Syntax – ENGL 301 Chapter 1 PDF

8/28/2024 Syntax – ENGL 301 Chapter 1 Preliminaries 1. Prescriptive and descriptive grammar/rules 2. Competence vs. performance 3. Langu...

8/28/2024 Syntax – ENGL 301 Chapter 1 Preliminaries 1. Prescriptive and descriptive grammar/rules 2. Competence vs. performance 3. Language as a psychological property of humans 4. The scientific method as it applies to syntax and language science 5. Different kinds of data used: corpora and judgments 6. Learning vs. acquisition 7. Observational, descriptive and explanatory adequacy 8. Arguments for Universal Grammar 9. The logical problem of language acquisition 1  8/28/2024 Views of language… The object of study in linguistics…. What is it? There are at least two main views: First, a layperson’s view of language? We use it when we speak. We write it down. It is English, French, Arabic, Inuktitut, Urdu… Language?  Second, the linguist’s view.  What is this view?  It stems from the type of questions linguists ask about language! Under this view, language is Lingering questions: the complex system that is 1) How does language unique to humans and that actually work as a complex is acquired by any child system/phenomenon? naturally, effortlessly, and 2) How is acquired? very quickly. 3) How is it processed? 2  8/28/2024 Language? Clearly, language is a complex system and a complex phenomenon. It is a psychological, cognitive and (possibly) biological property of humans. Language as a biological feature? FOXP2-related speech and language disorder: – affects development of speech and language in childhood – Symptoms: apraxia (difficulty producing language units) (expressive language) – Difficulty understanding speech (receptive language) – Trouble with reading, writing, spelling, and grammar – https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/foxp2- related-speech-and-language-disorder/ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82iPQNd3kIw 3  8/28/2024 FOXP2 This gene is found in many vertebrates Has an important role – in mimicry in birds (such as birdsong) – in proper development of speech and language in humans. Mutations in FOXP2 cause severe speech and language disorders In mice and songbirds, this gene is necessary for vocal imitation. Language and cognition Language is a psychological or cognitive property of humans. But in what way is it so? 4  8/28/2024 A psychological/cognitive property Take a speaker-hearer situation: – One is speaking, (e.g., about syntax), creating sense and they say it without consciously knowing how they do it. – The other is listening to the other, makes sense out of what they hear without consciously knowing how they do it. For sure, something must be taking place in their minds/brains. Indeed, neurons firing away allowing one to produce a set of words and utterances to express ideas and thoughts So, it’s all psychological/cognitive and neurons in the hearer’s head working to allow them to translate these utterances into something similar to those ideas and thoughts. 5  8/28/2024 What does language science have to do with this? Well…language science: – is not about the ‘proper’ pronunciation of a word, – or the ‘correct’ order words, – or the ‘proper’ case marking (‫ )إعراب‬on a noun in Standard Arabic! Language science is about “the question of how we meaning subconsciously get from: signs (sounds or gestures) and words to signs meaning 6  8/28/2024 Linguistics is about finding out the nature and organization of linguistic knowledge. How is linguistic knowledge organized? Linguistic knowledge is … the knowledge of one’s L1 or L2 or L3 etc… And it involves/includes: – Knowing the sounds (or signs) and the sound system (phonology) – Knowing the words and their meanings (lexicon) – Knowing the structure of words and how they are related and created (morphology) – Knowing how sentences are formed, structured (syntax) – Being able to interpret chunks of language (semantics) 7  8/28/2024 But wait… Why is language interesting and worthy of scientific endeavor? Simply, because …. language is everywhere and extremely useful 8  8/28/2024 Second, it is a wonder out of curiosity But importantly, it is a window on the human mind/brain? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE 9  8/28/2024 And has practical benefits Language education Language technology Language rehabilitation Language planning Etc... A few important breakthroughs in the science of language 10  8/28/2024 Consider the sentence along the lines of the video Maryam sent a WhatsApp message to her friend sitting behind the twinkling star. Surely, no one here has ever heard or produced this sentence before! So, how are we able to understand it and how was I able to produce it? Behaviorism? Among the two main theories of language acquisition, behaviorism cannot answer this question, because imitation cannot have allowed me to produce and you to understand this sentence. 11  8/28/2024 Innateness We are able to do this because: Input Language does not come about through imitation. Rather….. ? A child listens for a limited language input The input is treated in the mind The child then produces an unlimited output Output Innateness Input Here lies a Language Acquisition Device Or what is called Universal UG Grammar Universal Grammar (UG) is the set of innate rules and principles that allow Output us to produce and understand all the possible sentences in our language 12  8/28/2024 Some terminology The I-E language distinction 13  8/28/2024 The (capital) L- (lower case) l distinction Language (for people) means some particular language (English, French, or Arabic). But, for linguists, it means the ability humans have to speak that (particular) language English, French, or Arabic). It is Chomsky’s Human Language Capacity. It is Language (with a capital L) or i-Language. It is whatever is in the mind or brain that allows speakers to use language. The (capital) L- (lower case) l distinction And it is different from language (with a lower-case l) (also known as e-language). e-Language is the instantiation of this human language ability (like French or English) in a social context. 