Chapter 7 PDF

General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate ® Ideas can’t be green, nor can they sl...

General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate ® Ideas can’t be green, nor can they sleep General Linguis-cs 178 Glossing ® Data from foreign languages must be legible to linguists who don’t speak that SYNTAX language ® Glosses help reader follow the rela'onship between source text and its transla'on and to follow the structure of the source language Gramma%cal knowledge of syntax provides fluent speakers of a language with 3 ® Conven'ons for se]ng out data: general types of abili%es: Line 1: Source expression in original language (in italics) Line 2: Gloss –> literal word for word transla'on of source expression 1. The ability to form 2. The ability to interpret 3. The ability to make Line 3: Idioma'c English transla'on of the expression (in ““) various types of uHerances within that intui've judgements sentences found within language (including about the gramma'cality/ Example: Ek is lief vir jou. that language ambiguous sentences) acceptability of uHerances I is love for you. “I love you”. Example: Examples: Examples: Nega've sentences, ac've and The player kicked the ball. *He not understands the work. Example 2: Senseiga gakusei ni tegamio kaita passive sentences, different He likes her more than you. *Understand he the work? “The teacher wrote a leHer to the student”. kinds of ques'ons, impera've #Here is a square circle. sentences etc… There’s no glossing in example 2 – only the idioma'c transla'on in English We cannot learn much from example 2 because someone who isn’t Japanese wouldn’t understand the sentence Grammaticality and Acceptability ® Gramma'cal sentence: o A sentence that does not contain any morphological or syntac'c errors Content Words ® Words which carry descrip've content ® Ungramma'cal sentence: The gramma'cal o Indicated with an asterix (*) knowledge of a 1. Nouns o Automa'cally unacceptable speaker is implicit 2. Verbs Nouns and verbs 3. Adjec'ves only = found in all ® Acceptable sentence: 4. Adverbs human languages o A sentence that is gramma'cal and seman'cally well-formed 5. Preposi'ons ® Unacceptable sentence Nouns o Indicated with a hashtag (#) ® Indicate person, places, things o Sentence can be gramma'cal and s'll unacceptable § Just means it is seman'cally ill-formed Common Nouns o Something you can see or touch Noam Chomsky’s Famous Sentence § Example: tree, cat, umbrella Proper Nouns #Colourless green ideas sleep furiously o Name of specific person or place § Example: Cape Town, Beyonce ® The sentence is gramma'cal in terms of word order o Follows usual paHern for English ® “colourless” and “green” = don’t agree 1 2  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Mass Nouns ® Important! o Cannot be counted individually o Adjec'ves are NOT universal! § Example: gold, sand, grass § Many languages (eg: Hausa, Korean, Telugu, Hua & Bemba) have no Abstract Nouns true adjec'ves o Concepts, ideas or emo'ons § No direct transla'on available for English sentences § Example: love, hate, courage, 'me Example: The cat is hungry. Collec've Nouns Using noun or verb o Group or collec'ons § Example: school of fish, flock of sheep etc Example: Ku chayk-i caymi issta (Korean) Verbs That book-noun interest exist ® Express ac'ons, events, states “That book is interes'ng”. ® Subcategorised as: I. Transi've Verbs Adverbs II. Intransi've Verbs ® Have modifying func'ons and include words like ‘quickly’, ‘sadly’, ‘slowly’ III. Ditransi've Verbs ® Usually indicate: o Time Transi've Verbs o Place o Combine with direct object (= a noun phrase complement) o Manner § Example: I wash the dishes. o Degree/intensity Thomas reads the book. ® Can modify (describe) o Verbs: usually; slowly Intransi've Verbs o Adjec'ves: extremely; very o Don’t combine with a direct object o Adverbs: very; quite § Example: I sleep in my bed. They smile at the girl. Prepositions o Can be followed by a preposi'onal phase ® Seman'c property of marking a spa'al rela'onship between 2 elements § Don’t count as a direct object