Chapter 12: Constituency - Movement and Substitution Flashcards
constituency
‘constituents are strings of one or more words that syntactically and semantically behave as units’ (Aarts 199)
constituency tests
A practical procedure to test whether or not a particular string of words is a constituent. (Aarts 200)
Movement tests
‘If we can move a particular string of words in a sentence from one position to another, then it behaves as a constituent.’ (Aarts 201)
VP-Preposing
The movement of a VP from its normal position in the clause to the beginning of that clause.
e.g. James said he would walk the dog, and walk the dog he will.
It can only apply if the sentence contains an auxiliary like ‘will’ or ‘did’. It is notable that the auxiliary is left behind and is therefore not part of the VP (therefore are dominated by I not VP). This can also be used to test sentences w/o an auxiliary by adding one.
Though-movement
A type of topicalisation used to move a phrase to a clause-initial position.
e.g. a. Though she is young, she is smart.
b. [Young] though she is –, she is smart.
We can use though-movement to check delimitations of the sentence ie whether AdvV are included in the phrase.
Heavy-NP-Shift
The movement of a heavy DO to the end of the sentence.
eg. I brought – home [all my chemistry and biology textbooks].
Extraposition of Subject Clauses
The movement of a Subject clause from a clause initial to a caluse-final position. This movement is know as extraposition.
e.g. Two women – appeared [in red dresses].
e.g. [That the homework was set], was annoying.
ENP seems to be more acceptable if the VP is relatively light like if contains an intransitive or raising verb ‘seem, appear, become’ etc
Extraposition from NP
When a relative clause is displaced from the Subject NP. e.g. The cat – ran way [that belonged to my neighbour].
Substitution Tests
A particular strong of words is a constituent if it can be substituted by a suitable proform. (Aarts 211)
Proform Substitution
A particular strong of words is a constituent if it can be substituted by a suitable proform. (Aarts 211)
eg My mother loves my father
She loves him
Therefore ‘my mother’ and ‘my father’ must be constituents.
One-substitution
The proform ‘one’ replaces N’ constituents.
Do so-substitution
‘Do so’ replaces V’ constituents.