File 5 Vocabulary

Question 1

Syntax

Answer 1

A component of mental grammar 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 expressions

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Syntactic properties

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Word order

Answer 4

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 5

Co-occurrence

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Arguments

Answer 6

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 7

Modifiers

Answer 7

AKA: Adjunct. A linguistic expression whose occurrence in a sentence is optional.

Question 8

Syntactic constituent

Answer 8

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 9

Cleft

Answer 9

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 10

Substitution

Answer 10

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 replace with another.

Question 11

Syntactic categories

Answer 11

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 12

Syntactic distribution

Answer 12

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 13

VP adjuncts

Answer 13

Verb Phrase Adjunct is a kind of adjunct that combines with an expression of syntactic category verb phrase with the resulting expression also being of category verb phrase.

Question 14

Prepositional phrase

Answer 14

(PP) The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that contain a preposition and a noun phrase.

Question 15

Lexicon

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Phrase structure rules

Answer 16

A recipe for syntactically combining expressions of certain syntactic categories. Along with the lexicon, phrase structure rules are a part of a descriptive grammar of some language. Phrase structure rules have the general form X -> Y1…Yn where X is a syntactic category and Y1…Yn is a sequence of syntactic categories. The categories to the right of the arrow Y1…Yn correspond to the immediate syntactic constituents of the expression whose category is X.

Question 17

Phrase structure tree

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Lexical entries

Answer 18

That captures the relevant properties of lexical expressions. Their form and syntactic category.

Question 19

Ambiguous

Answer 19

The phenomenon by which a single linguistic form (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 20

Lexical ambiguity

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Homophony

Answer 21

The phenomenon by which two or more distinct morphemes or nonphrasal linguistic expressions happen to have the same form (sound the same).

Question 22

Structural ambiguity

Answer 22

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

Question 23

N adjuncts

Answer 23

Noun adjunct is a kind of adjunct that combines with an expression of syntactic category noun with the resulting expression also being of category noun.

Question 24

ditransitive verbs

Answer 24

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 phrase that needs two noun phrase complements.

Question 25

Sentential complement verbs

Answer 25

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 26

adverb

Answer 26

The name of a lexical category and a syntactical category that consists of expressions such as quickly, well, furiously, etc.

Question 27

Transitive verbs

Answer 27

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

Question 28

intransitive verb

Answer 28

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

Question 29

adjectives

Answer 29

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 30

Determiners

Answer 30

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 31

mass nouns

Answer 31

A noun that cannot be counted and cannot (normally) be pluralized.

Question 32

nouns

Answer 32

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 expressions that can combine with determiners to their left, the resulting expression being of category noun phrase.

Question 33

count nouns

Answer 33

A non that can be counted and pluralized.

Question 34

pro-forms

Answer 34

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

Question 35

morphosyntax

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Agreement

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Adjuncts

Answer 37

A linguistic expression whose occurrence in a sentence is optional; AKA: modifier

Question 38

Preposition

Answer 38

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 39

complements

Answer 39

A non-subject argument of some expression.

Question 40

topicalized

Answer 40

A syntactic process by which (in English) a syntactic constituent occurs at the beginning of a sentence in order to highlight the topic under discussion.