o Example: in, under, behind, below, off ® Can be followed by a noun phrase, another preposi'onal phase or not anything Ditransi've Verbs o Example Noun Phrase: in the house o Combine with direct object and an indirect object o Example Preposi'onal Phrase: down into the cellar § Example: I sent her the leHer. ® Cannot undergo inflec'on: Indirect object Direct object o No past-tense: offed o No superla've form: offest Adjec'ves o No plural form: offs, ins ® Describe nouns AHribu've use: ® Forms subclass of larger lexical category of ad posi'ons o Example: Caring friend Precedes noun as part of noun phrase I. Preposi'ons precede their complement Green pillow A beau'ful picture a. Example: in the house Interes'ng job II. Postposi'ons follow their complement a. Huis toe ® Express degrees of comparison Predica've use: III. Circumposi'ons stand on both sides of their complement o Example: Tall, Taller, Tallest Follows noun as part of verb phrase a. From now on Good, BeHer, Best The picture is beau'ful ® Some languages seem to lack preposi'on words o Example: Jacaltec either use no morphemes at all or uses a noun ® Can be followed by preposi'on about, to or of o Example: Curious about him Fond of chocolate Obvious to me 3 4  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Example: Xto naj comob Ay naj s-wi witz “head” is used to o Noun phrases Went he town Is he head will represent the o Preposi'ons “He went to town” “He is on the hill” preposi'onal func'on o Preposi'onal phrases Strings of words that are co- “on” o Adjec'ves ordinated = called conjuncts o Adverbs Function Words o Verb phrases o Sentences ® Have no descrip've content but rather serve a gramma'cal func'on ® A co-ordinate conjunc'on can contain 2 or more conjuncts but must belong to the same category (ie: verbs, nouns, preposi'onal phrases etc) 1. Determiners 2. Conjunc'ons Pronouns 3. Pronouns ® Func'onal words that stand in the place of a noun 4. Auxiliary verbs ® Personal pronouns in English/Afrikaans differ morphologically from nouns and other pronouns Determiners o Have par'ally dis'nct case forms ® Words like the/this/that –> typically used to modify a noun but have no descrip've o They change their form according to the posi'on content of their own o They occupy in the sentence Ar'cles Nomina've case o Definite: the o Case that indicates subject of a verb o Indefinite: a or an § Example: He likes her. Demonstra've pronouns Accusa've case o Things that are far away or near, iden'fied from discourse context or poin'ng o Case that indicates a direct object o This, these, that, those § Example: She hates him Quan'fiers Geni've case o Specify quan'ty, amount, size, range or scope of a set of things o Case that indicates possession o All, both, no, some, five etc § Example: She broke his heart. ® determiners can be used pre-nominally (in front of a noun they modify) or Auxiliary Verbs pronominally (used on their own without a following noun) Aspectual auxiliary verbs Prenominal use ® Specify whether the ac'on/event expressed by the main verb is in progress, or o She sees the book/that cat/those horses completed, or habitual, or momentary, or repeated Pronominal use o He heard that Perfect aspectual auxiliary o I don’t like this o Represented by different forms of have: § Example: has, had, have Conjunc'ons Progressive aspectual auxiliary ® Join 2+ words or phrases o Represented by different forms of be that co-occur with a verb that takes the ‘-ing’ suffix Coordina(ng conjunc(ons Subordina(ng conjunc(ons § Example: is sleeping, are doing, was laughing, were singing, am And/or/but That/if/because/unless/as/when/while/ driving, has been living aser/although/though Modal auxiliary verbs ® They can join: ® Specify speaker’s a]tude regarding event expressed by verb o Pronouns ® Certainty, definiteness, vagueness, possibility, probability, necessity etc o Nouns o Example: can/could; may/might; shall/should; will/would; must 5 6  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Voice auxiliary verbs 3. The most important word in a phrase is a head –> determines the category of the ® Involved in expressing passive voice phrase ® Passive voice = used to emphasize the ac'on (verb) and the object of a sentence rather than the subject A phrase can therefore consist of an obligatory head that can be combined with an op'onal ® Subject is either less important than the ac'on itself or we don’t know who or what complement the subject is ® Different forms of be = used to express passive o Example: am, are, is, was, been, were Phrase-head ® The compulsory key word that determines the gramma'cal and seman'c proper'es Are there any differences between main verbs and auxiliary verbs? of the overall phrase Example HEAD Main Verbs Auxiliary Verbs “They are students of linguis'cs” ® Descrip've meaning (ac'ons, events, ® Only take verbs or other auxiliaries as a states) complement Is a noun phrase (NP) ® Take a variety of complements: Example: “The boy eats ice cream” Preposi'onal expressions - Jenna can paint. - He looked at her - Jenna could have painted Is a verb phrase (VP) Nominal expressions Vs - They buy coffee - *Mary can the car “I searched under the couch” Sentences - *Peter will in the car - He said that he is 'red Is a preposi'onal phrase (PP) ® Cannot undergo inversion (in English) ® Can undergo inversion with the subject Phrase-complement o In absence of auxiliary, English ® Syntac'c element that modifies/describes the phrase head inversion requires “do support” Example: Example: He can speak English –> Can he speak English? Example: - You promised to come –> *Promise “students of linguis'cs” “on the table” you to come? = Do you promise to come? complement complement - She ate the food –> *Ate she the food? = Did she eat the food? Phrase Structure ® The complement of a phrase = a phrase as well, with its own head and (op'onal) Phrases complement ® Part of a sentence or clause which holds together as a meaningful unit on its own and contributes in a unified way to the meaning of the whole sentence or clause Example HEAD ® Osen consist of several words clustered around a head word, which carries the central meaning of the whole phrase students of linguis'cs Complement BUT also a PP Sentences are formed by combining words into phrases and phrases into larger phrases Of linguis'cs Complement Linguis'cs Also a phrase but NO complement ® 3 key features of phrases 1. They usually consist of several words (but in some cases can consist of a single word) 2. They func'on as meaningful units 7 8  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Types of Phrases Example: Thina sithenge imigexo Sithenge = bought –> head 1. Noun Phrase We bought necklaces Imigexo = necklaces –> complement (NP) 2. Preposi'onal Phrase “We bought necklaces” 3. Verb Phrase o Or verbs can occur aser its noun phrase Noun Phrase (NP) o Head = a noun Example: Gakusei-ga hon-o yonda Yonda = reads –> head Example Student book read Hon-o = book –> complement (NP) “the big tree” “The student reads the book” head determiner Adjec've Phrase structure rules (Modifies the noun) ® Arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is regulated by a special type of gramma'cal mechanism –> phrase structure rule ® Preposi'onal Phrase (PP) ® General Rules: o Head = preposi'on I. Iden'fy word class of each element o PPs osen have NP as a complement II. Iden'fy type of phrases III. Write down phrase type, followed by an arrow Example IV. Add phrase head and phrasal complement “behind the box” V. Repeat this for the phrasal complement head NP: “the box” ® Noun Phrases o Typically have a determiner and noun o The head of the PP does not always occur to the les of the complement o Determiner = umbrella term and includes ar'cles, demonstra've pronouns § In a PP with a preposi'on = head is before the complement (this, these, etc) and quan'fiers § In a PP with a postposi'on = head is aser the complement Example Example: PP (preposi'on) “the cat” Ada is bij het sta'on bij = at –> head Ada is at the sta'on V. The = determiner (Det) het sta'on –> the complement (NP) Cat = noun “Ada is at the sta'on” VI. “the cat” is a noun phrase and ‘cat’ is the head Example: PP (postposi'on) VII. NP