Chapter 5 Syntax. Outline Introduction 4. Sentence structure 1. What is grammar?5. Functions of tree...

Chapter 5 Syntax

Outline Introduction 4. Sentence structure 1. What is grammar?5. Functions of tree structures 2. Category6. Embedded sentences 2.1 Lexical category 2.2 Subcategorization 3. Phrases 7. Transformation rules 7.1 Inversion rules 7.2 Wh-movement 3.1 Phrase structure rules 3.2 VP structure rules 3.3 PP structure rules 3.4 Other PS structure rules 3.5 Internal structure of phrases 8. Summary

Introduction (1/3) Syntax structure of sentences inspired by Noam Chomsky finite basic structures for infinite sentences in a language concerned with leading linguistic research in theories tenet

Issue explored Why can a child acquire a language in such a short time? usually mastering native language before 12 years old Introduction (2/3) twofold assumption Universal GrammarLAD (language acquisition device) in our brain If that language is innate, it is not learned but acquired. There are a certain common properties among languages.

Introduction (3/3) Utterances sentences Different languages share a lot of common structures. NP (Noun phrase) + VP (Verb phrase) This chapter includes: (1) category (2) subcategory (3) phrase structure rules basic unites different in appearanceE.g., composed of (4) sentence structure rules (5) transformation (inversion, Wh-movement, NP-movement)

1. What is grammar

1. What is grammar? (1/9) a nightmare To most of the Taiwanese students has suffered from tests and memorization of grammatical terms & structures pedagogical grammar English grammar be part of our linguistic knowledge or language intuition in this chapter Very different

1. What is grammar? (2/9) One who does not have any deficiency in language (e.g., articulator disorder or heavy retarded) (1) speak her/his own native language (NL) (2) understand what he hears if s/he is spoken to in his own NL (3) judge what sentences are ungrammatical be able to

E.g., (1) a. The boy met the girl. b. The met boy the girl. (2) a. The girl met the boy. b. The girl the boy met. knowing that both are not good sentences might not be able to point out what makes them weird or unacceptable stop from speaking ungrammatical sentences Q: What is the nature of language faculty or language competence? 1. What is grammar? (3/9) All the words are the same, but different in word order. English native speakers although language faulty

a. innovation of new sentences b. if you listen carefully what you are told few sentences are repeated (Red) although topics might be Red & Red. the same finding as reading 1. What is grammar? (4/9) autonomycreativity would find (to check quotation dictionaries) All sentences might be foreign to you, but you understand what they mean even if it is your first time reading Each grammar is independent, & to some extent is arbitrary.

Autonomy E.g., English V.S. Chinese sentences 1a & 2a a. Grammar is different in a certain respect. b. Each grammar is unique & autonomous. (1) a. He studied in the classroom in the evening. b. Ta dushu zaijaoshi zhaiwanshang He study in the classroom in the evening (2) a. Wanshang ta zaijiaoshi dushu b. In the evening he in the classroom studied. 1. What is grammar? (5/9) translated word by word unacceptable acceptable translated implication

Q: What does it mean by unacceptable or ungrammatical? Are they are the same? (1) Grammatical but unacceptable E.g., a. Colorless green sleeps furiously. subject verb common 1. What is grammar? (6/9) modify reasonable, e.g. pretty girl, colorful pictures structure/grammar perfect unacceptable, for (a) (b) (c) but (a) no green without any color (b) Green never sleeps. (Only animate can do the action of sleeping) (c) Sleep can be sound but not furious, (e.g. He had a sound sleep last night.) adverb adjective

(1) Grammatical but unacceptable E.g., b. He killed the dead umbrella. c. The excited pencil walked gigantically in the park. (2) Not entirely grammatical but acceptable & frequently used E.g, a. Sally poured the glass with water. Sally poured water into the glass. filled the glass with water. b. Been there, done it. = We have been there and we have done it. 1. What is grammar? (7/9) grammatically should be simplification has become an idiomatic use in pragmatics forgotten

Conclusion Grammatical sentences acceptable Acceptable sentences grammatical The target of this chapter is grammatical & acceptable sentences. 1. What is grammar? (8/9) not always However

Review 1. What do you think is linguistic knowledge? Please try to answer this question on the basis of some examples. 2. What is linguistic creativity? Please give at least two sentences to argue for it. 3. What does autonomy mean in linguistics? Please give a good example to show what autonomy means to you. 4. Please write down at least two grammatical but unacceptable sentences. 5. What difference is there between pedagogical and linguistic grammar? 1. What is grammar? (9/9)

