LI 2013 NATHALIE F. MARTIN

SYNTAX

Grammatical vs Ungrammatical

The Linguist’s Point of View on Grammar

Review: Explain the linguist’s point of view on grammar?

Written versus spokenFormal versus informal (or even slang)

Right or wrong?

Grammatical or Ungrammatical?

1. The boy found the ball2. The boy found quickly3. The boy found in the house4. The boy found the ball in the house5. Disa slept the baby6. Disa slept soundly

Find: Transitive verb (with object)

Sleep: Intransitive verb (no object)

DEFINITION

CONSTITUENTS (OF A SENTENCE)

CONSTITUENCY TESTS

Syntax

Definition: Syntax

A child’s definition “All the money

collected at church from sinners”

(Taken from Laughing Matters, by Phil Callaway)

Syntax: The analysis of _______ _______

Sentence Structure

Recall from morphology that words are not simply strings of morphemes. They have a hierarchical structure that we can represent with trees.

devaporize

vaporize

de- vapor -ize

Sentence Structure

Similarly, sentences do not only consist of a _____ _______. They also have an internal _______ _______.

The structural elements of sentences are called syntactic ___________. Def: The parts into which a sentence can be ____________. A word or a group of words that functions as a _____ _____. _______ _______ of sentence structure.

http://webdeptos.uma.es/filifa/personal/amoreno/teaching/ling/syntax.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituent_(linguistics)

Constituents

The following sentence is not just a string of eleven words:Bill and John ate all the cookies yesterday at the park.

It is made up of four basic constituents:Bill and John ate all the cookies yesterday at the park.

Constituency tests

I can demonstrate that these are constituents by ___________ and ____________ tests.

Only constituents can be moved to another part of the sentence; only constituents can be substituted for in a sentence.

Test 1: Movement

Bill and John ate all the cookies yesterday at the park. We can move at the park:Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday. We can’t move at the:*Bill and John ate all the cookies at the yesterday

park.

What are the other possible sentences?

Test 2: Substitution (1)

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute they for Bill and John:

They ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitution (2)

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute did so for ate all the cookies:

Bill and John did so at the park yesterday.

Substitution (3)

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute there for at the park:

Bill and John ate all the cookies there yesterday.

Substitution (4)

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute then for yesterday:

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park then.

Substitution (5)

Can’t substitute across _____________ :

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute did so for ate all the:

*Bill and John did so cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitution (6)

Can’t substitute across ___________ :

Bill and John ate all the cookies at the park yesterday.

Substitute them for cookies at:

*Bill and John ate all the them the park yesterday.

Constituents are Phrases

all the cookies is a _______ _______. We can substitute any noun phrase for it:

They ate cookies yesterday.They ate some cookies yesterday.They ate the cookies left over from dinner last

week yesterday.They ate the cookies that their mother told them

several times not to eat yesterday.

PHRASE TYPES

PHRASE STRUCTURE

Phrase Structure

Let’s Try it Out

How would you divide this sentence?

a)The children put the brand new toys in the box.

Definition of “phrases”: ___________ linguistic objects with their own

___________ and _______ _______

From Phrase Structure to Sentence Structure

We form sentences by combining words into phrasal constituents, phrases into larger constituents, and these constituents into sentences.

Phrase types

Noun Phrase (NP): Functions like a _______ Ex.

Verb Phrase (VP): Functions like a _______ Ex:

Adjective Phrase (AP): Functions like an _______ Ex:

Prepositional Phrase (PP): Starts with _______ [in, on, with, etc.]

Ex:

Phrase Structure Rules

NP (Det) N (PP)PP P NP

The bus (NP)

The

NDet

bus

The bus in the yard

NP

The

NDet

bus

PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

yard

Phrase Structure Rules

VP V (NP) (PP)S NP (Aux) VP

took the money (VP)

took

NPV

took the money from the bank

VP

took

NPV PP

from

NPP

the

Det N

bank

the

Det N

money

the

Det N

money

Head Types

In Noun Phrase (NP): Functions like a noun, head is _______ (N) Ex. The car, a clever student

In Verb Phrase (VP): Functions like a verb, head is _______(V) Ex: study hard, play the guitar

In Adjective Phrase (AP): Functions like an adjective, head is _______(Adj) Ex: very tall, quite certain

In Prepositional Phrase (PP): Head is ____________ (Prep) [in, on, with, etc.] Ex: in the class, above the earth

Phrase Structure

Phrase (XP)

{Specifier} Head (X) {Complement(s)}

The specifier _______ _______ of the head. The complements _______ _______ about the head.

