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Questions and Answers
What does Burzio's generalization primarily address?
What does Burzio's generalization primarily address?
- The definition of phrase structure
- The roles of direct and indirect objects
- The relationship between subjects and verbs
- The assignment of structural and inherent case (correct)
C-command is a syntactic relationship where one node is above another in a given tree structure.
C-command is a syntactic relationship where one node is above another in a given tree structure.
True (A)
What is the primary difference between a head and a complement in syntax?
What is the primary difference between a head and a complement in syntax?
A head is the main word of a phrase, while a complement is a dependent that provides necessary information for the head.
In the context of case assignment, a ______ subject is one that triggers the assignment of a structural case to its complement.
In the context of case assignment, a ______ subject is one that triggers the assignment of a structural case to its complement.
Match the following terms with their correct definitions:
Match the following terms with their correct definitions:
Flashcards
Theta Criterion
Theta Criterion
The theta criterion states that each argument in a sentence must be assigned exactly one theta role, and each theta role must be assigned to exactly one argument.
Theta roles
Theta roles
Theta roles are semantic roles that indicate the function of a noun phrase in a sentence (e.g., agent, patient, theme, goal).
Phrase
Phrase
A phrase is a group of words that functions as a unit in a sentence. For example, "the big red ball" is a noun phrase.
Head movement
Head movement
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Case assignment
Case assignment
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Study Notes
Theta Criterion
- Theta roles are assigned to constituents.
Constituent Structure
- Constituents, heads, specifiers, complements, and adjuncts form phrases (like DP, TP, and CP).
Light Verbs
- Light verbs are verbs with limited meaning, and their arguments are often part of larger phrases (like vP).
Internal & External Arguments
- Internal arguments are directly linked to a verb.
- External arguments are linked indirectly.
Head Movement
- Heads move in syntactic structures.
Case
- Case is morphological (related to word forms) or abstract.
- Case assignment involves determining the case of a noun phrase.
Grammatical Subject & Object
- Grammatical subjects and objects are defined by their syntactic roles.
Thematic Subject & Object
- Thematic subjects and objects are based on semantic roles.
Structural Case
- Inherent cases are already present in the context.
- Structural case is inherent, or determined by syntactic rules.
Exceptional Case Marking
- Exceptions to normal case marking patterns exist.
Passive
- A passive sentence reverses the role of the subject and object.
Agreement
- Agreement is syntactic and shows how different parts of a sentence agree with each other.
Controller and Target
- Controllers and targets are entities within sentences that are correlated.
Probe and Goal
- Probes and goals are essential for agreement.
Headmarking and Dependent Marking
- Head-marking involves marking heads for agreement, while dependent marking focuses on marking dependents.
Unaccusative and Unergative Verbs
- Unaccusatives and unergatives are verb classifications based on argument structure possibilities.
Morphosyntactic Alignment
- Alignment describes how grammatical relations are marked.
Nominative-Accusative and Ergative-Absolutive
- Nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive are types of syntactic alignment systems.
Split Ergativity
- Split ergativity is a situation where the language has more than one system or pattern of alignment.
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