The American linguist Noam Chomsky, pioneer in psycholinguistics, opposing the behaviorist idea that the mind is a tabula rasa, developed his theory of language acquisition in the 1960’s. Chomsky’s theory claims that the individual is born with an innate ability to construct grammar and, therefore, language. Chomsky proposed the hypothesis of the existence of a language acquisition device in the human brain, emphasizing on the fact that “children are biologically programmed for language and that language develops in the child in just the same way that other biological functions develop” (Lightbown & Spada, 2000, p. 15).
According to Chomsky, this provides with evidence of an innate capacity of the individual to understand syntactical relationships in a sentence, enabling the acquisition of grammatical competence. In addition, Chomsky’s universal grammar theory suggests that languages are built on a common basis for organization. This assumption provides with a foundation to affirm that the learner’s innate ability to construct grammar and the common basis that languages share for organization are relevant to the acquisition of any language.
The complex process of acquiring English as a foreign language, therefore, requires the combination of that innate ability of the learner to understand syntactical connections and the study of morphology and syntax. Morphology, defined as “the study of word formation, including inflection, derivation, and compounds” (American Heritage, 2004, p. 552) allows the
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learner to know a word and its parts. The knowledge of affixes is fundamental during the process of learning English as a foreign language because affixes can help students understand the meanings of words. Semantic and derivational prefixes and bound morphemes preceding free or bound bases derive new words. Semantic prefixes which change the meaning of a word but not its grammatical category allow students to infer what the meaning of a word is. Semantic prefixes such as un-, ex-, pre-, in-, and dis- can be very useful when knowing the sense they add to words.
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (2004), for example, explains the sense that the prefix un- adds when attached to a free base.
The prefix un- [Old English, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin in- and Greek a-] adds the sense
not [unacademic; unrepeatable]
the reverse of (with a notion of approval or disapproval) [unselfish; unprepossessing]
a lack of [unrest]
The prefix un- [Old English un-, on-, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ont- and German ent-] adds the sense
cancellation of, reversal [untie]
separation, reduction [unmask, unman]
release [unburden] (p. 529).
Semantic prefixes are indeed useful, as illustrated in the examples above. The analysis of the word untie, for example, shows the free base tie, which, according to The American Heritage Dictionary (2004), is a verb meaning “to fasten or secure with a cord, rope or strap” (p. 854)
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preceded by the prefix un-, meaning cancellation of. The prefix un- allows the learner to infer the meaning of the verb untie, which is undo the knot in something.
Likewise, derivational suffixes, which develop new words in the same or in a different grammatical category, are useful for English learners. Derivational suffixes such as –ness, -ment, -ful, -ly, -ish, etc. allow learners to infer the meaning of words by analyzing the base morpheme and relating its meaning to that of the suffix which it is attached to. For example, the suffix -ment that expresses the result of an action can be attached to a verb to form a noun. Retire, which means stop working willingly when attached to the suffix –ment, forms the noun retirement.
Nevertheless, it is mandatory to explain to our students that affixes cannot be attached to all free or bound bases due to the arbitrary nature of this process. Likewise, learners must be conscious that when analyzing words having a base preceded or followed by an affix, that word can have more than one meaning. Let’s consider the lexical items untie and retirement. In the sentence They untied the prisoner, the verb untie refers to the action of undoing a knot. On the other, in the sentence They were finally able to untie the problem, the verb untie refers to the action of resolving a difficulty. Concerning the noun retirement, more than one meaning can be found. The sentences He announced his retirement and He lives in retirement in the country show two different meanings of the noun: leaving a job or career and the state of being away from busy life.
The basis of language organization and the innate ability of learners support the complex learning process of English as a foreign language due to two main aspects. First, learners can take advantage of the organization that languages (not all however) share to contrast structures. Most students at the English Language and Literature Major, University of Cuenca, for instance,
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prefer to make a contrastive analysis between Spanish and English affixes, which allows them to understand meaning and function of words. Their innate ability to learn a language (not acquiring proficiency however) enhances learners’ understanding of how words in the English language are built. The development of critical thinking and analysis enables learners to be aware of the arbitrary nature of word formation. This critical analysis makes learners conscious of the existence of lexical items, whose meanings are unpredictable.
Moreover, learners are capable of avoiding the use of false cognates. By knowing all this, the learner will hesitate if the meaning of a word is indeed what it seems to be. Let’s consider the sentences The best man won the competition and The best man lost the groom’s ring. In the first sentence, the meaning of the noun phrase the best man must be interpreted literally. However, the best man in the second sentence cannot be interpreted as a man who was better than others but as the bridegroom’s attendant in a wedding.
