Structural Ambiguity in Syntax

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Questions and Answers

In the sentence, 'John put the block in the box on the table,' what causes the structural ambiguity?

  • The use of proper nouns.
  • The lack of articles before the nouns.
  • The length of the sentence.
  • The verb 'put' can be followed by two phrases: a direct object and a prepositional phrase indicating location. (correct)

What linguistic phenomenon is illustrated by the sentence, 'Henry will describe the bacchanal and Francis will too'?

  • Metonymy
  • Ellipsis (correct)
  • Anaphora
  • Pleonasm

According to contemporary syntactic theory, what differentiates the strings 'describe the bacchanal' and 'describe the' in terms of their behavior in ellipsis?

  • 'describe the' is a complete verb phrase while 'describe the bacchanal' is not.
  • The length of the strings affects their behavior.
  • 'describe the bacchanal' forms a constituent, while 'describe the' does not. (correct)
  • The specific words used determine if they can be elided.

What is a 'tree-diagram' in the context of syntactic structure, as illustrated in Figure 5.1?

<p>A visual representation of the syntactic structure of a sentence, consisting of labeled nodes and branches. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In semantic analysis, what does it mean for a sentence to 'entail' another sentence?

<p>If the first sentence is true, the second sentence must also be true. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is presupposition in semantics?

<p>A proposition that must be true for a sentence to be felicitous or appropriate in a given context. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How do Russell and Frege/Strawson differ in their treatment of definite descriptions like 'The King of France is bald'?

<p>Russell says the sentence is false, while Frege and Strawson say it is neither true nor false. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is quantifier domain restriction?

<p>The implicit restriction of the range of entities a quantifier refers to in a given context. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What are 'clefts' and 'pseudo-clefts' in the context of presuppositions?

<p>Sentence structures that introduce presuppositions. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes lexical ambiguity from structural ambiguity?

<p>Lexical ambiguity arises from words having multiple meanings; structural ambiguity from the way words combine. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a 'negative polarity item' (NPI)?

<p>A word or phrase that is only grammatical in the presence of a negative element. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of an 'NPI-licensor'?

<p>To license or allow the occurrence of a negative polarity item in a sentence. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Ladusaw's theory, what linguistic property characterizes NPI-licensors?

<p>Downward entailingness (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In set-theoretic terms, when is set B a subset of set A?

<p>When every element of B is also an element of A. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a 'one-place sentence functor'?

<p>A phrase that combines with another phrase to produce a sentence. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between entailment and possible worlds?

<p>If one sentence entails another, there is no possible world in which the first is true and the second is false. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the core idea behind situation semantics as an alternative to possible worlds semantics?

<p>Sentence meanings are sets of possible situations, which are spatiotemporally delimited parts of the world. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the motivation behind adopting 'impossible situations' in semantic theory?

<p>To account for sentences that are necessarily false. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In situation semantics, what does a 'minimal situation' contain?

<p>Only the entities, properties, and relations just sufficient to make a condition hold. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Chomsky and Fodor, what does the 'modularity of mind' suggest?

<p>The mind is composed of interacting specialized modules, with internal workings inaccessible to each other and to consciousness. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a key implication of Ladusaw's theory for the 'architecture of linguistic theory'?

<p>Syntax is sensitive to semantic facts, meaning semantic properties affect what combinations of words form grammatical sentences. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What general property do the sentences, 'Henry did not discuss the bacchanal at all,' 'Henry did not ever discuss the bacchanal,' and 'Henry has not discussed the bacchanal yet' all share?

<p>Each include a negative polarity item licensed by 'not'. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between the word pairs some/any and in all/at all in regards to grammaticality?

<p><code>some</code> and <code>all</code> cannot license negative polarity items and <code>any</code> and <code>at all</code> can only be grammatical when licensed by e.g. the word <code>not</code>. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In semantic theory, what are extensions?

<p>The set of individuals that fall under a term. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Barwise and Perry, what is the most appropriate action to determine whether or not it aligns with a given view?

