Contrastive Grammar
Grammar
descriptive - describes how people actually use language
prescriptive – which usages to adopt or avoid
Znowu nie poszłem na ten wykład.
Czekam za Jolką.
On jest podobny na swojego ojca.
Cofnąłem się z powrotem do drzwi.
Po przerwie będziemy kontynuować dalej.
Egzamin jest w miesiącu styczniu.
Ustąpiłem staruszkowi miejsce.
Niektórzy ją nie lubili.
Czytając książkę, zgasła lampa.
Będąc małym dzieckiem, wuj zabrał go do miasta.
Student wydawał się być zmartwiony.
Nie rozmawiaj podczas jazdy z kierowcą.
Ten laptop kosztuje półtorej tysiąca złotych.
Muszę wziąść więcej zajęć.
Kogo jest ten długopis?
Ilość studentów znacznie się zmniejszyła.
Oni nie rozumią gramatyki opisowej.
Ja tez nie rozumię.
contrastive grammar – linguistic comparison, Polish vs English grammar
Grammar = syntax & morphology
Syntax
1. word order in phrases and sentences
The boy kissed the girl ≠ The girl kissed the boy
Chłopak pocałował dziewczynę.
Dziewczynę pocałował chłopak.
2. Relations between words
Horizontal or syntagmatic relations:
Agreement
They like me. Oni mnie lubią.
She likes me. Ona mnie lubi.
this book - ta książka
these books – te książki
a good book – dobra książka
good books – dobre książki
Government
Kupiłem nowy samochód. (accusative)
Nie kupiłem nowego samochodu. (genitive)
za lasem (instr.), za las (acc.), za życia (gen.)
Vertical or paradigmatic relations
X lubić Y X like Y
-ę -Ø
-sz -Ø
-Ø -s
-my -Ø
-cie -Ø
-ą -Ø
Units of grammatical description
• morpheme: the smallest linguistic unit with meaning
• word – smallest free unit
• phrase – a group of words that stick together
He saw the prisoner from the tower.
Zobaczył więźnia z wieży.
• clause – subject + predicate
This student likes syntax. Ten student lubi składnię.
• sentence – a unit consisting of at least one clause
Wiem, że on lubi składnię, ale boi się przyznać.
Word formation in English and Polish
Bound morphemes can be inflectional or derivational
Inflectional morphemes do not change the category or the basic meaning of the word to which they are attached.
boy – boys, go – goes, like - liked
Derivational morphemes change the meaning and/or category
happy – unhappy, do – doable, hospital - hospitalize
Ways of creating new words in English and Polish
1. Affixation – a bound morpheme is added to a base. A bound morpheme can be a prefix or a suffix. In both languages suffixation is used more often.
dzień →dzien-ny →dzienn-ik →dziennik-arz →
dziennikar-stwo
dom → dom-owy → domow-nik
drzewo → za-drzew-ić, las → za-les-ić
happy → happiness
happy → unhappy → unhappiness
unlockable
• able to be unlocked
1. un + lock
2. unlock + able
• not able to be locked
1. lock + able
2. un + lockable
2. Compounding - combining two lexical items
In Polish compounds are almost always spelt as one word:
parowóz grzybobranie łamigłówka
Białystok wiarygodny Zielona Góra
biały stok
In English compounds can be spelt as one word, with a hyphen
or as two words:
boyfriend boy-friend boy friend
blackbird hangman outcast
honeymoon
3. Blending – merging parts of words into a single word
smoke + fog = smog
motor + hotel = motel
breakfast + lunch = brunch
channel + tunnel = chunnel
żelazo + beton = żelbeton
domowy + telefon = domofon
4. Conversion – a word is shifted from one word class into another without the addition of an affix
Are you going to bottle the fruit? noun to verb
It was a fair fight. verb to noun
She tried to empty the box. adjective to verb
The barman knows all regulars by name. adjective to noun
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs recently. adverb to noun
Mamy tu wielu chorych. adjective to noun
Znam wielu wybitnych uczonych. adjective to noun
5. Acronyms – words formed from the initials of other words
AIDS, NATO – pronounced like ordinary words
UCLA, VIP, UN – must be spelled out
PKP, MSZ, ONZ, USA (literowce)
PAN, ZUS, NATO, VIP (głoskowce)
Polfa (sylabowce)
CBOS, Polmos (mieszane)
6. Clipping – the omission of part of a word
plane, ad, gym, lab
pozdro, w porzo, nara,
muko – mukowiscydoza
VERBS AND VERB PHRASES
Clipping – the omission of part of a word
(Leszek Traczyk – thank you!)
Main verbs are predicates, they assign theta roles (e.g. agent, patient) to arguments, which are referring expressions.
The soldiers destroyed the city.
*The soldiers destroyed.
The lexical information encoded in the lexical entry of each predicate must be represented syntactically (Projection Principle: s-selection and c-selection). If it is not represented, then this results in ungrammaticality.
They destroyed [my happiness].
*They destroyed [that I am happy].
He asked what time it was.
He asked the time.
ask: s-selection – question; c-selection – clause, NP
He wondered what time it was.
*He wondered the time.
wonder: s-selection: question; c-selection - clause
Voice: active and passive
They took the car.
The car was taken.
Mood: modal VPs – modal verb present,
non-modal VPs – modal verb absent
modal verbs: may-might, can-could, will-would, shall-should, must
quasi-modals: ought to, need, be able to, have to
Epistemic vs deontic modality
He may leave. – possibility (epistemic), permission (deontic)
Dynamic modality
He can speak English well. - ability
Combining tense, aspect, mood and voice in English:
He is being interrogated right now.
He may be being interrogated right now.
He has been being interrogated for two hours now.
Grammatical categories of the Polish verb phrase
Tense: there are three tenses in Polish
present tense: czytam
past tense: czytałem
future: będę czytać / czytał
Polish verbs can be imperfective or perfective:
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