Test #1 Flashcards
(42 cards)
Generative Grammar
Represents a sentence’s syntactic properties in terms of ‘tree’ structures that are built by explicitly stated formal operations.
Universal Grammar (UG)
The inborn system of categories and principles that explains why human language has the particular properties that it does.
Core Grammar
Each language has its own core grammar that is assigned by UG because languages can set the available parameters in different ways.
Periphery
The rest of the language’s grammar - which may well cover the vast majority of its syntactic phenomena. Things not explained/managed by the core grammar.
Heads
The nucleus around which phrases are built
Specifiers
Elements which help make more precise the meaning of the head
Compliments
Elements whose existence is implied by the meaning of the head
The 3 claims of the X’ Schema
- Every phrase consists of a head that projects to an X’ level and an XP level.
- The head and its complement combine to form an X’ constituent.
- The specifier combines with the X’ constituent to form an XP, the so-called ‘maximal projection.’
The Head Parameter:
The head precedes/follows its complement.
head-initial (English) or head-final (Japanese)
Three types of Constituency test
- Movement
- Substitution
- Coordination
Movement
If a sequence of words can be moved as a unit, it is a constituent.
Substitution
If a sequence of words can be ‘replaced’ by an item that refers back to it, it is a constituent.
Coordination
If a sequence of words can be coordinated with a constituent, then it too is a constituent.
Complement
An element whose existence is somehow implied by the semantics of the head.
Adjunct
An element that provides optional information about properties of the head.
Hints for distinguishing Complements from Adjuncts
- Time phrases are always adjuncts
- AdvPs are adjuncts
- Direct objects and indirect objects are always complements
- Directional Pos headed by of, to, onto, into, and from are typically compliments.
- Pos headed by prepositions with a non-spatial or non-temporal meaning (talk about, speak of) are typically complements.
- Complements my be obligatory; adjuncts are always optional.
Subcategorization
A head is said to subcategorize, or select, its complement and are listed in its lexical entry.
i.e. to hit - _NP
to put - _ NP PP
to dash - _PP
The Projection Principle
Lexical requirements must be satisfied at all syntactic levels (DS, SS, and LF).
Functional Categories
Categories (Tense, Complementizer, Determiner) in the syntax trees that do not have lexical head but functional/grammatical ones.
Arose because categories, like INFL, should be subject to the X-bar schema just as lexical categories, like NP and VP, are. This avoid the need to non-binary branching.
Aspectual Auxiliaries
Treated as ‘defective’ Vs that take VP complements instead of being placed in the I node with modal auxiliaries.
T node
Contains TAM information, infinitival marker, and modal auxiliaries.
Modals were moved here because they are the tense bearing unit of a verb complex. So, makes sense.
CP
Contains the complementizers and provides a spot for questions word/order.
‘force’ of a sentence (statement vs question)
Lexical Categories
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions.
Rationale for Ds being considered heads
- They enter into agreement relationships (as verbs do) this book vs. these books
- In head-initial languages Ds combine with phrasal constituents to their right (as verbs do).
a [book about ancient history] - Ds differ in terms of whether they require a complement (as verbs also do). A/the require a NP but this/that do not.