Syntax

Question 1

Define syntax

Answer 1

The study of how words go together to form phrases/sentences

Question 2

Define subject

Answer 2

The entity doing an action or state

Question 3

Define verb

Answer 3

An action or state

Question 4

Define object

Answer 4

The entity receiving the action or state

Question 5

Define phrase

Answer 5

A group of 2+ words that express an idea and act as one lexical category (noun phrase, verb phrase, etc.). Not a “complete” sentence.

Question 6

Define clause

Answer 6

A group of words that have a subject and a predicate (verb
phrase)

Question 7

Define sentence

Answer 7

Expresses a complete thought and contains a subject and a
predicate (verb phrase)

Question 8

What do syntactic properties of words determine?

Answer 8

Their behaviour in forming phrases including word order and co-occurrences

Question 9

Define the basic syntactic tree structure

Answer 9

Noun Verb Noun
(subject) (verb) (object)

Question 10

What is the shorthand for “Subject”?

Answer 10

NP

Question 11

What is the shorthand for “Verb”?

Answer 11

VP

Question 12

What is the shorthand for “Object”?

Answer 12

NP

Question 13

What is the shorthand for “Sentence”?

Answer 13

S

Question 14

What word order structure does English use?

Answer 14

SVO (Subject-Verb-Object)

Question 15

What is the most popular word order structure for languages in the world?

Answer 15

SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)

Question 16

List the co-occurrence classifications

Answer 16

1. Arguments
2. Adjuncts
3. Agreement

Question 17

Define arguments and provide an example

Answer 17

Arguments: any element (or constituent) in a sentence that is required. In English: often a NP (Object) required by a VP
Example:
Sally devoured [an apple].

Question 18

Define adjuncts and provide an example

Answer 18

Adjuncts: optional occurrence in a sentence which add information to an argument
Example:
Sally likes [small, fluffy, brown] dogs.

Question 19

Define agreement and provide an example

Answer 19

Agreement: words may require certain morphological forms for their arguments. Often: Number, Case, Gender, etc.
Example:
This girl came
These girls came

Question 20

Define constituent and provide an example

Answer 20

Certain groups of words that are found within larger phrases can be grouped to form constituents
Example:
The fluffy cat was sleeping on the desk
[The fluffy cat] [was sleeping] [on the desk]

Question 21

List the ways that syntactic constituency can be identified

Answer 21

1. Answers to questions
2. Clefting
3. Pro-form substitutions

Question 22

Explain the questioning method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example

Answer 22

Strategy:
1. Make a question. The (short) answer is a constituent.
2. Can you change a possible constituent into a question? If yes = constituent.
Example:
Q: What was sleeping on the desk? A: The fluffy cat

Question 23

Explain the clefting method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example

Answer 23

Create sentence by using “it was [insert possible constituent] that [insert rest of entire S]
Example:
The fluffy cat was sleeping on the desk.
It was [on the desk] that the cat was sleeping.

Question 24

Explain the pro-form method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example

Answer 24

Substitute a possible constituent with a pro-form (pronoun, verb, etc.)
Example:
The fluffy cat was sleeping on the desk
[She] was sleeping on the desk

Question 25

What are syntactic categories?

Answer 25

Expressions which have very similar syntactic properties, enabling substitution in the same place in a sentence (or in a syntactic tree)

Question 25

What are syntactic categories?

Answer 25

Expressions which have very similar syntactic properties, enabling substitution in the same place in a sentence (or in a syntactic tree)

Question 26

List the syntactic categories and their shortforms

Answer 26

1. Sentence (S) 2. Noun (N) 3. Noun Phrase (NP) 4. Determiner (Det) 5. Verb (V) 6. Verb Phrase (VP) 7. Adjective (Adj) 8. Prepositions (P) 9. Transitive Verbs (TV) 10. Ditransitive Verbs (DTV) 11. Sentenial Complement Verb (SV) 12. Prepositional Phrases (PP)

Question 27

Define determiner and provide an example

Answer 27

An expression combined with an NP on its right. A determiner provides a reference in context: to indicate which, whose or how many, etc. Example: one, these, two, a

Question 28

List examples of a demonstrative determiner

Answer 28

This, that, these, those

Question 29

List examples of a possessive determiner

Answer 29

My, your, his, her, our

Question 30

List examples of a quantificational determiner

Answer 30

A, some, the, every, all, few, most, etc

Question 31

Explain what makes a VP when there is an intransitive verb in the phrase

Answer 31

Nothing. Intrasive verbs do not need an object Example: Grow, die, sweat, arrive

Question 32

Explain what makes a VP when there is an transitive verb in the phrase

Answer 32

Need an object (NP) to complete the phrase Examples: Need, like, fill in, take off, see

Question 33

Explain what makes a VP when there is an ditransitive verb in the phrase

Answer 33

Need 2 or more objects to complete the phrase Examples: Give, put, pass, mail

Question 34

Explain what makes a VP when there is an sentential complement verb in the phrase

Answer 34

The verb requires a complement that is itself a sentence Example: Sally thought Bob liked her. [Sally did so.] **Sally did so Bob liked her.

Question 35

What qualifies as a VP Adjunct?

Answer 35

1. Adverbs (carefully, fast, yesterday) 2. Prepositional Phrases (with a pen, down the street)

Question 36

Define Prepositional Phrases and give an example

Answer 36

A preposition [P] followed by a noun or noun phrase Examples: Sally wrote the letter [with a pen] Sally ate her dinner [at the table]

Question 37

What can a NP consist of? Explain why.

Answer 37

1. Det N (allows determiners to combine w/a noun to form NP)

Question 38

What can a VP consist of? Explain why.

Answer 38

1. VP Adv (allows attributive adjectives to be noun adjuncts) 2. TV NP (allows transitive verbs to combine with the object NP to form a VP) 3. DTV NP NP (allows distransitive verbs to combine with their object NPs to form a VP) 4. SV S (allows a sentential complement verbs to combine with a complementary S to form a VP) 5. VP PP (allows PPs to be VP adjuncts)

Question 39

What can a N consist of? Explain why.

Answer 39

1. Adj N (allows attributive adjectives to be noun adjuncts) 2. N PP (allows PPs to be noun adjuncts)

Question 40

What can a PP consist of? Explain why.

Answer 40

1. P NP (allows prepositions to combine with their complement NP to form a PP)

Question 41

Define lexical ambiguity and provide an example

Answer 41

Words that have multiple meanings Example: bank, bug, ring, fall, train

Question 42

Define structural ambiguity and provide an example

Answer 42

Sentences whose structures can be broken down into two seperate synctatic trees with seperate meanings Examples: The cop saw the man with the binoculars (Did the cop see a man through binoculars or did the cop see a man who had binoculars on his person?)

Question 43

T/F: Sentence structure is hierarchial

Answer 43

True; words that are layered with affixes are considered to be hierarchial

Question 44

T/F: The definition of "grammatical" is a sentence that follows perscriptive grammar rules

Answer 44

False; grammatical sentences in linguistics do not need to follow perscriptive grammar

Question 45

T/F: There are unlimited amounts of arguments that can be added to a sentence

Answer 45

False; expressions must only have the arguments that they need to be considered grammatical

Question 46

T/F: Mass nouns need determiners

Answer 46

False; mass nouns can occur without a determiner and can be replaced with a pronoun

Question 47

What is homophony another word for?

Answer 47

Lexical ambiguity