Tema 12 oposiciones Inglés Primaria

1.- introduction.

It is difficult to capture the central role played by grammar in the structure of language. Two steps can usually be distinguished in the study of grammar. The first step is to identify units in the stream of speech (or writing)-units such as ‘word’ and ‘sentence’. The second step is to analyse the patterns into which these units fall, and the relationships of meaning that these patterns convey.

Chomsky 81928), writes that grammar is a ‘device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis’. Chomsky, subsumes all aspects of sentence patterning, including phonology and semantic, and introduces the term “syntax”.

In this unit, first we are going to see the basic units that constitute the language and their relation in the acquisition of communicative structures. Finally we will discuss how to teach and learn grammar and its importance in the acquisition of the communicative competence.

2.- main elements of morphosyntax.

The range of constructions that is studied by grammar is very large, and grammarians have often divided it into sub-fields. The oldest and most widely-used division is that between morphology and syntax.

• Morphology: studies the structure of words (morphemes)

• Syntax: is the way in which words are arranged to show relationships of meaning within or between sentences. The most basic units of syntax are the word and the sentence.

2.1 The morpheme.

Is the minimal unit of grammatical description in the sense that it cannot be segmented any further at the grammatical level of analysis. E.g. “unfriendly” is composed of three morphemes: ’un-friend-ly’.

We can distinguish two kind of morphemes:

1. 1. ‘free morpheme’: the one that can be used independently (e.g.”- friend”).
   2. ‘bound morpheme’: it has to go attached to a free morpheme (e.g.” un– and-ly’). Bound morphemes are called “affixes

2.2 The word.

Words are usually the easiest units to identify, in the written language that sit uneasily at the boundary between morphology and syntax. The concept of ‘word’ ranges from a single sound as English ‘a’ to a complex form, equivalent to whole sentences (‘playamunurringkutjamunurtu’ (‘he/she did not become bad’) in the Western Desert of Australia). In speech it is difficult to ‘hear’ the spaces between words.

We classify words into word classes that share a number of properties. We distinguish between:

Open classes: they allow the addition of new members. There are four major word classes: nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs.

1. 1. Nouns

1. 1. Adjectives

1. 1. Adverbs

1. 1. Verbs

2.3 The phrase

The parts into which a sentence can be segmented are the constituents of the sentence. Although constituents can be regarded as elements that play a role in larger structures we can also look upon them as linguistic units in their own right. If we look at these elements as independent linguistic objects that have their own characteristics (such as their own internal structure), we call them phrases. Phrases do not resemble sentences (John, took or a walk are not sentences), although it is their natural function to serve as constituents of sentences. Phrases may consist of single words (John, took) or of more words (young John)

2.4 The sentence.

The sentence is regarded as the largest unit of grammatical description since it does not function in the structure of a unit higher than itself. To treat the sentence as the highest unit implies that we do not take into account larger stretches of language such as paragraphs and texts.

3.- Main communicative structures.

We cannot communicate if we do not know how to form and understand sentences. We also need to know the meaning of a sentence in a particular context. We will study sentences and their grammatical form, sentences and their function in communication and sentences and pragmatics.

3.1 Sentences and their grammatical form.

This classification comprises four types: declaratives sentences, interrogative sentences, imperative sentences and exclamatory sentences.

• Declarative sentences: always have a subject, which precedes the verb.
• Interrogative sentences: contain a subject and open with an auxiliary verb or a WH-word.
• Imperative sentences: contain a verb in the imperative mood. If a subject is present it is usually “you”, but as a rule the subject is lacking.
• Exclamatory sentences: the subject precedes the verb. They are introduced byhow or what.

3.2 Sentences and their function in communication.

Declarative sentences are chiefly used to make statements, interrogative sentences to ask questions, imperative sentences to give commands and exclamatory sentences to make exclamations.

3.3 Sentences and pragmatics.

Language is for communication. In a dialogue we can distinguish various types of communicative acts, or illocutionary acts, by which people communicate with each other (making statements, asking questions, giving directives with the aim of getting the hearer to carry out some action, making an offer or promise, thanking or expressing exclamation).