ENGLISH SYNTACTIC DEVICES
1. Inflection
English inflection occurs just on certain word class that is nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Frank (1972: 55) states that inflection is usually suffixes: opens, opened, opening.
According to Ramelan (1992: 110) inflection in English is a historical residue, because it is limited to certain classes of words only like nouns, verbs and adjectives. While Wardaugh (1977: 218) states that infection is affixes. In English, suffixes change the form of a word but don’t change word class. In other words, English inflections are always suffixes.
They are plural suffixes, possessive suffixes, suffixes added to verbs and suffixes added to adjective.
1) Plural Suffixes
This suffix “-s” as plural indicator of noun has three allomorphs /s/, /z/ and /iz/ as stated by Francis (1958:238)
Examples :
cat – cats (kaets)
car – cars (karz)
bag – bags (baegz)
dish – dishes (disiz)
kiss – kisses (kisiz)
The allomorph /s/ occurs after voiceless sounds p, t, k, f, s, ƒ, h and θ. The allomorph /z/ occurs after voiced sounds, b, d, g, v, δ, l, r, w, γ, m, n, y, σ, j, з.
Allomorph /iz/ occurs after sibilants: s, z and ƒ. The plural suffix /-z/ has a zero allomorph words as in:
Sheep – sheep
Deer – deer
The reason that is necessary to describe these forms in this way rests ultimately in English content structure (zero is customarily symbolized (Ø) as stated by Gleson (1980:75).
2) Possessive Suffix (-s)
The suffix “s” as possessive indicator of noun has two allomorphs, namely /s/ and /z/.
The allomorph /s/ occurs after voiceless sounds p, t, k, f, θ, s, ƒ, tƒ.
The allomorph /z/ occurs after voiced sounds: d, g, v, l, m, n, r, j, y, and w.
Example : Sigit’s book (Sigits)
Aip’s bag (Alips)
Amin’s son (Amins)
3) Suffix added to Verb
a. Indicating the third person singular in Present Tens (-s/-es)
The infinitive in all cases except indicating sense uses the third singular form which is regularly formed the same as the plural forms of nouns.
Allomorph /s/ occurs after voiceless sounds p, t, k, f, and θ.
Allomorph /iz/ occurs after s, z, and ƒ. For bases ending consonant y. the “y” is replaced by “i” before –es suffix.
Example: study /y/ -i + -es = studies / stΔdies /
cry /y/ -i + -es = cries / kraiez/
For a base ending in vowel “y” there is no changing before suffix.
Example: pay /y/ -i + -es = pays / peiz/
Stay /y/ -i + -es= stays / steiz/
For a base ending in consonant “o” suffix –s is added.
Example: go + es = goes / go/
do + es = does / da /
b. Indicating Past Tense or Past participle
The verb in past tense is formed by ending –d or –ed, it has three allomorphs, they are: allomorph /d/ after b, g, j, v, δ, z, m, n, l, r, σ, y, w, and h, allomorph /t/ after /p, k, c, θ, and s, allomorph /id/ after t and d as stated by Ramelan (1992:121).
Example: stop – (stopped)
Link – (linked)
Rub – (rubbed)
Want – (wanted)
Words such as cut, hit, cost, hurt, let are parallel with stopped in meaning and usage. There is no change at all between the past and the non past form, so we have a zero (Ø) allomorph of the past or non past form.
c. –ing indicating Continuous Tense
This suffix is formed by “to be” added with V-ing.
Example:
She is studying.
They are working.
He is going.
They were singing.
d. Adjective Suffix or degree of comparison
This suffix is used to show the difference in degree. Adjectives have degrees of comparison, namely Positive Degrees, Comparative degrees and Superlative degrees.
Example:
1. Positive : pretty, nice, slow, high
2. Comparative : prettier, nicer, slower, higher
3. Superlative : prettiest, nicest, slowest, highest.
2. Derivation
Derivation is the formation of words by adding affixes or morpheme (Frank, 1972:15). Only nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs have derivational forms. These forms may express some degree of lexical meaning, or they may change the lexical identity. While Wardaugh (1977:224), states that derivational suffixes mark a change of the words class, from noun to verb, from verb to noun, noun to adjective.
