week 2 - syntax 2

Question 1

what are the four steps for analysing sentence structure?

Answer 1

①identify parts of speech (the basic building blocks) ②identify constituents; these tests help: • pro-form (substitute constituents with it/he/she) • co-ordination (constituents can be co-ordinated) • wh-question (the answer is the constituent) • movement (constituents can be moved in one piece)
③determine phrase type (head)
④draw tree, joining up phrases, then sentences

Question 2

what is a constituent?

Answer 2

a constituent is a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure.

Question 3

what can constituents be?

Answer 3

• the answer to a Wh-question
• moved in their entirety
• coordinated
• substituted by proforms

Question 4

what type of phrases would the following phrases be?

• the right hand
• with the right hand
• the piano
• plays the piano with the right hand

Answer 4

• the right hand = noun phrase
• with the right hand = prepositional phrase
• the piano = noun phrase
• plays the piano with the right hand= verb phrase

Question 5

how do we work out the head of a phrase?

Answer 5

The head of a phrase (constituent) is its most crucial element.

Question 6

what would a syntactic tree look like for the phrase ‘we read a book’?

Answer 6

S
        /      \
        /      VP
        /             \
       NP             NP
     /    \            /     \
pro     v       p       n
we   read    a    book

Question 7

how do we construct syntactic trees?

Answer 7

1- identify the constituents
2- identify the head word of the sentence
3- within each constituent, determine the type of phrase that is (noun phrase, verb phrase etc)
4- create trees upwards
5- the overall phrase should be the same as the head word

Question 8

what is the specifier?

Answer 8

makes the meaning of the head word more precise

Question 9

what is the compliment?

Answer 9

add information about entities and locations related to the head

Question 10

what happens when there is a conjunction in a constituent?

Answer 10

the conjunction takes whatever is it surrounded by on both sides and makes them into a singular branch.
eg: fish (N) and (C) chips (N) = noun phrase

Question 11

what is syntactic ambiguity?

Answer 11

depending on how we construct the sentence, the meaning may change. eg: ‘I shot an elephant in my pyjamas’

Question 12

What knowledge do humans need to build syntactic structure?

‘the cat sleeps’

Answer 12

D -> The 
N -> cat 
V -> sleeps
VP -> V 
NP -> Det N 
S -> NP  VP

Question 13

when applying rules to your syntactic tree, what do the following mean?
,
( )
{ }

Answer 13

, = OR
( ) = OPTIONAL
{ } = order does not matter

Question 14

what are some typical examples of complementisers?

Answer 14

if, whether, when, that

Question 15

what do complementisers usually follow?

Answer 15

usually verbs- believe, think, know, remember, tell

Question 16

what does ø mean

Answer 16

nothing is there, but something could be there.

eg- in the sentence ‘I think we are alright’ we could insert a complementiser, ‘I think THAT we are alright’

Question 17

give an example of a contradiction

Answer 17

• I cycle to work

* I can’t ride a bicycle

Question 18

give an example of a synonym

Answer 18

• My brother is a bachelor.

* My brother is not married

Question 19

give an example of a presupposition

Answer 19

• I lost my keys to your flat.

* I had keys to your flat.

Question 20

what is the principle of COMPOSTIONALITY

Answer 20

the whole expression depends on the meaning of its parts, but also the way in which they are put together

Question 21

discuss the principle of compositionality within these three sentences:
• Everyone loves the lecturer.
• The lecturer loves everyone.
• The students read books.

Answer 21

• Everyone loves the lecturer.
• The lecturer loves everyone.
- the elements of the sentences are the same but the meaning is not

• The students read books.
- all of the words are different, but the syntactic structure is the same.

Question 22

what is language circularity?

Answer 22

look up tree in a dictionary, ‘a wooden structure’

look up wood in a dictionary, ‘a material that forms trees’

Question 23

what is metalanguage?

Answer 23

the language we use to talk about language

Question 24

what can a metalanguage be?

Answer 24

• another language

Question 25

how can we use language to tell if a sentence is true or false?

give an example

Answer 25

the meaning of a sentence is the state of the world in which the sentence is true.
eg: if I say, ‘this table is brown’ then the meaning of that sentence is the knowledge that allows me to say (in this situation) whether this sentence is true or not.
I know it’s brown- therefore it is brown and the sentence is true.

Question 26

what did Greggory (2002) say about truth conditions?

Answer 26

‘To know the meaning of a sentence is to know what the world would have to be like for the sentence to be true.’

Question 27

discuss ‘it’s raining outside’ in relation to truth conditions

Answer 27

• I know in my head the scenario to which the conditions of this sentence would be true.
• I can look outside and determine whether this statement is true or false.

Question 28

how would you arrange ‘the weather’s cold and wet’ in a truth table?

Answer 28

1- break up the sentence. ‘the weather’s cold’ , ‘the weather’s wet’ , ‘the weather’s cold and wet’
2- by convention, write ‘p’ and ‘q’ underneath each of the headings, then p ⋀ q. (⋀= and)
3- list all of the possible truth conditions, eg: the weather is cold. The weather is not wet. this would make the sentence false.

Question 29

what are the two senses of ‘or’ in truth conditions?

Answer 29

• exclusive ‘or’ (ve)

* inclusive ‘or’ (v)

Question 30

what would the truth table be for the sentence ‘the car is grey or black’?

Answer 30

car is grey car is black car is grey or black
p q p ve q
t t f
t f t
f t t
f f f

Question 31

how do you represent ‘not’ in a truth table?

Answer 31

¬

Question 32

what is the truth table for the sentence ‘it rains or it doesn’t rain’?

Answer 32

It rains it doesn’t rain It either rains or doesn’t rain

p                 ¬p                               p ve ¬p 
t                    f                                      t
f                    t                                      t

Question 33

what is a tautology?

Answer 33

No need to check the world: this sentence is always true

Question 34

how do you represent ‘if’ in a truth table?

Answer 34

→

Question 35

what is the truth table for the sentence ‘if I revise, ill pass the exam’?

Answer 35

I revise I’ll pass the exam if I revise,I’ll pass the exam

p q p → q
t t t
t f f
f t t
f f t

Question 36

in this truth table, why are the last two rows true?

I revise I’ll pass the exam if I revise,I’ll pass the exam

p q p → q
t t t
t f f
f t t
f f t

Answer 36

• we don’t have any evidence on the contrary

- if we don’t know, we give it the benefit of the doubt

Question 37

what is the bi-conditional sign and what does it mean?

Answer 37

bi-conditional ≡

‘iff and only iff’

Question 38

what are the 6 truth conditions?

Answer 38

and (⋀) 
or inclusive (v) 
or exclusive (ve) 
if (→) 
iff(≡) 
not (¬)

Question 39

what are the three types of expressions in truth conditions?

Answer 39

–necessarily true (= tautology)
–necessarily false (= contradiction)
–need to check (= contingent)

Question 40

what’s the difference between predicates and arguments?

Answer 40

• predicates -relations

* arguments –individuals