Phrase structure rules Flashcards
What is a constituent?
A constituent is a group of closely related words that function together as a unit.
What are phrase structure rules?
Phrase structure rules are a basic set of rules for combining lexical items into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
What is a phrase structure of a linguistic expression?
The phrase structure of a linguistic expression is a representation of the set of constituents contained within the expression.
What is a hierarchical structure?
Constituents are embedded one inside another to form larger and larger constituents.
Generative grammar?
In Generative Grammar, generalizations about structure are represented by rules, which instruct us how to group words to
make phrases. These rules are said to “generate” the sentence, or the tree.
TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR?
GRAMMAR- the system of principles that explains language in terms of
properties of the human mind (the internalized language, I-language)
GENERATIVE – relates to the ability to generate, create, produce sentences, but also the ability to predict possible sentences and rule out incorrect ones. This accounts for the creative aspect of the human language capacity.
TRANSFORMATIONAL – refers to the way different structures are related, for example active and passive, declarative and interrogative, etc. Transformations are specific operations that change one structure into another.
Noun phrase structure?
NOUN PHRASE consists of a head noun and all the words that cluster around the noun an add to its meaning.
Words that come in front of the noun are called determiners and premodifiers (pronominal modifiers) and elements following the head noun are postmodifiers and complements.
What is a principle of modification?
The principle of modification says that modifiers are always attached within the phrase they modify.
What is recursion?
Recursion is a repetition of syntactic structure. It explains the creativity or infinite nature of human language. Recursion is a property of phrase structure rules.
What is structural ambiguity?
Structural ambiguity is a sort of ambiguity for which two grammatical analyses are possible.
What are constituency tests?
Constituency tests show that a group of words function as a unit. There are four major constituency tests: replacement,
stand alone, movement and coordination. We must apply at least two different tests to check constituency.
What is a replacement test?
A replacement test is a constituency test whereby a single word is replaced by a group of words. Replacement shows that such a group forms a constituent. (the man…-he)
What is a stand alone test?
A stand alone test is a constituency test whereby a group of words can stand alone in response to a question. This test shows that such a group forms a constituent.
What is a movement test?
A movement test is a constituency test whereby a group of words can be moved around in a sentence. The movement shows that such a group forms a constituent.
Types of movement test?
The movement tests are a) clefting:
The policeman met several young students in the park last
night.
a. It was [the policeman] that met …
b. It was [several young students] that the policeman.. c. It was
[in the park] that the policeman met….
d. It was [last night] that the policeman met…
b) pseudoclefting/ preposing:
e. He likes [fast cars]. → [Fast cars] is what he likes.
c) the passive:
f. The slobbering dog kissed the little boy. → The little boy
was kissed by the slobbering dog.
