Syntax PDF Lecture Notes

Syntax 1 Week Lecture content Week 1 Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture 2: Word classes (content words) Lecture 3: Word classes...

Syntax 1 Week Lecture content Week 1 Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture 2: Word classes (content words) Lecture 3: Word classes (function words) Week 2 Lecture 4: Phrase structure (Introduction) Lecture 5: Phrase structure rules Lecture 6: Phrase structure (Constituency tests) Week 3 Lecture 7: Clauses & sentences Lecture 8: Sentence structure Lecture 9: Principles and parameters of language (Introduction) Week 4 Lecture 10: Principles and parameters of language (Subject principle) Lecture 11: Principles and parameters of language (Head principle) SYNTAX Lecture 12: Principles and parameters of language (Wh- principle) Week 5 Lecture 13: Syntactic tree diagrams (Introduction) General Linguistics 178 Lecture 14: Syntactic tree diagrams (Tense and Auxiliary phrases) Lecture 15: Syntactic tree diagrams (Biclausal sentences)  Syntax 2 Syntax 3 Lecture 1: Introduction 2. The ability to interpret utterances within that language (including ambiguous Syntax- the study of the way in which words combine to form larger meaningful units sentences): and the rules that govern these operations. The player kicked the ball. He likes her more than you. Kids make nutritious snacks. 3. The ability to make intuitive judgements about the grammaticality/ acceptability of utterances within that language: *He not understands the work. * Understands he the work? # Here is a square circle. (* = ungrammatical) (# = semantically ill-formed) The grammatical knowledge of a fluent speaker is tacit/implicit/unconscious Syntax knowledge. Grammatical knowledge (=knowledge of language structures) provides fluent speakers of a language with three general types of abilities. Grammaticality & Acceptability 1. The ability to form the various type of sentences found within that language. Grammatical sentence- A sentence that does not contain any morphological or Eg. Negative sentences, active and passive sentences, different kinds of question syntactic errors. sentences, imperative sentences, etc. Ungrammatical sentences are indicated with an asterisk (*). For examples: e.g. * Elephant the sky bought the. She drank the coffee. (declarative sentence) She didn’t drink the coffee. (negated sentence) Acceptable sentence- A sentence that is grammatical and semantically well- The coffee was drank by her. (passive sentence) formed. Did she drink the coffee? (yes/no question) What did she drink? (wh-question) An unacceptable sentence is indicated with a hashtag (#) Drink the coffee! (imperative sentence) e.g. # The elephant bought the sky.  Syntax 4 Syntax 5 An ungrammatical sentence is automatically unacceptable. Glossing However, a sentence can be grammatical and still unacceptable. Data from foreign languages must be legible to linguists who don’t speak that language. A sentence can be grammatical but unacceptable. Consider Noam Chomsky’s Glosses help the reader follow the relationship between the source text and its famous sentence: translation, and to follow the structure of the source language. # Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. Convention for setting out data: Line 1: Source expression in the original language (in italics) This sentence is grammatical: the word order follows the usual pattern for English; Line 2: Gloss à literal, word-for-word translation of source expression the verb “sleep” agrees with the plural subject “ideas”; the adverb has an “-ly” suffix. Line 3: Idiomatic English translation of the expression (in double quotation marks) However, the sentence is semantically unacceptable: An example of an Afrikaans sentence with the necessary glossing: Something can’t be both “colourless” and “green”. Ek is lief vir jou. (Afrikaans) “Ideas” are abstract concepts that cannot have a colour associated I is love for you with it. “I love you.” “Ideas” cannot sleep. You cannot sleep “furiously”. The gloss is the most important part of the data set! Consider the example below: 1) Senseiga gakusei ni tegamio kaita. (Japanese) “The teacher wrote a letter to the student.” No glossing in (1), only the idiomatic English translation. We cannot learn much from the example in (1). For instance: What is the Japanese word for “letter”? What does “gakusei” mean? What is the word order in Japanese? Someone who doesn’t understand Japanese won’t be able to answer these questions. 2) Senseiga gakusei ni tegamio kaita. (Japanese) Teacher student to letter wrote “The teacher wrote a letter to the student.”  Syntax 6 Syntax 7 The glossing enables us to answer questions like the following: Lecture 2: word classes What is the Japanese word for “letter”? à“tegamio” Content words What does “gakusei” mean? à“student” Content words- words which carry descriptive content. What is the word order in Japanese? àJapanese follows a Subject-Object-Verb Word classes that are content words (rather than function words): (SOV) word order. 1. Nouns 2. Verbs 3. Adjectives 4. Adverbs 5. Prepositions Note: out of the word classes considered this week, only nouns and verbs are found in all human languages. Nouns Nouns- indicate persons, places, things (including abstract things). Types of nouns: o Common noun- something that you can see or touch. Eg. Tree, cat, star, umbrella. o Proper noun- the name of a specific person, place, etc. Eg. James, Stellenbosch, Hudsons. o Mass noun- cannot be counted individually. Eg. Gold, silver, sand, weather. o Abstract noun- concept, ideas or emotions. Eg. Love, hate, courage. o Collective noun- a group of collection. Eg. Flock, herd, school.  