Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced | Prerequisites: Morphology and semantics notes (Ch. 4-5)
Syntax and pragmatics are the final two pillars of general linguistics in this course. Syntax studies sentence structure: the rules that govern how words combine into phrases and phrases into sentences. Pragmatics studies meaning in context: what speakers actually communicate beyond the literal meaning of their words. Syntax gives you the structural skeleton; pragmatics gives you the real-world flesh. You need morphology to understand word categories (noun, verb, adjective) before syntax makes sense, and you need semantics to see where sentence meaning ends and speaker meaning begins.
Syntax analyses how sentences are built from hierarchical phrase structures, using tools like phrase structure rules, tree diagrams and transformational grammar. Pragmatics analyses how context, speaker intention and conversational principles shape what utterances actually communicate, covering speech act theory and Grice's cooperative principle.
Syntax
The branch of linguistics that studies the rules governing sentence structure, specifically how words combine into phrases and phrases into sentences.
Phrase structure rules (PS rules)
Formal rules that describe how phrases are built in a language. For example, S → NP VP means "a sentence consists of a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase." Think of them as the recipe for assembling a grammatical sentence.
Tree diagram
A visual representation of the hierarchical structure of a sentence, showing how constituents are grouped and nested.
Constituent
A word or group of words that functions as a single unit within a sentence's hierarchical structure. Tests for constituency include substitution (can you replace it with one word?), movement (can you move it as a unit?) and coordination (can you conjoin it with "and"?).
Noun phrase (NP)
A phrase whose head is a noun or pronoun. "The tall boy," "she" and "a book about syntax" are all NPs.
Verb phrase (VP)
A phrase whose head is a verb. Includes the verb and its complements and modifiers. "Ate the cake quickly" is a VP.
Prepositional phrase (PP)
A phrase headed by a preposition. "In the park," "with a friend."
Deep structure and surface structure
In transformational grammar, the deep structure (D-structure) is the underlying abstract level where thematic roles are assigned. The surface structure (S-structure) is the actual sentence as spoken or written. Transformational rules move elements from deep to surface structure.
Transformation
A rule that converts one syntactic structure into another, such as moving a wh-word to the front of a question ("You saw who?" → "Who did you see?").
Recursion
The property of language that allows a structure to contain another instance of itself, enabling sentences of theoretically infinite length. "The cat that chased the rat that ate the cheese..."
Pragmatics
The study of meaning in context: how speakers use and interpret language in real communicative situations, beyond literal sentence meaning.
Sentence meaning vs utterance meaning
Sentence meaning is the literal, context-free semantic content. Utterance meaning is what the speaker actually intends to communicate in a particular context. In simple terms, sentence meaning is what the words say; utterance meaning is what the speaker means.
Speech act
An action performed through language. Austin's insight: saying something is doing something (promising, requesting, apologising, declaring).
Locutionary act
The act of saying something, producing a meaningful linguistic expression.
Illocutionary act
The act performed in saying something: the speaker's intention (e.g. promising, warning, requesting). This is the level pragmatists care about most.
Perlocutionary act
The effect of saying something on the listener (e.g. persuading, frightening, amusing).
Cooperative principle
Grice's overarching principle: "Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange." In simple terms: be a helpful conversational partner.
Grice's maxims
Four sub-principles under the cooperative principle: Quantity (say enough but not too much), Quality (say what you believe to be true), Relation (be relevant) and Manner (be clear and orderly).
Implicature (conversational implicature)
Meaning that is implied rather than stated. Arises when a speaker appears to violate a maxim, prompting the listener to infer the intended meaning. Example: "Can you pass the salt?" literally asks about ability but implicates a request.
Presupposition
A background assumption that must hold for an utterance to make sense. "Have you stopped smoking?" presupposes you used to smoke.
Deixis
Expressions whose meaning depends on the context of utterance: person deixis (I, you), spatial deixis (here, there), temporal deixis (now, then).
Words belong to syntactic categories (parts of speech) that determine where they can appear in a sentence:
Lexical categories (open class): Noun (N), Verb (V), Adjective (Adj), Adverb (Adv), Preposition (P)
Functional categories (closed class): Determiner (Det), Auxiliary (Aux), Complementiser (C), Conjunction (Conj)
Each lexical category heads its own phrase type: N heads NP, V heads VP, Adj heads AdjP, P heads PP.
Phrase structure rules specify how phrases are assembled. The core rules for English:
S → NP VP (a sentence is a noun phrase + a verb phrase)
NP → (Det) (AdjP) N (PP) (a noun phrase may contain a determiner, adjective phrase, noun and prepositional phrase)
VP → V (NP) (PP) (Adv) (a verb phrase contains a verb and optional complements/adjuncts)
PP → P NP (a prepositional phrase is a preposition + a noun phrase)
AdjP → (Adv) Adj (an adjective phrase may contain an adverb modifier + adjective)
Parentheses indicate optional elements. These rules are recursive: an NP can contain a PP, which contains another NP, which can contain another PP, and so on indefinitely.
