Syntax Flashcards
Phrase structure rules
- generate all possible sentences
- allow recursion
- account for modularity
C-selection
- which complements are required by the head
- syntactic positions
- phrasal categories
Argument structure
- related to meaning
- number of participants required
Theta Criterion
- Each argument is assigned 1 theta role
2. Each theta roles is assigned to 1 argument
Internal argument
Realised as a complement
External argument
External to the predicate
Realised as subject
The Projection Principle
Lexical information is syntactical encoded
Syntactic rules can’t change lexical information
The Extended Projection Principle
Every sentence has a syntactic subject
Noun phrase, sentence parallels
- nominal argument structure
- functional categories modify nouns
- nominal versions of agreement, tense, aspect
Government
A governs B if
- A is a head
- A and B are sisters
Theta-government
A theta-governs B if
- A governs
- A assigns a theta-role to B
Specifier-head agreement
- the specifier (subject DP) and the head (I) are coindexed
- features of person and number are shared
C-command
A c-commands B if
- A does not dominate B
- every x that dominates A also dominates B
Accusative case
Verbs and prepositions assign
Direct objects of transitive verbs and objects of prepositions
Heads governing complements
Nominative case
Tensed I
DP in the specifier
Specifier-head agreement
Genitive case
Possessive feature
DP in specifier
Specifier-head agreement
The Case Filter
All over DPs must have case
Move-alpha
Anything can move anywhere
Chain
The path followed by a constituent from its original position to its landing site
Landing site
Empty - no DP generates or theta-marked there
A-position - where an argument could occur
Unergative verbs
1 external argument
Agent
Satisfies VISH
Unaccusative verbs
1 internal argument
Non-agent
Resembles passive
Burzio’s Generalisation
Verbs which lack an external argument fail to assign accusative case
Principle of structure preservation
Movement must be structure preserving; the targeted position must be of the same type as the position of base-generation
The Head Movement Constraint
Heads must move to the most local available landing site
The Mirror Principle
Ordering of morphemes mirrors the order of elements in phrase structure
Binding
A binds B if
- A is c-commanded by B
- A and B are coindexed
Binding principles
- an anaphor is bound in its Governing Category
- a pronominal is free in its Governing Category
- an R-expression is free
Types of non-over DPs
- DP-trace
- Wh-trace
- PRO
- pro
The Null Subject Parameter
Allows subject pronouns in some languages to be omitted
Licensing
Requirement that an element meet some criteria or result in ungrammaticality
The PRO Theorem
PRO must be ungoverned
Vacuous movement
If movement is from spec(IP) to spec(CP) and I to C, word order doesn’t change
The That-Trace Fliter
Rules out the sequence overt complementiser followed by a trace
The Empty Category Principle
- traces must be properly governed
- movement ins upwards and left
UTAH
Identical thematic relationships between items are represented by identical structural relationships between these items at D-structure
- agents are subjects
- patients, themes and experiences are objects
- deviation from this is through movement
The Subjacency Condition
A single instance of wh-movement can cross only one bounding node, where IP and DP are bounding nodes.
Crossing a node
If x dominates the departure site but not the landing site it is a node
M-command
Node A m-commands node B if the first maximal projection dominating A dominates B
