Syntax

Syntax is the study of the rules for combining morphemes into complete and meaningful sentences. It refers to the aspect of grammar that governs the arrangement of words or phrases into sentences.

Click here to view a movie that demonstrates this.

Language = Words + Grammar

If we think about it, there are an infinite number of words that we can create. Words by themselves may convene meaning but we use words in combination to create speech. Listen to the following sentence: "Greenpeace endeavors to save the environment."

Do we actually detect the spaces between words when we talk to each other ? Why can we know that it wasn't "green" and then "peace"? Words in speech tend to run together but at the early age of two a child will understand individual words in their proper order - they will know where the spaces are!

Listen to the following sentence:

Did this sound like an english sentence? If we were to change the order, does it sound like an english sentence?

Why does one sound like a sentence and the other doesn't? The answer is that it had an order we recognized as a sentence. In other words, it did not make sense that "green ideas sleep furiously" but it did have a grammatical structure that we recognize. Norm Chomsky uses this sentence as a means by which to demonstrate that there is a set of rules we incorporate into language that provides a base into which sounds are incorporated. This base is something that we call grammar. We recognize things like norms, verbs, adverbs or adjectives and we know where they should fall. The adjective "green" described the noun "ideas", and both preceeded the verb (the action of "sleeping"). When the order of words is absent, we recognize that and don't tend to worry about the meaning - it is awkward to hear "ideas furiously sleep green".

So along with a infinite number of words, we add a relatively small set of rules by which to utter these sounds and this is what we recognize as syntax. In other words, syntax is actually the linking of sounds and meaning via a simple formula:

WORDS + GRAMMAR = A SYSTEM OF LANGUAGE

In English, the meaning of an utterance usually depends on the order of the words we use. "The dog bit the child" has a different meaning to us than "The child bit the dog."

Exercise

Consider the following two items:

What do these pictures convey about the baseball player and the ball?

We can look at this example as a way in which we place words in a linear order to make an action understandable.

The two items - the ball and the baseball player - started out as independent of each other. Language requires that we create a linear expression out of something that is not linear in reality. If the ball hit the batter, that was an action we saw. In order to relate that to someone else we place the ball first in order to make it clear that the ball hit something - in this case the baseball player.

Rule Differences

In the Faces of Culture Video, we were introduced to the idea that there are differences in the rules used in the syntax of Afro-American and Anglo english. All cultures create a set of rules and with each culture these rules will vary. View the following quicktime movie to see a distinctive rule set:

The key to syntax is that it enables us to create an infinite and constantly changing admixture of sentences. We can describe the world around us in a variety of ways. We can talk about something that has already occurred or will happen in the future. Not only can we humans utter completely original, grammatically correct sentences, but we can also discuss people, events, objects, and things that are removed from us in time and space. Moreover, we can discuss objects, persons or events that are not physically present in front of us as we speak.

"I was watching the Olympics last week when the world record was broken"

"John is a friend of mine from school"

"I will introduce you to John when we arrive at the stadium"

Notice that in each of the examples provided, people or things are discussed that are removed in distance or time from the speaker and the listener. This ability is termed displacement by linguists. Every human language contains a past tense, a future tense and the ability to discuss events, people or objects that are not physical present. In other words there is no need for some external stimulus to trigger a response or discussion concerning a topic.