lecture2 syntax
TRANSCRIPT
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
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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.
lign10102.04.2011
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)
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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)