The grammaticality of sentences Word order Hierarchical organization of sentences Grammatical relations Structural ambiguity Different structures with the same meaning The creative aspect of language.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2003. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, p. 123, adapted.

“Phrase structure trees (PS trees, for

short) are explicit graphic

representations of a speaker’s

knowledge of the structure of the

sentences of his language.”

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 90.

“A PS tree is a formal device for

representing the speaker’s knowledge

of the structure of sentences in his

language, as revealed by our linguistic

intuitions.”

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 91.

1. S NP VP 2. NP Det N (R) 3. VP V NP 4. VP V (R) 5. VP V PP (R) 6. PP P NP 7. VP V CP 8. CP C S 9. NP NP PP (A) 10. VP Aux VP (A)

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 93, 96, 97, 100, 101, 107.

1. S NP VP 2. NP Det N’ 3. Det NP poss4. NP N’5. NP NP PP6. N’ Adj N’7. N’ N8. VP V9. VP V NP 10. VP V CP 11. VP Aux VP12. VP VP PP 13. PP P NP 14. CP C S

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 110.

See pp. 112-114 of the textbook for additional rules.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 112-114.

Generate grammatical sentences

Test to see if sentences are grammatical

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2003. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, p. 140.

Hanyu Pinyin Phonemic and Spelling Alphabet and Syllabary for Modern Standard Chinese

If our GRAMMAR is complete, it should generate / describe / account for / allow / explain ALL grammatical sentences AND NO ungrammatical sentences

THIS MEANS:

1. IF a rule allows an ill-formed sentence, then it must be …. 2. IF our Grammar (or a rule in our grammar) says: This sentence is grammatical (and it is), then we can say the grammar is …. 3. IF our Grammar (or a rule in our grammar) says: This sentence is grammatical (BUT WE KNOW it is NOT GRAMMATICAL), then we say the grammar is .…