Linguistics -Syntax

The Sentence Patterns of Language

By: Steffany Villanueva

SYNTAX

Grammar Mental representation of a

speaker’s linguistical competence What a speaker knows about the

language, including its phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and lexicon

BEFORE YOU GET CONFUSED…

Syntax The rules of sentence formation. The component of the mental

grammar that represents speakers’ knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentence.

BEFORE YOU GET CONFUSED…

σύν syn, "together", and τάξις táxis, "an ordering“

arrangement

Refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any

individual languagestructure (word order)

SYNTAX

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

nonsense, but grammatically correct.

Chief swore President the Justice the in new

Sequence is made up of meaningful wordsDOES IT MAKE SENSE?

Chief swore president the justice the in new.

Every sentence is a sequence of wordsBut not every sequence of words is a sentence.

Chief swore president the justice the in new.

Determined by rules shared by the speakers of a languageExample:

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS BASED ON

Determined by rules shared by the speakers of a languageExample:

Jack and Jill ran the hill up.

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS BASED ON

I am proud to be my mother

Vicente believes to be a gentleman

Joana ate the baby

Not based on what is taught in school but on the rules constructed unconsciously as children

Children acquire most of the syntactic rules of their language even before learning to read.

Does not depend on having heard the sentence before.Example:

Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the

prom.

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS

NOT BASED ON

Does not depend on the truth of the sentenceIf it did, lying would be impossible.

Example:

Does not depend on the truth of the sentenceIf it did, lying would be impossible.

Example:

I look like Jessy Mendiola.

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS NOT BASED ON

Constituent- (phrase) is a group of words which “belong together” in a sentence. Ability to stand

alone.

COMPONENTS

String – group of words is constituent or not

A. Proform test- stands for contituents already mentioned.

E.g. pronouns (which replace NPs; she/him/they etc). Other proforms: somewhere, do so, there).

Examples:a. The lady running the group handed in her resignation

at noon.b. She handed in her resignation. [→ The lady running

the group is a constituent]

CONSTITUENTSTESTS

A string is a constituent if you can ask about it using a wh-expression (e.g. where/how/when/why/what/who(m); with whom?, at what time?, in whose house?). The answer to the question is also a constituent.

Ex.A: What did the lady running the group hand in at noon? B: Her resignation.

A: Who handed in her resignation at noon? B: The lady running the group

A: When did the lady running the group hand in her resignation? B: At noon

B. QUESTION TEST

If a string can be moved to some other position in the sentence, it is very likely to be a constituent.

a. Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on the balcony on Sunday.

b. b. On Sunday, Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on the balcony.

c. On the balcony, Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on Sunday.

d. Egbert was reading on the balcony on Sunday a thick book about formal logic.

C. MOVEMENT TEST

If you can coordinate two strings (i.e. join them together using conjunctions (e.g. and, or)), the

strings are constituents

a. I went to the post office to post a letter. b. I went to the post office to post a letter and did

the shopping. c. I did the shopping and went to the post office

to post a letter.

D. COORDINATION TEST

NOUN PHRASEa. the woman; a big tree; this coffee, our

existenceb. a (famous) singer (of exceptional talent) (who

got run over by a truck) c. a (renowned) expert (on indigenous Australian

music) (from Brisbane) d. the (most important) representatives (of

workers' interests) (at the conference)

PHRASES

Ex. . Her mother READ A BOOK

a. (suddenly) died (of cancer) (at a young age) b. (blindly) rely on the advice of a counsellor c. (often) called him a maladjusted sociopath d. (quickly) give Basil the key e. (often) eats (dinner) (in the kitchen)

VERB PHRASE

The three main types: spatial PPs (expressing places or directions, as in ), temporal PPs (expressing times,) and

other PPs expressing more abstract meanings

a. [PP near [NP the fireplace]] b. [PP towards [NP the building]] c. [PP after [NP the discussion]] d. [PP in [NP the evening]] e. [PP of [NP her parents]] f. [PP despite [NP the situation]]

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

A. S = NP VPB. NP= (Det)(Adj) N (PP)C. PP= P NPD. VP= V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

Ambiguity (Double Meaning)Example:We need more (intelligent leaders). (more of intelligent leaders) We need (more intelligent) leaders. (leaders that are more intelligent)

Grammatical Relations and how they are understoodEx. Mary hired Bill.

Bill hired Mary.Bill was hired by Mary.

ABOUT SYNTAX?

The TREE DIAGRAMRoot (entire sentence)

Leaves (individual words)

Hierarchical structure (groupings)

Constituent structures

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the puppy

A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality

Ex. The child found the puppy.Your neighbor found the puppy.This yellow cat found the puppy.He found the puppy.

SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES

Noun Phrase (NP) – subject or object in the sentenceVerb Phrase (VP) – verb by NP or PP

Sentence (S)Determiner (Det)

Adjective (Adj)Adverb (Adv)

Noun (N)

SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES

Pronoun (Pro)Preposition (P)

Prepositional Phrase (PP)Auxiliary Verb (Aux) –have, be, will, must, etc.

Verb (V)

SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES

A tree diagram with syntactic category information provided (syntactic labels)Constituent structure tree

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE

the child found the puppyS

the childNP

found the puppyVP

theDet

childN

foundV

the puppyNP

theDet

puppyN

The TREE DIAGRAMRoot (entire sentence)

Leaves (individual words)

Hierarchical structure (groupings)

Constituent structures

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the puppy

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE

the child found the puppyS

the childNP

found the puppyVP

theDet

childN

foundV

the puppyNP

theDet

puppyN

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE

S

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N

the puppy

foundchildthe

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE

S

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N

the puppy

foundchildthe Lexical Categories-lowest categories in the tree.

Syntactic Categories

Node

PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE

S

NP VP

Det N V NP

Det N

the puppy

foundchildthe Lexical Categories-lowest categories in the tree.

Syntactic Categories

Node

“ALL” is important

MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES

S

NP VP

Det NPN PP

the boy

V

saw P NPDet N

the man Det Nwith

the telescope

Three different structural positions representing three grammatical relations.

MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES

S

NP VP

Det NPN PP

the boy

V

saw P NPDet N

the man Det Nwith

the telescope

Reveal ambiguities

MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES

S

NP VP

Det NPN

the boy

V

saw

P PP

Det N

the man

Det Nwith

the telescope

NP

Reveal ambiguities

There is no longest sentence in any languageSpeakers can lengthen any sentence by various means

Adding adjectives, clauses, etc.

THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE

THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE

NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N

the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim

Limitless aspect of languageIs reflected in phrase structureTrees.

THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE

NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N PP

P NP

Det N

the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim

But as the structures grow longerThey become more increasinglyDifficult to produce and understand. -due to short term memory limitations -muscular fatigue* -breathlessness, etc.*

ANY QUESTION

?

Find the VPs in the following sentences. 1. She wrote several books on British history. 2. She apparently believes the stories about the aliens. 3. She read a book and went to bed. 4. They emptied and refilled the tank.

Find the NPs in the following sentences. 5. People from the mainland often forget Tasmania when

they draw maps of Australia. 6. 2. At the next meeting, the president of the committee

called in an expert on environmental

TEST

S

NP VP

Pro V Pro

I thank you