9 Functional Categories 2015.doc

7/26/2019 9 Functional Categories 2015.doc

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Grammar I Graciela Palacio

LV/UB 2012(revised 2015)

LESSON 9:

FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES

In lesson 2 we said that a distinction could be made between two types o cate!ories: lexical

cate!ories and !"c#i$"alcate!ories"

#he lexical ca#e%$ries $r c$"#e"# &$rds are nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions and

adverbs" #hey ha$e the ollowin! properties:

1" #hey ha$e descri'#ive $r sea"#ic c$"#e"#" %or e&ample' when we use the $erb kill

we !et dierent pictures in the mind that could represent the meanin! o kill" (hen

we use the word cat' we !et a picture o the prototype o a cat" )adord *1++,- says

that .one test to chec whether words ha$e descripti$e content is to see whether they

ha$e antonyms *i"e" opposites-" e pro$ides the ollowin! e&amples: loss/gain*nouns-' rise/fall*$erbs-' tall/short*adecti$es-' in/out *prepositions-' early*as inHe

arrived early/late)*ad$erbs-" #his test is tricy' thou!h' because' as he says' i a word

has an antonym' it is a le&ical cate!ory *or content word-' but i it has no antonym'

you cannot be sure"

2" (ith the e&ception o prepositions' le&ical cate!ories constitute open classes *i"e" new

ones can be easily created-"

3" #heir complements are ar!uments"

4" #hey assi!n semantic roles *or theta5roles- to their ar!uments" %or e&ample' the $erb

killre6uires a patient *the one that suers the action- and an a!ent *the one that does

the illin!-"

#he !"c#i$"al ca#e%$ries are: determiners *such as the deinite article theand the indeinite

article in its two $ariants a/an-'pronouns *which or us will be type o determiner-, auxiliary

verbs, the traditionally called subordinating conjunctions introducin! inite or conu!ated

clauses *e"!": e said that he was happy" e ased if I was happy- and the word for

introducin! a non5inite clause *e"!": It is easy forme to do that-" #hese three words are

nowadays reerred to as c$'lee"#isers" Negation is another unctional cate!ory and

lin!uists do not a!ree as to the status o tense *i"e" or some' tense is unctional' or some

others' it is not-" In this course' howe$er' we will treat it as a unctional cate!ory" (hile some

unctional cate!ories coincide with words' there are others which are ai&al in nature"

7ccordin! to Giusti *1++,-' 7bney *1+8,- states that unctional cate!ories ha$e the ollowin!properties:

1" #hey lac .descripti$e content"

2" #hey do not assi!n theta5roles"

3" #hey e&press %raa#icalea#!res" %or e&ample' the deinite article thecan e&press

!eneric or speciic reerence *Therich are oten ased or money *!eneric- $s" #he at

man o$er there is my boss *speciic--"

4" #hey permit only one complement' which is in !eneral not an ar!ument" 7nd they

always tae the same cate!ory as complement"

Pa!e 1 o 9/ Lesson +


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9" #hey are !enerally stressless *e"!" articles-' oten clitics1or ai&es' and sometimes

e$en '$"$l$%icall*"!ll*i"e" silent' without phonolo!ical content-' e"!" #i!ers are

dan!erous animals" *c" in ;panish L$sti!res son animales peli!rosos-


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us see how this wors in the case o a $ery simple sentence such as He will eat the sweet in

which the predicator is a $erb" #he $erb eatmer!es with its =P complement the sweetand the

two elements orm the intermediate constituent V *to be read as V5bar-' the subect =P comes

alon! and mer!es with V to orm the ull VP he eat the sweet"

>nce the semantic core o the sentence has been ormed' the unctional cate!ory tense *#-

comes alon!" #ense will mer!e with the VP to orm the intermediate constituent #" Because

tense always needs a subect' it will e&pand once more into #P *tense phrase-" #he subect

will mo$e out o VP to occupy the position beore the conu!ated $erb" #P constitutes the

irst unctional layer"