<p>To scan the set and determine if any possible world aligns. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Is it more plausible to construct theories based solely factual data or only use a conceptual sensibility viewpoint?

<p>A given theory should maintain both a certain degree of factual data and conceptual plausibility. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Does it matter if the sentences under consideration are of declarative type?

<p>Yes, there needs to be a definitive true or false declaration. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Structural Ambiguity

Ambiguity arising from words or phrases combining in different ways.

Lexical Ambiguity

Word with multiple meanings. (e.g., 'bank')

Prepositional Phrase

A phrase with a preposition followed by a noun phrase.

Tree-Diagram

A diagram showing the syntactic structure of a sentence.

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Ellipsis

Omission of words, but the sentence is still understood.

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Constituent

A node plus everything below it in a tree-diagram.

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Syntax

The discipline producing theories about possible word combinations in sentences.

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Compositionality

The meaning of a sentence or phrase depends on the meaning of the words and their syntactic arrangement.

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Quantifier Domain Restriction

The process of limiting the range of things considered. (e.g., 'Everyone had a good time' means at dinner, not whole universe.)

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Presupposition

A sentence takes a proposition for granted. (e.g., 'John has stopped drinking' implies John drank.)

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Negative Polarity Item (NPI)

Requires the presence of negation to be grammatical.

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NPI-Licensor

Licenses the presence of a NPI (negative polarity item).

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Downward Entailing

A one-place sentence component that is downward entailing.

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Extension of a Term

The set of individuals that fall under that term.

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Entailment

If one sentence is true, the second sentence is also automatically true.

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Study Notes

Structural Ambiguity

  • Structural ambiguities arise when a string of words can be associated with more than one syntactic structure
  • Example: "Old men and women are law-abiding" can be interpreted in two ways

First structure of "Old men and women are law-abiding"

  • The words "men and women" form a constituent.
  • "Old" modifies the combined group of men and women.

Second structure of "Old men and women are law-abiding"

  • “Old” modifies only "men," implying only the men are old.

Analyzing the Meaning of Phrases

  • The meaning of a phrase depends on the meanings of the words that comprise it along with their syntactic arrangement
  • The meaning of a phrase is constructed in a manner that mirrors the syntactic structure

"John put the block in the box on the table"

  • The sentence can mean placing the block that is already in the box
  • The sentence can mean placing the block inside the box which is on the table

Verb "put"

  • Followed by a direct object and a prepositional phrase.
  • The direct object indicates what is being placed and prepositional phrase indicates where the thing is being placed

Prepositional phrase

  • Consists of a preposition followed by a noun phrase
  • Examples: "on the table," "under the bridge"

Nouns and Prepositional Phrases

  • Nouns in English can form a constituent with a following prepositional phrase, which modifies the noun

Constituents in Syntax

  • A constituent includes a node (labeled point) and everything below it in a tree diagram
  • Tree diagrams consist of nodes (labeled points) connected by branches (lines)
  • Labels include S (sentence), VP (verb phrase), and NP (noun phrase)

"Henry will describe the bacchanal and Francis will too"

  • Examples showing structure
  • This sentence demonstrates ellipsis, where the omitted part is understood from context

Ellipsis

  • Ellipsis is performed only on constituents.

Sentences and Word Strings

  • Not all strings of words play the same role in sentences
  • The words "describe the bacchanal" form a constituent
  • Contemporary syntactic theory can explain the difference between word strings

Ambiguity and Sentences

  • Sentences can be ambiguous in two ways:
  • Containing one or more ambiguous words
  • The sentence "That bank has collapsed" has four potential interpretations

Lexical Ambiguity

  • Ambiguity stemming from individual words.
  • E.g. The word ‘bank’

Structural Ambiguity

  • Ambiguity from how words/phrases combine.

Syntax

  • Syntax is a discipline focusing on combinations of words that form sentences
  • Some words are more tightly linked within sentences

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