14  8/28/2024 Language (=model) vs. language (=data) Linguists use Arabic language as their Englis French primary data, on h language the basis of which observation Hindi description they try to come analysis up with a model (or theory) of Theory of Language Language. Language Example of UG principle All languages have subjects, verbs and Input objects And these must be ordered in a sentence. UG contains parameters of word order: UG SVO, VSO etc… Very little input is enough to tell the child that her language is SVO or other. No need for a large number of sentences. Output 15  8/28/2024 Bigger picture Linguistics is part of cognitive science Cognitive Science Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the mind and its processes. It combines insights from psychology, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and anthropology to understand how we think, learn, remember, and perceive. Key areas of focus in cognitive science include: – Perception: How we interpret sensory information. – Memory: How we store and recall information. – Attention: How we focus on specific stimuli. – Language: How we understand and produce language. – Reasoning and Problem-Solving: How we make decisions and solve problems. – Emotion: How we experience and process emotions. 16  8/28/2024 Syntax as a Cognitive Science Cognitive Science: describes and explains human ability to know, think, perceive and feel, both concrete and abstract notions. Animals might do this, but humans can also talk about those notions using a highly complex, productive and combinatory system. Syntax as a Cognitive Science Linguistics is a central subdiscipline of Cognitive Science! And so is syntax (allowing us to produce combinatory expressions to talk about abstract notions) 17  8/28/2024 Why Generative? INPUT The main thesis is that all grammatical (CONCEPRT & THOUGHTS) sentences are generated by a subconscious set of procedures (like those of a computer program). These procedures are part of the human GENERATIVE SYSTEM mind ( or cognitive abilities). (RULES & PRINCIPLES) Syntactic theory has been aimed at: – modeling these procedures – and figuring out what humans subconsciously know about the syntax of OUTPUT their language (ALL & ONLY GRAMMATICAL STUCTURES) Why Generative? INPUT (CONCEPRT & THOUGHTS) Syntactic theory has been aimed at: – modeling these procedures – and figuring out what humans GENERATIVE SYSTEM subconsciously know about the syntax (RULES & PRINCIPLES) of their language OUTPUT (ALL & ONLY GRAMMATICAL STUCTURES) 18  8/28/2024 The Science of Syntax Linguistics as a branch of humanities? Yes! But it can be approached from a scientific perspective (modern linguistics) Science is defined by the method (the scientific method). Scientific Method Observe the relevant data Make generalizations about patterns in the data Develop hypotheses to account for these generalizations Test your hypotheses against more data Generalize, and revise if necessary Then test again 19  8/28/2024 Scientific Method Observe the relevant data Make generalizations about patterns in the data Develop hypotheses to account for these generalizations Test your hypotheses against more Gather and observe data data Generalize, and revise if necessary Make generalizations Make new hypotheses Then test again Develop hypotheses Aim: develop theories 20  8/28/2024 Observation In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence Collect data In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence John saw a lion. *Saw John a lion The lion scared the boy. *Scared the lion the boy The boy slept. *Slept the boy He read a book. *Read he a book 21  8/28/2024 Create a hypothesis In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence John saw a lion. *Saw John a lion The lion scared the boy. *Scared the lion the boy The boy slept. *Slept the boy He read a book. *Read he a book In a simple English sentence, the Subject precedes V and the V precedes the Object Test the hypothesis by gathering more data In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence John saw a lion. *Saw John a lion The lion scared the boy. *Scared the lion the boy The boy slept. *Slept the boy He read a book. *Read he a book In a simple English sentence, the Subject precedes V and the V precedes the Object Did John see a lion? Did the lion scare the boy? Has the boy slept? Did he read a book? 22  8/28/2024 Form a conclusion In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence John saw a lion. *Saw John a lion The lion scared the boy. *Scared the lion the boy The boy slept. *Slept the boy He read a book. *Read he a book In a simple English sentence, the Subject precedes V and the V precedes the Object Did John see a lion? Did the lion scare the boy? Has the boy slept? Did he read a book? We have a problem with the SVO hypothesis!!! Revise the hypothesis In any language, words are ordered in any given sentence John saw a lion. *Saw John a lion The lion scared the boy. *Scared the lion the boy The boy slept. *Slept the boy He read a book. *Read he a book In a simple English sentence, the Subject precedes V and the V precedes the Object Did John see a lion? Did the lion scare the boy? Has the boy slept? Did he read a book? We have a In a simple declarative English sentence, the Subject problem with the precedes V and the V precedes the Object SVO hypothesis!!! 23  8/28/2024 Another example Bill cut himself. an anaphor always agree in gender with the Observation noun *Bill cut herself. Hypothesis an anaphor must agree in gender with the Test hypothesis by collecting more data noun Sally cut herself. *Sally cut himself. Hypothesis confirmed an anaphor must agree in gender with the noun (if masculine or feminine) If you keep collecting data Bill and Sally cut themselves. an anaphor always agree in number with the Observation noun *Bill and Sally cut himself. Hypothesis an anaphor must agree in number with the Test hypothesis by collecting more data noun *Bill and Sally cut herself. *Bill cut themselves. *Sally cut themselves. Hypothesis confirmed an anaphor must agree in number with the noun (if masculine or feminine) an anaphor must agree in gender AND number with the noun (if masculine or feminine) 24  8/28/2024 If you keep collecting data *cut himself. an anaphor always has an antecedent (the *cut herself. Observation noun it refers to) *cut themselves. Hypothesis an anaphor must have an antecedent (the Test hypothesis by collecting more data noun it refers to) *saw/hurt/likes himself. *saw/hurt/like herself. *saw/hurt/like themselves. Hypothesis confirmed General hypothesis about such pronouns an anaphor must: i) have an antecedent and ii) agree with it in gender AND number with the noun (if masculine or feminine) And for a theory of language in general, we will have to examine anaphors in as many languages as we can have access to. 25  8/28/2024 Key Ideas/Concepts 26