Midterm Flashcards
Define recursion
when something (e.g. rule, definition, or structure) is built up in a way that involves a copy or further instance of itself
What is the difference between ungrammaticality and deviance?
Ungrammaticality is when a sentence couldn’t be generated by the grammar
Deviance is when a sentence is grammatical but it has a nonsensical or incoherent interpretation/meaning
What is a constituent
a group of words (or single word) that behave as a unit for syntactic purposes – the output created by an instance of Merge
Define syntactic category
a class of words that show the same (or very similar) syntactic distribution and are treated the same by syntactic rules
What is the extension condition?
the constraint that merge must apply to the roots of the elements that it is combining together
What is a theta-role?
the syntactically relevant information about the role that an argument plays with respect to the predicate that selects it (e.g. argumenter, theme, subject)
Definine predicate
something that needs to combine with one or more arguments in order to yield a complete expression
What is move
move is a syntactic operation that takes a syntactic constituent from one position in the structure to another, accounting for cases where it looks like a single element has to be in two different places
Give the syntactic category for each word in the sentence: The duck that I heard must have been swimming on the pond
D N C N V T (Perf) (Prog) V P D N
What is the scientific method and how do we apply it to the study of syntact
The scientific method is a systematic procedure for achieving an increasingly good understanding of a phenomenon. It typically follows a step-by-step process beginning with formulating a hypothesis about why our phenomenon is how it is, figuring out predictions made by that hypothesis, collecting data and testing the hypothesis, and revising or replacing the hypothesis when the data confirms or disconfirms its predictions.
When we apply the scientific method to syntax, that means syntax is the phenomenon being studied. The data we use for our hypotheses testing are sentence produced by native speakers and information they provide about grammar, meaning, and rules on modification. The hypotheses are created with the intention of characterizing the grammatical sentence of the language and explaining the formation by rules.
What does it mean to say that knowledge of language is tacit? What does that mean for how we do research on it?
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that we don’t have conscious access to - it allows us to do things in an automatic way without us being entirely aware or being able to explain what we are doing. Our knowledge of the grammar of the languages we speak is tacit because we can produce highly complex sentences without being able to fully explain what we are doing. This makes research on language challenging since we do not have direct access to the knowledge. Therefore, to study language we have to set up tests and diagnostics by giving potential sentences to evaluate and getting their reaction to these.
We saw that it doesn’t work to treat sentences as just a string of words. Explain why that is and what two main ideas about sentences that simplistic view misses.
The issue with this explanation is that the potential grammatical sentences of a language are infinite. The two main ideas we need to fix are syntactic categories and hierarchical structure. IF we recognize that sentences are built out of syntactic categories rather than specific words we can write out a small number of rules that generalize large sets of sentences. Similarly if we set up our rules to create hierarchical structures of categories rather than simple strings, we can write general rules for larger chunks of structure and it introduces the possibility of recursion (allows us to tackle infinity).
Explain how Merge works
Merge takes two syntactic objects and combines them together at their roots to yield a new syntactic object - a constituent containing the two original objects. When two objects merge one of them counts as the head and projects its features up to provide the features of the resulting constituent. If one object has an uninterpretable feature and the other has a matching interpretable one, we say the uninterpretable one selects and the interpretable one counts as the head. The uninterpretable feature is checked and can then be ignored. The features of the head will determine how it behaves in the rest of the derivation.
Explain how the Ban on unchecked uninterpretable features on non-heads comes about.
The Principle of Full Interpretation requires that all uninterpretable features be checked by the end of the derivation, otherwise the result will be ungrammatical. Checking only happens under sisterhood, so every uninterpretable feature will have to be or end up on the sister of a constituent with a matching interpretable feature. If there is an uninterpretable feature that hasn’t been checked yet on something that isn’t the head, it won’t be able to project up and then can never be checked. Therefore, a violation of the Principle of Full Interpretation is unavoidable.
What are complements, specifiers, and adjuncts? How do they differ from each other in their behavior, and how do we indicate them in tree structures?
A complement is the first thing that Merges - due to selection or the Hierarchy of Projection - with a terminal node.
A specifier is something that merges - due to selection - with an intermediate projection.
An adjunct is a constituent that Merges with a maximal projection for reasons independent of selection.
Complements and specifiers are arguments and thus tend to have specific positions where they appear and are often required. Adjuncts are modifiers, which are always optional, and often show flexibility in exactly where they can show up. A complement is the sister of a minimal projection. A specifier is the sister of an intermediate projection and the daughter of a maximal projection. An adjunct is the sister of a maximal projection and the daughter of a further maximal projection of the same category.
