Presented to: Madam Amna Shahid

Presented by:Ammara AhsanAyesha Amjad Najia Majid

Rashda Meraj

PHRASE STRUCTURE

byAmmara AhsanAyesha Amjad Najia Majid

Rashda Meraj

INTRODUCTION TO PHRASE STRUCTUREDEFINITIONA phrase is a group of words that does not have a subject or a verb.For example:Eating a peachUnder the teacher’s deskAfter seeing the Taj MahalTo buy a new phone

General ApproachUniversal Grammar (UG) / Language Instinct

DataNative speakers’ intuitions (acceptability judgments)

Resulting Theory of Grammar

Words, phrases, categories for words and phrases (e.g. nouns, verbs, noun phrases, verb phrases)(basic concepts any theory of grammar must have in order to capture the data)

Phrase structure (review)

1) Every word belongs to a lexical category2) Lexical categories forms heads of

phrases3) How phrases are formed is governed by

rules (= ‘phrase structure rules’)

Phrase structure rulesRules that determine…

what goes into a phrase (‘constituents’)

how the constituents are orderedConstituent: a word or group of words that

function as a unit and can make up larger grammatical units The component that determines the properties of the constituent is the head, and the constituent can be referred to as a phrase: e.g. noun phrase“noun phrases have a Det and a N” NP Det N

The main phrase structure rules

1. S NP VP

2. NP {Det N, Pro, PN}

3. VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

4. PP P NP

5. AP A (PP)

Phrase Structure Rules & tree

• NP (Det) N • PP P NP

The boy (NP)

The

NDet

boy

the boy in the yard

NP

The

NDet

boy

PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

yard

Prepositional phrase (PP)

In P from a boy in a bubble P NP

Phrase structure rule for PPs: PP P (NP)

Phrase structure tree

PP PP

P P NP

in from Det N PP

a boy P NP

in Det N

a bubble

Verb phrase (VP) “Verb phrases have a V, (sometimes) an

NP, and (sometimes) a PP” VP -> V (NP) (PP) sang ate the cake ate the cake hungrily sang a song in the shower fell into the pond slowly

Phrase structure rule for VPs: VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

Phrase structure tree

VP VP VP

V V NP V NP PP Adv

sang ate Det N sang Det N P NP badly

the cake a song in Det N

the shower

Thank You