Transcript Syntax 3 Ling400

Syntax 3
Ling400
Long-distance relations
• WH “movement”
– A wh-expression (what, who, etc.) is often
found in the “wrong place” and is related to
another position within the same sentence.
– Our theory explains this fact in terms of a
“movement transformation.”
WH movement
S
NP
VP
Mary Aux
has
NP
Vt
what
eaten
WH movement
S
What
Aux
has
NP Aux
Mary [has]
Vt
eaten
VP
NP
[what]
Subj.-Aux. inversion
John can eat fish.
John can eat what?
*John can eat fish what ?
*John will disappear what?
John will disappear.
• auxiliary verbs are generated between the
subject NP and the main verb.
• subj and aux then switch positions in whquestions.
Wh-movement+Subj-Aux inversion
S
WH
What
Aux
has
NP
Mary Aux
[has]
VP
V
eaten
NP
[what]
Subj-Aux inversion
in yes-no questions
John can come to the party.
Can John come to the party?
Bill will get married next month.
Will Bill get married next month?
John studies mathematics.
*Studies John mathematics?
Does John study mathematics? [Don’t
worry about this one.]
Embedded questions
• What happens in embedded questions?
John knows what Bill can eat.
*John knows what can Bill eat.
*John knows Bill can eat what.
• Wh-movement occurs
• Subj.-Aux. Inversion does not occur.
WH questions in other
languages
• Not all languages move wh-words in
wh-questions.
• Examples: Chinese, Japanese, and
many others.
WH questions in Chinese
• Ni shenme shihou qu yinyue hui?
• you what time go to music meeting
• ‘When will you go to the concert?’
• Ni
cong nali
lai?
• you
from where
come
• ‘Where do you come from?’
WH questions in Chinese
• Tamen zuotian wanshang chi shenme le?
• they yesterday night
eat what asp-mk
• ‘What did they eat last night?
• Women zenme zuo jiaozi?
• we
how make dumpling
• ‘How do we make dumplings?’
WH questions in Chinese
• Ta wei shenme ku le?
• she
for what cry asp-mk
• ‘Why did she cry?’
• Ni shi shei?
• you are who
• ‘Who are you?’
The Organization of Grammar
• Lexicon (finite)
• Phrase structure rules (finite)
• Transformations (finite — very, very
small in number)
• This system is capable of generating an
infinite number of sentences.
Word Order Typology
English:
(SVO)
They ate an apple
Russian:
(SOV)
Oni
they
yabloko
apple
Turkish:
(SOV)
Onlar
they
elma
apple
syeli
ate
yediler
ate
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Word Order Typology
SOV -
Russian, Turkish, Basque, Burmese,
Japanese, Hindi, Korean, Quechua,
Guugu Ymidhirr, Aleut, German (?)
SVO -
English, Spanish, Italian, French,
Latin, Chinese
VSO -
Irish, Welsh, Berber, Hebrew,
Maori, Maasai
VOS -
Malagasy
OVS -
Amazon Basin
OSV -
???
Case Marking Typology
SOV -
Russian, Turkish, Basque, Burmese,
Japanese, Hindi, Korean, Quechua,
Guugu Ymidhirr, Aleut, German (?)
SVO -
English, Spanish, Italian, French,
Latin, Chinese
VSO -
Irish, Welsh, Berber, Hebrew,
Maori, Maasai
VOS -
Malagasy
OVS -
Amazon Basin
OSV -
???
Typology re Case-Marking
• Nominative-accusative languages (e.g. English,
Japanese)
The subject of a transitive verb and the subject of an
intransitive verb receive the same case marker
(nominative).
• Ergative-absolutive languages (e.g. Basque)
The object of a transitive verb and the subject of an
intransitive verb receive the same case (absolutive).
Typology re Case-Marking
• She hit him.
[nom] [acc]
• Basque
Aita
father
[absolutive]
Ni-k
I
[ergative]
He arrived.
[nom]
ethorri du.
came
‘My father came.’
aita
maite du.
father
love
[absolutive] ‘I love my father’
WH questions [advanced]
• WH words ask questions in simple
sentences, but can also ask questions in
complex sentences — implying “long
distance relations/dependencies”.
• What did Bill say that Mary saw ___?
• Where did Bill say that Tom took Mary
__?
• Who did Bill say that Tom claimed that
Helen spoke to ___?
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
WH and syntactic mysteries
• The boy that I spoke to at noon said he bought a
book yesterday at the bookstore.
• When did the boy say he bought the book?
• --At noon
• --Yesterday
• The question word when can be extracted from the
main or embedded sentence
WH and syntactic mysteries
• When did the boy say where he bought
the book?
• --At noon
• --*Yesterday
• The question word when can only be
associated with the main clause (=
sentence), not the embedded sentence
WH and syntactic mysteries
• What is the difference between the two questions?
– When did the boy say ___ he bought the book ___?
– When did the boy say ___ where he bought the book ___?
• The second sentence has a WH word at the left edge
of the embedded S