Week 6: constituency syntax

Question 1

Roughly describe what syntax is

Answer 1

Building sentences out of “smaller things”

Question 2

What term to typologists prefer to syntax?

Answer 2

morphosyntax

Question 3

Name two things that are finite in linguistics

Answer 3

Number of words (at any given moment)
Number of word forms of a word type

Question 4

Name something that is infinite in linguistics

Answer 4

Number of word combinations
Therefore we need algorithms

Question 5

What questions do syntax ask

Answer 5

1. Is this a valid (grammatical) sentence?
2. How can I encode meaning in a sentence?

Question 6

What is a constituent?

Answer 6

The surface representation of a parse-tree subtree

Question 7

Give two types of parsing rules

Answer 7

1. Prohibiting some word types from tightly combining
2. Defining the order some word types combine

Question 8

Name universally recognised constituent types

Answer 8

Noun Phrase (NP)
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
Verb Phrase (VP)
(Determiner Phrase (DP))

Question 9

Define NP

Answer 9

Nominal/noun phrase
A group pf words clustered around something that looks and behaves like a noun.
Can be replaced by a pronoun (it remains an NP)

Question 10

Define PP

Answer 10

Prepositional Phrase
Formed by combining an NP with a preposition
Cannot be replaced by a pronoun but sometimes can be replaced by an adverb

Question 11

What about PPs leads to multiple readings?

Answer 11

Their freedom of attachment to other parts of the sentence

Question 12

Define DPs

Answer 12

(Theory dependent) Determiner Phrase
An NP where the determiner is the more important part of the phrase

Question 13

Define VP

Answer 13

Verb phrase
Verb and all its arguments, separate from subject

Question 14

What (binary branching thing) is done when parsing programming languages?

Answer 14

Chomsky normal form

Question 15

Types of constituency tests (four)

Answer 15

1. Adding things
2. Moving things
3. Removing things
4. Replacing things

Question 16

Types of substitution tests

Answer 16

NP can be replaced by pronoun
PP can be replaced by adverb
VP can be replaced by “do so” substitution

Question 17

Intrusion test

Answer 17

If you can add an adverb, it ends up between two constituents. (Use “definitely”)

Question 18

Coordination test

Answer 18

Constituents of the same type should be able to be combined using “and”

Question 19

Right-node test

Answer 19

If something is shared by two coordinated constituents, that thing must be a constituent itself

Question 20

Topicalisation and (pseudo-)clefting

Answer 20

Ways of moving things to the ‘left periphery’. If something can be moved, it is a constituent.

Question 21

Topicalisation, clefting or pseudo-clefting?
“I know her, and polar bears she definitely hunts”

Answer 21

Topicalisation

Question 22

Topicalisation, clefting or pseudo-clefting?
“It is polar bears that she hunts.”

Answer 22

Clefting

Question 23

Topicalisation, clefting or pseudo-clefting?
“What she hunts is polar bears”

Answer 23

Pseudo-clefting

Question 24

Wh-fronting

Answer 24

Constituents can be replaced by a question word

Question 25

Pros of constituency syntax

Answer 25

Intuitive
Backed up by lots of research
Provides good descriptions
Can be implemented consistently

Question 26

Cons of constituency syntax

Answer 26

Theory dependent
Constituency tests are language dependent
Constituents are assumed to be contiguous