Tree diagrams represent the hierarchical structure generated by phrase structure rules. Key conventions:
The top node is S (sentence)
Each branching point shows a rule application
Terminal nodes are the actual words
Non-terminal nodes are category labels (NP, VP, etc.)
Example for "The cat sat on the mat":
S branches into NP ("the cat") and VP ("sat on the mat"). The VP branches into V ("sat") and PP ("on the mat"). The PP branches into P ("on") and NP ("the mat").
The tree reveals structural ambiguity. "I saw the man with the telescope" has two possible trees: one where "with the telescope" modifies "the man" (the man has the telescope) and one where it modifies "saw" (I used the telescope to see).
To determine whether a group of words forms a constituent, apply these tests:
Substitution: can you replace the group with a single word or pronoun? ("The tall boy" → "he")
Movement: can you move it as a unit? ("In the park, we played" shows "in the park" is a constituent)
Coordination: can you conjoin it with "and"? ("The cat and the dog" shows each NP is a constituent)
Cleft test: can you put it in the frame "It was ___ that..."?
Chomsky's transformational grammar proposes that sentences have two levels of structure:
Deep structure: the underlying representation where grammatical relations and thematic roles are defined
Surface structure: the structure as actually produced, after transformational rules have applied
Transformational rules move constituents from one position to another. Key transformations:
Wh-movement: moves a question word to the front ("You saw what?" → "What did you see?")
Passivisation: moves the object to subject position ("The dog bit the man" → "The man was bitten by the dog")
There-insertion: "A book is on the table" → "There is a book on the table"
The central claim is that speakers have an internalised grammar (competence) that generates an infinite set of grammatical sentences through a finite set of rules. This is the concept of generative grammar.
Semantics handles sentence meaning (the literal, context-free content). Pragmatics handles utterance meaning (what the speaker actually communicates in context).
Example: "It's cold in here." Sentence meaning: the temperature is low. Possible utterance meaning: "Please close the window" or "Can you turn on the heating?" The gap between the two is what pragmatics studies.
J.L. Austin observed that many utterances do not just describe the world; they perform actions. "I promise to pay you back" does not describe a promise; it is a promise.
Every utterance performs three acts simultaneously:
Locutionary act: the act of producing a meaningful expression (the words and their literal meaning)
Illocutionary act: the communicative intention behind the utterance (what the speaker is doing: requesting, warning, promising, asserting). This is the central concept in speech act theory.
Perlocutionary act: the actual effect on the hearer (persuading, frightening, amusing, annoying)
Searle classified illocutionary acts into five types:
Representatives/assertives: commit the speaker to the truth of something ("The earth is round")
Directives: attempt to get the hearer to do something ("Please sit down")
Commissives: commit the speaker to a future action ("I will be there at nine")
Expressives: express a psychological state ("I'm sorry," "Congratulations")
Declarations: change the world by utterance ("I now pronounce you husband and wife," "You're fired")
A direct speech act matches its grammatical form to its function: a declarative makes a statement, an interrogative asks a question, an imperative gives a command.
An indirect speech act uses one form to perform a different function. "Can you pass the salt?" is grammatically a question (interrogative) but functions as a request (directive). Indirect speech acts are extremely common in polite conversation.
H.P. Grice proposed that conversation works because participants cooperate. His cooperative principle contains four maxims:
Maxim of Quantity: give the right amount of information. Not too little, not too much.
Maxim of Quality: say only what you believe to be true, and for which you have evidence.
Maxim of Relation (Relevance): make your contribution relevant to the current topic.
Maxim of Manner: be clear, brief, orderly. Avoid obscurity and ambiguity.
When a speaker appears to violate a maxim, the listener does not assume the speaker has stopped cooperating. Instead, the listener works out what the speaker must have meant. This inferred meaning is a conversational implicature.
Example:
A: "How did the job interview go?" B: "Well, the office was nice."
B appears to violate the maxim of Quantity (not giving enough information about the interview itself). A infers that the interview went badly and B is avoiding saying so.
Key properties of conversational implicature:
Cancellable: can be explicitly denied ("The office was nice, and the interview went well too")
Non-detachable: tied to the content, not the particular words used
Calculable: the listener can work out the reasoning step by step
Context-dependent: the same sentence may implicate different things in different situations
Presuppositions are background assumptions triggered by certain words or structures:
"John stopped smoking" presupposes John used to smoke (triggered by "stopped")
"Have you been to Paris again?" presupposes you have been before (triggered by "again")
"John's brother is tall" presupposes John has a brother (triggered by the possessive)
Unlike entailments, presuppositions survive negation: "John didn't stop smoking" still presupposes he used to smoke.
Deictic expressions anchor language to the context of utterance:
Person deixis: I, you, he, she, we, they
Spatial deixis: here, there, this, that
Temporal deixis: now, then, yesterday, tomorrow
The meaning of "I'll meet you here tomorrow" changes completely depending on who says it, where and when.
"Syntax is just grammar rules you learned in school." School grammar is prescriptive ("don't split infinitives"). Linguistic syntax is descriptive: it analyses the structures speakers actually produce, without judgment. A syntactician studies what is, not what should be.
