Dorota Klimek-Jankowska

• 1)      John article an wrote.

• 2)      Planted a flower John.

• 3)      Julie tired is her job of.

 

 

At some point in the process of the evolution our human brain developed a fascinating potential to produce and comprehend language thanks to which we know that sentences (1)-(3) are not grammatically correct.

MENTAL GRAMMAR (LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE, UG- UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

A set of grammatical rules which are innate. This means that speakers of all natural languages are born with some mental computational device (grammar) responsible for language production and comprehension.

MENTAL GRAMMAR consists of many abstract

subsystems:

- LEXICON,

- PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL RULES

- MORPHOLOGICAL RULES

- SYNTACTIC RULES

Today we focus on the SYNTACTIC

COMPONENT of our mental grammar.

The SYNTACTIC MODULE of our mental grammar is responsible for the generation of possible sentences in a language. It can be compared to a computer program which consists of a set of basic units/symbols and a set of rules which determine possible arrangements of the basic units.

Let’s focus on an example of a formal grammar (similar to a very simple computer program).

Our formal grammar consists of: A set of basic units/symbols A, B, C, D, S Rules that generate a possible structure out of these units: S A C this means that whenever S occurs it can be

replaced by ACD B A this means that whenever D occurs it can be

replaced by B AC B D this means that whenever C occurs it can be

replaced by B D One symbol is chosen as the initial symbol: let it be S

S A C

D B A

C B D

Which of the following arrangements of symbols

are possible according to these rules?

PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR

A formal grammar that generates the

grammatical sentences of a language and

captures native speaker’s knowledge of

how words are grouped into phrases and

how phrases are grouped into sentences

PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR

consists of:

BASIC UNITS

SYNTACTIC RULES

• What are those basic units?

• What are those syntactic rules?

BASIC UNITS OF PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR:

SYNTACTIC RULES: WHAT ARE THE RULES WHICH ALLOW US TO COMPUTE A GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE out of the basic lexical and functional categories?

Before I answer this question, let’s revise the foundational facts about the structure of phrases.

Words in a sentence are grouped

together into phrases.

Phrases are built around categories (nouns, verbs...).

Nouns allow us to form NOUN PHRASES (NP)

Adjectives allow us to form ADJECTIVE PHRASES

(AP)

Verbs allow us to form VERB PHRASES (VP)

Prepositions allow us to form PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (PP)

Those words around which phrases are built arecalled

HEADS. HEADS are the only obligatory elements of each

phrase.

In English, phrases can optionally contain

some material to the left e.g. often reads, the

birds, almost inside. These elements to the left

of the heads are called SPECIFIERS.

English phrases can also optionally contain

some material to their right e.g. read books,

proud of John, students of mathematics. These

elements to the right of a head function as

COMPLEMENTS.

We agreed that the structure of a Verb Phrase

(VP) often read books looks as follows:

We need an intermediate level V’ because the head + complement grouping is independent of the sepcifier In other words, read books is independent of often. Does John read books?  In fact, he often does. (does replaces read books)

The tree in Table 1 B is a schematic representation of the structure of a verb phrase often read books.

What are the syntactic RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? VP (Q) V’V’ V (NP)  The only obligatory element of a verb phrase is a head - a verb. Brackets indicate that the qualifier in the specifier position and the noun phrase in the complement position are optional: John (often) reads, John read (books), John reads 

These rules which determine thestructure of phrases are called PHRASESTRUCTURE RULES.PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR AVERB PHRASE (VP):

VP (Q) V’V’ V (NP)

It is important to note that these formal representations of phrase structures and rules are not just notations used by linguists but they are formal represenations of biological linguistic phenomena which are psychologically real (really happen in our brain/mind and allow us to learn and process language).

Linguistics is an empirical science just like physics – physicists observe real phenomena like for instance riding a bike or flying or apples falling down from the apple trees (Newton) and they use their intuitions and reasoning to understand the hidden rules which underly the observed phenomena and once they understand the rules, they create formal representations which are clear, simple and unambiguous.

Apart from Verb Phrases (VPs) we also have:

Noun Phrases (NPs):

these books about dogs

Prepositional Phrases (PPs):

right under the table

Adjective Phrases (APs):

very afraid of spiders

What are the structures of these phrases?

