trying to introduce new pronouns ( something not traditional, we’re not used to it), TEXTPECTATION UNKEYBOARDINATED INTERNEST PETALOSO Words belong to different word classes, a word class is a label that includes all words that behave in the same manner and have the same characteristics, both formal and functional. ● nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (OPEN CLASSES, where new elements can be added) ● words such as conjunctions, prepositions, modal verbs and auxiliaries (CLOSE CLASSES, fixed number of items, number of their members is fixed, new words can’t be invented) Words that belong to different classes behave similarly to each others within a class but differently from the other classes. Syntax is concerned with the rules by which words are combined into larger units. These words combined can be used to create larger units :
- phrases ( sintagma, a group of words that cluster around a single item)
- clauses (frase, have a complete meaning)
- sentences (periodo, complex clause made up of more clauses ) The beautiful dog > phrase The beautiful dog is playing with a ball > clause (finite verb and meaning is complete)
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Grammar = set of rules that enables us to construct any sentence in a correct constructed language. The language of English enables us to construct correct sentences. Rules of grammar would prevent us from constructing something that is not correct. Grammar rules deals with the principle of stringing words together to form larger units as phrases, clauses and sentences (syntax) Grammar can be divided into 2 main areas:
- syntax
- inflection SYNTAX →study of how words combine into larger units so that we can create phrases and sentences INFLECTION → everything related to whether a word is singular or plural is reflected on the rest of the sentence. If the subject of the sentence is singular/plural this will be reflected on the verb All languages have grammar and it would be impossible to construct well-formed sentences if grammar didn’t exist. Grammar may change from a variety of language to another. There is a framework that governs all the grammar principals of a given language.
Units of construction that can be used to categorize language:
- HIGHEST UNITS sentence , which may consists of clauses, phrases and words ▶ SENTENCE → must have a subject (whether is expressed or not), a verb , a complete thought or a predicate and this can be supplied by a variety of constructions It is the most articulated and complex one. ▶ CLAUSE → contains a subject , a verb but it can or can’t contain a complete thought. Clauses can stand on their own ( be independent ) or also be subordinate ( lack of complete thought, the sentence would make sense even without it) ▶PHRASES (= sintagma) → collection of words without a subject and a verb or a complete thought “ a few pages from one of her favourite ” = it is a phrase which embeds other phrases (concept of embedding)→There are more phrases in one phrase HEAD (testa sintattica) ➭ keyword that determines the nature of the phrase, whether this phrase is a NP, VP, AdjP. Finding the head is the first thing to do when trying to translate a complex sentence.
THE ELEMENTS IN A CLAUSE
The classification of a clause constituents can be carried out in different ways:
- From the point of view of the role played by the various elements in a sentence ( FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION ), i.e. subject, predicate, direct object etc.
- Looking at kind of phrases they are ( FORMAL CLASSIFICATION ), i.e. NP, VP, AdjP, etc. The fact that each element can be described in its formal nature and also in its functional nature is also true at the level of phrases, which are made up of words, smaller constituents. Within a phrase such as “a few pages from one of her favourite books”, pages is the head, that’s what we are talking about, but the other elements a few, from one of her favourite books also have some functional constituents. A few tells me something about the quantity, from one of her favourite books gives me a specification of what pages am I talking about, but it still belongs to the same Noun Phrase (the most complex phrase). Not all the words within a same phrase have the same function. PHRASES ● have heads , the central words, the one around which every other meaning revolves. ● heads determine the grammatical properties of the phrase , so if the head is a noun that will be a noun phrase, if the head is singular it will have to be conjugated and inflected accordingly ● heads are normally obligatory (if you take out the head you don’t understand what you are talking about). ● heads are semantically central. ● heads determine the inflectional properties (number and gender) of the phrase ○ The witches’ discovery of the secret of life ○ Swimming in a pool (singular verb) ● things that are non-heads are defined as modifiers. ● in one-word phrases , only the head is present ○ dogs like bones —> very simple clause made up of three phrases and each one is made up by a single word, ○ most dogs don't like tasty bones —> expanded those single words, we can still understand the meaning, give more details about dogs.