2. Category a grouping so that each group of words may occur in a certain position 2.1 Lexical category 2.2 Subcategorization

Words or lexica a category nouns naming of persons, events, time, 2.1 Lexical category (1/2) with the same properties a. occurring in the nominative position b. used as an object in a sentence E.g., The book is on the table e.g., desk, cup, tiger, water referring to places, or materials nominative or subject

categoryabbreviatedexamples nounNdesk, pen, food, air, Tom verbVwalk, read, cry, smile, give, put adjectiveAbeautiful, calm, tall, low, thin prepositionPin, on, under, above adverbAdv.slowly, yesterday, where, furiously auxiliaryAux.can, ought to, might, will pronounProyou, him, they, she determinerDet.a, an, the, this, some, many, any, few conjunctionConj.and, but, neithernor, when 2.1 Lexical category (2/2) indefinite quantifiers articlesfrequently used in syntactic structures

Subcategorization (SUB) in lexical categories There are further subcategories. Children knowing be part of the language faculty Children putting all the categories & SUB in their mental lexicon E.g., verbs (Vs) & nouns (Ns) 2.2 Subcategorization (1/2) has been assumed when acquiring mother tonguesin the process of English acquisition Vs transitive (vt.) intransitive (vi.) Ns countable (e.g., book, pen, table) uncountable (e.g., water, paper, air)

In the mental lexicon of an English child, word inputs are listed below: V. = verb; NP = noun phrase; PP = preposition phrase (1) a. cry, V. ____ b. buy, V. _____ NP c. give, V. ____ NP, NP d. put, V. ____ NP, PP (location) 2.2 Subcategorization (2/2) a verb (vi.) independently a verb (vt.) that must + NP a dative verb that must + 2 NPs a verb that should + an NP & a PP (2) a. He put a book on the table. b. He put a book here. c. He put a book. d. He put on the table. bad sentences good sentences no PP following put no NP following put

Review 1. Please sort out the following words according to their lexical categories. 2. What is subcategorization? Please write down the subcategorizatin of the following lexicon. 2. Category insertcancelbeautifulaboutexcited hospitalitycouldwethosequickly butbehindintoseveralsome senddancekillsmiledeliver waterpenJohnbeauty

3. Phrases 3.1 Phrase structure rules 3.2 VP structure rules 3.3 PP structure rules 3.4 Other PS structure rules 3.5 Internal structure of phrases

Phrases a phrase more than 1 word 3. Phrases composed of based on grammatical use (1)NP: noun phrase (2)VP: verb phrase (3)PP: preposition phrase (4)AP: adjective phrase (5)Adv.P: adverb phrase constructed by phrase structure rules

Phrase structure rules (PS-rules) are written as follows: E.g., NP (1) a. NP (Det) N b. NP (Det) (AP) N a NP = a Det (article) + a noun (Det) optional, Det may be skipped. 3.1 Phrase structure rules (1/5) ( ) indicating generating (2) a. NP b. NP N Det N water the book article tree diagrams

3.1 Phrase structure rules (2/5) (2) b. NP Det N the book c. [ NP [ Det the][ N book]] node sister nodes (to each other) dominating daughter nodes can be written domain ; mother node

3.1 Phrase structure rules (3/5) b. NP Det N the book (2) a. NP N water lexical insertion (finding lexicon for each node) node Only an uncountable noun can be inserted. Any types of noun can be inserted, e.g. the water or the pen.

(1) b. NP (Det) (AP) N 3.1 Phrase structure rules (4/5) A (3) a. NP b. NP1 AP N Det NP2 A AP N cold water the colorful book based on the presence or absence of a Det

NP1 Det NP2 AP N the colorful book 3.1 Phrase structure rules (5/5) Review: the relation of each node (3) b. NP1 Det NP2 AP N the colorful book mother node A dominating sister nodes (to each other) sister (to each other) A is mother of grandmother node head

3.2 VP structure rules (1/3) VP structure rules are written as follows: (1) a. VP V (PP) b. VP V NP c. VP V NP PP Tree diagrams optional ( ) indicatingimplies The verb is vi. (2) a. VP b. VP V V PP cry P NP Det N cry in the morning The verb is vt.