There are many possible changes of word classes signaled by derivational suffixes. A stem word which is noun may be changed to verb by the use of several different types of suffix or sometimes by the change of terminal consonant sound.
From the explanation above the writer can state that derivation is the formation of new words by adding derivational prefix or suffix which can change noun into verb, noun into adjective, adjective into noun, verb into noun and noun into other nouns.
noun + suffix – en verbverb + suffix – ment noun
Example:
Fright ( n ) - frighten ( v )
Pay ( v ) - payment ( n )
Agree ( v ) – agreement (n )
Employ ( v ) – employment ( n )
Besides the example above there are other groups of morphological processes, such as: noun which changes into verb.
Noun is changed into verb by adding suffix, -ify; -ize.Example:
beauty ( n ) – beautify (v )
type ( n ) – typify ( v )
real ( (n ) –realize ( v )
computer ( n ) – computerize ( v )
public ( n ) – publicize ( v )
Noun changes into adjective by adding suffix, -y, -ly, -less, -ous, ish, ful.
Example:
dirt ( n ) – dirty ( adj )
milk ( n ) – milky ( adj )
order ( n ) – orderly ( adj )
cost ( n ) – costly ( adj )
beauty ( n ) – beautiful ( adj )
power ( n ) – powerful ( adj )
care ( n ) – careless ( adj )
life ( n ) – lifeless ( adj )
danger ( n ) – dangerous ( adj )
courage ( n ) – courageous ( adj )
girls ( n ) – girlish ( adj )
child ( n ) – childish ( adj )
Adjective changes into noun by adding suffix: -ness, -ity, -ly,
Example:
ill ( adj ) – illness ( n )
happy ( adj ) – happiness ( n )
dark ( adj ) – darkness ( n )
mobile ( adj ) – mobility ( n )
equal ( adj ) – equality ( n )
real ( adj ) – reality ( n )
rapid ( adj ) – rapidity ( n )
Verb changes into noun by adding suffix, -ion, -ar/or, -ence.
Example:
protect ( v ) – protection ( n )
delegate ( v ) – delegation ( n )
beg ( v ) – beggar ( n )
rob ( v ) – robber ( n )
differ ( v ) – difference ( n )
excel ( v ) – excellence ( n )
Interrogate ( v ) – interrogator ( n )
Verb changes into adjective by adding suffix: -ent/ant, -able, -less.
Example:
urge ( v ) – urgent ( adj )
depent ( v ) – dependent ( adj )
comfort ( v ) – comfortable ( adj )
avoid ( v ) – avoidable ( adj )
help ( v ) – helpless ( adj )
harm ( v ) – harmless ( adj )
please ( v ) – pleasant ( adj )
Noun changes into other noun by adding suffix, -dom, -hood, -ship.
Example:
king ( n ) – kingdom ( n )
earl ( n ) – earldom ( n )
nation ( n ) – nationhood ( n )
parent ( n ) – parenthood ( n )
friend ( n ) – friendship ( n )
Derivational affixes are not only suffixes but also prefixes. The following prefixes often change word class:
side ( n ) – aside ( adj )
live ( n ) – alive ( adj )
calm ( n ) – becalm ( adj )
wicth ( n ) – bewitch ( adj )
lave ( n ) – enslave ( adj )
train ( n ) – entrain ( v ), (Wardhaugh 1977 : 225 – 22).
3. Word Order
In English word order is one important syntactic device used to build the syntactic construction. According to Francis (1958 : 234), word order is the linier or time sequence in which words appear in an utterance.
Mastering basic word order patterns is an essential step in learning English. Native speakers frequently use this pattern, but the student learning English would do well to concentrate on basic word order until he is able to use the patterns. The word order of a sentence can be arranged by S + V + + Complement or O, as stated by Nuryanto (1986: 2).
Example:S + V → Andi smokes
S + V + C → They are students
S + V + O → Ali sees Any
1) The verb be is frequently followed by complement
S V C
Jaka is ill
They are friends
It was mine
When the following verbs are similar to the meaning of to be, they may be followed by an adjective.
