C5. Syntactic Categories

This lesson provides a detailed guide to syntactic categories (parts of speech) and how to assign them in FLEx. Here’s a summary:

Objective:

• Understand syntactic categories and their role in linguistics.

• Learn how to assign and manage categories in a FLEx database.

• Apply morphosyntactic principles to classify words.

Key Topics:

1. What Are Syntactic Categories?

   • Also known as parts of speech, word classes, or form classes.

   • Categories include:

     • Noun: Names people, places, things (e.g., "tiger").

     • Verb: Action words (e.g., "run").

     • Adjective: Describes nouns (e.g., "big").

     • Adverb: Modifies verbs (e.g., "quickly").

     • Pronoun, Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection, Function Words.

2. Language-Specific Categories:

   • Each language has a finite set of categories based on syntax and morphology.

   • Some languages require subcategories (e.g., transitive vs. intransitive verbs).

3. Morphosyntactic Network:

   • Categories are determined by:

     • Distribution: How words fit into a sentence.

     • Function: Role in a sentence (subject, predicate).

     • Form: Morphological properties (tense, number, case).

4. Identifying Categories in Sentences:

   • Example: The word "judge" can be a noun ("a judge") or verb ("to judge").

   • Morphosyntactic tests help classify words correctly.

5. Assigning Categories in FLEx:

   • Navigate to Lexicon Edit View.

   • Click Grammatical Info and select a category.

   • Use FLEx Category Catalog to add missing categories.

6. Complex Cases:

   • Multiple Categories: Some words belong to more than one category (e.g., "house" as noun, adjective, verb).

   • Pre-categorial Words: Some roots require affixes to define their category (common in Austronesian languages).

   • Subcategories: Needed when words behave differently (e.g., inalienable vs. alienable nouns).

7. Editing and Adding Categories in FLEx:

   • Use Grammar Area → Category Edit View to modify or add custom categories.

   • FLEx allows importing predefined categories or creating new ones.

Completion:

• Includes interactive activities and a quiz (80% passing score).

• Further reading materials and reference links provided.

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com