#hen comes the complementiser *?-' which will ha$e the tense phrase as complement" 7!ain

the complementiser will e&pand to orm a complementiser phrase *?P-' the second unctional

layer" ?omplementisers e&press the illocutionary orce o the sentence *i"e" they tell us

whether the sentence is declarati$e' interro!ati$e or imperati$e-" I no other position is

re6uired the complementiser will proect *@ e&pand- only once *c" see lesson on interro!ati$e

sentences-" In the sentence we are discussin! the complementiser has no phonolo!ical

content' i"e" it is a "!ll ca#e%$r*or e'#* ca#e%$r*" 7n empty cate!ory is a cate!ory thathas no phonolo!ical eatures but that does not mean that it does not ha$e other eatures" In



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act the complementiser mars the clause as declarati$e and as inite *i"e" as a clause that will

ha$e a inite $erb-"

(e will say that e$ery sentence is a complementiser phrase *?P-" #he complementiser which

is the head o the complementiser phrase has a tense phrase *#P- as complement" #he tense

which is the head o the tense phrase has a le&ical phrasal cate!ory as complement" #he tree

that we ha$e drawn is made up o a ?P A a #P A a VP"

#he most important thin! is that sentences ha$e a hierarchical structure' not a lat structure"

#heir hierarchical structure is clearly represented by means o the tree dia!rams"

#he unctional cate!ories orm ex#e"ded'r$/ec#i$"so the le&ical cate!ories"

,.ONOLOGICALLNULLFUNCTIONALCATEGORIES

(e said abo$e that e$ery sentence is a ?P *complementiser phrase-" ain clauses in Cn!lish

are introduced by a null complementiser' e"!":

e said that he was comin!"

.ead (C) C$'lee"# #$ #e c$'lee"#iser (T,)

;ubordinate clauses may be introduced by an o$ert or a co$ert *silent' null- complementiser:

e said #a# he was comin!D"

he was comin!D"

3e#eri"erscan also be null:



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Te do! is mine" ;peciic reerence

El perro es mio" ;peciic reerence

=o!s eat meat" Generic reerence

L$s perros comen carne" Generic reerence

ary is tall" Uni6ue reerence *conte&t dependent- arEa es alta" Uni6ue reerence *conte&t dependent-

La arEa es alta" *dialectal- Uni6ue reerence *conte&t dependent-

L$s %ernFnde se ueron de $acaciones" Uni6ue reerence *conte&t dependent-

(e will be discussin! other silent cate!ories as the course proceeds" ;ilent cate!ories are

called E'#* Ca#e%$ries" #hey are empty o phonolo!ical content" But they still ha$e

!rammatical eatures"

Less$" 9 Ac#ivi#* 1- *to be discussed in class-(hich are the le&ical and the unctional cate!ories in the ollowin! sentencesH )emember

that unctional cate!ories may be phonolo!ically null *i"e" silent-' in which case we represent

them as "

1" #he ti!er in that ca!e must be dan!erous"

2" #i!ers are dan!erous"

3" e said that he would come"

4" e said he would come"

9" #he teacher ased me i I had been present the pre$ious class"

Less$" 9 Ac#ivi#* 2: *#o be handed in as Assi%"e"# 9);tate which are the le&ical and the unctional cate!ories in the ollowin! sentence' or

e&ample:

: unctional cate!ory' null complementiser introducin! a main clause"

#he: unctional cate!ory' determiner' deinite article"

an: le&ical cate!ory' noun"

ow !o onJ"

1" #he man did not say that he would help us"

REFERENCES"

7bney' ;" *1+8,- #he Cn!lish noun phrase in its sentential aspect" Ph= dissertation: I#"

Giusti' G" *1++,- #he cate!orial status o determines' in L" ae!eman *ed"- The New

!omparative "yntax" Lon!man' +95123"

)adord' 7" *1++,- "yntactic Theory and the structure of #nglish$ % minimalist approach"

?UP"


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9 Functional Categories 2015.doc