Syntax 8 Syntax 9 1. NOUNS 3. ADJECTIVE Nouns indicate persons, places, things (including abstract things). Adjectives are used to describe nouns: The caring fried: The green pillow: My interesting hobby. How to test if a word is a noun: Nouns are often preceded by a determiner (which includes articles): They can be used to express degrees of comparison: The tree; an apple; these cats. He is taller than she is: This cat is the best. Most nouns can take the plural form: Attribute use- precedes Noun as part of noun phrase, eg. The beautiful picture. Frogs; candles; tables. Predicative use- follows Noun as part of verb phrase, eg. The picture is beautiful. Adjective can be followed by the preposition about, to and of. 2. VERBS Verbs express actions, events, states. About: curious about the mystery; angry about the news. Verbs are subcategorized as i) intransitive ii) transitive, or iii) ditransitive. To: obvious to the student; apparent to me. Of: fond of chocolate; tired of this story. o Transitive verbs- combine with a direct object (= a noun phrase complement) The adjective category, while very common, is not universal. In many languages (eg Eg. I wash the dishes; Thomas reads the book. Hausa, Korean, Telugu, Hua, and Bemba) there are not true adjectives. Thus, there is no direct translation available for English sentences such as “The cat o Intransitive verbs- don does not combine with a direct object. is hungry.” Eg. *I sleep my bed; *They smile the girl. Instead, the concept “hungry” is expressed by using a noun or verb. Intransitive verbs can be followed by a prepositional phrase (PP). (PPs son’t count Use of a noun where English uses an adjective: as direct objects). Ku chayk-I caymi issta. (Korean) Eg I sleep in my bed; They smile at the girl. That book-Nom interest exist “That book is interesting.” o Ditransitive verb- combine with a direct object and an indirect object. Eg. I Eg. I sent her the letter. Use of a verb where English uses an adjective: Direct object: “the letter” Ku pap-i maypta (Korean) Indirect object: “her” That food-Nom be-spicy “that food is spicy.” Ek gee die meisie die dal. (Afrikaans) I give the girl the ball “I give the ball to the girl” Direct object: “the ball” Indirect object: “the girl”  Syntax 10 Syntax 11 4. ADVERB bez niego (“without him”, Polish) Adverbs have a modifying function and include words like quickly, sadly, en tei polei (“in the city, Greek) slowly. 2. Postpositions follow their complement: Adverbs usually indicate: - Time: Yesterday we took a nap; I’ll eventually finish this book. benim ile (“me with”, Turkish) zhuōzi shàng (“table on”, Chinese) - Place: We should stay inside; He is walking downstairs. ghar men (“the-house in”, Hindi) - Manner: The cat runs quickly; She plays the piano well. ie kara (“house from”, Japanese) - Degree/intensity: He’s very skilled; Syntax is pretty interesting. huis toe (“home to”, Afrikaans) de bank op (“the couch onto”, Dutch) smed tæppet ud (“threw the carpet out”, Danish) Adverbs can modify (“describe”): Prepositions form a subclass of the larger lexical category of Adpositions: - Verbs: They usually forget the salt; She drove slowly. 3. Circumpositions stand on both sides of their complement: - Adjectives: The extremely cold night; The very tall building. - Adverbs: Time passes very fast; She dances quite frequently. from now on (English) uit die huis uit / onder die brug deur (Afrikaans) bä-bet wəst (“in-house inside”, Amharic) 5. PREPOSITIONS naar het einde toe (“to the end to”, Dutch) Prepositions have the semantic property of marking a spatial relationship à un détail près (“at one detail near” – “except for one detail”, French) between two elements. för tre timmar sedan (“for three hours since” – “three hours ago”, Swedish) Examples of prepositions: in, under, behind, above, below, off. Some languages seem to lack the Preposition word class. Where English has a Preposition can be followed by a noun phrase (NP), another prepositional phrase preposition, the language Jacaltec either uses no morpheme at all (see (a) below) or (PP), or not be followed by anything. uses a noun (see (b) below). (a) Xto naj conob. went he town NP: in the house, under the couch, above sea level. “He went to town.” PP: down into the cellar, up against the wall. (b) Ay naj s-wi’ witz. No complement: they went away , he got down. is he head hill “He is on the hill.” Prepositions cannot undergo inflection: No past tense: *offed, *undered In (b) the noun s-wi’ (“head”) is used to represent the prepositional function “on”. No superlative form: *offset, *underest No plural form: *off, *unders Class activity Prepositions form a subclass of the large lexical category of Adpositions: Consider the extrct from Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwoky” 1. Prepositions precede their complement: in the house (English) Determine the word class of each of the underlined words. agter die deur (“behind the door”, Afrikaans) ‘Twas brilling (adverb), and the sithy (adjective) toves (noun) in dem Zimmer (“in the room”, German) op de heuvel (“on the hill”, Dutch) Did gyre (verb) and gimble (verb) in the wable: (noun) sur la table (“on the table“, French) All mimsy (adjective) were the borogves, (noun) med mig (“with me”, Danish) And the mome (noun/adjective) raths (verb/noun) outgrabe. (adverb/preposition).  Syntax 12 Syntax 13 ”Beward the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious (adjective) Bansersnatch! He took hus vorpal (adjective) sword in hand: Long time the manxome (adjective) foe he sought- So he rested by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought. Function Words Function words- words which have no descriptive content but rather serve a grammatical function. Word classes that are function words (rather than content words): 1. Determiner 2. Conjunctions 3. Pronouns 4. Auxiliary verbs 1. DETERMINERS Determiners- words like the/this/that which are typically used to modify a noun, but which have no descriptive content of their own.  Syntax 14 Syntax 15 Three types of Determiners: a) ARTICLES: Indefinite: a/an The strings of words that are co-ordinated (or conjoined) are known as Definite: the conjunctions. b) DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS: A co-ordinate construction can contain two or more conjunctions but the conjuncts Refer to things that are far away or near, identified from the discourse context or by must belong to the same category. pointing. (ie, they must all contain nouns or verbs, or prepositions, etc) Eg this, these, that, those. c) QUANTIFIERS: 3. PRONOUNS Specify the quantity, amount, size, range, or scope of a set of things. Pronouns- functional words which stand in the place of a noun. Eg all, both, no, some, five. Some examples of pronouns: 1. Personal: I like you; She saw the boots. Determiners can be pronominally (ie front of a noun that they modify) or 2. Possessive: This is my book; His talent is well-known. pronominally (ie used on their own without a following noun). 