Lecture2 Syntax

LIGN101 02.04.2010

SYNTAX: PHRASESLIGN101 - INTRO TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

lign10102.04.2011

more on lexical categoriesWords divided into content words

nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs

. . . and function words

determiners (the, a, these, those . . .)

prepositions (with, for, of, before, over, under)

auxiliary verbs (will, should, be . . . )

pronouns (he, she, it, them, us)

conjunctions (and, but, yet, so, or)

lign10102.04.2011

lexical categoriesNoun features

plurals can be formed for countable objects

modified by adjectives

preceded by determiners

Verb features

take tense inflections, e.g. -ed

take other inflections, e.g. -ing

can be preceded by auxiliaries

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lexical categoriesAdverb features

quickly, often, maybe, very

often end with -ly

modify adjectives, adverbs, and sentences

Adjective features

have comparative forms, slow-slower-slowest

modify nouns

appear in sentences like “The sky is blue”

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lexical categoriesDeterminer features

definiteness, indefiniteness, possession, quantity

a, that, these, six, his, my

always appear before nouns

Prepositions

express instruments, possession, space, and time

appear before noun phrases

with, in, on, of, over, for

lign10102.04.2011

lexical categoriesAuxiliary verbs

can, will, must, have, would, should

appear before other verbs

Pronouns

refer to the referents of other noun phrases

Conjunctions

link together phrases or sentences

and, but, yet, so, or

lign10102.04.2011

phrasesPhrases are the structural units built from words

category of words determiner the kind of phrases it can

build

nouns can build noun phrases

verbs can build verb phrases

adverbs can build adverbial phrases

prepositions can build prepositional phrases

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phrasesPhrases are built up around a (syntactic) head

any lexical category can be a head

heads are like morphological stems

Children

The children

The wicked children

The three wicked children

The three wicked children with red hair

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phrasesVerb phrases (underlined); head in bold

John ate

John ate the cake

John ate the cake without a fork

Prepositional phrases

before

before the event

before the event began

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headsIdentifying heads and phrase types

grammatical relationships are between heads

Agreement:

The boys like sailing.

The boy likes sailing.

*The boy like sailing.

*The boys likes sailing.

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identifying constituentsEvery constituent is a phrase

Four common tests for constituency

Substitution

Deletion

Movement

Question formation

Why do we care?

Constituents tell us about the hidden structure

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substitution

Smaller phrases substituted for larger phrases:

Eric likes to watch movies, and Williams likes to do so,

too.

Democrats passed health care reform in 2010, but

Republicans now want to repeal it.

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substitution

Smaller phrases substituted for larger phrases:

*Ezra gave an album to Jennifer and also did so to Liam.

[gave an album] is not a constituent

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deletion, a.k.a. ellipsis

Leaving out a phrase

Derek was at the baseball game on Friday and Nathan

was _____ too.

I can prepare an excellent omelet, and I bet you can

prepare an excellent omelet as well.

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deletion

Leaving out a phrase

*Derek was at the baseball game on Friday and Nathan

was at the _____ too.

*I can prepare an excellent omelet, and I bet you can

prepare an excellent omelet as well.

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movementConstituents can be moved from their typical position:

I will eat whatever Jacque prepares.

Whatever Jacques prepares, I will eat.

*Whatever Jacques, I will eat ___ prepares.

I gave a sweater to Marie.

To Marie, I gave a sweater.

*A sweater to Marie, I gave.

*It was a sweater to Marie that I gave.

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questionsConstituents can be replaced with question words to form

questions:

Simon knows the President of the United States.

Who does Simon know?

Simon traveled to India on his 40th birthday.

Where did Simon travel?

When did Simon travel to India?

What did Simon do?

lign10102.04.2011

questionsConstituents can be replaced with question words to form

questions:

Simon sent a sweater to Beth.

What did Simon send? *A sweater to Beth.

The leopard stalked the gazelle.

*What the gazelle?

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VP topicalization

Movement of a verb phrase to the beginning of a clause

I think it’s time to the leave the party and so I shall leave

the party

I think it’s time to leave the party and so leave the party I

shall

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constituentsConstituents act like cohesive units

generally speaking, syntactic rules/processes don’t

affect or break apart parts of constituents

you can also think of this in terms of bracketing

Simon [[gave] [a sweater] [to Marie]]

*Simon [[gave] [a sweater] [to Marie]]

[The leopard [stalked [the gazelle]]]

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phrase structure rules

Phrase structure rules characterize a person’s knowledge of

structure

show relationships between phrases

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phrase structure rulesEnglish noun phrases:

Determiner

NP ➝ Det N

Noun

``a noun phrase can consist of a determiner followed by a noun’’

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phrase structure rules

Left-hand side

Always just one category label

Right-hand side

Typically two, occasionally three labels

OR a single word

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phrase structure rulesCategory labels

S (sentence)

NP (noun phrase)

VP (verb phrase)

PP (prepositional phrase)

AdjP (adjectival phrase)

AdvP (adverbial phrase)

lign10102.04.2011

toy grammar

S ➝ NP VP

NP ➝ Det N

VP ➝ V

VP ➝ V NP

PP ➝ P NP

Det ➝ The

N ➝ cat

V ➝ sleeps

N ➝ mat

P ➝ on

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toy grammarThe cat:

NP ➝ Det N

NP ➝ the cat

The cat sleeps

S ➝ NP VP

S ➝ Det N VP

S ➝ The cat VP

S ➝ The cat V

S ➝ The cat sleeps

APPLY RULE

Det ➝ the / N ➝ cat

APPLY RULE:

NP ➝ Det N

Det ➝ the / N ➝ cat

VP ➝ V

V ➝ sleeps

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toy grammarThe cat sleeps on the mat

S ➝ NP VP

S ➝ Det N VP

S ➝ The cat VP

S ➝ The cat V PP

S ➝ The cat sleeps PP

S ➝ The cat sleeps P NP

S ➝ The cat sleeps on Det N

S ➝ The cat sleeps on the mat

APPLY RULE

NP ➝ Det N

Det ➝ the / N ➝ cat

VP ➝ V PP

V ➝ sleeps

PP ➝ P NP

P ➝ on / NP ➝ Det N

Det ➝ the / N ➝ mat

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syntax

One possibility is that individuals are born with some

knowledge of syntax

are some features of grammar shared by all humans?

the proposal that they do, particularly with respect to

syntax is often known as the Universal Grammar

Hypothesis (Chomsky 1957)