2 ND YEAR AAPLIED MODERN LANGUAGES – SYNTAX 1 COURSE INSTRUCTOR: ROXANA-CRISTINA PETCU, PhD LECTURE I THE NATURE OF UNIVERSAL GRAMMARThis course of lectures aims to look into the structure of the simple finite sentence, namelysentences that contain one single predication relation, the verb of which carries a Tense marker. The theoretical perspe ctive is the one offered by the Theory of Government and Binding, first synthesized by Chomsky in “Lectures on Government and Binding” (1981). UG was defined by Chomsky (1976) as follows: “the system of principles, conditions and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages…. the essence of human language.” The goal ofUG is to provide a theory of grammar that should be able to offer a number of principles, a number of generalized statements which are valid cross-linguistic ally. The differences between languages are ac counte d for in ter ms of par amete rs, na mel y the dif fer ent val ues tha t the pri nc ipl es hav e in different languages. Principles The Principle of Structure DependencyDefinition: language relies on structural relationships rather than on the linear sequence of items. Operations on sentences such as movement require knowledge of the structural relationships of the words rather than their linear sequence. Evidence : Question formation 1. The letter will arrive tomorrow. Will the letter arrive tomorrow? 2. This is a dagger which I see before me. *A this a dagger which I see before me? 3. The man who is tall is John. *Is the man who tall is John? Is the man who is tall John? What moves in order to form a question in English is not the third or the fourth word in a sentence, but the auxiliary in the main clause, irrespective of whether it comes first or second in the sentence. Movement of the auxiliary depends on the knowledge of the structure of the language. English, like all human languages is structure-dependent. The Projection Principle The theory emphasizes the Lexicon and the fact that speakers know what each word in the language means, how it is pronounced and how it behaves syntactically. The syntactic description of the sentence and the lexical properties of each lexical item are integrated by the theory via the Projection Principle, which requires that syntax should accommodate the lexical specification of each lexical item. 4. Helen likes the French paintings. *Helen likes. 5. Peter is working.