3. Relative: The book which I’m reading, is interesting. Prenominal use of determiners: 4. Demonstrative: This room is beautiful; Those geese are chasing me. She sees the book/ that cat/ those horses. 5. Interrogative: Which dog did you see? What fruit do you like? I like this shirt, but I don’t like that one. Pronominal use of determiners: He heard that. Personal pronouns in e.g. English/Afrikaans differ morphologically from nouns and I don’t like this. other pronouns in that they have (partially) distinct case forms. 2. CONJUNCTIONS This means that they change their form according to the position they occupy in the Conjunctions- join together two/more words or phrases. sentence. - Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but Nominative: Case that indicates the subject of a verb, e.g. He likes her. - Subordinate conjunctions: that, if, because, unless, as, when, while, after, Hy hou van haar. although, though. Accusative: Case that indicates a direct object, e.g. Conjunctions can co-ordinate/conjoin: She hates him. Pronouns: he and she Sy haat hom. Nouns: carrots and peas Noun phrases: the book or the computer Genitive: Case that indicates possession, e.g. Ayanda broke his heart. Prepositions: inside or outside the box Ayanda het sy hart gebreek. Prepositional phrases: on the table and under the chair. Adjectives: the curtails were red or orange. Adverb: she explained the work clearly and comprehensively Verb phrase: they eat muffins and drink tea Sentence: he drinks juice, and she eats oats  Syntax 16 Syntax 17 4. AUXILIARY VERBS Auxiliary verb- contributes grammatical information to the main verb. Test yourself Auxiliary verbs can be divided into various types: - Aspectual auxiliaries Identify the auxiliary verb in each sentence. Indicate whether it is an aspectual, - Modal auxiliaries modal or voice auxiliary. - Voice auxiliaries (a) I must remember my umbrella. - Aspectual aux.verbs Aspectual auxiliaries specify whether the action/event/state expressed by the main (b) James can speak three languages. verb is in progress, or completed, or habitual, or momentary, or repeated. In other words, it marks the duration or type of temporal activity denoted by the verb. (c) Will you pass me the salt? (d) The cows were milked this morning. Two types of aspectual auxiliaries: Perfect (or perfective) aspectual auxiliary (e) I have experienced many winters. In English, this type of aspectual auxiliary is represented by different forms of have: He has eaten; They had seen her; We have invited the girl. (f) The work was understood by the students. Progressive (or continuous) aspectual auxiliary In English, this type of aspectual auxiliary is represented by different forms of be that co-occur with a verb that takes the –ing suffix: She is sleeping; They are doing the work; He was laughing; They were singing; I am driving; She has been living there for years. - Modal aux.verbs Identify the auxiliary verb in each sentence. Indicate whether it is an aspectual, Modal auxiliaries specify the speaker’s attitude regarding the event expressed by the modal or voice auxiliary. verb: certainty, definiteness, vagueness, possibility, probability, necessity, etc. (a) I must remember my umbrella. must = modal auxiliary Examples of English modals: can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would, must. (b) James can speak three languages. can = modal auxiliary Examples of Afrikaans modals: kan/kon, sal/sou, mag/mog, wil/wou, moet/moes. (c) Will you pass me the salt? will = modal auxiliary (d) The cows were milked this morning. were = voice auxiliary - Voice aux.verbs (e) I have experienced many winters. have = aspectual auxiliary A voice auxiliary is involved in expressing the passive voice. (f) The work was understood by the students. was = voice auxiliary The passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb) and the object of a sentence rather than subject. This means that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know who or what the subject is. 4. Auxiliary verbs Are there any differences between main verbs and auxiliary verbs? In English, different forms of be (am, are, is, was, were, been) are used to express the PASSIVE voice, e.g. She was arrested; They have been killed. - Main verbs have descriptive meaning (actions, events, states).  Syntax 18 Syntax 19 Lecture 3: word classes - Main verbs take a variety of complements, such as: Function words prepositional expressions, e.g. He talked to the girl / They sleep in the room Function words- words which have no descriptive content but rather serve a nominal expressions, e.g. They buy coffee / She drives a car grammatical function. sentences, e.g. He said that he is tired / I wonder whether he is ill Auxiliary verbs only take verbs or other auxiliaries as a complement: Word classes that are function words (rather than content words): Jenna can paint ; Jenna could have painted 1. Determiners vs 2. Conjunctions * Mary can the car 3. Pronouns * Peter will in the garage 4. Auxiliary verbs Auxiliaries can undergo inversion with the subject: 1. DETERMINERS He can speak isiZulu -> Can he speak isiZulu? Determiners- words like the/this/that which are typically used to modify a noun, Hy kan isiZulu praat -> Kan hy isiZulu praat? but have no desriptive content of their own. In Modern Standard English the main verb cannot undergo inversion (in Afrikaans it Three types of Determiners: can). a) ARTICLES: - Idefinite: a/an In the absence of an auxiliary, English inversion requires do-support: - Definite: the You promise to come * Promise you to come? (Belowe jy om te kom?) Do you promise to come? b) DEMONSTRAIVE PRONOUNS: - Refer to things that are far away or near, identified from the discourse contect or She ate the chocolates * Ate she the chocolates? (Eet sy die sjokolade?) by pointing. Did she eat the chocolates? Eg. This, these, that, those. c) QUANTIFIERS: - Specify the quantity, amount, size, range , or scope of a set of things. Eg. All, both, no, some, five.  