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introduced:
dynamic predicates
.) Section 4 briefly discusses how the utility of noun
phrases actually is even more extensive.
8.1 Analyzing the syntax of a language
Although the expressions of a written language are nothing more than sequences
of words and punctuation, what those sequences are and how they can be used is
phenomenally complex. The study of natural language in general is called
linguistics
,
and it analyzes language at a variety of levels:
Morphology: What are the roots of words, the prefixes and suffixes?
ran = run +
PAST
children = child +
PLURAL
Syntax: How do the words group together?
Mary kicked the boy in the knee.
Mary kicked the boy in the first row.
Semantics: What do the words mean?
The astronomer spotted a star.
The astronomer married a star.
The trophy would not fit into the brown suitcase
because it was too small.
because it was too big.
Pragmatics: What are the words being used for?
Can you juggle?
Can you pass the salt?
(There are additional levels for
spoken
language, such as phonology and prosod-
ics.) This chapter concentrates mainly on the syntax of written English, with some
excursions into semantics.
A syntactic analysis of a language looks at how words group together into phrases,
sentences, and even larger units like paragraphs and stories. For example, consider
the following phrase:
the boy in the park with the red bench
Clearly the intention is to group words in this phrase as follows:
