Chapter 5 Syntax

Question 1

Syntax

Answer 1

A component of mental grammar that deals with constructing phrasal expressions out of smaller expressions. Also a name for the subfield of linguistics that studies how expressions can combine to form larger expressions.

Question 2

Linguistic expression

Answer 2

A piece of language with a form, a meaning, and syntactic properties.

Question 3

Grammatical

Answer 3

A term used to describe a sentence that is in accordance with the descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules. When some phrasal expression is constructed in accordance with the syntactic rules of a language, we say it is grammatical or syntactically well-formed.

Question 4

Ungrammatical

Answer 4

Not in accordance with the descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules. When some phrasal expression is not constructed in accordance with the syntactic rules of a language, we say it is ungrammatical or syntactically ill-formed.

Question 5

Grammaticality judgment

Answer 5

An instance of a native speaker of some language deciding whether some string of words corresponds to a syntactically well-formed or grammatical phrasal expression in their native language.

Question 6

Subject

Answer 6

An expression, typically a noun phrase, that occurs to the left of the verb phrase in an English sentence.

Question 7

Object

Answer 7

A noun phrase that usually occurs immediately to the right of the verb in English. A noun phrase complement.

Question 8

Principle of compositionality

Answer 8

The notion that the meaning of a phrasal expression is predictable from the meanings of the expressions it contains and how they were syntactically combined.

Question 9

Lexical expression

Answer 9

A linguistic expression that has to be listed in the mental lexicon, e.g., single-word expressions and idioms.

Question 10

Phrasal expression

Answer 10

A linguistic expression that results from the syntactic combination of smaller expressions. A multi-word linguistic expression. A sentence is a special kind of phrasal expression.

Question 11

Syntactic properties

Answer 11

Properties of linguistic expressions that dictate how they can syntactically combine with other expressions, namely, word order and co-occurence properties.

Question 12

Word order

Answer 12

The linear order in which words can occur in some phrasal expression. Also, the set of syntactic properties of expressions that dictates how they can be ordered with respect to other expressions.

Question 13

Co-occurrence

Answer 13

The set of syntactic properties that determines which expressions may or have to co-occur with some other expressions in a sentence.

Question 14

Argument

Answer 14

A linguistic expression that must occur in a sentence if some other expression occurs in that sentence as well. If the occurrence of an expression X in a sentence requires the occurrence of an expression Y in that sentence, we say that Y is an argument of X.

Question 15

Complement

Answer 15

A non-subject argument of some expression.

Question 16

Adjunct

Answer 16

A linguistic expression whose occurrence in a sentence is optional; also called a modifier.

Question 17

Agreement

Answer 17

The phenomenon by which cerain expressions in a sentence (e.g., a verb and its subject) must be inflectionally marked for the same person, number, gender, etc.

Question 18

Morphosyntax

Answer 18

The name for syntax and morphology considered jointly as a single component of grammar.

Question 19

Syntactic constituent

Answer 19

A group of linguistic expressions that function as a syntactic unit within some larger expression; the smaller expressions out of which some larger phrasal expression was constructed in accordance with the phrase structure rules.

Question 20

Cleft

Answer 20

A type of sentence that has the general form “it is/was X that Y,” e.g., “it was Sally that I wanted to meet.” Can be used as a constituency test.

Question 21

Substitution

Answer 21

In syntax, a constituency test that involves replacing a constituent with a single word (or simple phrase), such as a pro-form. In language processing, a production error in which one unit is replaced with another.

Question 22

Pro-form

Answer 22

A word (e.g., a pronoun) that can replace a syntactic constituent.

Question 23

Syntactic category

Answer 23

A group of expressions that have very similar syntactic properties. All expressions that belong to the same syntactic category have more or less the same syntactic distribution.

Question 24

Syntactic distribution

Answer 24

Refers to the set of syntactic environments in which an expression can occur. If two expressions are interchangeable in all syntactic environments, we say that they have the same syntactic distribution and therefore belong to the same syntactic category.

