Transcript Chapter 4 Syntax

Chapter 4 Syntax
4.1 What is syntax?
4.2 Categories
4.3 Phrase structure rule
4.4 Phrase elements
4.5 Sentences
4.6 Transformations
4.1 What is syntax?
 Syntax is a branch of linguistics that
studies how words are combined to form
sentences and the rules1 that govern the
formation of sentences.
 Note: 1. Syntactic rules in a grammar
account for the grammaticality of
sentences, and the ordering of words
and morphemes.
Syntax
 Syntax involves our knowledge of
structural ambiguity, our knowledge that
sentences may be paraphrases of each
other, and our knowledge of the
grammatical function of each part of a
sentence, that is, of the grammatical
relations.
Syntax
 It is also concerned with speakers' ability
to produce and understand an infinite set
of possible sentences. The sentence is
regarded the highest-ranking unit of
grammar, and therefore that the purpose
of a grammatical description is to define,
making use of whatever descriptive
apparatus that may be necessary (rules,
categories, etc).
4.2 Categories
 4.2.1 Word-level categories
 4.2.2 Phrase categories and their
structures
4.2.1 Word-level categories
 Category refers to a group of linguistic
items which fulfill the same or similar
functions in a particular language such as
a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb.
 The most central categories to the
syntactic study are the word-level
categories (traditionally, parts of speech)
Table 4-1
Examples of some lexical categories
Major lexical categories
Examples
Noun (N)
book, boy, love, sheep
Verb (V)
run, read, play
Adjective (A)
happy, tall, clear
Preposition (P)
about, over, on
Major lexical categories
Examples
Determiner (Det)
the, a, this, those
Degree word (Deg)
quite, very, more, so
Qualifier (Qual)
often, always, seldom, almost
Auxiliary (Aux)
must, should, can, might
Conjunction (Con)
and, but, or
The criteria on which categories are
determined
 Word categories are not so clear-cut.
 Three criteria to determine a word’s
category:
 Meaning
 Inflection
 Distribution
 Note: The most reliable criterion of
determining a word’s category is its
distribution.
4.2.2 Phrase categories
and their structures
 Phrase categories — the syntactic units that are
built around a certain word category are called
phrase categories, such as NP(N), VP(V), AP(A),
PP(P).
 The structure: specifier + head + complement
 Head — the word around which a phrase is
formed
 Specifier — the words on the left side of the
heads
 Complement — the words on the right side of
the heads
4.3 Phrase structure rule
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Phrase structure rule
4.3.1 XP rule
4.3.2 Xˉ Theory
4.3.3 Coordination rule
Phrase structure rules
 The grammatical mechanism that regulates the
arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is
called a phrase structure rule, such as:
 NP  (Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish
on the plate, pretty girls.
 VP  (Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games,
finish assignments.
 AP  (Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very
pessimistic, familiar with, very close to
 PP  (Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat,
quite near the station.
4.3.1 XP rule
XP
Specifier
X
Complement
Head
Note: The phrase structure rules can be
summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram,
in which X stands for N, V, A or P.
4.3.2 Xˉ Theory
 XP  (Specifier)X’
 X’  X(complement)
XP(Phrase level)
X’
specifier
X(head)
complement
4.3.3 Coordination rule
 Coordination structures-----the structures that are
formed by joining two or more elements of the same
type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or,
etc.
----Coordination has four important properties:
 no limit on the number of coordinated categories
before the conjunction;
 a category at any level can be coordinated;
 the categories must be of the same type;
 the category type of the coordinate phrase is
identical to the category type of the elements being
conjoined.
4.4. Phrase elements
 4.4.1 Specifier
 4.4.2 Complements
 4.4.3 Modifiers
4.4.1 Specifier
 ---- Semantically, specifiers make more
precise the meaning of the head; syntactically,
they typically mark a phrase boundary.
Specifiers can be determiners as in NP,
qulifiers as in VP and degree words as in AP.
4.4.2 Complements
 ---- Complements themselves can be a phrase, they
provide information abut entities and locations whose
existence is implied by the meaning of the head, e.g. a
story about a sentimental girl; There can be no
complement, one complement, or more than one
complement in a phrase, e.g. appear, break, put…; a
sentence-like construction may also function as a
complement such as in “I believed that she was
innocent. I doubt if she will come. They are keen for
you to show up.” That/if /for are complementizers, the
clauses introduced by complementizers are
complement clause.
4.4.3 Modifiers
 ---- Modifiers specify optionally expressible
properties of heads.
4.5 Sentences (The S rule)
 S  NP VP
S
VP
NP
Det
A
NP
N
boy
V
found
Det
the
N
evidence
Sentences (the S rule)

S  NP infl VP
InflP(=S)
NP

Infl
VP
Many linguists believe that sentences, like other
phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an
abstract category inflection (dubbed ‘Infl’) as
their heads, which indicates the sentence’s tense
and agreement.
Infl realized by a tense label
InflP （ =S ）
VP
NP
Det
A
NP
N Infl
boy Pst
V
found
Det
the
N
evidence
Infl realized by an auxiliary
InflP （ =S ）
VP
NP
NP
Det
A
N Infl
boy will
V
find
Det
the
N
evidence
4.6 Transformations
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4.6.1 Auxiliary movement
4.6.2 Do insertion
4.6.3 Deep structure and surface structure
4.6.4 Wh movement
4.6.5 Move α and constraints on
transformations
4.6.1 Auxiliary movement
 Inversion Move Infl to the left of the subject NP.
 Inversion (revised) Move Infl to C.
CP
S
NP
C
Det
the
N Infl
train will
V
arrive
4.6.1 Auxiliary movement
CP
S
C
Infl Det
Will the
NP
N Infl
train e
V
arrive
4.6.2 Do insertion
 Do insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty
Infl position.
CP
S
C
NP
Infl
Birds
VP
fly
Figure-1
CP
CP
S
C
NP
Infl
Birds do
Figure-2
VP
fly
S
C
Infl NP
Infl
Do birds e
Figure-3
VP
fly
4.6.3 Deep structure and
surface structure
 Consider the following pair of sentences:
John is easy to please.
John is eager to please.
 Structurally similar sentences might be very
different in their meanings, for they have quite
different deep structures.
Deep structure and surface
structure
 Consider one more sentence:
Flying planes can be dangerous.
 It can mean either that if you fly planes you are
engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that
are flying are dangerous.
Deep structure and surface
structure
 Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance
with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it
contains all the units and relationships that are
necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.
 Surface structure----corresponding to the final
syntactic form of the sentence which results from
appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence
as it is pronounced or written.
The organization of the syntactic
component
The XP rule
Deep structure
transformations
Surface structure
Subcategorization restricts
choice of complements
4.6.4 Wh movement
 Consider the derivation of the following
sentences:
What languages can you speak?
What can you talk about?
 These sentences may originate as:
You can speak what languages.
You can talk about what.
Wh movement
 Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the
beginning of the sentence.
 What language can you
speak
?
 What can you
talk about
?
Wh movement
 Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the
specifier position under CP. (Revised)
CP
S
NP
Who
C
VP
NP
e
Infl
Pst
V
won
NP
the game
4.6.5 Move α and constraints on
transformations
 Inversion can move an auxiliary from the Infl to
the nearest C position, but not to a more distant
C position.
 No element may be removed from a coordinate
structure.