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The Brain-Body Circuit and The English Word Order
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The Perceptual Word Order of the English Language
– Overview
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The perceptual word order is an
attempt to plot an order of words that is common to each language. Having the
Japanese language as my mother tongue, I am always sceptical to the so-called
universal grammar, specifically for its assumption of the universality built
upon grammar. Our language is drastically different from the English language.
I remember that, when I learned English in my youth, I could not shake off the
thought that English is rather like a mathematical function than a language. An
English sentence concentrates on ‘who does what’, while Japanese counterpart
cannot be completed without ‘what it means to me’. Japanese people speak to
express one’s feeling or attitude toward the topic.
There is another fact about Japanese
that is not officially admitted. Everyday Japanese is quite different from
textbook Japanese. While textbook Japanese pretend to be as logical and well-structured
as any other languages, everyday Japanese is emotional and quite temperamental
in its structure. I do not believe that you get to the heart of our language
following textbook Japanese only. Also, grammar as mechanical plan is too
restricted to analyse Japanese. I incline to seek the plan in our mind and
heart.
So I ventured into the impossible
task of seeking logic in our emotional mind. The first ray of hope shone when I
was mapping places in a sentence where adverbs appear. As they appear almost
randomly, it is quite important to sort them out in learning English. I was
rewarded by the realisation that they were classified into some groups
according to their positions. For example those for time and place most always
appear at the top or the bottom of a sentence, and seldom in other places,
while adverbs for direction tend to follow a verb directly. There is a group
that appears within a verb phrase, namely always,
often, sometimes, seldom, never, not, etc. A verb phrase tells about the deed described by the verb.
And the group of adverbs that appear in a verb phrase show the frequency of the
deed being realised. When I knew the frequency was a kind of quantity, I saw
the possibility that a verb sentence follows the same order as a noun phrase. And
that was the beginning of my perceptual word order.
It took me a while to fully chart
all kinds of phrases, but then I also succeeded in extending the same order
from a phrase into a sentence. The same order recurs in every phrase and the
whole also follows the order.
The map of the order is simplified
into ‘Attribute -> Self -> Relation’. Self here is the main body of a
phrase. Linguists call it the head, which is quite confusing as we consider
that a head leads the others. Anyway, a noun phrase has a noun for Self, a verb
phrase has a verb for Self. A prepositional phrase has a preposition for Self:
the aspect of the relation is the main body, and not the participant in the
relation.
Attribute in a perceptual word order
is roughly divided into three groups that keep their positions quite loyally.
They are Distinction, Quantity and Quality in this order.
Distinction defines the group which
the main bodies form. In other word, a sentence begins with clarifying the
group of objects to be mentioned. Distinction is often shown spatially with this, these, that or those. The possessor of the group is
also used as in my hat, your caps, etc.
Adjectival phrases have such
expressions like this big or that many.
Verb phrases describe a deed stated
by the verb, where auxiliaries show the aspect of reality to which the deed
belongs. The auxiliary do states that
the deed belongs to this very reality. Can
indicates that the deed remains in possibility. Will shows that the deed stays in the speculation about the future.
I will explain about be and have elsewhere in detail. [1-6 The
Perceptual Word Order and English Verb Phrases Part 2. Space, Time, Realities
and English]
Quantity includes the amount of
things, the frequency of deeds and the degree of quality. I already mentioned
about frequency for verb phrases. The application is quite apparent in
adjectival, adverbial and prepositional phrases with specific values.
- eight thousand meters high
- ten times faster
- ten degrees below zero
- five days ago
- three minutes before sunrise
It is also important to note that
both Distinction and Quantity refer to the object as a group.
An English sentence does not end
with Self. We often want to state where in the world the object stands, or
Relation in short. Such description follows Self. So, An English phrase extends
both forward and backward from the main body.
A prepositional phrase describes
relation, and every relation has two aspects: the relation itself and the
related. A preposition defines the way of the relation and words that follows
describes the related.
When you use a prepositional phrase to
describe objects, it always comes after the main body of another phrase. It is
understandable considering that a prepositional phrase describes relation. Some
adverbs like here, there, now, then define the
where-about in space or in time of the object and comes just after the noun.
The so-called a-adjectives, like alive,
asleep etc., come after a noun and is
a very good touchstone for the validity of the perceptual word order. I discuss
the matter in detail when I explain about adjectival phrases. [1-4.2 The
Perceptual Word Order of English Adjectival Phrases]
The order recurs in every phrase in
a sentence. When they are combined to form a sentence, it also follows the
order. An ordinary affirmative sentence starts with the subject, which shows on
whom/what the deed is realised. Some others start with an adverb or a
prepositional phrase which works as a topic of the sentence.
[an affirmative starting with the
subject]
We are going to learn about Dickens
today.
-> States the deed that is going
to be realised on the subject.
[an affirmative starting with an
adverb]
Today we are going to learn about
Dickens.
-> ‘Today’ at the beginning of
the sentence marks a special occasion. The sentence comes very near to ‘Today
is the day when ~.’
‘There’ or ‘here’ can lead a
sentence and is followed by a verb, typically ‘be’. Such a sentence attracts
attention to some discovery, and not merely declares the existence. It is worth
noting that the counterpart in French begins with ‘voilà’ that comes from ‘see
there’.
An ordinary interrogative sentence,
or a yes-no question, begins with an auxiliary verb that explicitly states the
purpose of the sentence: to verify the plausibility of the deed in the aspect
specified by the auxiliary. A wh-question begins with a wh-word to clarify the
focus of the question.
The beauty of the perceptual word
order is the simultaneity: words come naturally as we perceive the world around
us. When we perceive a certain aspect of the world around, the word for it
comes straight ahead. Then we perceive another aspect and the next word comes.
Then another aspect and the third word. It is the easiest and fastest plan we
can have. The way of the generative grammar is too cumbersome: we need to
perceive the world around as a whole, conceive the deep structure of a sentence
to sum up our observation and then to transform it into the surface structure.
When we hear a sentence, the
situation is as simple as when we speak. We perceive the words spoken in order
and the conception comes straight ahead.
The grammar here does not govern a
sentence but helps to clarify the relation among words. I do not see any place
in the brain-body circuit for the universal grammar advocated by Chomsky.
The perceptual word order is also
applied to Japanese; not that it follows the English order, but its order is
mapped in terms of perception. That should prove exceptionally valuable to
understand Japanese psyche. [1-7 Relativity and the Japanese Language: the
Perceptual Word Order for Japanese] As the perceptual word order deals mainly
with our mind, it helps not only to understand languages but also to fathom
cultures and souls of peoples. It will also beneficial to the educational
front, both in the second language acquisition and in learning one’s mother
tongue. I will continue discussing the perceptual word order and its
applications to various fields through the blog.
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