Example: Ahmad looks happy
I feel tired
“Become” may also be followed by noun or pronouns
Example: The brothers become engineers.
2) Verbs other than “be” are frequently followed by object. The object may be a noun, pronoun as noun equivalent.
S V O
Nana collects stamp
He likes swimming
I saw them
3) Single word modifiers of the S, 0, or C complement are ordinary placed before the word modified (M).
M S V M C as O
The tall man wants that suitcase
His older brother is a very lawyer brilliant
4) Most modifiers of “V” are regularly placed after the “V” and after the complement ( C ) or O.
S V C as O M of V
They want home
He was ill yesterday
I like music very much
According to Nuryanto (1986: 1), the basic sentence types are all statement and the fundamental syntactic there must be a subject and a predicate. In this case the writer will present those basic sentence patterns:
a) Patterns : S + V
Example: Andi eats
They come
b) Patterns : S + V + Sc
Example : Harman sleeps in the room
Ardy eats in the restaurant
c) Patterns : S + V + DO
Example : Rini read a book
Ani writes a letter
d) Patterns : S + V + DO + I 0
Example : The teacher gives the student a book
John gave Mary a book
e) Patterns : S + V + DO + OC
Example : The club elected Mr. John president
They painted the house white
4. Function Word
According to Francis (1958: 424), function words are words with little or no lexical meaning which are used in combining other words into larger structure. There are eight main groups of function words. They are as follows:
a. Noun determiners: the, a / an, my, your, her, his, their, this, that, its, one, two: more, several, some, every, etc.
b. Auxiliaries : can/could, may / might, will/would, must, shall / should, need, dare, be, better, have, had, etc.
c. Qualifier: very, quite, rather, pretty, too, a little, so, more, most, some, right, still, much, loss, deal, even, etc.
d. Preposition
1) Simple : after, among, around, before, concerning, etc.
2) Compound : together, back of, due to, with etc.
3) Phrasal : by mean of, on account of, etc.
e. Coordinators: and, but, nor, rather than, either ... or etc.
f. Interrogators include : when, where, who, why (whence, with, whenever etc:
g. Sentence – linkers:
1) Simple: consequently, furthermore, hence, however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore, etc.
2) Phrasal: at least, in addition, in fact, etc.
h. Miscellaneous :
1) Attention – claimers: hey, oh, etc.
2) Attention – signal: yes, yeah, uh, huh, etc.
3) Responses: yes, yah, no, nope, not at all, may be, ok, etc.
4) Infinitive – marker: to
5) Negator : not
6) Hesitators: well, good, etc.
5. Prosody
Prosody is the over-all musical pattern of stress, pitch and juncture in which words of an utterance are spoken. (Francis, 1958 : 234)
a. Stress
Stress phonemes are established in much the same way segmental phonemes, that is: by studying distribution and contrast. There are four degrees namely: the strongest stress called primary marked by the acute accent, / ´ /, the strongest stress secondary, is marked by circumplex accent, / `/, the weakest or zero stress unmarked.
Example:“Tell me the truth” / /
We can plainly observe the primary stress on truth, me receives more than the and less than tell, we mark me tertiary and tell secondary. The word that gets the first stress is “noun” and the word that gets the second stress is “verb”.
Example:
Verb noun
/saspekt/ /saspekt/
/riyley/ /riyley/
/imprint/ /imprint/
/pa r' mit/ /'p armiti
im p' ort 'import
acc e' nt 'a ccent
co n' flict 'conflict
in c`rease increase
o b' ject 'o bject
pr o' duce 'produce
b. Pitch
As in the case of stresses, there are four levels of pitch, there are actually many slight variations in pitch from one syllable to another which don't affect the meaning. The levels are 1 to 4 from the bottom to up.