"Tree diagrams are just another way of writing sentences." They are not. They represent hierarchical structure, which flat word order cannot show. The whole point of a tree is to reveal groupings and ambiguities invisible in a linear string.
"Pragmatics is just about being polite." Politeness is one topic within pragmatics, but the field is much broader. It covers any aspect of meaning that depends on context: implicature, presupposition, speech acts, deixis and reference resolution.
"Violating a maxim means breaking a rule." Violating (or "flouting") a maxim is a communicative strategy, not an error. Speakers flout maxims deliberately to generate implicatures. Irony, for example, flouts the maxim of Quality.
⚠️ Drawing tree diagrams is the most tested syntax skill. Be able to draw a complete labelled tree for a given sentence using phrase structure rules.
⚠️ Structural ambiguity appears regularly on exams. Be able to show two different tree structures for an ambiguous sentence and explain how each structure produces a different meaning.
⚠️ Know the phrase structure rules for English (S → NP VP, NP → Det N, VP → V NP, PP → P NP, etc.). You will likely need to write them out or apply them.
⚠️ Understand deep structure vs surface structure. Be able to show the transformation from one to the other for passives and wh-questions.
⚠️ Searle's five categories of illocutionary acts (representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, declarations) are a standard exam question.
⚠️ Be able to identify which of Grice's maxims is being flouted in a given exchange and explain the resulting implicature.
⚠️ The distinction between direct and indirect speech acts is commonly tested. Know examples of each.
True or False: In the phrase structure rule S → NP VP, the NP is the subject and the VP is the predicate. (True.)
Fill in the blank: A sentence that can be parsed by two different tree structures is said to be structurally ________. (ambiguous)
True or False: The illocutionary act is the effect an utterance has on the listener. (False. That is the perlocutionary act. The illocutionary act is the speaker's communicative intention.)
Fill in the blank: Grice's four maxims are Quantity, Quality, ________ and ________. (Relation, Manner)
True or False: Conversational implicatures can be cancelled without contradiction. (True. That is one of their defining properties.)
Q: Draw the phrase structure tree for "The dog chased the cat."
A: S → NP + VP. The NP branches into Det ("The") and N ("dog"). The VP branches into V ("chased") and NP. That second NP branches into Det ("the") and N ("cat").
Q: Show the structural ambiguity of "I saw the man with the telescope."
A: Reading 1: "with the telescope" is a PP inside the VP, modifying "saw" (I used the telescope to see the man). Reading 2: "with the telescope" is a PP inside the NP "the man with the telescope," modifying "the man" (the man had the telescope). Each reading corresponds to a different tree.
Q: Transform the sentence "The police arrested the suspect" into a passive, and describe the transformation.
A: "The suspect was arrested by the police." The object NP ("the suspect") moves to subject position. The verb becomes a passive participle ("arrested" → "was arrested"). The original subject becomes the agent in a "by" phrase.
Q: In the exchange below, which maxim is B flouting and what is the implicature? A: "Is John a good student?" B: "He always comes to class on time."
A: B flouts the maxim of Quantity by not providing enough information about John's qualities as a student (academic ability, grades). The implicature is that B cannot say anything positive about John's academic work, so the best B can offer is his punctuality. The implied meaning: John is not a particularly good student.
Q: Classify the following utterances by Searle's illocutionary act types: (a) "I'll pick you up at eight." (b) "The meeting is at three." (c) "Could you open the window?" (d) "I'm so sorry about your loss." (e) "You're under arrest."
A: (a) Commissive (a commitment to future action). (b) Representative/assertive (a statement of fact). (c) Directive (a request, despite the interrogative form, making it also an indirect speech act). (d) Expressive (expression of sympathy). (e) Declaration (changes the hearer's legal status by utterance).
Q: What is the presupposition triggered by the sentence "When did you stop believing in Santa?"
A: The word "stop" triggers the presupposition that the hearer used to believe in Santa. This presupposition holds even under negation: "I didn't stop believing in Santa" still presupposes that the speaker used to believe.
Syntax depends on morphology for word categories and on semantics for understanding thematic roles (which are assigned at deep structure). Pragmatics builds on semantics: where semantics ends (literal sentence meaning), pragmatics begins (speaker meaning in context). The speech act theory in pragmatics also connects to sociolinguistics (politeness strategies vary across cultures) and to second language acquisition (learners often struggle with indirect speech acts in a new language).
Syntax, pragmatics, phrase structure rules, PS rules, tree diagram, constituent, constituency test, NP, VP, PP, AdjP, noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, deep structure, surface structure, D-structure, S-structure, transformation, wh-movement, passivisation, generative grammar, Chomsky, recursion, structural ambiguity, sentence meaning, utterance meaning, speech act, Austin, Searle, locutionary act, illocutionary act, perlocutionary act, representatives, directives, commissives, expressives, declarations, direct speech act, indirect speech act, cooperative principle, Grice, maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of relation, maxim of manner, conversational implicature, flouting, presupposition, deixis, person deixis, spatial deixis, temporal deixis, English sentence structure, meaning in context