SYNTAX
SYNTAX
A.
Definition of syntax
Based
on the experts, Syntax is a central component of human language. Language has
often been characterized as a systematic correlation between certain types of
gestures and meaning.
Syntax can
thus be given the following characterization, taken from Matthews (1982:1) the
term ‘syntax’ is from the Ancient Greek syntaxis, a verbal noun which literally means
‘arrangement’ or ‘setting out together’. Traditionally, it refers to the branch
of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or without appropriate
inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning within the sentence.
Based on the experts
1.
(Chomsky, 2002)
Syntax
is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed
in particular languages. Syntactic investigation of a given language has as its
goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a device of some sort
for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.
2. (Tserdanelis
and Wong, 2004)
The study of syntax is the study of how words
combine to from phrases and ultimately sentences in languages. Because it
consists of phrases that are put together in a particular way, a sentences has
a structure. The structure consists of way in which the words are organized into
phrases and the phrases are organized into larger phrases. The study of phrases
and sentences structure is sometimes called grammar.
3. . (Hawkins,
2001)
The syntax of a language is the set of
properties which determine the construction of sentences in that language. If a
sentence is constructed according to those properties it is well formed or
grammatical. If a sentence is constructed in violation of those properties it is
ill-formed or ungrammatical. The study of syntax involves uncovering those
properties of language which are involved in the construction of grammatical
sentence in particular languages.
4. (O’grady,
at all.,1989)
syntax is the system of rules and categories that
allows words to be combined to the form of sentence. The data that linguists
use to study syntax consists primarily of judgments about grammaticality of
individual sentence. Roughly speaking, a sentence is considered grammatical if
speakers judge it to be a possible sentence of their language. (O’grady, at all.,1989)
5. (Fromkin
and Rodman,1983)
Syntax is that
part of our linguistics knowledge which concerns the structure of sentences.
Knowing a language also means being able to put words together to form
sentences to express our thoughts.
From the experts’ explanation above we
can conclude that syntax is the study of internal structure of
sentences. In this case, it explains how words are arranged become phrases and
clauses for constructing sentence. It is commonly we call structure. Structure
manages how words can be combined with another for creating good sentence.
References
Chomsky, N. (1957 & 2002). Syntactic
Structures. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmBH.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman.
(1983). An Introduction to Language.New York: CBS college
publising.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams.
(2007). An introduction to Language. Boston: Thomson
Wadsworth.
Hawkins, R. (2001). Second Language
Syntax: A Generative Introduction.Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers .
Murcia,M.C and Diane Larsen Freeman.
(1999). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL teacher's course. Boston:
Internasional Thomson Publising.
O''grady,William,Michael Dobrovolsky,Mark
Aronoff. (1989). Contemporary Linguistics An introduction. New
York: Martin's Press.
Robert, D. and Van Valin,J.R. (2001). An
Introdution to Linguistic.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tserdanelis,G. and Wai Yi Peggy Wong. (Eds.).
(2004). Language File: Material for an Introduction to Language &
Linguistics (9th ed.).Columbus: Department of Linguistics, The Ohio State
University Press.