a) The great big elephant b) Several very old books (several is a determinator) c) All the women in the moon ( moon is the head of another noun phrase which is embedded in a prepositional phrase) d) Excellently presented material on Lady Havisham (Havisham is an embedded noun phrase within a prepositional phrase) excellently presented = pre-modifiers on Lady Havisham = post-modifiers e) Rather thick in the head (adjective phrase so the headword is an adjective, the keyword is thick ) f) Most awfully pleasant (central word in that phrase, adjective phrase with other words which modified) g) Delighted by their arrival (by their arrival specifies what you were delighted by, prepositional phrase, the preposition can never stand alone, must embed something else, in this case a Noun Phrase) h) Sitting in the room ( in the room specifies where) participial/verb phrase i) Bored out of his skull (adjective phrase, out of his skull prepositional phrase which modifies the head) j) Having delayed writing to you (verb phrase, everything else depends on it) k) Syncopated rythms of Africa l) Very lovely m) In trouble with the law (prepositional phrase, which embeds a noun phrase, where the head is trouble, which embeds a prepositional phrase with the law ) n) Almost out of the woods o) Right above his neighbour’s house (adverbial phrase, premodified by right and post modified by a noun phrase) p) Singularly unimpressed with Jeffrey q) Is eating a big dinner
FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION
costituent = word or group of words that function as a single unit within a sentence (hierarchical structure) Determiner Premodification Head Postmodification A black dress with a non-matching blazer. Mixed feelings. Love (prepositional clause) for the people surrounding us. Huge relief (that-clause) that has been acquitted from all allegations.
Volkswagen’s plan (to infinitive clause) to recall affected by the diesel emissions scandal. The lack of information being provided to customers. Lawyers (non finite relative clause) representing motorists. REMEMBER When we have a predicate it isn’t a phrase but a clause or a sentence Complex NPs *car→ my dad’s (premodifier =/= my refers to dad so it’s not a determiner of the head). Determiners are not obligatory Premodifiers are usually adjectives and you can put as many of them as you like
FORM AND FUNCTION
What forms (word classes) typically occupy the functional slots (ex. determiner, pre- modifier, post-modifiers) we just identified? FORM-FUNCTIONAL REALISATION Function Determiner Premodificatio n HEAD Postmodificati on form definite articles, indefinite article … Noun, Noun Phrase, Adjective,… Noun [Adjective] … Prepositional phrases, Clauses,…. realisation a jam sandwich the (def. art.) peanut butter (noun phrase) sandwich (noun) I had for breakfast (relative clause) my (possessive) favorite (adjective) sandwich (noun) that (demonstrative) [lovely] (adj) [Nutella] (noun) sandwich (noun) A few (quantifier) biscuits (noun) a lot of (quantifier) coffee (noun) with milk and sugar (prepositional phrase)
In English we can’t have two central determiners! PRACTICE http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/frames/contents.htm
blue→ forms red → functions DETERMINERS There are many tipes of determiners looking at the position: -pre -central (most common) -post Determiners are words denoting: ● possession (my, your, his, her, their, etc.) → gives an idea of whose the head is
● proximity (this, that, these, those) →gives an idea of the place the head is placed in ● distribution (each, every, either, neither, both, all etc.) ● quantity (how much of something or how little of something like many , few , some, several , little and the counting numbers one , two , three , etc.) ● reference (both anaphoric and cataphoric like the definite article the and the indefinite article a / an ) ● order (like the ordinal numbers, first, second, third, etc.) ➢ Determiners show attributes which are extraneous to the objects the nouns signify. They form a category by themselves; and they are called determiners because they determine the way a nuon is used in the context. section 2.9 in book (p. 39 ff.) EXAMPLES :
Pre-determiner → only one
● Quantifier ( all, both, half ) ● Multiplier ( double, twice ) ● Fraction ( one-third, one-fifth )