à Yuwaal nganh VIII. NP à Det N Nganh = from –> head Beach from Yuwaal = beach –> the complement (NP) Example “From the beach” “the purple elephant” ® Verb Phrase I. The = determiner (Det) o Head = a verb purple = adjec've (adj) o Can occur before its noun phrase elephant = noun (N) II. “the purple elephant” is a noun phrase and ‘elephant’ is the head III. NP à Example: IV. NP à Det Adj N Noi parliamo francese Parliamo = speak –> head We speak French Francese = French –> complement (NP) “We speak French” 9 10  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate ® Preposi'onal Phrases 1. Subs'tu'on test (aka The Replacement Test) o Typically take noun phrases as complements a. Cons'tuents can be replaced with other cons'tuents If one test applies to a string ® NPs can be subbed by a pronoun like “they” or “it” of words = it forms a Example cons'tuent “in the street” o Example: The cats (played) à They (played) I. in = preposi'on (P) ® VPs can be subbed by phrase “do so” a. the = determiner (det) o Example: The students will wear 'es à The students will do so These form the phrasal complement “the street” = NP b. street = noun II. it is a preposi'onal phrase and ‘in’ is the head ® PPs can be subbed by single phrase like “there” III. PP à o Example: They stopped at the corner à They stopped there IV. PP à P NP NP à Det N 2. Coordina'on Test a. Determine whether 2 cons'tuents belong to the same category Second part to break down the NP!! b. Remember conjunc'ons! o If the PP contains a postposi'on: String of words co-ordinated are called conjuncts! Example So, cons'tuents that don’t belong to same category can’t be coordinated! Ek ry nou kantoor toe I drive now office to Example “I’m driving to the office now” *I saw a bird (VP) and under the table (PP) à doesn’t work PSR: “kantoor toe” = PP à NP P; NP à N 3. Sentence Fragment Test a. If a string of words can serve as the answer to a ques'on = they form a cons'tuent ® Verb Phrases Example Example A 'red student drinks coffee in the morning “understand the work” - Who drinks coffee? = A 'red a student ¹ a 'red I. Understand = verb (V) ¹ a 'red student drinks The = determiner (det) Work = noun Phrasal complement “the work” = NP Clauses II. Verb phrase and ‘understand’ is the head III. VP à ® Clause = meaningful unit of language IV. VP à V NP ® Can be a sentence but some'mes 2 or more clauses need to combine to form a V. NP à Det N sentence ® The main element of a clause is the verb phrase Cons'tuency Tests o Each clause MUST contain a verb phrase ® Words group together to form cons'tuents à they can form cons'tuents in different ® VP = usually accompanied by a subject NP ways ® To determine the number of clauses = count the number of VPs ® Numerous test scan help to decide whether a given set of words form a cons'tuent Example conjunc&on The team knows that their leader brought coffee Cons'tuency Test: - VPs = 2 A test to determine whether one or more words that occur together act as a syntac'c unit. 1. The team knows 2. that their leader brought coffee 11 12  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Finiteness 3. Complex sentences That ® Clause containing an auxiliary or main verb which can have a nomina've subject ® Combina'on of an independent main clause and a dependent If o Example: She remembers the interes'ng book. subordinate clause Because ® Subordinate clause cannot func'on as a sentence on its own Unless ® You can iden'fy and change the tense in a finite clause: ® Make use of subordina'ng conjunc'ons As o Example: present tense à She remembers the interes'ng book. o Example: she’s 'red because she didn’t sleep much. When Past tense à She remembered the interes'ng book. While Future tense à She will remember the interes'ng book. Aser Independent clause Dependent clause Although (doesn’t make sense on though Infiniteness its own) ® Infinite clause contains a verb in the infini've form (to + verb) ® The subject of an infinite clause is either in accusa've form (him/her/them) or not Mood pronounced ® Refers to the pragma'c force of a clause à what type of clause it is 1. Subject of infini'val clause in accusa've form 1. Declara've Mood - example: I want him to do the work. ® Associated with statements o Eg: I write with a pencil. ‘him’ = accusa've form (object form) 2. Subject of infini'val clause is not pronounced. 