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
Slide 3
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
Slide 4
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.
Slide 5
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)
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1. What is grammar
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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
Slide 8
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
Slide 9
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
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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.
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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
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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
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(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
Slide 14
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
Slide 15
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)
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2. Category a grouping so that each group of words may occur in
a certain position 2.1 Lexical category 2.2 Subcategorization
Slide 17
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
Slide 18
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
Slide 19
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)
Slide 20
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
Slide 21
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
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
Slide 24
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
Slide 25
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
Slide 26
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.
Slide 27
(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
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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
Slide 29
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.
Slide 30
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
Slide 31
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.
Slide 32
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
Slide 33
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
Slide 34
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
Slide 35
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
Slide 36
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.
Slide 37
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
Slide 38
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
Slide 39
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)
Slide 40
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)
Slide 41
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.
Slide 42
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
Slide 43
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
Slide 44
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
Slide 45
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.
Slide 46
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
Slide 47
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)
Slide 48
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)
Slide 49
6. Embedded sentences
Slide 50
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
Slide 51
(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
Slide 52
(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.
Slide 53
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)
Slide 54
7.1 Inversion rules 7.2 Wh-movement 7. Transformation rules are
responsible for sentence variations
Slide 55
(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
Slide 56
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
Slide 57
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)
Slide 58
(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
Slide 59
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
Slide 60
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
Slide 61
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)
Slide 62
8. Summary
Slide 63
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
Slide 64
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