3.2 VP structure rules (2/3) (1) b. VP V NP c. VP V NP PP Tree diagrams (3) a. VP V NP Det N buy a book b. VP V NP PP Det N P NP Det N put the book on the desk head

3.2 VP structure rules (3/3) (4) VP V NP Det N cry the book ungrammatical lexical insertion V. ___ NP subcategorization be unlikely generated cry, V. ___ (PP) No NP is allowed.

A PP structure rule is written below: (1) PP P NP Tree diagrams (2) a. PP b. PP P NP P NP Det N Det N in the room of the value 3.3 PP structure rules head

After getting the basic knowledge of NP, VP, & PP, other PS rules are quite obvious, for which reason we would like to skip other PS rules here. 3.4 Other PS structure rules

3.5 Internal structure of phrases (1/5) There is a head node for each phrase structure (PS). (1) a. NP N b. VP V c. PP P d. AP A X (as a variable) = V, N, P, or A (2) XP X

3.5 Internal structure of phrases (2/5) a. NP N b. VP V c. PP P d. AP A Specifier (Spec) XP Spec X a modifier + used in linguistics E.g., (1) very beautiful, (2) to slowly speak (to speak slowly) (3) a beautiful lady. Tree diagram: XP Spec X

3.5 Internal structure of phrases (3/5) VP V NP vi. XP X C (E.g., X = A, P, N; C = PP, NP, PP) a. AP A PP b. PP P NP c. NP N PP object complement He is fond of reading. I am satisfied with his achievements. He lives in Taipei. I believe his capability of doing that job.

3.5 Internal structure of phrases (4/5) XP X C XP Spec X C X-bar theory further revised as Tree diagram: XP Spec X C (Complement) X Spec X X X C XP = VP, PP, NP, AP (X-double bar) maximal projection X-bar an independent unit

3.5 Internal structure of phrases (5/5) X-bar theory X Spec X X X C cannot be independent usually occurring E.g., a Taiwan tea party b. N Det N N N N N a Taiwan tea party a. N Det N N N N N a Taiwan tea party an NP

Review 1. What are PS-rules? Please draw a tree diagram for the phrase a magic kiss. 2. Please draw tree diagrams according to the given PS rules. 3. Phrases (1/2)

Review 3. Please draw a tree diagram for each phrase below. a. buy a piece of chocolate for John b. cry sadly in the park near my house c. to the beautiful garden in the school d. a very tall gentleman with white hair 3. Phrases (2/2)

4. Sentence structure With the general backgrounds of phrase structure rules and how different phrase structures are generated, it will be not so difficult to get the idea of sentence generation.

The rule for sentence structure: (1) S NP VP (1) rule + PS-rules PS-rules for sentence generation: (2) a. S NP VP b. NP Det N c. VP V NP 4. Sentence structure (1/3) (3) S NP VP Det N V NP Det N The boy bought that book

4. Sentence structure (2/3) More examples in the following: (4) a. Mary mailed a book to Harris. b. John put a flower on the table. S S N V NP VP V P V N P V N P N Det N P N Det N Det N Mary mailed a book to Harris John put a flower on the table

Review Please write down PS-rules responsible for the following sentences and draw a tree diagram for each sentence. 4. Sentence structure (3/3) a. buy a piece of chocolate for John b. cry sadly in the park near my house c. to the beautiful garden in the school d. a very tall gentleman with white hair

5. Functions of tree structure Q: Why should we use tree diagrams for syntactic structure? A: Ambiguous sentences can be made clear by way of tree structures.

5. Functions of tree structures (1/3) E.g., The man saw the girl in the garden. (There are 2 possible meanings.) a. S b. S NP VP NP VP Det N V NP Det N VP PP Det NP V NP P NP N PP Det N Det N P NP Det N The man saw the girl in the garden with a telescope

E.g., The man saw the girl in the garden. Bracket label can save the space: a. [[[ Det The N man] NP [ V saw [[ Det the N girl] NP [ P in [ Det the N garden] NP ] PP ] NP ] VP ] S b. [[[ Det The N man] NP [ V saw [ Det the N girl] NP [ P in [ Det the N garden] NP ] PP ]] VP ] S 5. Functions of tree structures (2/3)

