Syntax Flashcards
Universal Grammar
hypothesized system of categories, operations + principles shared by all languages
Lexicon
mental dictionary provide list of words along with info on pronunciation, category + meaning
Computational system
combining + arranging words in right way
Merge
combines elements to create phrases + sentence
Move
transports element to a new position within the sentence
Syntactic categories
Type of meaning, affixes they take, structures they can occur
Categories of Words
- Noun, verb, adjective, preposition, adverb=lexical categories
- Functional categories: determiner (det), auxiliary verb (aux): modal/non modal, conjunction (con), degree word (deg), harder to define + paraphrase
- Some items can belong to more than 1 lexical category (comb)
Degree Word
too, so, very, more, quite
specifier of A or P
Aux
modal: will, would, can, could, may, must, should
non modal: be, have, do
Conjuntion
and, or, but
Qualifier
specifier of V
never, perhaps, often, always
Distribution
- Type of elements (functional categories) with which can co-occur
- Nouns can appear with determiner (a car), verb with auxiliary (has gone), adjectives with degree (very rich)
Phrase Structure
- The doctor arrived quickly/those students ride bicycles
- The doctor/those students=subject
- Arrived quickly/ride bicycles=predicate
transitive vs. intransitive
transitive: takes direct object (devour)
intransitive: no direct object (arrive)
The Blueprint
Head to complement to specifier
- All phrases have 2 level structure (X, X’, XP)
- All phrases contain a head (X)
- If there is a complement, it is attached at intermediate X’ level, as sister of head
- If there is a specifier, attached to XP level
Heads
•obligatory nucleus (nous, verbs, adjectives + preposition), may form phrase by itself
Specifiers
- determiner for N, qualifier for V, degree for A/P
- mark phrase boundary, occur at beginning in English
- make meaning more precise
Complements
- provide info about entities + locations implied by meaning of head
- in=head [the house]=complement naming location
- possible to have phrases with just head + compliment=bottom heavy structures
Merge Operation
- combine words in manner compatible with X’ schema
* det (the) + N’ (house) = NP (the house) + preposition (in) = P’ + PP (in the house)
Sentences
- largest unit of syntactic analysis
- subject (NP) + VP linked together by I/Infl that indicates tense
- +Pst must contain verb marked for past tense
- IP consists of a subject and a predicate, and of inflectional material that constitutes the ‘glue’ that holds the subject and predicate together
Constituent
syntactic units
Substitution test
phrases can be replaced by they, it/do so
•The children stopped at the corner if they see us do so
•The children stopped at the corner + we stopped there too
Movement Test
can be moved as single unit
They stopped at the corner= at the corner, they stopped
Coordination Test
if it can be joined to another group by a conjunction (and, or, but)
•The children stopped at the corner, but didn’t look both ways
Coordinate structures
patterns built around a conjunction
Complement Options
- Info about complements included in entry in lexicon
* Subcategorization: info about word’s complement options
Complement Options for Verbs
- Word can belong to more than 1 subcategory
* Some heads can take more than 1 complement the librarian put [NP the book] [PP on the shelf]
Complement Options for Other Categories
- Subcategorization ensures particular heads can appear in tree structures only if there is an appropriate type of complement
- Sick with cafeteria food/sick of cafeteria food
Complement Clauses
- Allow sentence-like constructions/clauses to function as complements
- Complement clause: smaller [that/whether/if the team will win]
- No limit on # of embedded clauses that can occur in a sentence
Matrix clause
bigger [the coach knows [that/whether/if the team will win]]
Complement clause
smaller [that/whether/if the team will win]
Yes-No Questions
- Move transports auxiliary verb in the I position to left of subject
- The guy should go-should the guy go?
- There is only 1 type of auxiliary verbs, those left of subject just undergoes extra process of move
A Landing Site for I
- IPs occur within larger CPs
- CP: shell that forms outer layer structure around an IP, can contain overt complementizer (that/whether)
- C position contains info about whether sentence is statement/question (+Q)
Inversion
move I to C
-Does not apply if nowhere for moved auxiliary verb to land, only one word can be in C position
Inversion
- Move does not change categories/eliminate any part of structure created by Merge
- Trace: marked by t, records fact that moved element comes from head position within IP
Deep Structure
formed by Merge operation
Surface Structure
second level, final syntactic form, results from applying whatever other operations are appropriate for sentence
Derivation
process whereby syntactic structure is formed
entire ‘journey’ from the Lexicon through Merge/Project to D-structure, through Move to S-structure
Do Insertion
into sentences that don’t already have an auxiliary verb, making effects of inversion visible
interrogative do into empty I position
Wh Movement
- Attracted to Q feature which triggers second Move operation
- Languages can jerry speak which-which languages can Jerry speak
Wh Movement
Move a wh phrase to the specifier position under CP
•Cannot eliminate any part of previously formed structure
•Wh phrase remain as trace
Verb Raising
- Move V to I (French)
- Paul travaille toujours
- French can form question by moving auxiliary leftward + allows inversion of non auxiliary Vs
Verb Raising in English
- To have/be
- The children should have waited
- Modal auxiliary verb moves to the C position: [CP should [IP the children t have waited]
Verb Raising in English
- Non-modal auxiliary can undergo Inversion when no modal auxiliary
- The dog is sleeping-is the dog sleeping?
- auxiliary must have to the I position then it can undergo inversion
- Verb raising: a) any type of verb raises in French b) only auxiliary verbs raise in English
Modifiers
- Words + phrases that denote properties of heads
- APs modifiers of Ns, AdvPs modify Vs
- Attach at the XP level of phrase structure as sisters of X’
- Adj on left of head, adv. On right
- Modifier after head will normally occur to right of complement
Relative Clauses
provides info about N to its left
•The car [CP which Leslie bought_] was a lemon
•can begin with wh word/which (relative pronoun)
Relative Clauses
- empty position within sentence from which wh has been moved
- attached at XP level, +Rel feature in C position indicates
- Wh movement rule triggered buy +Rel
Wh Deletion
- Must delete wh word when relative clause contains wh + that
- Can even delete when that isn’t present
- Can’t delete if wh word corresponds to subject of relative clause
Passives
- A thief stole the painting (active)
- The painting was stolen (by the thief).
- Involve major reduction in importance of agent
- NP Movement: Move NP into subject position
Coordinate Structure Constraint
Wh-words cannot be extracted from a coordinate structure.
competence vs. performance
internal knowledge of grammar is referred to as our competence
use of it is performance
Pied Piping
Some pied-piping is optional, e.g. whether a preposition moves along with a wh complement or not
Wh-island Constraint
cannot extract a wh-word from an embedded sentence that has a wh word in its specifier of CP
by-phrase
agent
hangs off of V’