Syntax 20 Syntax 21 Determiners can be used prenominally (ie. In front of a noun that they modify) or 3. PRONOUNS pronomically (ie. Used on their own without a following noun). Pronouns: functional words which stand in the place of a noun. Penominal use of determiners: Some examples of prononus: She sees the book/ that cat/ those horses. 1. Personal: I like you; She saw the boots. I like this shirt but I don’t like that one. 2. Possessive: This is my book; His talant is well-known. 3. Relative: the book which I’m reading, is interesting. Pronominal use of determiners: 4. Demonstrative: This room is beautiful; Those geese are chasing me. He heard that. 5. Interrogative: Which dog did you see? What fruit do you like? I don’t like this. Personal pronous in e.g English/ Afrikaans differ morphologically from nouns and 2. CONJUNCTIONS other pronouns in that they have (partially) distinct case froms. Conjunctions- join together two/ more words or phrases. - Coordinating conjunctions: and, or, but. This means that they change their form according to the postiton they occupy in the - Subordinate conjcuntions: that, if, because, unless, as, when, while, after, sentence. although, though. Nominative: case that indicates the subject of a verb. Conjunctions can co-ordinate/ conjoin: Eg. He likes her. Pronouns: he and she. Nouns: carrots and peas. Accusative: case that indicates a direct object. Noun phrases: the book or the computer. Eg. She hates him. Preposition: inside or outside the box. Prepositional phrase: on the table and under the chair. Genitive: case that indicates possession. Adjectives: the curtains were red or oragne. Eg. Ayanda broke his heart. Adverbs: she explained the work clearly and comprehensively. Verbs phrases: they eat muffins and drink tea. 4. AUXILIARY VERBS Senetencs: he drinls juce and eats oats. Auxiliary verbs: contributes grammatical information to the man verb. The strings of words that are co-ordinated (or conjoined) are known as conjuncts. Auxiliary verbs can be divided into various types. - Aspectual auxiliaries A co-ordinate construction can contai two or more conjunctions, but the conjuncts - Modal auxiliaries must belong to the same catgeory (i.e. they must all be nouns, or verbs, or - Voice auxiliaries prepositions, etc).  Syntax 22 Syntax 23 Aspectual aux. verbs In English, different forms of be (am, are, is, was, were, been) are used to express Aspectual auxiliaries specify whether the action/event/state expressed by the main the PASSIVE voice, e.g. She was arrested; They have been killed. verb is in progress, or completed, or habitual, or momentary, or repeated. In other words, it marks the duration or type of temporal activity denoted by the verb. Two types of aspectual auxiliaries: Perfect (or perfective) aspectual auxiliary In English, this type of aspectual auxiliary is represented by different forms of have: He has eaten; They had seen her; We have invited the girl. Progressive (or continuous) aspectual auxiliary In English, this type of aspectual auxiliary is represented by different forms of be that co-occur with a verb that takes the –ing suffix: She is sleeping; They are doing the work; He was laughing; They were singing; I am driving; She has been living there for years. Modal aux verbs Modal auxiliaries specify the speaker’s attitude regarding the event expressed by the verb: certainty, definiteness, vagueness, possibility, probability, necessity, etc. Examples of English modals: can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would, must. Voice aux verbs A voice auxiliary is involved in expressing the passive voice. The passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb) and the object of a sentence rather than subject. This means that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know who or what the subject is.  Syntax 24 Syntax 25 Auxiliary verbs Lecture 4: Phrase structure (introduction) Are there any differences between main verbs and auxiliary verbs? Phrases - Main verbs have descriptive meaning (actions, events, states). A phrase is a 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 Main verbs take a variety of complements, such as: clause. Phrases often consist of several words clustered around a particular head prepositional expressions, e.g. He talked to the girl / They sleep in the room. word, which in some sense carries the central meaning of the whole phrase. nominal expressions, e.g. They buy coffee / She drives a car. sentences, e.g. He said that he is tired I wonder whether he is ill. Sentences are formed by combining words into phrases, and phrases into larger phrases. Auxiliary verbs only take verbs or other auxiliaries as a complement: Jenna can paint ; Jenna could have painted. Three key features of phrases: vs 1) They usually consist of several words (but in some cases a phrase can consist of * Mary can the car a single word) * Peter will in the garage 2) They function as meaningful units. 3) The most important word in a phrase is the head, which determines the category of the phrase. Auxiliaries can undergo inversion with the subject: He can speak isiZulu à Can he speak isiZulu? A phrase therefore consists of an obligatory head that can be combined with an Hy kan isiZulu praat à Kan hy isiZulu praat? optional complement. In Modern Standard English the main verb cannot undergo inversion (in Afrikaans it can).In the absence of an auxiliary, English inversion requires do-support: You promise to come * Promise you to come? Belowe jy om te kom?) Do you promise to come? She ate the chocolates * Ate she the chocolates? (Eet sy die sjokolade?) Did she eat the chocolates?  