4 is the highest pitch level
3 is the high pitch level
2 is the mid pitch level
1 is the lowest pitch level
Example:
“Come right in “/ KAm raft
Pitch 2 on the first two words, a break to pitch 3 at the beginning of “in” and a gradual drop to pitch I at the end. This will have the effect not only of simplifying transcription but of bringing out important change of pitch more emphatically as in : “Now that you're here, /nau oat jua hia /, let's get it done” / lets get it dAn /, it begins on pitch 2, jumps to 3 the beginning of here slide back to 2 during the spelling of here, continue on 2 through it jump to 3 and slide down to 1 at the end.
c. Juncture
There are three significant types of juncture namely open juncture, close juncture and terminal juncture. It combines pitch and stress patterns.
1) Open juncture
It is marked by a slight retardation of the first phoneme and sort of' fresh start with the second, it is commonly indicated by the symbol / + /.
a name: / a + neym/
an aim : /en + eym /
2) Close juncture
It is normal rapid transition from one phoneme to another within the syllable.
Example:
The /p/ and /l/ or the /l/ and /e/ of /pley/.
It is indicated simply by putting the phonemic symbol together without intervening space.
3) Terminal junctures
These are characterized by pauses of varying length, some very short, there are three terminal junctures, such as:
a) Single -bar juncture : / | /
As in: Miss Smith, the teacher, came in /2 mis +3smiθ2| 2δa + 3tiy car2 |2c'eym + 3in' # /
b) Double –bar juncture :
One, two, three, four, /2 wán || túw ||2 θriy ||3 fŏhr #/
c) Double –cross juncture : / # /The combination of examples a and b.
INDONESIAN SYNTACTIC DEVICES
Verhaar (1989: 70) states as follows:
“sintaksis berarti menempatkan bersama-sama kata-kata menjadi kelompok kata dan kelompok-kelompok kata menjadi kalimat”.
There are five kinds of syntactic devices in Indonesian namely, infleksi, derivasi, kata tugas, tertib kata and intonasi.
1. Infleksi (inflection)
In Indonesian inflectional suffixes and prefixes sit on the distribution that is the same as its roots and has the same meaning. Samsuri (1994: 198) states as follows:
infleksi adalah konstruksi yang menduduki distribusinya yang sama dengan dasarnya.Examples :
Prefix me- :
a. Saya baca buku itu.
Saya membaca buku itu.
Engkau dengar suara itu.
Engkau mendengar suara itu.
Suffix –kan, -i.
b. Dengar suara itu
Dengarkan suara itu
c. Ambil buku itu
Ambilkan buku itu
d. Ia baca kabar-kabar itu.
Ia bacai kabar-kabar itu.
e. Dia tulis buku-buku itu.
Dia tulisi buku-buku itu. (Samsuri, 1994: 198)
According to Keraf (1991: 92), there are inflections that show the adjective. The inflection form of Indonesian adjective is suitably used to modify a noun or pronoun. The inflection forms of adjective used to make comparison are as follows:
1. Tingkat biasa (Gradus positivus)
This comparison compares two things with the same degree.
a. se + adjective (as + adj. + as)
Ali berenang secepat Yusup
(Ali swims as fast as Yusup)
b. same + adjective + nya + dengan (as + adj. + as)
Ali berenang sama cepatnya dengan Yusup.
2. Tingkat lebih (Gradus Comparativus)
This is used to compare two things, lebih atau kurang (more or less) + adj. + dari pada ..... (more/-er + adj. + than)
a. Rudi lebih pandai dari pada Andi
(Rudi is cleverer than Andi)
b. Anto kurang cepat dari pada Somad
(Anto is less fast than Santo).
3. Tingkat paling (Gradus superlativus)
This is used to express the highest degree. The degree is formed with “ter” or “paling” + adj. ... (most / - est + adj. ... ).
a. Siti adalah yang terpandai dari kawan-kawannya.
(Siti is the cleverest cf her friends).
b. Martin adalah yang paling cantik dari teman-temannya
(Martin is the most beautiful of her friends).
2. Derivasi (derivation)
Keraf (1991: 121) states as follows
Afiks derivasi adalah afiks yang berfungsi untuk menurunkan kata baru dengan mengubah indentitas leksikal kata, dengan atau tanpa perubahan kelas kata.
