Syntax

the "rules" of a language

In the News

• the arrangement of elements in phrases and sentences
  • Cogito ergo sum.
    
    
• English has a fairly ridged structure
  • “John and Mary went to the movies.”
  • * “John went to the movies to Mary and.”
    
    
• When a language is more dependent on morphology, syntax may relax
  • e.g., Canis ursum videt ("the dog sees the bear") can be in any position

In the News . . .

• You Graded My Grammar Essay. I Think I Got a B-Minus -- The New York Times (24 August 2022)
  
  
• Are Participles a Thing of the Past? -- The New York Times (02 August 2022)
  
  
• The language rules we know – but don’t know we know -- BBCculture (08 September 2016)
  
  
• Beware the bad big wolf: why you need to put your adjectives in the right order -- Conversation (06 September 2016)
  
  
• This 1 piece of crucial English speaking advice is sending the internet wild -- Sam Haysom (05 September 2016)
  
  
• This Is Your Brain on Sentences -- ScienceDaily (15 August 2016)
  
  
• How However Almost Kicked But's Butt: Linguistics study -- EurekAlert (20 July 2016)
  
  
• Bilingual Babies Learn Languages Faster Than Monolingual Babies -- ScienceDaily (16 May 2016)
  
  
• Ape ‘Language Ace’ Gets Tripped Up by Simple Grammar -- Science (25 March 2016)
  
  
• Birds use language like humans, joining calls together to form sentences -- Telegraph (08 March 2016)
  
  
• Grammar Rules Aren’t Nearly as Clear-Cut as We Thought -- Science (19 January 2016)
  
  
• How good is your grammar? A grammar guru shares her tips and tricks -- MPRNews (22 December 2015)
  
  
• 'Never was so much owed by so many to so few': Could phrases like this hold clues about universal grammar? -- ScienceDaily (16 December 2015)
  
  
• Chomsky Was Right: We Do Have a 'Grammar' in Our Head -- ScienceDaily (07 December 2015)
  
  
• Grammar: Eventually the Brain Opts for the Easy Route -- ScienceDaily (13 August 2015)
  
  
• The Neurophysiology of Language Processing Shapes the Evolution of Grammar: Evidence from Case Marking -- PLoS ONE (12 August 2015)
  
  
• The writers who invented languages -- BBC News (06 July 2015)
  
  
• Phablets and Fauxhawks: The Linguistic Secrets of a Good Blended Word -- Guardian (29 May 2015)
  
  
• Why Grammar Isn't Cool – and Why That May Be About to Change -- Guardian (21 March 2014)
  
  
• Grammatical Structures as a Window Into the Past -- ScienceDaily (04 November 2013)
  
  
• Researchers Study Grammar in the Songs of Birds -- Washington Post (04 July 2011)
  
  
• First Evidence That Birds Tweet Using Grammar -- NewScientist (26 June 2011)