Syntax 26 Syntax 27 Phrase-head Phrase-structure The head of a phrase is the compulsory key word/element that determines the The complement of a phrase is a phrase as well, with its own head and (optional) grammatical and semantic properties of the overall phrase. complement. E.g. in “They are students of linguistics”, the phrase “students of linguistics” is a Consider again the NP “students of linguistics”. noun phrase (NP) of which the head is the noun “students”. The head is the noun “students”. The NP “students of linguistics” denotes a type of student, not a type of linguistics. The complement is the prepositional phrase (PP) “of linguistics”. In “The boy eats an ice cream”, the phrase “eats an ice cream” is a verb phrase The PP “of linguistics” is also a phrase: the head is the preposition “of” and the (VP) of which the head is the verb “eats”. complement is the NP “linguistics”. The VP “eats an ice cream” specifies a type of action/event and not a type of noun. The NP “linguistics” is also a phrase: the head is the noun “linguistics” and there is In “I searched under the couch”, the phrase “under the couch” is a prepositional no complement. phrase (PP) of which the head is the preposition “under”. (Recall that phrases have an obligatory head and an optional complement). The PP “under the couch” conveys a location, rather than a type of noun. Types of phrases Phrase-complement We will consider three types of phrases: The complement of a phrase is the syntactic element that modifies/describes the (a) Noun phrase (NP) phrase-head. (b) Prepositional phrase (PP) (c) Verb phrase (VP) In the NP “students of linguistics”, “of linguistics” is the complement of the head of the NP, namely “students”. 1. Noun phrase (NP) The head of a noun phrase (NP) is a noun. In the prepositional phrase (PP) “on the table”, we have “the table” as the This noun is the most important part of the phrase and tells us “what the phrase complement of the preposition “on”, which is the head of the PP. is about”. Consider the noun phrase: “the big tree”. - This phrase is about the noun “tree”, which forms the head of the NP. - The Determiner “the” modifies the noun by stating that it is a specific tree. - The Adjective “big” also modifies the noun by describing the length of the tree.  Syntax 28 Syntax 1 2. Prepositionl phrase (PP) 3. Verb phrase (VP) The head of a prepositional phrase (PP) is a preposition. PPs often have an NP as a The verb in a VP can occur before its noun phrase (NP) complement: complement. - The phrase “behind the box” is a PP. Noi parliamo francese. (Italian) Thina sithenge imigexo. - The head of the PP is the preposition “behind”. we speak French (isiZulu) - The complement of the PP is the NP “the box”. “We speak French.” we bought necklaces “We bought necklaces.” Note: the head of a PP does not always occur to the left of the complement. The head of the VP: “parliamo” In a PP with a preposition, the head occurs before the complement. (“speak”) The head of the VP: “sithenge” In a PP with a postposition, the head occurs after the complement. (“bought”) The complement of the VP: PP with a preposition: PP with a postposition: “francese” (“French”), The complement of the VP: Ada is bij het station. (Dutch) yuwaal nganh (Guugu Yimidhirr) which is an NP. “imigexo” (“necklaces”), Ada is at the station beach from which is an NP. “Ada is at the station.” “from the beach” The head of the PP: “bij” (“at”) The head of the PP: “nganh” (“from”) The verb in a VP can also occur after its noun phrase (NP) complement: The complement of the PP: The complement of the PP: Gakusei -ga hon-o yonda. (Japanese) Gudaa-ngun yarrga dyinday. (Guugu “het station” (“the station”), “yuwaal” (“beach”), student book read Yimidhirr) “The student read a book.” dog boy bit which is an NP. which is an NP. “The dog bit the boy.” The head of the VP: “yonda” (“read”) The head of the VP: “dyinday” (“bit”) The complement of the VP: The complement of the VP: “hon-o” (“book”), “yarrga” (“boy”), which is an NP. which is an NP. Syntax 1  Syntax 2 Syntax 3 Lecture 5: Phrase structure rules Noun phrases (NPs) can also contain Adjectives. Phrase structure rules Let’s write the PSR for “The purple elephant”. The arrangement of the elements that make up a phrase is regulated by a special 1. Identify the word class of each element. type of grammatical mechanism called a phrase structure rule. the = Det purple = Adjective Phrase structure rules describe the nature and position of each element in a phrase. elephant = Noun General rules for writing phrase structure rules: 2. Identify the type of phrase: “the purple elephant” is a noun phrase (NP) and 1. Identify the word class of each element. “elephant” is the head (=noun) 2. Identify the type of phrase. 3. Write down the phrase type, followed by an arrow. 3. Write down the phrase type, followed by an arrow. NP à 4. Add the phrase head and the phrasal complement. 4. Add the phrase head and the phrasal complement. NP à Det Adj N 5. Repeat this pattern for the phrasal complement. (Note: you also don’t have to write a separate PSR for Adjectives. In other Phrase structure rules: NPs words, your PSR for “the purple elephant” will end at NP à Det Adj N) Noun phrases (NPs) typically consist of a determiner and a noun. Reminder from Lecture 3: “Determiner” is an umbrella term and includes Articles Prepositions typically take noun phrases (NPs) as complements: “in the street” (e.g. the, a, an), Demonstrative pronouns (e.g. this, that, these, those), and 1. Identify the word class of each element. Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, three, five). in = Preposition [This is the head of the phrase] Let’s follow the rules to write the PSR for “the cat”. the = Det [These elements form the phrasal complement] street = Noun [“the street” is an NP] 1. Identify the word class of each element. the = Determiner (abbreviated as Det) 2. Identify the type of phrase: “in the street” is a prepositional phrase (PP) and “in” is cat = Noun the head (=preposition) 2. Identify the type of phrase: “the cat” is a noun phrase (NP) and “cat” is the head 3. Write down the phrase type, followed by an arrow. PP à (=noun) 4. Add the phrase head and the phrasal complement. PP à P NP 3. Write down the phrase type, followed by an arrow: NP à 4. Add the phrase head and the phrasal complement: NP à Det N 5. Repeat this pattern for the phrasal complement. PP à P NP (Note: for the purposes of this course you don’t have to write a separate PSR NP à Det N for Determiners. In other words, your PSR for “the cat” will end at NP à Det N) If the PP contains a postposition, follow the word order of the given phrase: Ek ry nou kantoor toe. (Afrikaans) I drive now office to “I’m driving to the office now.” PSR for “kantoor toe”: PP à NP P NP à N  Syntax 4 Syntax 5 Let’s write the phrase structure rule for “understand the work” 1. Identify the word class of each element. understand = verb [This is the head of the phrase] the = determiner [These elements form the phrasal complement] work = noun [“the work” is an NP] 2. Identify the type of phrase: The phrase is a verb phrase (VP). 