2. Interroga've Mood - example: She wants to see the movie. ® Associated with ques'ons Does not contain a pronounced subject. o Eg: Why is it so cold in here? 3. Impera've Mood ® In English = infini'val clauses contain ‘to’ ® Associated with commands ® In Afrikaans = infini'val clauses contain ‘om te’ o Eg: Do your work! o Example: Ek verkies om te draf. ® In isiXhosa = infini'val clauses contain prefix ‘uku’ joining to the verb. 4. Irrealis Mood o Example: Utata unqwenda ukuthenga imoto. ® An event or state of affairs which is hypothe'cal/not real ® Indicated by infinite marker “to” & “om te” Infinite clauses To buy are ALWAYS ® Op'onally introduced by “for” irrealis mood! Sentences o Eg: I prefer (for) John to come. ® Largest unit of syntac'c analysis Complemen'sers ® Words used to introduce sentences/clauses 1. Simple Sentence ® In languages like English, Afrikaans, German, Dutch etc = the complemen'sers are ® Contains only 1 clause and 1 verb phrase observable o Example: The dog chased its tail. ® Complemen'sers can only be used to introduce subordinate/ embedded/complement clauses 2. Compound sentence And ® Contains 2 or more independent clauses which are separated by Or Example punctua'on or coordina'ng conjunc'ons But She said [that they are going overseas]. o Example: James washed the dishes and mopped the floor. I doubt [if/whether they will come]. ® But remember they must belong to the same category! I prefer [for him to do his work]. o In the above example, both are verb phrases and thus can be joined with ‘and’ 13 14  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate ® In other languages overt (observable) complemen'sers are used to introduce main The Build of a Sentence clauses Example: Subject Verb Object Razve on ne prixodil? (Russian) Person or thing Ac'on being Person or thing to “Hasn’t he come?” performing the done whom the ac'on ac'on is being done An bpósfaidh tú mé? (Irish Gaelic) “Will you marry me?” Aya Ali ketab davad? (Persian) “Does Ali have any books?” NP has nomina've case NP has accusa've case Func'ons of Complemen'sers ® Personal pronouns in for example English or Afrikaans change their form according to their role in the sentence 1. The (C) specifies whether the clause is finite (expresses tense) or non-finite (without tense) Example Subject (nom. Case) Object (acc. Case) Example He saw the girl. The girl saw him. [I know][that she sleeps] ® Noun phrases in English or Afrikaans do not change their form based on their role finite finite Example [I wonder][if she kissed the girl] He saw the girl. The girl saw him. finite finite ® In German = pronoun and nouns change their form according to their role 2. The (C) specifies the pragma'c force of the sentence Example ® Declara've force [d-force] à declara've statements Du bist sehr grob Ich sehe den hund o [I know][that she eats] You are very tall I see the dog [d-force] [d-force] Adjuncts ® Interroga've/ques'on force [q-force] à ques'ons ® Op'onal unit of language that provides addi'onal informa'on about the sentence o [I wonder][if she kissed him] ® Have adverbial func'on and convey informa'on about manner, 'me, place, [d-force] [q-force] instrument etc… ® Irrealis force [i-force] à events that are hypothe'cal Example o [I prefer][for him to do his work] He reluctantly bought chocolates [d-force] [i-force] Conveys how the ac'on took place Representa'on of Cs in terms of features Word Order That If whether for whether [fin-tense] [fin-tense] [fin-tense] [infin-tense] [infin-tense] ® Languages can be characterised according to order of subject (s), object (o), verb (v) [d-force] [q-force] [q-force] [i-force] [q-force] in a neutral declara've sentence I wonder whether she les I don’t know whether to leave or not 15 16  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Example English is an SVO Universal Grammar