The structure of the Noun Phrase looks asfollows:

We need an intermediate level N’ because the head + complement (books about dogs) forms a unit which is independent of the sepcifier (these).Which books about dogs have you read? I’ve read these ones. (ones replaces books about dogs)

What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURERULES which allow us to compute this PHRASESTRUCTURE?

 

NP (Det) N’N’ N (PP)  

The only obligatory element of a noun phrase is a head

that is a noun. Brackets indicate that the determiner in

the specifier position and the prepositional phrase in the

complement position are optional: books about dogs,

these books, books

When there is no specifier or complement in a phrase it

is marked as Ø .

The structure of the Prepositional Phrase looks as

follows: Prepositional Phrases (PPs):

right under the table

We need an intermediate level P’ because the head + complement (under the table) forms a unit which is independent of the specifier (right). Is my book under the table?  Yes, it is right there. (there replaces under the table)

What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURE

RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE

STRUCTURE?

PP (Int) P’

P’ P (NP)

The only obligatory element of a prepositional phrase is a head that is a preposition. Brackets indicate that the intensifier in the specifier position and the noun phrase in the complement position are optional: right under, under the table

The structure of the Adjectival Phrase looks as

follows:

Adjective Phrases (Aps): very afraid of spiders

What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? AP (Int) A’A’ A (PP)

The only obligatory element of an adjectival phrase is a head that is an adjective. Brackets indicate that the intensifier in the specifier position and the prepositional phrase in the complement position are optional: very afraid, afraid of dogs

We know enough about Phrase Structure to make some deeper generalisations.

We have learned that every phrasal category contains at least one element. Every VP must contain at least a verb, Every NP must contain at least a noun, Every PP must contain at least a preposition.

These obligatory elements are called HEADS of the phrases.

We can use a variable X (just like in

mathematics) which will stand for all HEADS

(adjectival, prepositional, verbal, noun

HEADS). Using this variable, we can name

the whole phrase as XP. We can state a

generalisation:

Every XP (phrase) must contain an X (a

head)

What else can a phrase contain?

Each phrase contains an intermediate level X’

which separates hierarchically a Specifier

(Spec) and a HEAD + Complement (Compl)

grouping. This basically means that all

phrases pattern in exactly the same way in our

brain.

This also means we can use a universal phrase structure for all phrases:

The phrasal rules which are innately encoded in the brains of human beings (we are born with them) can be schematically represented as follows: XP (Spec) X’X’ X (Compl)

The theory according to which we can represent all phrases using a uniform structure and uniform phrase structure rules is called the X’-theory (x-bar theory)

Conclusion:The phrase structure rules XP (Spec) X’ and X’ X

(Compl) are part of a speaker’s linguistic competence, the mental knowledge of grammar. They are part of UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (the innate Language Acquisition Device) shared by all human beings.

Implications:1) These simple rules allows us to determine which sentences

of English are grammatical and which are not. 2) These simple rules distinguish us from monkeys and other

living creatures.3) These simple rules explain why all children all over the

world, independently of their IQ levels, learn a language quickly in spite of the limited linguistic input they are exposed to. Children use those inborn syntactic rules to make correct generalisations about language.

• Recursive nature of grammar (sentences can be in principle never-ending):

My mum said that Mary thinks that Bill is aware of the fact that what I found in his room under the carpet in a tiny box under a symbol of a rose …..was a Christmas present for Sue which she asked for in her letter to a Santa Claus….

• It is because rules can be embedded recursively within one another for example:

Imagine we have the following rules

• A BC

• C DA

The structure of simple sentences

We’ve learned enough about the structure of phrases.

How do phrases group together to form grammatical

sentences?

Which phrases do the following simple sentences

consist of?

 [The man]NP [saw [the thief]NP]VP.

He saw the thief.

Yes, he did.

The man saw him.

• [John]NP [is [proud [of [his sister]NP ]PP]AP]VP.

More about verbs:Verbs can be clasified according to how manycomplements they occur with:

intransitive verbs lack complements: sleep, jump, wink, smile

John slept/ jumped/ winked/ smiled. transitive verbs occur with one complement: read a book,

eat a sandwich, ride a bike, drive a car John read a book/ ate a sandwich/ rode a bike/ drove a car. diatransitive verbs occur with two complements: give money to John, thraw a ball to Mary John gave money to John. John threw a ball to Mary.