Syntax Flashcards
Define syntax
The study of how words go together to form phrases/sentences
Define subject
The entity doing an action or state
Define verb
An action or state
Define object
The entity receiving the action or state
Define phrase
A group of 2+ words that express an idea and act as one lexical category (noun phrase, verb phrase, etc.). Not a “complete” sentence.
Define clause
A group of words that have a subject and a predicate (verb
phrase)
Define sentence
Expresses a complete thought and contains a subject and a
predicate (verb phrase)
What do syntactic properties of words determine?
Their behaviour in forming phrases including word order and co-occurrences
Define the basic syntactic tree structure
Noun Verb Noun
(subject) (verb) (object)
What is the shorthand for “Subject”?
NP
What is the shorthand for “Verb”?
VP
What is the shorthand for “Object”?
NP
What is the shorthand for “Sentence”?
S
What word order structure does English use?
SVO (Subject-Verb-Object)
What is the most popular word order structure for languages in the world?
SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)
List the co-occurrence classifications
- Arguments
- Adjuncts
- Agreement
Define arguments and provide an example
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].
Define adjuncts and provide an example
Adjuncts: optional occurrence in a sentence which add information to an argument
Example:
Sally likes [small, fluffy, brown] dogs.
Define agreement and provide an example
Agreement: words may require certain morphological forms for their arguments. Often: Number, Case, Gender, etc.
Example:
This girl came
These girls came
Define constituent and provide an example
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]
List the ways that syntactic constituency can be identified
- Answers to questions
- Clefting
- Pro-form substitutions
Explain the questioning method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example
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
Explain the clefting method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example
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.
Explain the pro-form method of identifying syntactic constituency and provide an example
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
What are syntactic categories?
Expressions which have very similar syntactic properties, enabling substitution in the same place in a sentence (or in a syntactic tree)
What are syntactic categories?
Expressions which have very similar syntactic properties, enabling substitution in the same place in a sentence (or in a syntactic tree)
List the syntactic categories and their shortforms
- Sentence (S)
- Noun (N)
- Noun Phrase (NP)
- Determiner (Det)
- Verb (V)
- Verb Phrase (VP)
- Adjective (Adj)
- Prepositions (P)
- Transitive Verbs (TV)
- Ditransitive Verbs (DTV)
- Sentenial Complement Verb (SV)
- Prepositional Phrases (PP)
Define determiner and provide an example
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
List examples of a demonstrative determiner
This, that, these, those
List examples of a possessive determiner
My, your, his, her, our
List examples of a quantificational determiner
A, some, the, every, all, few, most, etc
Explain what makes a VP when there is an intransitive verb in the phrase
Nothing. Intrasive verbs do not need an object
Example:
Grow, die, sweat, arrive
Explain what makes a VP when there is an transitive verb in the phrase
Need an object (NP) to complete the phrase
Examples:
Need, like, fill in, take off, see
Explain what makes a VP when there is an ditransitive verb in the phrase
Need 2 or more objects to complete the phrase
Examples:
Give, put, pass, mail
Explain what makes a VP when there is an sentential complement verb in the phrase
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.
What qualifies as a VP Adjunct?
- Adverbs (carefully, fast, yesterday)
- Prepositional Phrases (with a pen, down the street)
Define Prepositional Phrases and give an example
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]
What can a NP consist of? Explain why.
- Det N (allows determiners to combine w/a noun to form NP)
What can a VP consist of? Explain why.
- VP Adv (allows attributive adjectives to be noun adjuncts)
- TV NP (allows transitive verbs to combine with the object NP to form a VP)
- DTV NP NP (allows distransitive verbs to combine with their object NPs to form a VP)
- SV S (allows a sentential complement verbs to combine with a complementary S to form a VP)
- VP PP (allows PPs to be VP adjuncts)
What can a N consist of? Explain why.
- Adj N (allows attributive adjectives to be noun adjuncts)
- N PP (allows PPs to be noun adjuncts)
What can a PP consist of? Explain why.
- P NP (allows prepositions to combine with their complement NP to form a PP)
Define lexical ambiguity and provide an example
Words that have multiple meanings
Example:
bank, bug, ring, fall, train
Define structural ambiguity and provide an example
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?)
T/F: Sentence structure is hierarchial
True; words that are layered with affixes are considered to be hierarchial
T/F: The definition of “grammatical” is a sentence that follows perscriptive grammar rules
False; grammatical sentences in linguistics do not need to follow perscriptive grammar
T/F: There are unlimited amounts of arguments that can be added to a sentence
False; expressions must only have the arguments that they need to be considered grammatical
T/F: Mass nouns need determiners
False; mass nouns can occur without a determiner and can be replaced with a pronoun
What is homophony another word for?
Lexical ambiguity