Derivational Affixes can be divided into four such as prefixes, suffixes, infixes and confixes.
a. Derivational prefixes: me, ber, pe-, per-, di-, ke-, ter- and se-
Examples:
1) Vivi menari dengan bagusnya.
2) Arman bersepeda dengan cepat.
3) Dia adalah pecandu sepak bola
4) Ibu mendapat persepuluh dari bagian warisannya
5) Penjahat dibunuh orang tak dikenal
6) Ana adalah anak ketiga dari lima bersaudara.
7) Anak itu tertawa keras sekali.
8) Ombak itu setinggi gunung.
Prefixes me-, ber-, pe-, and ter- mean to do works, prefix per- means to get something, prefix ke- means level of numeral, prefix se- means the same as.
b. Derivational suffixes: -an, -kan, -i, and man.
Examples:
1) Anak itu bermain ayunan.
2) Perhimpuna n itu mendatangkan sebuah regu sepak bola
3) Mereka memasuki rumah itu
4) Effendi adalah seniman terkenal.
c. Derivational confixes : me-kan, per-an, ke-an, me-i, ber-kan, and ber-an
Example:
1) Para kontingen memperebutkan kejuaraan.
2) Kita harus menjaga persatuan antar anggota
3) (Murid hams menjaga kebersihan kelas
4) Siswa hams mempelajari buku ini dengan cermat.
5) (Negara kita berlandaskan Pancasila
6) Saya sudah berkenalan dengan gadis itu.
d. Derivational infixs : -el, -er – and –em-.
Example:
1) Ahmad bisa menunjukkan nilai yang gemilang kepada orang tuanya.
2) Andi bertanya sambil mengacungkan telunjuk jarinya.
3) Pak Hamid gemetar setelah melihat makhluk aneh itu.
4) Saya mendengar suara gemertak disebelah ruangan itu
3. Tertib kata (word order)
In Indonesian word order, the basic sentence pattern is essential step in learning Indonesian especially to build sentences: According to Samsun (1981 147) states as follows:
“sebuah kalimat sebagai suatu proposisi mempunyai bagian yang menjadi pokok pembicaraan (subyek) dan keterangan suatu subyek yang kami sebut (predikat)”.
In this case the writer will present basic sentence patterns, in Indonesian as follows:
1. F N + F V
Example: Matanya berkedip
Hatinya bergetar
2. F N + F A
Example: kini senang
Ali sibuk
3. F N1 + F N2
Example: Dia guru
Ina seorang wartawan
4. F N + F Nu
Example: Kawannya tiga orang
Jeruknya tiga buah
5. F N + F Pp
Example: Mangga itu untuk adik
Dia dari Jakarta.
According to Syahbhana (1973: 46) Indonesian word order has a simple regulation :
“Susunan kata dalam bahasa Indonesia memiliki suatu aturan yang mudah baik dalam kata majemuk maupun dalam hal segala sesuatu yang menerangkan selalu terletak di belakang yang diterangkan atau hukum “ D — M “.
From the definition above we can know that the words which have function to explain always follow the words which are explained.
Example:
Kartu pos, “Pos”: “kartu”
Bengkel motor, “motor” explains “bengkel”.
In Indonesian there are some exceptions. That is the words, which have function to explain but are often placed before word, which is explained. They are:
1) Adverbia modalitas such as: lagi, cuma, sedang, kurang, sudah/telah, makin, masih, amat, tambah, etc.
Saya tidak hadir karena kurang sehat.
Jangan diganggu dia sedang tidur
The words above are often placed before the words, which are explained and may have the different meaning.
Example:
Adi lagi makan
(lagi is as a modalitas)
Adi makan lagi
(lagi is as an adverb)
Eko banyak makan
(banyak is as a modalitas that he eats more than one)
Eko makan banvak.
(Banyak is as an adverb)
2) Numeral, such as: Sebuah, seekor, seorang, etc.
Example:
Ina membeli sebuah buku
Pak Dadang membeli seekor kuda
Dia seorang prajurit
3) Preposition, such as: Kepada, di atas, di bawah, di samping, di depan, etc.
