1. What is
Syntax?
Syntax is
a branch of linguistics that studies the rules and principles for constructing
sentences in natural languages. It focuses on:
The order of
words in a sentence
The hierarchical
structure of phrases and clauses
The relationships between
sentence elements
2. Why Study
Syntax?
To
understand how language works at a structural level
To
analyze and describe sentence construction
To
compare sentence patterns across languages
To
build natural language processing tools (in AI, translation, etc.)
3. Key Concepts
in Syntax
A. Grammaticality
A
sentence is grammatical if it follows the rules of a language.
✅ The boy
is running.
❌ Boy the
running is.
B. Word
Order
English
follows a basic SVO (Subject–Verb–Object) order:
She
(S) eats (V) an apple (O).
4. Parts of
Speech
These
are the building blocks of syntax.
|
Part of Speech |
Example |
Function |
|
Noun |
book, dog |
names a thing |
|
Verb |
run, eat |
shows action or state |
|
Adjective |
big, green |
describes a noun |
|
Adverb |
quickly |
describes a verb/adjective |
|
Preposition |
on, under |
shows relation |
|
Determiner |
the, a |
introduces a noun |
|
Pronoun |
he, they |
replaces a noun |
|
Conjunction |
and, because |
connects clauses or words |
5. Phrases and
Constituents
A phrase is
a group of words that function as a unit.
|
Phrase Type |
Example |
Function |
|
Noun Phrase
(NP) |
The old man |
Acts as
subject/object |
|
Verb Phrase
(VP) |
is walking
slowly |
Expresses the
action |
|
Prepositional
Phrase |
on the table |
Adds
information (adjunct) |
Each
phrase has a head, which determines its type:
NP
→ head is a noun
VP → head is a verb
6. Sentence
Structure
· Simple Sentence:
The
cat sleeps.
Structure: Subject
(NP) + Predicate (VP)
· Compound Sentence:
She
sings and he plays guitar.
· Complex Sentence:
Because
it rained, the match was canceled.
7. Syntactic
Trees and Hierarchy
Syntax
assumes that sentences are hierarchical, not just linear.
We
can represent sentence structure using tree diagrams that show how
smaller parts (phrases) combine into larger ones.
Example:
The
cat slept.
S
/ \
NP VP
/ \ |
Det N V
| | |
The cat slept
S = Subject
NP = Noun Phrase
VP = Verb Phrase
Det = Determiner
N = Noun
V = Verb
8. Constituency
Tests
How
do we know if a group of words forms a unit?
A. Substitution
Test
Replace
the group with a pronoun or similar word.
The
girl in the red dress → She
B. Movement
Test
Move
the group to another position.
On
the table, he placed the book.
C. Coordination
Test
If
two elements can be coordinated with and, they are likely constituents.
[The
cat] and [the dog] ran
away.
9. Syntactic
Rules
Languages
have rules about how phrases and sentences can be formed. In English:
A
sentence must have a subject and a verb.
Adjectives
come before nouns.
a
red car not a car red
Questions
invert subject and auxiliary verb.
She
is coming. → Is she coming?
10. Generative
Syntax (Chomskyan View)
Introduced
by Noam Chomsky, generative syntax sees language as a system governed
by rules that generate grammatical sentences.
Key
ideas:
Deep
structure vs. surface structure
Transformations:
rules that convert basic sentence forms into questions, passives, etc.
Universal
Grammar: a theory that all human languages share structural properties
11. Syntax in
Real Life and Technology
In language
learning, syntax helps with constructing correct sentences.
In computational
linguistics, syntax is used in:
· Grammar checkers
· Machine translation
· Voice assistants
· Chatbots