Review 1. What are ambiguous sentences? How can ambiguous sentences be clarified in meaning? 2. Please draw tree diagrams for the following sentences: a. I sent a letter to John. c. The chicken is ready to eat. b. He danced happily. 3. Each of the following sentences is ambiguous. Please use tree diagrams for the distinction of meaning. a. He looked at the girl with glasses. b. He met the polite woman and man. c. Visiting professors might be boring. 5. Functions of tree structures (3/3)

6. Embedded sentences

embedded sentences (ESs) a. a sentence put into another one, like relative clauses. b. used to be called subordinate clauses c. usually led by conjunctions like that, which, or what. COMP (Complementizer) a. an ES S-bar (S ) S COMP S 1. Embedded sentences (1/4) inserted under signified with PS-rule

(3) a. S NP VP b. NP Det N c. VP V S d. S COMP S e. VP V NP (1) + (2) = (3) (1) a. S NP VP (2) S COMP S b. NP Det N c. VP V NP 6. Embedded sentences (2/4) S NP VP Det N V S COMP VP NP VP Det N V NP Det N The boy said that his friend bought that book

(3) a. S NP VP b. NP Det N c. VP V S d. S COMP S e. VP V NP E.g., a. The boy said that his friend bought that book. b. The woman said that the boy said that his friend bought that book. c. The girl said that the woman said that the boy said that his friend bought that book. 6. Embedded sentences (3/4) recursive generating infinite sentences if applied continuously because of our memory span An ES follows a transitive verb.

Review 1. What are embedded sentences? What are the specific properties of embedded sentences? 2. Please draw tree diagrams for the following sentences: a. Mary claimed that she would marry John. b. I dont believe that he has told me the truth. c. The man that we met last night is Johns father. d. He told me a story about John. e. Bill said that he would help you with the homework. 6. Embedded sentences (4/4)

7.1 Inversion rules 7.2 Wh-movement 7. Transformation rules are responsible for sentence variations

(1) a. He will leave tomorrow. b. Will he leave tomorrow? (1b) is a very good sentence & used quite often. How can we account for this phenomenon? 7.1 Inversion rules (1/2) according to PS rules (S NP VP) grammatical Aux (auxiliary verbs) + NP + VP cannot be generated by any PS rules However Generative Grammar

Framework of Generative Grammar: Transformation rules (1) a. He will leave tomorrow. b. Will he leave tomorrow? Inversion rule: NP (Aux) V Aux NP V 1 2 3 3 1 2 7.1 Inversion rules (2/2) Deep structureSurface structure is because of no TRs works together a statement an interrogative sentence

The rule of Wh-movement: Wh-words (when, what, who, where, which, & how) in the sentences the beginning of a sentence E.g., (1) Which car did he put in the garage? (2) He put which car in the garage. He put which car in the garage. 7.2 Wh-movement (1/2) moved to Deep structure (Which car)

(1) Which car did he put in the garage? (2) He put which car in the garage. S COMP Aux S NP VP N VP PP V NP P NP Det N Det N He (did) put which car in the garage 7.2 Wh-movement (2/2) applying 2 transformation rules Wh-movement Inversion

Why should there be transformational rules? a. not entirely answered yet b. might be due in part to the creativity of languages a. Not everything can be moved in a sentence. b. Some constraints are there to keep something stable in a sentence. 7. Transformation rules (1/3) However

E.g., (1) a. I would like to buy that book for him. b. For him I would like to buy that book. c. That book I would like to buy for him. The Subject (NP) always precedes the V (VP) if anything in a sentence can be moved out no chance in communication some constraints: to stop movement from happening 7. Transformation rules (2/3) one thing in common so What ? without any answer so far

Review 1. What is a transformation? 2. What is the inversion rule? In which circumstances, Inversion Rule has to be applied? 3. What is Wh-movement? Please try to illustrate your answer with examples. 7. Transformation rules (3/3)

8. Summary

This chapter to explore what underlies our linguistic knowledge To know a language to possess the grammar of that language a. produce all the possible grammatical sentences b. stop any ungrammatical sentences from being spoken out 8. Summary (1/2) goal be able to

Framework of syntax There are PS rules different types of sentences Lexicon is inserted PS + subcategorizations of each word 8. Summary (2/2) Deep structure Surface structure Transformation rules in based on X-bar theory generating based on can be applied resulting in

Chapter 5 Syntax. Outline Introduction 4. Sentence structure 1. What is grammar?5. Functions of tree...

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