• All phrases have the same basic structure:

Specifier types

In NPs, specifiers are _______ like a, the, this, that, these, those.

In VPs, specifiers are _______ like always, never, seldom, often.

In APs, specifiers are _________ like very, quite, too, so.

In PPs, specifiers are _______ like almost, nearly.

Complement types

In NPs, complements can be ____: cabin by the lake, book on the table.

In VPs, complements can be ____ or ____ : ate the cookies, ate at the park.

In APs, complements can be ____ : happy about the new job.

In PPs, complements are ____ : at the park.

Sentence structure

The basic English sentence structure is:

S

NP (____ ____) VP (____ ____)

For this course, we will use either IP (for “inflection”) found in your textbook or S (for sentence)

Simple Sentence

The NP and VP might only contain ____ ____(no specifiers or complements):

S

NP VP

N V

Bill swam

More complex sentence 1

S

NP VP

Det N V

The boy swam

More complex sentence 2

S

NP VP

Det N V PP

Prep NP

Det N

The boy swam in the stream

More complex sentence 3

S

NP VP

Det N PP V PP

Prep NP Prep NP

N Det N

The boy from Ohio swam in the stream

Tree Diagrams

Example with brackets

How would you devide this sentence into phrases?

The children put the toys in the box

The Main Phrase Structure Rules

1. S NP VP

2. NP (Det) (AP) N (PP)

3. VP (Aux) V (NP)

4. PP (Deg) P (NP)

Up Side Down Trees

Example (1)The children put the toy in the box

V PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

boxThe

N

put

S

NP VP

Det

children

NP

the

Det N

toy

O’Grady, p. 181

How to build trees structures:

Draw the structure trees for the following sentences

Draw the tree structure of the following sentences:

a) Those guests should leave.b) Maria never ate a brownie.c) That shelf will fall.d) The glass broke.e) The student lost the debate.f) The manager may offer a raise.

Question # 5 (a–f) p. 187 (O’Grady)

THE TENSE OF THE SENTENCE

« Inflection »

« Inflection »

Abstract category dubbed « I » or « Infl » for ________ that indicates the ______ of the sentence.

Links together the NP and the VP

« I » is considered the ________ ________ with the VP as it’s ________ and the NP (subject) as it’s ________ .

Example (1)The old tree will sway in the wind

old

V PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

windThe

N

sway

S

NP VP

Det Adj

tree

Aux

Past (- Pst)

will

Example (2)The old tree swayed in the wind

old

V PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

windThe

N

swayed

S

NP VP

Det Adj

tree

Aux

Past (+ Pst)

Structural Ambiguity

Structural Ambiguity

Ambiguity: a word, phrase or sentence with multiple meanings

Synthetic buffalo hides (NP) Synthetic buffalo hides (NP)

Synthetic buffalo hides Synthetic buffalo hides

Buffalo hides that are synthetic. Hides of synthetic buffalo.

Ambiguities often lead to humorous resultsAmbiguities often lead to humorous results

For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers. what does “thick legs and large drawers” refer to? The desk or the lady?

Structural Ambiguity (1)The boy saw the man with the telescope

V PP

with

NPP

the

Det N

telescopeThe

N

saw

S

NP VP

Det

boy

NP

the

Det N

man

Aux

Past (-Pst)

Structural Ambiguity (2)

The boy saw the man with the telescope

V

PP

with

NPP

the

Det N

telescopeThe

N

saw

S

NP VP

Det

boy

NP

the

Det N

man

Aux

Past (-Pst)

Deep Stucture and Surface Structure

Transformation

DECLARATIVE – INTERROGATIVE

YES-NO QUESTIONS

DO INSERTION

WH MOVEMENT

Moves

From One to The Other

Look at these sentences:

1.What do we need to do to transform it from one sentence structure to the other?

Declarative – Interrogative

Move the auxiliary to the ______of the ______.

The boy will leave.

S

VPNP

Det

Aux

N

The boy will leave

Will the boy leave?

S

VPNP

Det

Aux

N

the boyWill leave

The deep structure The surface structure

V V

The Wh Movement

Surface structure: Which car should the man repair? Deep structure:

V

N

carThe

N

repair

S

NP VP

Det

man

NP

which

Det

Aux

should

COORDINATION

MODIFIERS

PASSIVED

Some additional Stuctures

Some Additional Structures

CoordinationModifiersPassived

CHALLENGE !!! Yoda’s Speech Structure

CHALLENGE !!!What is wrong with this

translation (morphology and syntax)?