LIGN101

02.04.2010
SYNTAX: PHRASES
LIGN101 - INTRO TO THE STUDY OF
LANGUAGE
lign101
02.04.2011
more on lexical categories
Words 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)
lign101
02.04.2011
lexical categories
Noun features
plurals can be formed for countable objects
modied by adjectives
preceded by determiners
Verb features
take tense inections, e.g. -ed
take other inections, e.g. -ing
can be preceded by auxiliaries
lign101
02.04.2011
lexical categories
Adverb 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
lign101
02.04.2011
lexical categories
Determiner features
deniteness, indeniteness, 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
lign101
02.04.2011
lexical categories
Auxiliary 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
lign101
02.04.2011
phrases
Phrases 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
lign101
02.04.2011
phrases
Phrases 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
lign101
02.04.2011
phrases
Verb 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
lign101
02.04.2011
heads
Identifying 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.
lign101
02.04.2011
identifying constituents
Every 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
lign101
02.04.2011
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.
lign101
02.04.2011
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
lign101
02.04.2011
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.
lign101
02.04.2011
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.
lign101
02.04.2011
movement
Constituents 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.
lign101
02.04.2011
questions
Constituents 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?
lign101
02.04.2011
questions
Constituents 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?
lign101
02.04.2011
VP topicalization
Movement of a verb phrase to the beginning of a clause
I think its time to the leave the party and so I shall leave
the party
I think its time to leave the party and so leave the party I
shall
lign101
02.04.2011
constituents
Constituents act like cohesive units
generally speaking, syntactic rules/processes dont
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]]]
lign101
02.04.2011
phrase structure rules
Phrase structure rules characterize a persons knowledge of
structure
show relationships between phrases
lign101
02.04.2011
phrase structure rules
English noun phrases:
Determiner
NP ! Det N
Noun
``a noun phrase can consist of a
determiner followed by a noun
lign101
02.04.2011
phrase structure rules
Left-hand side
Always just one category label
Right-hand side
Typically two, occasionally three labels
OR a single word
lign101
02.04.2011
phrase structure rules
Category labels
S (sentence)
NP (noun phrase)
VP (verb phrase)
PP (prepositional phrase)
AdjP (adjectival phrase)
AdvP (adverbial phrase)
lign101
02.04.2011
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
lign101
02.04.2011
toy grammar
The 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
lign101
02.04.2011
toy grammar
The 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
lign101
02.04.2011
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)