Jim Miller - An Introduction to English Syntax

Title:
An Introduction to English Syntax
Author:
Jim Miller
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
Page:
206
Format:
PDF
Size:
770KB

We study syntax because it enables human beings to compose complex messages. Suppose a disgruntled worker utters the single word idiot! He or she might have muttered stupid, unfeeling, ignorant idiot, with four words combined into a phrase. The speaker might even have said That stupid, unfeeling, ignorant idiot is the new manager!, in which the phrase the new manager and the phrase that stupid, unfeeling, ignorant idiot are combined into a clause by means of is. (For a discussion of phrases and clauses, see Chapters 1, 2, 6 and 7.)

Syntax has to do with how words are put together to build phrases, with how phrases are put together to build clauses or bigger phrases, and with how clauses are put together to build sentences. In small and familiar situations, humans could communicate using single words and many gestures, particularly when dealing with other members of the same social grouping (nuclear family, extended family, clan and so on). But complex messages for complex situations or complex ideas require more than just single words; every human language has devices with which its speakers can construct phrases and clauses. We habitually talk of human languages and their speakers; we ask questions such as ‘How many speakers are there of Chinese/Arabic/ Spanish?’ Nobody ever asks how many writers such-and-such a language has, but the distinction between speaking and writing is crucial and affects the study of syntax. It is therefore surprising that we cannot draw a major distinction between spoken and written language. Instead, the major distinction is between language for which very little planning time is available and language for which much more planning time is available.

Read more and download