ENG- 101 COMPILED NOTES.

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SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

Systemic Functional Grammar is a reaction to Transformational Generative Grammar. It focuses

on what is acceptable within a particular society rather than strict grammatical correctness.

Key Figures:
- J.R. Firth was the original proponent
- M.A.K. Halliday further developed the theory

Core Principle: This approach emphasizes that expressions derive meaning from context. It
relies on the exchange of ideas between speakers rather than perfect grammatical accuracy.

Major Emphasis: The major emphasis of Systemic Functional Grammar is ACCEPTABILITY,

not correctness.

Halliday's View: Halliday views grammar as a network of systems. Attention is given to

semantics and pragmatics in meaning construction. Therefore, the theory is closely tied to
everyday language use and communication.

THEORETICAL CATEGORIES IN SYSTEMIC

GRAMMAR
Systemic Grammar recognizes four theoretical categories:

1. UNIT
A unit accounts for structures that carry recurring grammatical patterns.

Hierarchy of Units:
1. Morpheme
2. Word
3. Group or Phrase
4. Clause
5. Sentence

2. STRUCTURE
Structure refers to the arrangement or pattern within a unit.

Examples:
- S V C A (Subject, Verb, Complement, Adjunct)
- S V C O A (Subject, Verb, Complement, Object, Adjunct)

3. CLASS
Class refers to members of the same category.

Examples include:
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Prepositions

4. SYSTEM
A system involves making a choice among related alternatives.

Examples:
- Voice: active or passive
- Tense: present, past, future
- Aspect: progressive or perfective
- Number: singular or plural

These systems form a NETWORK OF SYSTEMS.

SCALES OF ABSTRACTION
1. SCALE OF RANK
This refers to the hierarchical ordering of units.

- The morpheme is the lowest rank

- The sentence is the highest rank

Rank shifting occurs when a higher unit functions within a lower unit.
Example: "The student who passed were..." (demonstrates rank shifting)

2. SCALE OF DELICACY
This shows the relationship between grammar and lexis.

Units are further subdivided until they correspond to specific lexical items.

A nominal group typically contains: M H Q — Modifier, Head, Qualifier

3. SCALE OF EXPONENT
This refers to elements that realize a category.

Example: The Head in a nominal group is realized by a noun.

SEMANTICS
Semantics is the scientific study of meaning. It examines the relationship between words,
symbols, and the objects or concepts they represent.

It is an empirical study based on real language data.

Related Disciplines:

Semantics is connected to other disciplines such as:

- History
- Sociology
- Psychology
- Philosophy
- Grammar

TYPES OF MEANING

1. CONCEPTUAL MEANING
Also called denotative or cognitive meaning. It is the literal or dictionary meaning of a word.

This is the scientific meaning of a word or expression. It has no implied or metaphoric meaning.
It is the ordinary meaning of an expression — the dictionary meaning of a word.

2. CONNOTATIVE MEANING
This refers to deeper or implied meaning. It includes figurative expressions such as metaphors.

This is a meaning referred to when we read beyond the lines. Examples are metaphors and
figurative expressions which cannot be interpreted literally.

3. STYLISTIC MEANING
This depends on social context and relationships between speakers. It reflects differences in
style, tone, and level of formality.

It is determined by the socio-circumstances of an expression. The social circumstances can

easily be seen in social relationships between the speaker and hearer that usually merge words
according to social status.

Stylistic meaning is created specifically by the style of the use of a language. A user may use
simple or complex sentences, difficult, emotional, or political terms. When we say the same
thing in different ways, a stylistic meaning is created.

Examples:
- "My mother"
- "He died" and "He expired" or "He left for heavenly abode"

4. COLLOCATIVE MEANING
This is derived from the association of words that frequently occur together.

It is an association a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in
its environment.

Examples:
- "The man saves at the bank"
- "He is at a river bank"
- "He works at a blood bank"

LEXICAL WORDS AND FUNCTION WORDS

Lexical Words
Lexical words carry meaning. They belong to an OPEN CLASS (new words can be added).

Examples:
- Nouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs

Function Words
Function words perform grammatical roles and have little meaning on their own.

Examples:
- Articles: a, an, the
- Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
- Conjunctions: and, but
- Prepositions

Subordinating conjunctions include: that, why, which, who

TYPES OF WORDS
1. SIMPLE WORDS
Monomorphemic words.

Examples: go, eat, run

2. COMPOUND WORDS
Formed from two or more free morphemes.

Examples: football, classroom, mother-in-law

3. COMPLEX WORDS
Contain at least one bound morpheme.

Example: faithfulness

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MORPHOLOGY

Morphology studies the internal structure of words.

THE MORPHEME

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language.