The woman sees the cat language ® Linguists are s'll busy developing full theory based on research on different languages S V O ® A scien'fically acceptable theory of UG must meet certain general criteria Requirements for an adequate theory of UG ® There are 6 different word orders ® Descrip'vely adequate theory o SVO Minimalist syntax = most ® Explanatory adequate theory o SOV 95% of world’s languages recent model within the ® Adequately constrained theory o VSO Genera've approach ® Requirement/condi'on of learnability ® UG theory must be economical o VOS o OVS Only small number of world’s languages Innateness Hypothesis o OSV ® States that certain aspects of competence are known without any previous language experience SVO Order SOV Order VSO Order VOS Order ® It is already biologically available French Turkish Welsh Malagasy ® Present at birth These aspects are expressed Mandarin Afrikaans Irish Gaelic Selayarese ® Not acquired/learned in form of UG principles Spanish Japanese ® Part of gene'c inheritance English Korean ® Universal OVS Order OSV Order UG Principles Hixkaryana Apuriña ® UG contains a set of gene'cally determined principles that guide a child in acquiring Klingon Nadëb their first language ® But gene'cally determined principles don’t mean all languages are gramma'cally iden'cal! ® Languages show both lexical and gramma'cal differences Language Faculty ® Principles and parameters approach accounts for the gramma'cal differences Stages of acquisi'on between languages Language faculty Ini'al State Final State in brain Principle Parameter All languages must follow How different languages the UG principles! follow the principle UG Parameters Theory of Theory of ® Represent gramma'cal op'ons Universal Grammar of a Grammar Language ® Express language specific gramma'cal aspects ® Are in-born/innate ® Language specific content acquired through exposure = unconsciously “learned” Noam Chomsky ® Inna'st theory ® Language Acquisi'on Device (LAD) ® Suggested children have innate knowledge of basic gramma'cal structure ® Universal Grammar (UG) 17 18  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate 1. Subject Principle ® Before its complement ® Every complete sentence MUST have a subject Example Example: Pierre aime Marie (French) Umama ubiza abantwana (isiXhosa) The dog saw the squirrel. Pierre likes Marie the-mother calls the-children Maigret a abandonné l’enquête. Belgae Caesarem 'ment. Juanita lee el libro (Spanish) Also Italian, Danish, Polish Johan zieht sienne Jacke an. Juanita reads the book etc. a) Null-subject Parameter ® ABer its complement ® Subject of a finite/tensed declara've sentence in language X: o Can be phone'cally empty or Example § Null-subject indicated as pro …dat ek die kat sien. (Afrikaans) Nān pe]-you 'ra-pp-ēn (Tamil) o Must be phone'cally realised …that I the cat see. I box will-open § A non-null subject “That I see the cat” “I will open the box.” Example Main ek seb khaataa hun (Hindi) Also Japanese, Korean, In English = subject must be Io parlo Francese parlo Francese (Italian) I an apple eat Turkish etc… pronounced –> overt subject I speak French *speak French “I eat an apple” Tu parli Francese parli Francese (Italian) In Italian = subject can be Types of Questions You speak French *speak French pronounced but it’s not necessary –> covert subject ® Yes/No Ques'ons Subject is s'll present in Italian, because the verb contains o Can be answered only by yes or no a morpheme that indicates the subject ® WH-Ques'ons Example o Ques'on cannot be answered with only yes or no Hij komt waarschijnlijk mor gen terug (Dutch) o It requires a content answer In Dutch = subject must be § Eg: where are my shoes? Under the bed. He comes likely tomorrow back pronounced –> overt subject “He will likely come back tomorrow” 3. WH-Principle 2. Head Principle ® Content ques'ons are formed by means of ques'on words ® Every phrase contains an obligatory head that can op'onally be merged/combined with a complement Example ® The head of a VP = a verb Where did you put my book? Example Čto on tebe skazal? (Russian) The children eat