3. Write down the phrase type, followed by an arrow. VP à 4. Add the phrase head and the phrasal complement. VP à V NP 5. Repeat this pattern for the phrasal complement. VP à V NP NP à Det N  Syntax 6 Syntax 7 Lecture 6: Phrase structure Constituency tests Inside a sentence, words group together to form constituents. Words may group into constituents in different ways, even within a single sentence Numerous tests can help us determine whether a given set of words form a constituent. Constituency test: A test to determine whether one or more words that occur together act as a syntactic unit. If one of the tests applies to a string of words, they form a constituent. We will make use of three constituency tests in this module: 1. Substitution test (also called the Replacement test) 2. Coordination test 3. Sentence fragment test 1. Substitution test Constituents can often be replaced by another element. Noun phrases (NPs) can be substituted by a pronoun like “they” or “it”: The cats played with the yarn. à They played with the yarn. The plants enjoy sunlight. à The plants enjoy it. Verb phrases (VPs) can be substituted by the phrase “do so”: The students will wear ties. à The students will do so. (Remember that a VP also includes the object of the sentence) Prepositional phrases (PPs) can be substituted by a single phrase like “there”: They stopped at the corner. à They stopped there.  Syntax 8 Syntax 9 Note that two elements cannot be coordinated if they do not have the same function, even though they may be constituents of the same category. For example, if we tried to coordinate a PP that describes an NP with a PP that forms part of a VP, the result would be ungrammatical: * the bishop shot the bank manager with a moustache and with a gun. The PP “with a moustache” forms part of the NP “the bank manager with a moustache” and therefore cannot be coordinated with the PP “with a gun”. 2. Coordination test The coordination test is used to determine whether two constituents belong to the same category. Can add “and” / “or” to make it make sense. Eg: visit the library and don’t be late. Conjunctions can co-ordinate/conjoin: Pronouns: he and she Nouns: carrots and peas Noun phrases: the book or the computer Prepositions: inside or outside the box Prepositional phrases: on the table and under the chair Adjectives: the curtains were red or orange Adverbs: she explained the work clearly and comprehensively Verb phrases: they eat muffins and drink tea Sentences: he drinks juice and she eats oats The strings of words that are co-ordinated (or conjoined) are known as conjuncts. A co-ordinate construction can contain two or more conjuncts but the conjuncts must belong to the same category (i.e. they must all be nouns, or verbs, or prepositions, etc.). Constituents that do not belong to the same category cannot be coordinated: * I saw a bird (VP) or under the table (PP) * He jumped (VP) and the cat (NP)  Syntax 10 Syntax 11 3. Sentence fragment test If a string of words can serve as the answer to a question, they form a constituent. “A tired student drinks many coffees in the morning.” Who drinks coffee? à “a tired student” (= a constituent) à * “a tired” (not a constituent) à * “tired student drinks” (not a constituent) What does a tired student drink? à “many coffees” (= a constituent) What does a tired student do in the morning? à “drinks many coffees” (= a constituent) à * “drinks many” (not a constituent) When does a tired student drink coffee? à “in the morning” (= a constituent) à * “in the” (not a constituent)  Syntax 12 Syntax 13 Lecture 7: Clauses & sentences 2. Subject of infinitival clause not pronounced: She wants to see the movie. Clauses The underlined infinitival clause does not contain a pronounced subject. A clause is a meaningful unit of language. A clause can be a sentence (e.g. “I see the dog”), but sometimes two or more clauses need to combine to form a sentence In English an infinitival clause contains the infinitival marker “to”: (e.g. “I know” + “that you are here”). Takawira likes to drink tea. The main element of a clause is the verb phrase (VP): each clause must contain a In Afrikaans the “om te” construction marks the clause as infinite: verb phrase. Ek verkies om te draf. The verb phrase is usually accompanied by a subject noun phrase (NP). I prefer INF to jog “I prefer to jog.” You can determine the number of clauses in a sentence by counting the number of verb phrases: In isiXhosa an infinite clause is indicated by the prefix “uku” which joins to the verb: Utata unqwenela ukuthenga imoto. The team knows that their leader brought coffee. father desires to-buy car “Father desires to buy a car.” Number of VPs: two à “knows that their leader brought coffee” and “brought coffee”. Thus, two clauses: 1. “The team knows” 2. “That their leader brought coffee” “That” is a conjunction which conjoins the two clauses. Finiteness A clause can be either finite or infinite. Finite clause: A clause containing an auxiliary or main verb which can have a nominative subject (e.g. “he/she/they”): She remembers the interesting book. You can identify and change the tense in a finite clause: present tense You can change the tense: She remembered the interesting book. (Past tense) She will remember the interesting book. (Future tense) Infiniteness Infinite clause: A clause containing a verb in the infinitive form (“to” + VERB): I like to bake cookies. The subject of an infinite clause is either in the accusative form (e.g. “him/her/them”) or not pronounced. 