Example:
- sebuah mobil berada di samping rumah
- kepada yang terhormat
- pedagang itu berjualan di bawah pohon
4. Kata tugas (Function word)
In Indonesian, kata tugas, are words which don't belong to noun, verb and adjective, Keraf (1989: 90) writes:
“segala macam kata yang tidak termasuk ke dalam salah satu kata atau menjadi sub golongan jenis kata benda, kata kerja, dan kata sifat, atau dengan lain jenis kata yang oleh tats bahasa tradisional disebut kata depan dan kata sambung (penghubung) dimasukkan dalam kata tugas.”
The function of function word in Indonesian is to enlarge and transform sentences. In Indonesian, there are some words that can not change in form of kata tugas like: telah, dengan, tetapi, etc.
Example:
- Ia berjalan dengan kekasihnya
“dengan “ can't change into “ berdengan “
- Rina telah pergi untuk selama-lamanya
“telah can't change into “ menelahkan “, etc.
Function words that can change form are “sudah” and “tidak” “Sudah” can change into menyudahi, berkesudahan, menyudahkan etc, “tidak” can change into menidakkan, ketidakan, ditiadakan, as stated by Keraf (1985: 90).
Example:
Pertandingan tadi malam berkesudahan imbang.
Dia berhasil menyudahi tugasnya dengan baik.
Begitu mudah dia menidakkan keharusan yang mestinya dipenuhi, etc.
Function words in Indonesian do not occupy the main function in the sentence like subject, predicate, and object but they can change the simple sentence into the other sentence by ways of followings : as stated by Keraf (1985 : 90).
a. Monovalen
That is function word whose function is only to enlarge word, kinds of this form are: di, dan, tetapi, sesudah, dari, and ke.
Example: Ahmad makan pagi dan lalu pergi
Ahmad makan pagi sesudah itu lalu pergi.
Inna masih sakit tetapi masuk sekolah
b. Ambivalen
The function of this function word is to widen a word or a sentence (ambivalen) and as other kinds of word (monovalen). It changes to simple word form that is “sudah” and “tidak”. “Sudah” can change into menyudahi, berkesudahan, menyudahkan “tidak” can change into menidakkan, setidaktidaknya.
Example: Hari ini ia belajar
Hari ini ia sudah belajar
Hari ini ia menyudahi belajarnya
Setidak-tidaknya kamu harus datang pagi-pagi
In Indonesian there are three suffixes that don't belong to suffix categories but they are included in function word: They are particle –kah, - lah, and –pun, particle is a simple word that gives the stress in the form of word.
1) Particle –kah
It stresses a question.
Examples: Helm atau topikah yang akan kamu pakai ?
Apakah kamu yang datang tadi malam ?
2) Particle –lah
It stresses command sentences.
Examples: Bacalah buku-buku itu !.
Pulanglah sebelum hujan turun !
3) Particle –pun
It stresses a word that has the meaning “juga”
Example: Saya tahu hal itu dia pun mengetahuinya
Tidak hanya laki-laki yang menyukai badminton wanita pun menyukainya.
Indonesian prosody is called intonasi. Gorys Keraf (1991 : 30) states as follows:
intonasi adalah kerja sama antara tekanan, nada, durasi dan perhentian-perhentian yang menyertai suatu tutur dari awal hingga perhentian yang terakhir.
a. Tekanan (stress)
Keraf (1991: 30) says stress adalah suatu jenis unsure suprasegmental yang ditandai oleh keras lembutnya arus ujaran.
There are four degrees of stresses, namely : tekanan paling keras is marked by ( ‘ ), tekanan keras is marked by ( ’ ) tekanan lembut is marked by ( ˆ ) and tekanan paling lembut is marked by ( ˇ ).
Example:
Perumahan / p r u m a h a n /
In Indonesian the stress does not change the meaning of the words.
b. Nada (pitch)
Nada is usually marked by numbers like / 1 2 3 4 / (like note in the music).
1 is low pitch,
2 is medium pitch,
3 is long pitch,
4 is the longest pitch.