the cake What he told you? “What did he tell you?” a) Head-posi'on parameter ® In language X the head occurs either: a) WH-Parameter o Before its complement or ® In language X, the ques'on word/phrase in a content ques'on is: o Aser its complement o Either moved to the front of the sentence o Or not moved at all (les in situ) 19 20  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate ® Moved to the front of the sentence ® Forma'on of a sentence is called syntac'c deriva'on and starts with numera'on, the selec'on of items from the lexicon. Example Cén fear an bhfaigheann tú an t-airgead uaidh? (Irish Gaelic) Example Which man get you the money “The police arrested a suspect” “Which man did you get the money from?” These items are combined to Numera'on: {the (D); police (N); arrested (V); a (D); suspect (N)} form larger units à phrases Qui est-ce qú ils ont vu? (French) Who is-it that they have seen “Who did they see?” Merge = UG mechanism for = (The police)NP[arrested (a suspect)NP]VP combining cons'tuents ® Not moved at all Example Assump'on: verbs are stored in uninflected form in the lexicon (ie without tense Taro-ga nani-o mitsuketa-no? (Japanese) inflec'on) Taro what found Uninflected form: arrest “What did Taro find?” Possible inflec'ons by adding func'onal suffixes: arrests, arres'ng, arrested o Storing the uninflected form simplifies the lexicon and facilitates lexical Meigeren dou moule shenme-me? (Mandarin Chinese) learning Everyone all buy what? “What did everyone buy?” What else do we know about the sentence “The police arrested a suspect”? Declara've sentence uNandi ufuna ukuyaphi? (isiZulu) Finite Nandi wants to-go-where? Sentence expresses past tense “Where does Nandi want to go?” Transi've verb (Requires a direct object) à arrested Step 1: Merge the determiner “a” and the noun “suspect Head principle: every phrase Sentence Formation contains an obligatory head that can be op'onally NP combined/merged with a Lexicon complement D N A suspect Selec(on of lexical elements (Numera(on) Step 2: Merge NP “a suspect” with the V “arrest” Syntac(c Component Syntac'c devices/mechanisms that combine elements from numera'on into syntac'c VP structures V NP Syntac'c structures serve as input to 2 further components Arrest D N Phonological Component Seman(c Component A suspect 21 22  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate “The police arrested a suspect” TP Past tense Where is the tense of the sentence specified? But this isn’t binary NP T VP branching o Where does the verb get its past tense feature from? Past tense D N V NP Proposal: the source of the specified tense expressed by the sentence is the func'onal category T The police arrest D V A suspect Step 3: Merge the T with the VP “arrest a suspect” TP The Extended Projec'on Principle T VP ® The func'onal category T projects an intermediate phrasal cons'tuent Past tense ® T’ = T bar à stands between the T head and its maximal projec'on TP V NP ® The TP dominates the subject T = head of T The 3 mergers (D+N; V+NP; Arrest D N TP T+VP) = all BINARY in nature Specifier of T TP = maximal projec'on of T They each involve ONLY 2 A suspect NP T’ cons'tuents = subject Complement of T T’ = intermediate projec'on T VP of T Past tense Binarity principle ® Every syntac'c structure is binary branching In terms of the extended projec'on principle: TP So that it abides by the binarity principle! NP T’ D N T VP Past tense The police V NP “The police arrested a suspect” Arrest D N The subject of the sentence is formed by merging the determiner “the” with the noun “police” A suspect NP Subject principle: every complete sentence must Complemen'sers D NP have a subject ® Words used to introduce sentence or clauses ® In languages like English, Afrikaans, German, Dutch etc = overt complemen'sers can The police only be used to introduce subordinate/embedded/complement clauses 23 24  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Example Assignment of Tense Value She said [that] Sy sê [dat] ® PREVIOUS ASSUMPTION: I doubt [if/whether] Ek wonder [of] o Verbs are stored in uninflected form