Ling 222: syntax Flashcards
Lexicon
List of words in a language
Gloss
Literal translation of original language to english
Second line of linguistic examples
Definitive article
Word meaning ‘the’
Indefinite article
Word meaning ‘a’
Dem. or demonstrative word
A ‘pointing’ word (that, this, these, those)
Pl. or plural
Used before a plural word
Hyphens (-) are used when in a gloss?
When a grammatical element is attached to a word or other grammatical element (can’t be a separate word)
Affix and its two types
Something attached
Two types= suffix (attached to end of word) and prefix (attached to beginning of word)
Morphosyntax
Morphology (study of word forms) + syntax
Colon (:) used for what in glosses?
To demonstrate tense of an irregular verb
Ex: take:PAST for took
Paradigms
Tables of verbs (grammatical category + lexical word)
Promotion vs demotion
Promotion: making a word or phrase more prominent in a sentence
Demotion: the opposite
Hierarchical structure
How words group together to form phrases, phrases group together to form larger phrases, etc
Embedded sentences (recursion)
Where there’s a sentence inside another sentence
Ex: chris told lee [kim couldn’t swim]
Asterisk (*)
Ungrammatical sentence
Language universals
A property found in all languages
Open class words
We can easily add new words to these classes
Transitive verbs
Verbs that need a direct object (cannot exist without an object in front of it)
Three linguistic criteria for identifying word classes
1- what different forms can the word have in distinct syntactic contexts? (Morphosyntax)
2- where is a phrase or sentence does the word occur and what words can modify it? (Distribution)
3- what work does the word perform in a phrase or sentence? (Function)
Predicate
Expresses an ‘event’ in a sentence (this includes actual events like collapse/explode but also actions, processes, situations, states, etc)
Usually a verb but not always
Three important subclasses of verbs
Intransitive verbs=verbs with one participant/argument (argument being the event or action which the verbs express; a single argument can be a phrase or more than one person)
Transitive verbs=verbs that require two arguments
Ditransitive verbs=their pattern is X verb Y for/to Z
Ambitransitive verbs
Verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive
Perfect vs progressive
Perfect= Kim has eaten his dinner (auxiliary verb + finished action) Progressive= Kim was eating his dinner (auxiliary verb + ongoing action)
Modal auxiliaries
Display mood (could, should, would, could)
Subjunctive mood
Used for hypothetical events
Subject/verb agreement
Number, gender, etc
Only third person singular in the present tense has obvious subject/verb agreement in English
Pronominal affixes
Morphological markers that can replace independent pronouns
Semantic role
The thematic role that the noun phrase fulfills
Types of semantic roles
Agent= animate being deliberately performing an action Experiencer= animate being that experiences feelings of blank Stimulus= the blank that makes the experiencer feel what they are feeling Theme= moves from one person/location to another Patient= physically affected by verbs action Recipient= animate being Goal= as in we sailed to the island with the island being the goal Instrument= cause of the verbs action
Grammatical relations of NP
Define NPs in terms of their relationships with the verbs of which they are an argument
Most important grammatical relations are subject and (direct) object
Case-marking
This test is used for subject of a verb (or auxiliary) that is finite such as loves or tasted
Finite=bearing tense
Case means that the form of a noun phrase or a pronoun changes according to its grammatical relation
Nominative case forms
They can be used as a test for subjecthood in English
Three main properties of subjects in English
1- normal position is immediately before the verb
2- control subject/verb agreement. Verbs and auxiliaries in the present tense agree with the subject in person and number
3- pronominal subjects (subjects that are pronouns) have a special subject form known as nominative case. These subjects forms are I/we/he/she/they but it only occurs when the verb is auxiliary or finite
Count vs non-count nouns
Count: nouns that can be counted
Non-count: mass nouns that can’t be counted
Alienable vs inalienable
Inalienable nouns: terms for things you can’t put aside or dispose of (body parts, family members, etc)
Alienable nouns: possessions, animals, food, etc
6 types of english determiners
Articles, demonstratives, wh-determiners, quantifiers, possessive determiners, pronouns
Two basic functions of adjectives and AP
Attributive- directly modify a noun/fixed position
Predicative- work as predicates
Intensifiers (aka degree modifiers)
Very, too, quite, etc
Adjuncts
Optional modifying phrases such as next week, in a week, rather hurriedly, etc
Preposition
Used to mark locative and temporal information in a language
Clause
Sentence that contains one predicate
Predicate
Verb and connected info
Simple sentence
Contains just one predicate (thus just one clause)
Simple sentences that aren’t attached to any other clauses are called…
Independent sentences/clauses
Typically, an independent clause must contain what type of verb
Finite verb
Finite verbs (english)
Express tense info (info about time of event)
How do you check if a verb is finite when it has no inflections (ending/conjugation)?
Check the distribution
If you find an independent clause with only one verb in it, it is most likely to be…
Finite
Pronominals
Person/number markers representing both subject and object
Auxiliary
Helping verb
Main verb typically has more what compared to an auxiliary verb?
