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LING 201 > Syntax > Flashcards

Syntax Flashcards

1
Q

What is syntax

A

the study of how we combine words to form sentences

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2
Q

tacit knowledge

A

things we know about our language that we were never taught

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3
Q

learning vs. acquisition

A

acquisition- unconscious knowledge

learning- conscious knowledge

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4
Q

Noam Chomsky

A

language is an instinct

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5
Q

Universal Grammar

A

the innate human facility for language

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6
Q

i-language

A

the cognitive system that allows humans to speak (internal)

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7
Q

e-language

A

particular instantiations of the ability to speak (external)

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8
Q

do we study i-language or e-language?

A

we use e-language to study the properties of i-language

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9
Q

Corpora

A

A large, structured set of texts

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10
Q

Limitations of corpora

A

can be ungrammatical, rare sentences

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11
Q

grammaticality judgments

A

a mini psychological experiment performer with a native speaker of the language you are studying

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12
Q

theory of syntax

A

should generate all of the grammatical sentences of a language and make falsifiable predictions

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13
Q

generative grammar

A

theory of syntax developed by Noam Chomsky: sentences are generated by an unconscious set of procedures (part of our cognitive abilities)

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14
Q

Grammatical vs. Meaningful

A

a sentence can be grammatical without being meaningful

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15
Q

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

A

prescriptive: how people should speak
descriptive: how people do speak

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16
Q

Competence vs. Performance

A

competence: what we say in a perfect world (i-language)
performative: what we actually do say (e-language)

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17
Q

Syntactic Distribution

A

Where the word can appear with respect to other words

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18
Q

Morphological Distribution

A

What affixes can appear on the word

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19
Q

Lexical Category

A

expresses the content of the sentence, easy to add new words to this category

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20
Q

Functional Category

A

Grammatical information of the sentence, hard to add new words to this category

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21
Q

Lexical categories examples

A 
nouns 
verbs
adjectives
prepositions
adverbs
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22
Q

Functional categories examples

A 
determiner
degree word
auxiliary
conjunction
complementizer
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23
Q

Preposition

A

expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in “the man on the platform,”

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24
Q

Determiner

A

a modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, for example: a, the, every.

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25
Degree word
words with meanings like 'very', 'more', or 'a little' that modifies the adjective to indicate the degree
26
Auxiliary
a helping element, typically a verb, that adds meaning to the basic meaning of the main verb in a clause. Auxiliaries can convey information about tense, mood, person, and number.
27
Conjunction
``` Conjunctions are linguistic elements that link two or more words, phrases, clauses, or sentences within a larger unit And As Because But For Just as Or Neither Nor Not only So Whether Yet ```
28
Complementizer
Mark an embedded clause as functioning as a complement ex. that
29
*
a sentence is judged as ungrammatical by speakers
30
%
a sentence is judged as ungrammatical to some speakers, but grammatical to others
31
Constituents
Groups of words that form units
32
Sentences
Words are organized into hierarchical units
33
Noun Phrases
Groups of constituents that act as nouns
34
Verb Phrases
Groups of constituents that act like verbs
35
Tense Phrases
All sentences must have a tense specification in English
36
Constituency Tests
Substitution Fragment/ stand-alone Movement
37
Substitution Test
Some constituents can be replaced or substituted by other words without radically changing the meaning
38
Fragment/Stand Alone
If words can stand alone in response to a question, they are probably a constituent
39
Movement
Some constituents can move as units to another place in the sentence
40
Clefting
it was... that
41
Preposing/ Psuedo-clefting
is/ are what/ where/ who
42
Coordination
Sticking phrases together with a conjunction
43
Heads
The obligatory nucleus of a phrase that determines the category of the phrase
44
Complements
The phrase the head combines with
45
Subcategorization
The selection of the head a phrase combines with
46
Where do complements appear in English
To the right of their head
47
Verb heads select ___
NPs
48
Noun heads select ___
PPs
49
Preposition heads select ___
NPs
50
Adjective heads select ___
PPs
51
X-Bar Theory
Developed by Noam Chomsky. Noticed that all our phrases seem to have the same basic structure even though the categories differ.
52
Specifiers
Daughters of XP represented by N'
53
Where do specifiers appear in English
To the left of their head
54
Determiners are the specifiers of ___
NPs
55
X-Bar Schema
1. The head is the (obligatory) nucleus of the phrase 2. The head may select a complement to merge with—complements are always phrases (XPs) 3. The category of the head is “projected” to the next node, here an intermediate projection, X’ 4. A specifier may merge; the category of the head continues to be projected
56
Adjuncts
Optional iterative elements which can modify our phrases
57
T OR F: we can keep merging adjuncts without changing the category
true
58
Structural ambiguities
Sentences with ambiguity have different structures. each meaning corresponds to a different structure, which can be represented with trees
59
Dominates
above another node
60
Directly dominates
directly above a given node
61
Sisters
nodes beside each other
62
Mother
directly above another "daughter node"
63
Principle of Modification
If a YP modifies some head X, then YP must be a sister to X or to a projection of X (X')
64
Endocentricity
The category of the head projects up to the phrase
65
T OR F: all our phrases are endocentric
true
66
CPs and recursion
With the structures we have developed, we have the power to generate an infinite number of grammatical sentences
67
Deictic Words
Meaning is different based on the time, place, or situation in which a speaker is speaking
68
Tests for complements vs. adjuncts
Obligation test, stacking, coordination, do so replacement test, one-replacement test, ordering test
69
Obligation test
If it's obligatory it's a complement. If it's optional, it's not necessarily an adjunct
70
Stacking
Adjuncts can be stacked, but not complements
71
Coordination
Complements can usually be coordinated with complements, adjuncts can usually be coordinated with adjuncts
72
Do so replacement test
Do so must replace the verb and all of its complements
73
Ordering Test
The order of complements is fixed. The order of adjuncts with respect to each other is free.
74
The structure of adjuncts
Adjuncts are merged above the complement and appear outside of it
75
Ordering of complements and adjuncts
Complements must be ordered before adjuncts. We can keep merging adjuncts without changing the category. they can also be reordered with respect to each other
76
Two levels of representation
Deep structure & surface structure
77
Deep structure
Core semantic relations of a sentence
78
Surface structure
actual pronunciation
79
Theta roles
the number and type of noun phrases required syntactically by a particular verb
80
Agent theta role
The entity that intentionally carries out the action of the verb
81
Experiencer theta role
The entity that undergoes an emotion, a state of being, or a perception expressed by the verb
82
Theme theta role
The entity that directly receives the action of the verb

LING 201 (10 decks)

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