Syntax

Question 1

Adjective

Answer 1

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category. Morphologically, consists of words to which the comparative suffix –er or the suffix –ness can be added. Syntactically, the category consists of those expressions that can be noun adjuncts or occur in between a determiner and a noun.

Question 2

Adjunct

Answer 2

A linguistic expression whose occurrence in a sentence is optional; also called modifier.

Question 3

Adverb

Answer 3

The name of a lexical category and a syntactic category that consists of expressions such as quickly, well, furiously, etc. Syntactically, adverbs can be verb phrase adjuncts.

Question 4

Agreement

Answer 4

The phenomenon by which certain expressions in a sentence must be inflectionally marked for the same person, number, gender, etc.

Question 5

Argument

Answer 5

A linguistic expression that must occur in a sentence if some other expression occurs in that sentence as well. If the occurrence of an expression X in a sentence requires the occurrence of an expression Y in that sentence, we say that Y is an argument of X.

Question 6

Cleft

Answer 6

A type of sentence that has the general form It is/was X that Y, e.g., It was Sally that I wanted to meet. Can be used as a constituency test.

Question 7

Complement

Answer 7

A non-subject argument of some expression.

Question 8

Co-occurence

Answer 8

The set of syntactic properties that determines which expressions may or have to co-occur with some other expressions in a sentence.

Question 9

Count Noun

Answer 9

In simple terms, a noun that can be counted and pluralized.

Question 10

Ditransitive Verb

Answer 10

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that if combined with two expressions of category noun phrase to their right result in a verb phrase. A verb that needs two noun phrase complements.

Question 11

Grammatical

Answer 11

A term used to describe a sentence that is in accordance with descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules. When some phrasal expression is constructed in accordance with the syntactic rules of a language, we say it is grammatical or syntactically well-formed.

Question 12

Grammaticality judgment

Answer 12

An instance of a native speaker of some language deciding whether some string of words corresponds to a syntactically well-formed or grammatical phrasal expression in their native language.

Question 13

Homophony

Answer 13

The phenomenon by which two or more distinct morphemes or nonphrasal linguistic expressions happen to have the same form (i.e., sound the same).

Question 14

Intransitive Verb

Answer 14

The name for the set of lexical expressions whose syntactic category is verb phrase.

Question 15

Lexical Ambiguity

Answer 15

The phenomenon where a single word is the form of two or more distinct linguistic expressions that differ in meaning on syntactic properties.

Question 16

Lexical Entry

Answer 16

A representation of a lexical expression and its linguistic properties within a descriptive grammar of some language. A collection of lexical entries constitutes the lexicon. A lexical entry has the form f -> X, where f is the form of some particular lexical expression and idioms.

Question 17

Lexicon

Answer 17

A mental repository of linguistic information about words and other lexical expressions, including their form and meaning and their morphological and syntactic properties, as a part of a descriptive not mental, grammar, the lexicon is the representation of the mental lexicon, consisting of lexical entries that capture the relevant properties of lexical expressions.

Question 18

Linguistic Expression

Answer 18

A piece of language with a form, a meaning, and syntactic properties.

Question 19

Mass Noun

Answer 19

In simple, terms, a noun that cannot be counted and cannot be pluralized.

Question 20

Morphosyntax

Answer 20

The name for syntax and morphology considered jointly as a single component of grammar.

Question 21

Noun

Answer 21

The name of a lexical category and syntactic category. Morphologically, consists of words to which the plural suffix –s or the suffix –like can be added. Syntactically, consists of expressions that can combine with determiners to their left, the resulting expression being of category noun phrase.

Question 22

Noun Adjunct

Answer 22

A kind of adjunct that combines with an expression of syntactic category noun with the resulting expression also being of category noun.

Question 23

Noun Phrase

Answer 23

The name of a syntactic category that consists of proper names, pronouns, and all other expressions with the same syntactic distribution.

Question 24

Object

Answer 24

A noun phrase that usually occurs immediately to the right of the verb in English. A noun phrase complement.

Question 25

Phrasal Expression

Answer 25

A linguistic expression that results from the syntactic combination of smaller expressions. A multi-word linguistic expression. A sentence is a special kind of phrasal expression.

Question 26

Phrase Structure Tree

Answer 26

A visual representation of how phrases are constructed with a descriptive grammar, given the lexicon and the phrase structure rules.

Question 27

Prepositional Phrase

Answer 27

The name of a syntactic category that consists of those expressions that contain a preposition and a noun phrase.

Question 28

Principle of Compositionality

Answer 28

The notion that the meaning of a phrasal expression is predictable from the meaning of the expressions it contains and how they were syntactically combined.

Question 29

Pro-form

Answer 29

A word (e.g., a pronoun) that can replace a syntactic constituent.

Question 30

Sentence

Answer 30

A syntactic category that consists of all phrasal expressions that can grammatically occur in Sally thinks that __________.

Question 31

Structural Ambiguity

Answer 31

The phenomenon where a single string of words (or morphemes) is the form of more than one distinct phrasal expression (or word). Arises because the same expressions can combine differently syntactically, resulting in distinct phrases that happen to have the same form.

Question 32

Subject

Answer 32

An expression, typically a noun phrase, that occurs to the left of the verb phrase in an English sentence.

Question 33

Substitution

Answer 33

In syntax, a constituency test that involves replacing a constituent with a single word, such as a pro-form. In language processing, a production error in which one unit is replaced with another.

Question 34

Syntactic Category

Answer 34

A group of expressions that have very similar syntactic properties. All expressions that belong to the same syntactic category have more or less the same syntactic distribution.

Question 35

Ungrammatical

Answer 35

Not in accordance with the descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules. When some phrasal expression is not constructed in accordance with the syntactic rules of a language, we say it is ungrammatical or syntactically ill-formed.

Question 36

Syntax

Answer 36

A component of mental grammar that deals with constructing phrasal expressions out of smaller expressions. Also a name for the subfield of linguistics that studies how expressions can combine to form larger expressions.

Question 37

Syntactic Constituents

Answer 37

A group of linguistic expressions that function as a syntactic unit within some larger expression; the smaller expressions out of which some larger phrasal expression was constructed in accordance with the phrase structure rules.

Question 38

Word Order

Answer 38

The linear order in which words can occur in some phrasal expression. Also the set of syntactic properties of expressions that dictates how they can be ordered with respect to other expressions.

Question 39

Verb Phrase Adjunct

Answer 39

A kind of adjunct that combines with an expression of syntactic category verb phrases with the resulting expression also being of category verb phrase.

Question 40

Verb Phrase

Answer 40

The name of a syntactic category that consists of all expressions that, if combined with a noun phrase to their left, result in a sentence.