1. Subject of infinitival clause in the accusative form: I want him to do the work. In the underlined infinitival clause the subject “him” is in the accusative form (= object form)  Syntax 14 Syntax 15 Simple sentences Simple sentence: a sentence that contains only one clause and one verb phrase. Some examples of simple sentences: The dog chased its tail. Hy pak die boeke op die boekrak. (Afrikaans) he packs the books on the bookshelf “He packs the books onto the bookshelf.” Ea hot an neichn Hund. (Austrian German) hy has a new dog “He has a new dog.” Compound sentences Compound sentence: contains two or more independent clauses which are separated by punctuation or coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but). Examples of compound sentences: Peter spiser og Jan læser avis. (Danish) Peter eats and Jan reads newspaper “Peter eats and John reads the newspaper.” Ingane iyakhala kodwa angi-azi nga-ubani. (isiZulu) child crying but NEG-know about-who “The child is crying, but I don’t know why.” James was die skottelgoed of vee die vloer. (Afrikaans) James washes the dishes or sweeps the floor “James washes the dishes or sweeps the floor.” Sentences Sentences are the largest unit of syntactic analysis. We will consider three types of sentences: 1. Simple sentence 2. Compound sentence 3. Complex sentence  Syntax 16 Syntax 17 Complex sentence Interrogative Mood Complex sentence: a combination of an independent main clause and a Interrogative mood is associated with questions: dependent subordinate clause. The subordinate clause usually cannot function as a sentence on its own. Miért van itt olyan hideg? (Hungarian) why is here so cold Complex sentences make use of subordinating conjunctions: that, if, because, “Why is it so cold here?” unless, as, when, while, after, although, though. Wat heeft hij gegeten? (Dutch) Examples of complex sentences: what has he eaten She’s tired because she didn’t sleep much. “What did he eat?” Er hat gefragt ob sie kommen will. (German) he has asked if she come will Wie findest du den neuen Film? (German) “He asked if she wanted to come” how find you the new movie “What do you think of the new movie?” Elle peut dire que Jean peut aller. (French) she can say that Jean can go Imperative Mood “She can say that Jean can go.” Imperative mood is associated with commands: Doen jou huiswerk! (Afrikaans) Mood do your homework Mood: refers to the pragmatic force of a clause, i.e. “what type of clause” it is. “Do your homework!” We will consider the following moods: Hlamba izitya! (isiXhosa) 1. Declarative mood (you)-wash the-dishes 2. Interrogative mood “Wash the dishes!” 3. Imperative mood 4. Irrealis mood Komm, denk darüber nach! (German) come think about.it after Declarative Mood “Come on, think about it!” Declarative mood is associated with statements: Irrealis Mood I write with a pencil. Irrealis mood refers to an event or state of affairs which is hypothetical / not real / not (yet) existing. Umfazi wakha indlu. (isiXhosa) the-woman builds a-house Irrealis mood is indicated by the infinite marker “to” (in English) and “om te” (in “The woman builds a house.” Afrikaans). Infinite clauses are optionally introduced by “for”/ “vir”. Mankany amin’ ny restauranta izy. (Malagasy) goes to the restaurant he I prefer (for) John to come. “He goes to the restaurant.” Dit sal goed wees vir Jan om te kom. (Afrikaans) it will good be for Jan INF to come Der Mann liebt die Frau. (German) “It will be good for Jan to come.” the man loves the woman “The man loves the woman.” Infinite clauses are always associated with the irrealis mood. Syntax 18 Syntax 19 Complementisers Words that are used to introduce sentences / clauses. In languages like English, Afrikaans, German, Dutch etc., overt ( = observable) complementisers can only be used to introduce subordinate / embedded / complement clauses: She said [ that they are going overseas ] Sy sê [ dat die kat tuna eet ] she says that the cat tuna eats “She eats that the cat eats the tuna.” I doubt [ if / whether they will come ] Ek wonder [ of hulle die werk verstaan ] I wonder whether they the work understand “I wonder whether they understand the work.” I prefer [ for him to do the work ] Ek verkies [ vir hom om die werk te doen ] I prefer for him INF the work to do “I prefer for him to do the work.” In other languages overt ( = observable) complementisers are also used to introduce main clauses: Razve on ne prixodil? (Russian) if he not came “Hasn’t he come?” An bpósfaidh tú mé? (Irish) if will-marry-to you me “Will you marry me?” Aya Ali ketab darad? (Persian) whether Ali books has “Does Ali have any books?” Functions of complementisers (C): 1. The C specifies whether the clause is finite ( = expresses tense) or non-finite / infinitival ( = without a particular tense). [I know] [that she sleeps]. Finite finite [I wonder] [if she kissed the girl]. Finite finite [I prefer] [for him to do the work]. Finite infinite  Syntax 20 Syntax 21 Functions of complementisers (C): Lecture 8: Sentence structure 2. The C specifies the pragmatic force of the sentence. The build of a sentence Declarative force [d-force] → declarative sentences (i.e. statements) [I know] [that she sleeps]. Sentence [d-force] [d-force] Clause Interrogative/question force [q-force] → questions (including indirect/embedded questions) Phrase [I wonder] [if she kissed the girl]. [d-force] [q-force] Word Irrealis force [i-force] → events/states that are hypothetical / not real / not (yet) existing Subject = the person/thing performing the action. [I prefer] [for him to do the work]. Verb = the action that is being done. [d-force] [i-force] Object = the person/thing to whom the action is being done. Representation of Cs in terms of features: Subject = the person/thing performing the action. The subject-NP has nominative case. that if for Object = the person/thing to whom the action is being done. The object-NP has [fin-tense] [fin-tense] [infin-tense] accusative case. [d-force] [q-force] [i-force] Personal pronouns in e.g. English/Afrikaans change their form according to their role whether I wonder [whether she left] in the sentence. [fin-tense] [q-force] subject (nominative case) object (accusative case) He saw the girl. The girl saw him. whether I’m not sure [whether to leave or not] Hy sien die meisie. Die meisie sien hom. [infin-tense] [q-force] Noun phrases in Eng/Afr do not change their form based on their role. He saw the girl. The girl saw him. Hy sien die meisie. Die meisie sien hom. In German, pronouns as well as noun phrases change their form according to their role: Du bist sehr groß. Ich lade dich zum Essen ein. You are very tall I invite you to meal PARTICLE “You are very tall.” “I invite you to dinner.” Der Hund ist schön Ich sehe den Hund. The dog is beautiful I see the dog. “The dog is beautiful.” “I see the dog.” Adjunct: An optional unit of language that provides additional information about the sentence  Syntax 22 Syntax 23 Adjuncts have an adverbial function and convey information about manner, time, place, instrument, etc. He reluctantly bought chocolates. The adjunct “reluctantly” conveys how the action took place. Ek sien hom in die straat. (Afrikaans) I see him in the street “I see him in the street.” The adjunct “in die straat” (“in the street”) conveys where the action took place.  