Meaning (semantic content)
Ellipsis
Something left out of the sentence
Ex: Kim hasn’t read the book but he should
What 3 main concepts do modal auxiliary verbs reflect?
Permission
Necessity
Ability
Aspect
Verbs that express info as to whether the action of the main verb is completed or unfinished
Progressive
Unfinished or ongoing action
Ex: been enjoying
Perfect
Refers to a completed event but which still has relevance to the time of the utterance
Ex: written, played, sung, have been
Three ways of expressing all the grammatical categories for verbs
1- via the verbal morphology itself
2- via an auxiliary
3- using an independent word
Non-finite verbs in English
Not marked for tense, person number agreement, aspect, or mood, etc
Infinitive and two distributional tests to confirm
Bare verb stem with no inflections
1- it’s following a modal auxiliary or form of auxiliary (ex: must leave, could eat that cake)
2- following the infinitive marker to (ex: to err is human, we ought to be leaving)
Third person singular infinitive form verb test
See if you can get an -s present tense affix and if you can’t, they’re infinitives
Participles
- indo European: non-finite verbs that co occur with a finite auxiliary
- verb forms that can also be used in positions usually filled by adjectives or nouns (ex: the walking person, the believing priest)
Coordinating conjunctions
Words use to make complex sentences by stringing together simple sentences (but, and, by, etc)
Main/matrix vs subordinate clause
Main/matrix= contains main verb Subordinate= embedded within matrix clause
For Mel to act so recklessly shocked everyone; that’s an example of subordinate clauses fulfilling which role?
Causal (sentential) subjects= they’re clauses but also meet requirement of matrix verbs to have a subject
Adverbial clauses
Optional subordinate clauses (not necessary to make sentence grammatical)
Root clause
Highest clause in a complex sentence
Must contain finite verb
Usual way of asking yes/no questions in English
Subject/auxiliary inversion = subject of root clause switches places with a finite auxiliary
Which clauses in English can have root questions?
Root clauses only
Three major types of subordinate clauses
Complement clauses
Adjunct/adverbial clauses
Relative clauses
Verb serialization
Two finite verbs following one after the other (usually) in one clause, make up one complex event, must have same subject, only one marker of negation
What are the two alternative strategies to subordination?
Nominalization and serialization
Predicate of a clause is usually what kind of phrase
Verb phrase (can contain just a verb or a verb + dependants)
When a phrase has a dependant phrase that can’t be omitted it’s called a…
Complement
Three dependencies invv ing a relationship between a head and its dependants
1- heads select dependants of a particular word class
2- requiring the dependants to agree with diff grammatical features of the head (ex: gender in NPs)
3- government by a head
Word class of the head determines word class of the…
Entire phrase
Describe intransitive verbs
Take no complement
May have an adjunct within the VP
Describe transitive verbs
Takes an NP complement (the direct object)
Ambitransitive
Often a verb can be transitive or intransitive (ex: lee left kim or lee left)
Complementizer
Word such as that/for/whether which introduces a clause
Optional vs obligatory phrases?
Optional- adjuncts, complements to adjectives/nouns
Obligatory- complements to verbs/prepositions
Limited vs unlimited number of dependent phrases?
Head can have unlimited number of adjuncts
Head selects limited number of complements (usually one, sometimes two-three)
Two properties of PP dependants
PP adjuncts have wide range of head prepositions
PP complements have specific head prepositions in each of their usages (ex: we glanced AT the clock, she sticks TO her diet, etc)
Syntactic relationships between heads and their dependants (4)
1- postposition/preposition -> object NP
2- verb -> arguments of the verb (ex: subject/object)
3- (possessed) noun -> possessor NP
4- noun -> adjective
Head-marking vs dependant-marking
Either head is marked with the things like the possessive -s suffix or the dependant is; therefore it’s a characteristic that can distinguish languages
Cross-referencing
Heads such as verbs and nouns are marked to agree with grammatical properties of their arguments (number, person, gender, etc)
How do you spot a direct object?
Subject + verb -> what/whom??
Answer is the direct object
Can be a noun, pronoun, or phrase
Sentence won’t make sense without it
How do you spot a direct object?
Look for the invisible preposition
Answers the question: to/for/from whom?
Sentence should still make sense without it
Copula
Word that links the subject and the predicate (such as is in the sky is blue)
Finite verb
Has direct relation with subject or noun
Usually main verb of a clause or sentence
Only present or past tense
Non-finite verb
Cannot be a main verb of a clause or sentence
Doesn’t show gender tense mood
Includes gerunds, participles and infinitives
Subordination vs coordination
Subordination= independent + dependent clause Coordination= independent + independent clause
Verbs and their arguments
There are phrases that are arguments of the main predicate and you have to mark the head (main noun)
Ex: (Wendy) will meet (the new governor) in the hall of the opera; with Wendy and governor being the heads
Head-marking vs dependant-marking
Head marking= John cheats
Dependant marking= these houses