Question 25

Noun phrase (NP)

Answer 25

The name of a syntactic category that consists of proper names, pronouns, and all other expressions with the same syntactic distribution.

Question 26

Sentence

Answer 26

A syntactic category that consists of all phrasal expressions that can grammatically occur in “Sally thinks that…”

Question 27

Determiner (Det)

Answer 27

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category that consists of expressions such as the, a, this, all, etc. Syntactically, consists of those expressions that when combined with an expression of category noun to their right result in an expression of category noun phrase.

Question 28

Count noun

Answer 28

In simple terms, a noun that can be counted and pluralized.

Question 29

Mass noun

Answer 29

In simple terms, a noun that cannot be counted and cannot (normally) be pluralized.

Question 30

Noun (N)

Answer 30

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category. Morphologically, consists of words to which the plural suffix -s or the suffix -like can be added. Syntactically, consists of expressions that can combine with determiners to their left, the resulting expression being of category noun phrase.

Question 31

Adjective (Adj)

Answer 31

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category. Morphologically, consists of words to which the comparative suffix -er or the suffix -ness can be added. Syntactically, the category consists of those expressions that can be noun adjuncts or occur in between a determiner and a noun.

Question 32

Verb phrase (VP)

Answer 32

The name of a syntactic category that consists of all expressions that, if combined with a noun phrase to their left, result in a sentence.

Question 33

Intransitive verb

Answer 33

The name for the set of lexical expressions whose syntactic category is verb phrase.

Question 34

Transitive verb (TV)

Answer 34

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that if combined with an expression of categeory noun phrase to their right result in a verb phrase; a verb that needs a noun phrase complement.

Question 35

Ditransitive verb

Answer 35

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that if combined with two expressions of category noun phrase to their right result in a verb phrase. A verb that needs two noun phrase complements.

Question 36

Sentential complement verb

Answer 36

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that if combined with a sentence to their right result in a verb phrase; a verb that needs a sentence as its complement.

Question 37

Adverb (Adv)

Answer 37

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category that consists of expressions such as quickly, well, furiously, etc. Syntactically, adverbs can be verb phrase adjuncts.

Question 38

Prepositional phrase (PP)

Answer 38

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that contain a preposition and a noun phrase. Can be verb phrase adjuncts or noun adjuncts.

Question 39

Preposition (P)

Answer 39

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category that consists of expressions such as of, in, for, with, etc. Syntactically, this category consists of those expressions that when combined with an expression of category noun phrase to their right result in an expression of category prepositional phrase.

Question 40

Lexical entry

Answer 40

A representation of a lexical expression and its linguistic properties within a descriptive grammar of some language. A collection of lexical entries constitutes the lexicon. A lexical entry has the form f–X, where f is the form of some particular lexical expression, and X is its syntactic category.

Question 41

Lexicon

Answer 41

A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form and meaning and their morphological and syntactic properties. As a part of a descriptive, not mental, grammar, the lexicon is the representation of the mental lexicon, consisting of lexical entries that capture the relevant properties of lexical expressions (e.g., their form and syntactic category).

Question 42

Phrase structure tree

Answer 42

A visual representation of how phrases are constructed within a descriptive grammar, given the lexicon and the phrase structure rules.

Question 43

Ambiguity

Answer 43

The phenomenon by which a single linguistic form (e.g., a word or a string of words) can be the form of more than one distinct linguistic expression. The form that is shared by more than one expression is said to be ambiguous.

Question 44

Lexical ambiguity

Answer 44

The phenomenon where a single word is the form of two or more distinct linguistic expressions that differ in meaning or syntactic properties.

Question 45

Structural ambiguity

Answer 45

The phenomenon where a single string of words (or morphemes) is the form of more than one distinct phrasal expression (a word). Arises because the same expressions can combine differently syntactically, resulting in distinct phrases that happen to have the same form.