Syntax 24 Syntax 25 Word order VSO word order Languages can be characterised according to the order of the Subject (S), Verb (V) and Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) word order: Object (O) in a neutral declarative sentence. Lladdodd y ddraig y dyn. (Welsch) killed the dragon the man Consider the English example below: “The dragon killed the man.” “The woman sees the cat.” Chonaic mé mo mháthair. (Irish Gaelic) saw I my mother Subject = the woman “I saw my mother.” Verb = sees Object = the cat Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) word order: Nahita ny mpianatra ny vehivavy. (Malagasy) The word order is Subject-Verb-Object. saw the student the woman “The woman saw the student.” Thus, English is an SVO language. Laʔallei doeʔ injo i-Baso. (Selayarese) took money the Baso There are six different word orders: “Baso took the money.” SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) word order: SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) 95% of the world’s languages follow one of these word orders Nahita ny mpianatra ny vehivavy. (Malagasy) VSO (Verb-Subject-Object) saw the student the woman “The woman saw the student.” VOS (Verb-Object-Subject) OVS (Object-Verb-Subject) only a small number of the world’s languages follow these Laʔallei doeʔ injo i-Baso. (Selayarese) OSV (Object-Subject-Verb) word orders took money the Baso “Baso took the money.” SVO word order Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order: Pierre aime Marie. (French) Pierre likes Marie OVS word order “Pierre likes Marie.” Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) word order: Kana yanimno biryekomo. (Hixkaryana) Zhāngsān shōudǎo-le yi-fēng xìn. (Mandarin) fish caught boy Zhangsan receive one letter “The boy caught a fish.” “Zhangsan received a letter.” Yuch Sop IoD. (Klingon) Mi amigo escribió el libro. (Spanish) chocolate eat man my friend wrote the book “The man eats chocolate.” “My friend wrote the book.” Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) word order: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order: Anana nota apa. (Apurinã) Hasan öküz-ü al-dɯ. (Turkish) pineapple I fetch Hasan ox-ACC bought “I fetch a pineapple.” “Hasan bought the ox.” Awad kalapéé hapʉ́h. (Nadëb) Watashi-ga sakana-o tabete iru. (Japanese) jaguar child see I-SUBJ fish-OBJ eat am “The child sees the jaguar.” “I am eating fish.” Terry-ka ku yeca-lul coahanta. (Korean) Terry-NOM that girl-ACC likes “Terry likes that girl.” Ek sal die hond sien. (Afrikaans) I will the dog see “I will see the dog.”  Syntax 26 Syntax 27 Lecture 9: Principles and parameters of langauge Requirements for an adequate theory of UG 1. Descriptively adequate theory Language Faculty 2. Explanatory adequate theory 3. Adequately constrained theory (= limited in its descriptive power -> All and only human languages) 4. Requirement / condition of learnability 5. UG theory must be economical Minimalist Syntax (= most recent model within the Generative approach) Innateness Hypothesis The Innateness Hypothesis states that certain aspects of competence are “known” without any previous language experience: already biologically available present at birth not acquired/learned part of genetic “inheritance” universal These aspects are expressed in the form of UG principles (principles of UG) UG Principles So, UG contains a set of genetically-determined principles that guides the child in acquiring a (first) language … But, genetically-determined principles do not mean that all languages are grammatically (i.e. morphologically and syntactically) identical. Languages show both lexical and grammatical differences. The Principles & Parameters approach accounts for the grammatical differences between languages. Universal Grammar What does the theory of UG look like, exactly what is its content? Linguists are still busy developing a full theory based on research on different languages. A scientifically acceptable theory of UG must meet certain general criteria / conditions / requirements.  Syntax 28 Syntax 29 Lecture 10: Principles and parameters of langauge Subject principle Subject Principle: Every complete sentence must have a subject. (1) The dog saw the squirrel. (English) (2) Maigret a abandonné l’enquête. (French) Maigret has abandoned the-enquiry. “Maigret has abandoned the enquiry.” (3) Belgae Caesarem timent. (Latin) Belgians Caesar fear “The Belgians fear Caesar.” (4) Johan zieht seine Jacke an. (German) Johan pulls his jacket on “Johan puts on his jacket.” UG Parameters How can the grammatical differences among languages be explained? Let’s compare the English and Italian examples: PARAMETERS (parametric variation): 1a. Io parlo Francese 1b. parlo Francese represent grammatical options I speak French *speak French express language specific grammatical aspects are in-born/innate 2a. Tu parli Francese 2b. parli Francese language-specific content acquired through exposure = unconsciously “learned” You (singular) speak French *speak French 3a. Lei parla Francese 3b. parla Francese She speaks French *speaks French 4a. Noi parliamo Francese 4b. parliamo Francese UG Principles We speak French *speak French In Lectures 10 - 12 we will consider three Principles of human language, namely the Subject principle (and its parameters), the Head p