in the lexicon I prefer [for] Ek verkies [vir] o Verbs have property that they can express tense o Problem: in the structure = the tense specifica'on occurs as a valued feature ® In other languages = overt complemen'ser are also used to introduce main clauses under T § How does V get its tense value from T? Example Razve on ne prixodil? (Russian) New Proposal: a verb that expresses tense enters the deriva'on with an unvalued tense If he not came feature = [u-tense] “Hasn’t he come?” Func'ons of complemen'sers ® This [u-tense] feature is supplied with a specific value by T 1. specifies whether the clause is finite (tensed) or infinite (not tensed) o Eg: T can supply the ‘past’ tense value 2. specifies the pragma'c force of the sentence \Turning the V’s [u-tense] feature into [past tense] ® In the process of valuing the verb’s tense feature = T’s tense feature is deleted “The police arrested the subject” ® In the phonological component = verb ‘arrest’ + [past tense] is phone'cally realised as ‘arrested’ CP CP C TP C TP [finite tense] NP T’ [fin-tense] [d-force] [d-force] NP T’ D N T VP Past tense D N T VP The police V NP [past tense] The police V NP Arrest D N [u-tense] [past tense] D N A suspect arrested a suspect Core devices in syntac'c deriva'on ® Merge Another example o UG mechanism for combining cons'tuents ® Head principle “The children see five dogs” o Every phrase contains an obligatory head that can op'onally be combined with a complement Numera'on: {the (D); children (N); see (V); five (D); dogs (N)} ® Binarity principle Phrases: (The children)NP[see (five dogs)NP]VP o Every syntac'c structure is binary branching Declara've force [d-force] ® Extended projec'on principle Finite tense [fin-tense] o Func'onal category T projects an intermediate phrasal cons'tuent T’ that Present tense [pres-tense] (starts under T’ and is assigned to V) stands 25 26  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Step 1: merge ‘five’ and ‘dogs’ Step 5: merge subject NP with T’ NP TP D N NP T’ Five dogs D N T VP Step 2: merge NP with verb ‘see’ [pres-tense] The children V NP [pres-tense] VP D N see V NP Five dogs [u-tense] D N Step 6: merge CP with TP See Five dogs Step 3: merge T with VP ‘see five dogs’ CP C TP T’ [fin-tense] [d-force] NP T’ T VP [pres-tense] D N T VP V NP [pres-tense] [u-tense] The children V NP D N [pres-tense] see D N five dogs See Step 4: assign [pres-tense] value from T to V Five dogs T’ Auxiliary verbs in syntac'c deriva'ons T VP Example [pres-tense] The police will arrest a suspect V NP [u-tense] Modal auxiliary (mod) [pres-tense] D N The police have arrested a suspect Aspectual auxiliary (asp) see five dogs “The police have arrested a suspect” Numera'on: {the (D); police (N); have (asp); arrested (v); a (D); suspect (N)} Phrases: (The police)NP(have)asp[arrested(a suspect)NP]VP Declara've sentence 27 28  General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate General Linguistics 178 - Syntax | Abby Bate Finite tense ‘-ed’ rather marks the V as a So, the final deriva'on would look like this: Past tense – under T’ and is assigned to asp ‘have’ par'cular type of verb à past par'ciple because the CP tense is expressed by ‘have’ C TP T’ [fin-tense] [d-force] NP T’ T VP [past tense] D N T AspP V NP Asp The police Asp VP [u-tense] arrested D N [past-tense] V NP have A suspect have arrested D N Objec'ons to Asp under T 1. Binarity principle is violated a suspect 2. Head principle is violated 3. Can’t account for sequences of more than 1 auxiliary a. Eg: could have/should have been ® So, if the Asp is not under the T or T’, where is it? Hypothesis: Every auxiliary verb heads its own specific projec'on Different types of auxiliary phrases ® Aspectual phrase (AspP) o Headed by aspectual ‘have’ or ‘be’ ® Modal phrase (ModP) o Takes any modal auxiliary as its head § Eg: will, would, can, could, should, shall etc ® In terms of the hypothesis that every auxiliary verb heads its own projec'on à merge the Asp ‘have’ with VP “arrested a suspect” T’ T AspP [past tense] Asp VP [u-tense] [past tense] V NP Have arrested D N A suspect 29 30