Characteristics:
- It must carry meaning
- It may consist of one or more morphemes
- It combines sound and form with consistent meaning

Types include:
- Free morphemes
- Bound morphemes

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Phonetics is a field of language study concerned with the physical property of sound. It is the
scientific study of speech. It deals with the details of speech and how we hear sounds.

SUB-FIELDS OF PHONETICS

There are three sub-fields in phonetics:

1. Articulatory Phonetics
This is a branch of phonetics that studies articulators and their actions. It examines the
production of speech sounds with a special focus on the specific functions of the various organs
of speech.

2. Acoustic Phonetics
It examines speech sounds as an embodiment of certain physical properties. It often involves
the use of specialized machines such as spectrograms, electroacoustic meters, and pitch
meters to register the property of the given sound.

3. Auditory Phonetics
It is the branch of phonetics that examines how speech sounds are perceived. It considers
speech sounds from the point of view of their reception and involves the training of the brain and
the ear in practical phonetics in order to learn to make much more precise and reliable
discrimination among speech sounds.

PLACES OF ARTICULATION
All languages consist of sounds, and consonants are produced using two articulators.

Bilabial
- Sounds: p, b
- Passive: upper lip
- Active: lower lip

Labiodental
- Sounds: f, v
- Passive: upper teeth
- Active: lower lip

Dental
- Sounds: θ, ð (theta, eth)
- Passive: upper teeth
- Active: tongue tip

CLASSICAL GRAMMAR
Classical Grammar is traditional grammar. It is influenced by Latin and Greek.

Etymology refers to the study of word origins.

Aims of Classical Grammar:

- Modify language principles
- Resolve usage disputes
- Correct errors
- Classify expressions

IMPORTANT PRESCRIPTIVE RULES

1. A sentence must not end with a preposition.

2. An infinitive must not be split.
3. Shall is used for first person; will for others.

PARTS OF SPEECH

Traditional grammar identifies eight parts of speech.

A word is best defined by its function.

Noun
Names entities but is functionally defined.

Verb
Expresses action or state.

GRAMMATICAL CONCEPTS

These include:
- Gender
- Subject and Object
- Inflection
- Number
- Voice
- Tense

Case System:
- Nominative
- Accusative
- Genitive
- Ablative
- Dative
- Vocative

ADVANTAGES OF CLASSICAL GRAMMAR

- It is easy to teach and understand.

- It established grammatical terminology.
- It identified relationships between words.

WEAKNESSES OF CLASSICAL GRAMMAR

- It lacks scientific basis.
- It ignores native speaker usage.
- It imposes non-linguistic rules.
- It is inconsistent and contradictory.

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STRUCTURAL GRAMMAR
Focuses on the structure of language.

Lexical Category:
Words that can substitute each other.

Phrasal Category:
Groups of words functioning as units.

A Valid Structure Must:

- Stand alone meaningfully
- Be replaceable
- Be movable

TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR

(TGG)

Developed by Noam Chomsky.

It is a system of rules that generates sentences. Finite rules can produce infinite sentences. It
models the competence of an ideal native speaker.

Key Distinctions:

Competence: Knowledge of language

Performance: Actual use of language, affected by real-life factors

LEXICAL AND PHRASAL CATEGORIES

- Lexical categories: Word classes.

- Phrasal categories: NP (Noun Phrase), VP (Verb Phrase), AdvP (Adverb Phrase), AdjP
(Adjective Phrase)

Rules explain how structures are formed.

TGG: DETAILED CONCEPTS

Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) was propounded by Noam Chomsky.

Generative grammar is a set of rules that in some explicit and well-defined way assigns
structural descriptions to sentences. Generative grammar attempts to specify what a speaker
actually knows about her language.

Generate means to describe. Therefore, a generative grammar is a set of descriptive

statements about the working of a grammar in an ideal situation.

In phrase structure grammar, finite rules are used to generate infinite sentences. TGG is a
grammar that attempts to replicate the competence of an ideal native speaker. It describes an
ideal native speaker who has internalized knowledge or competence.

A competent user of a language is assumed to know intuitively how to use the language and be
able to interact with other competent users effectively in the language. She is also assumed to
have internalized the rules governing the working of the language such that she will be able to
distinguish grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.

An ideal native speaker is unaffected by issues such as memory failure, distractions, shift of
attention, false starts, self-corrections, etc. The rules capture the linguistic behavior of an ideal
native speaker.

Structures are not put together arbitrarily. A speaker follows rules to construct them. Finite or
limited rules are used to generate infinite or unlimited structures. Transformational rules are
used to account for different and many sentences.

Performance is the other side of competence. A language user uses a language to the best of
his/her ability. One's performance is often lower than one's competence. Language use as
performance is psychological rather than mentalistic.
 LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
LANGUAGE

Language is a system of communication.

LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is the scientific study of language.