In addition, the knowledge of the eight inflectional morphemes: –s plural, –s genitive, –s third person, –ed simple past, –ed past participle, –ing present participle, –er comparative and –est superlative, provides learners with an important basis to construct sentences. Once learners have mastered the uses of these eight inflectional morphemes, they are able to deal with regular and irregular inflections.
The study of both syntax and morphology is relevant during the learning process of English as a foreign language. The American Heritage Dictionary (2004) defines syntax as “the way in which words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences” (p. 832). Based on such definition, it can be stated that syntax enables learners to construct grammatical sentences which are the basis of meaningful writing. Students at the English Language and Literature Major, University of Cuenca, study syntax due to the
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importance of this subject to learn the target language. As it has been stated in Chomsky’s universal grammar theory, languages are built on a common basis for organization. The organization of English grammatical structures is similar to that of Spanish in certain aspects, this being the reason that students find it useful to contrast both languages. This contrastive analysis makes students (especially beginners) feel confident when building up grammatical structures in the target language.
The structure of a sentence requires a subject and a predicate. Learners must be able to build them up in order to write complete sentences and then compositions and essays. The construction of the subject and the predicate in a sentence is primarily based on heads and modifiers. According to Miller (2008), “the distinction between heads and modifiers has been put in terms of one word, the head, controlling the other words in a phrase, the modifiers” (p. 9).
The idea of a word functioning as the head of a phrase is useful since it guides learners to build up the subject and predicate. Learners focus their attention on the most important word, the head, to add modifiers. Let’s consider the following sentence: The little child stared at the beautiful landscape in front of her. There are two noun phrases in this sentence. The first noun phrase, the little child, belongs to the subject. It is formed by a determiner, an adjective, and a noun, which functions as the head. When the learner is capable of using a noun as the head, it becomes easier to add more elements.
On the other hand, the beautiful landscape in front of her belongs to the predicate and it is also a noun phrase. The head landscape serves as a basis for phrase construction. In addition, it is important for a student to know that the core of a sentence is the verb, as shown in the sentence above. This organization of words does not only provide learners with a basis for sentence construction but also with a basis for complex writing skills.
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“Syntax cannot be isolated from other areas of language and individual lexical items, particularly verbs” (Miller, 2008, p. 54). The study of syntax, therefore, allows the learner to understand that syntactical constructions in a language do not always follow a pattern and thus meaning can change.
First, let’s consider the sentences She was lying on the sofa and She was laying the files on the desk. In the first sentence, the verb lie is an intransitive verb. It means that it does not need a direct object to complete its sense. In the second sentence, the verb lay, expressing the action of setting something down, is a transitive verb and it requires an object to complete its meaning. The study of transitive and intransitive verbs allows students to write sentences expressing a complete thought.
Furthermore, in order to develop writing skills, students must be able to deal with main and subordinate clauses. Let’s consider the sentence She was delighted by the idea that she could travel abroad. The sequence She was delighted by the idea is a complete clause, consisting of a subject and a predicate and that she could travel abroad gives additional information about such idea.
When learners acquire the ability to properly organize words in a sentence, distinguishing between subject and predicate, they start to develop the skill of writing, which is mandatory, especially for students who want to become English teachers. The process of learning English as a foreign language requires the learner’s ability to understand the organization of words in a sentence in order to develop other skills. Syntactical organization contributes to develop the skill of reading, for example. This skill, in which the learner needs to understand meaning based on words, phrases and sentences, may be better developed when students have acquired a meaningful knowledge of morphology and syntax.
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The study of these subjects, however, does not only benefit learners but also teachers. This complex process of teaching English as a foreign language becomes easier when teachers are able to explain to their students how words and sentences in the target language are organized. When basic morphological and syntactical rules, which in combination with the innate ability of learners to acquire a language, are provided by the teacher, this process becomes easier and useful.
The process of teaching and learning English, especially when it occurs in a classroom, demands from teachers a great variety of resources to motivate students. The use of different methods and techniques are especially useful if they can make those students develop language skills which require the understanding and application of syntactical structures. Morphology and syntax are indeed important subjects because they help us understand language structure and meaning.
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References
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2000). How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Miller, J. (2008). An Introduction to English Syntax. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press.
Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (2nd ed.). (2004). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.). (2004). New York: Bantam Dell.