Example:
4 2 3 ..... 2
/ jang – krik / or / jang – krik /
The first pitch expresses anger and the second pitch is only making joke with their friend.
c. Durasi (duration)
Keraf (1991: 33) says that durasi adalah suatu jenis unsur yang ditandai oleh panjang-pendeknya waktu yang diperlukan untuk mengucapkan sebuah segmen the length of duration is marked by mora or / .../ Example
Question : Bagaimana pendapatmu mengenai gunung itu ?
Answer :
Tinggi sekali !
Ting .....gi sekali !
Tinggi….sekali !
The first answer is medium duration, that the mountain is high and the second answer is given accent of segmen / ting / and the third is given accent of segmen / gi /.
d. Perhentian (juncture)
There are two junctures in Indonesian namely perhentian antara or non final juncture and perhentian akhir or final juncture.
Example:
/ pergi ! / , / siapa ? / there is one final juncture.
/ Bahwa kecanduan narkotika merusak manusia / baik fisik maupun mental / sudah sering dikemukakan / dan bukti-buktinyapun banyak. /.
There are three non final junctures and one final juncture.
COMPARING TWO GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES
Grammar is a set of absolute rules to which the language must adjust. When a speaker or writer uses language that is not in accord with these fixed rules, the correctness point of view assumes that he is guilty of bad grammar regardless of accepted usage among educated native speakers.
Grammatical structure is the systematic formal devices used in a language to convey certain meanings and relationships. It deals with the things people say, but it means more than the mere recording of examples of usage.
To describe the grammatical structure of English is not to describe every observable feature of usage but to describe those features that systematically convey meanings and relationships (like the contrast between phonetics and phonemics).
Any structure (unit) consists of form and meaning.
Different varieties of formal devices of different languages create problems of learning.
Elements used to signal grammatical structures: word order, inflection (bound morpheme), correlation of forms, function words, intonation, stress, and pause.
Procedures in comparing two grammatical structures:
General: Find the structure in both languages which is :
- signaled the same way (by the same formal device),
- having the same meaning,
- similarly distributed in the system of that language.
Specific: - Locate the best structural description of the languages involved.
- Summarize in compact outline form all the structures.
- Actual comparison of the two language structures, pattern by pattern.
Problems:
ENGLISH INDONESIAN
- a very beautiful girl - gadis sangat cantik
- good enough - cukup bagus
- (books) / many books - (buku-buku) / banyak buku
- twenty, three-cent stamps - anak dosen nakal
- twenty-three, cent stamps -
- the lists of the men who are good ……. -
- the lists of the men which are good ….. -
- What did you do last night? - Apa yang kamu lakukan tadi malam?
- Who came? (come) - Siapa yang datang? (lampau)
- She was taken to Solo last month. - Dia diantar ke Solo bulan lalu.
- John is cleverer than Bob. - John lebih pandai daripada Bob.
- Bob is more handsome than John. - Bob lebih tampan daripada John.
COMPARING TWO CULTURES
Culture : ways of a people; structured systems of patterned behavior; open and subject to constant change. The patterns are made up of substitutable elements such as performer, act, objects, setting, time, manner, purpose, etc.
We are really rather helpless to interpret ourselves accurately and to describe what we do, because we have grown up doing it and we do much of what we do through habit, acquired almost unnoticed from our elders and our cultural environment.
Our inability to describe our cultural ways parallels our inability to describe our language, unless we have made a special study on it.
We cannot hope to compare two cultures unless we have more accurate understanding of each of the cultures being compared.
Each unit of patterned behavior has form, meaning, and distribution.
Form: identified functionally on inspection by the members of that culture, although the same individuals may not be able accurately to define the very forms that they can identify.
Meaning: culturally determined or modified; various depending on the environment where the form is applied.
Distribution: complexes depending on time cycles, space locations, and positions in relation to other units.
Form, meaning, and distribution probably do not exist independent of each other in a culture. Forms are relevant when they have meaning; meaning presupposes a form in order to be of relevance to us; and meaningful forms always occur in patterned behavior.
How to compare two cultures? Consider the following possibilities:
i. same form, different meaning,
ii. same meaning, different form,
iii. same form, same meaning, different distribution
thank u so much for your post,
BalasHapus