Forms of language:
- Spoken
- Written
- Symbolic

CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

Language is:
- A communication tool
- A communal property
- Unique to humans
- Dynamic
- Social
- Innate
- Conventional
- Creative
- Meaning-based
- Universal

BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS

- Morphology: Study of word formation

- Syntax: Sentence structure
- Semantics: Meaning
- Sociolinguistics: Language in society
- Phonetics and Phonology: Sound systems
- Stylistics: Style of writing
- Pragmatics: Meaning in context
- Psycholinguistics: Language processing
- Computational Linguistics: Use of computers in language analysis

PART 9: SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Sociolinguistics is coined from two key terms: "socio" and "linguistics." "Socio" means social,
and linguistics is a field that investigates the scientific study of language.

Definition: Sociolinguistics is a study of language in relation to society.

SCHOLARLY DEFINITIONS OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS

- According to Hudson (1980): "Sociolinguistics is the study of language in relation to society."

- According to [unspecified scholar]: It is a branch of linguistics which studies all aspects of the
relationship between language and society.

- According to Wardhaugh Ronald (1986): He says sociolinguistics is concerned with

investigating the relationships between language and society, with the goal being a better
understanding of the structure of language and how languages function in communication.

ORIENTATION IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS

It can be categorized in two broad areas:

1. Micro-sociolinguistics
It deals with small-scale explorations of the use of language in specific societies. It addresses
locally situated issues like dialect, accent, varieties, and registers.

2. Macro-sociolinguistics
It deals with larger-scale uses of language at a national or global level. It studies related issues
with language death, language planning, policy, and many others. It also deals with
multilingualism and bilingualism.
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LANGUAGE USE IN SOCIETY

Speech Communities

According to Bloomfield (1983): A speech community is a group of people who interact by

speech.

According to Gumperz (1968): He said that the speech community is any human aggregate
characterized by regular and frequent interaction by means of a shared kind of verbal signs and
sets off from similar aggregates by significant differences in language usage.

Dialectology

"Lects" are varieties of language use, and they exist because of isolation or long-term
separation of roots.

A dialect is a variety of language characterized by systematic differences in pronunciation,

grammar, and vocabulary from other varieties of the same language.

People who speak a certain dialect are called a speech community.

Accent

An accent is different from a dialect in that it is a certain form of language spoken by a small
group of speakers of that language which is defined mainly by phonological features.

Types of Dialects

A dialect is divided into two:

Regional or Geographical Dialect

It refers to linguistic differences that accumulate in a particular geographical region. It is

influenced by time, space, place, and socio-culture.

Socio-dialect
Socio-dialects are also called sociolects. It is the variety of language characteristic of a socio-
economic background or status.

Idiolect

It is a language spoken by an individual.

Registers

According to Holmes (2006): He says register is a linguistic repertoire that is associated with
particular social practices and persons who engage in such practices. It is a stock of
expressions restricted to certain occupations or domains.

PIDGIN AND CREOLE

Pidgin

Pidgin originated from the Chinese word "Pigeon" which means "business."

Pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or

more groups that do not have a language in common, and it occurs in situations such as trade.

Features of Pidgin

1. They have low prestige to other languages and have limited vocabulary and grammar.
2. It uses reduplication to represent plurals.

Examples of Pidgin:

- Nigerian Pidgin: "I never chop, how you dey? You sabi cook?"
- Chinese Pidgin: "I chow chow (I eat)."

Creole
The term "Creole" comes from the Portuguese term "crioulo," which means breed, or from
"create," which is from Latin, and these mean to produce or to create.

A creole is a nativized pidgin. It is a language that has evolved in a contact situation to become
its own language. It's spoken in few places in the world.

Examples: Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Asia, North and South
America.

MONOLINGUALISM, BILINGUALISM, AND

MULTILINGUALISM

Monolingualism
It is a condition of being able to speak only a single language. It is referred to as a situation
where you have the existence of one single language in a speech community.

Examples: UK, New Zealand, and many others.

Bilingualism
It is the ability to master and use two languages, and so a bilingual person is someone who has
a native-like control of two languages.

TYPES OF BILINGUALISM

1. Simultaneous Bilingualism
This is the acquisition of two languages simultaneously from birth. They are spoken in the home
or community.

2. Sequential Bilingualism
This occurs when one language is acquired first and another is acquired later in life. A
sequential bilingualism can occur through immigration, education, or through your professional
work.

3. Coordinate Bilingualism
This is the acquisition of two languages at separate systems. It may occur when two languages
are spoken in different contexts or domains. An individual is able to distinguish and switch
between the two languages.

4. Subtractive Bilingualism
This is the acquisition of a second language at the expense of the first language, and it may
occur when the first language is not valued or supported. The first language of the individual
may experience language death, language loss, or language extinction of the first language.

Multilingualism:

This is a socio-linguistic situation in which two or more languages are in operation.

Examples: Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Kenya, etc.

In a multilingual situation, it is possible to have language death or language loss.

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