Syntax Ch 1 PDF

Ch 1: Heads and modifiers 1.1 Heads and modifiers Our discussion of syntax begins with two central ideas. 1. Certain relationships hold between words whereby one word, the head, controls the other words, the modifiers. A given head may have more than one modifier and may have no...

Ch 1: Heads and modifiers 1.1 Heads and modifiers Our discussion of syntax begins with two central ideas. 1. Certain relationships hold between words whereby one word, the head, controls the other words, the modifiers. A given head may have more than one modifier and may have no modifier. 2. Words are grouped into phrases and that groupings typically bring together heads and their modifiers. Examples: In the large dog, the word dog is the head, and the and large are its modifiers. In barked loudly, the word barked is the head and loudly the modifier.  A phrase, then, is a group of interrelated words. Groups of interrelated words can be moved around inside clauses as a single unit; here, we concentrate on the fact that in such groups we recognize various links among the words, between heads and their modifiers. This relationship of modification is fundamental in syntax. It will play an important role in the account of different types of clause (Chapter 6) and is crucial to discussions of word order in different languages.  Noun as the controlling word: 1. a. Ethel was sitting in her desk. b. *The Ethel was sitting in her desk. 2. a. *Accountant was sitting in her desk. b. The accountant was sitting in her desk. c. Accountants audit our finances every year. ▶Example (1a) is a grammatical sentence of English, but (1b) is not. Ethel is a type of noun that usually excludes word such as the and a/an. ▶Accountant is a different type of noun; if it is singular, as in (2a), it requires a word such as the or a. In (2c), accountants consists of accountant plus the plural suffix -s and denotes more than one accountant. It does not require the. Plural nouns, of course, exclude a or an but allow words such as some or more. 3.Some accountants were quietly counting in the back office.  The head of the above examples, Ethel and Accountant, have control toward other words, permit or exclude the plural suffix and words such as the or a/an.  Adjective as the controlling word: 1. Many adjectives such as sad or big allow words such as very to modify them – very sad, very big – but exclude words such as more – sadder is fine but more sad is at the very least unusual. 2. Other adjectives, such as wooden, exclude very and more – *very wooden, *more wooden. Prepositions as the controlling word: 1. Links noun to noun, adjective to noun, verb to noun ▶ books about antiques (N to N) ▶ rich in materials (Adj to N) ▶ aimed at the target (V to N) 2. Most prepositions must be followed by a group of words containing a noun or by a noun on its own. ▶ (They sat) around the table. 3. A small number of prepositions allow another preposition between them and the noun. ▶ (An owl swooped on the rabbit) from up in the beech tree. 4. Standard English prepositions can be followed by pronouns, but they exclude I, he, she, we and they and require me, him, her, us and them: ▶ *I’ve bought a present for she. (ungrammatical) ▶ I’ve bought a present for her. 1.2 Heads, modifiers and meaning The distinction between head and modifier is in the term of information that they conveyed. ▶ The head: conveying a central piece of information. ▶ The modifiers: conveying extra information. Example: ⇛ The expensive books ▨ books= the head/the main information ▨ expensive= the modifier/extra information about books ▨ The= the modifier/extra information, referring to a set of books which have already been mentioned or are otherwise obvious in a particular context.  The same narrowing-down of meaning applies to phrases containing verbs. Note first that different verbs have different powers of control. Some verbs, as in (1a), exclude a direct object, other verbs require a direct object, as in (1b), and a third set of verbs allows a direct object but does not require one, as in (1c). 1. a. *The White Rabbit vanished his watch / The White Rabbit vanished. b. Dogs chase cats / *Dogs chase. c. Flora cooks / Flora cooks gourmet meals. 1.3 Complements and Adjuncts Modifiers is divided into 2 classes: 1. Obligatory modifier known as Complement 2. Optional modifier known as Adjunct The term complement derives from Latin word "complēre" which means to fills out or completes the verb/noun/and so on with respect to syntax and meaning. The term of adjunct derives from Latin word "adjunctus" which means something adjoined, tacked on, and not part of the essential structure of clauses.  Example: My mother bought a present for Jeanie in Jenners last Tuesday.  The head= bought The verb bought controls all the other phrases in the clause and is the head of the clause.  The complement 1= My mother The head (bought) requires a human noun to its left, here mother.  The complement 2= a present for Jeanie The head (bought) requires a noun to its right that denotes something concrete  The adjunct= in Jenners last Tuesday The verb allows, but does not require, time expressions such as last Tuesday and place expressions such as in Jenners. With verbs, such time and place expressions are always optional and are held to be adjuncts. 1.4 Clauses In order to talk about syntax coherently, we need units for our analysis. 1. One unit is the phrase, which enables us to describe the relationship between other units, namely heads and modifiers, as in the accountant, very unhappy and in behind the sofa. 2. Another unit is the clause, which enables us to talk coherently about the relationships between verbs and different types of phrase. An ideal clause contains: 1. a phrase referring to an action/state 1. a phrase referring to the people or things involved in the action/state 2. a phrase referring to time or place (optional) Example: My mother bought a present is a clause. The phrase my mother refers to the buyer, bought refers to the action and a present refers to what was bought. We can add the phrase for Jeanie, which refers to the person benefiting from the action. Finally, we can tack on, or leave out, the place phrase in Jenners and the time phrase last Tuesday. The clause is a unit which as a minimum consists of a verb and its complements but which may consist of a verb, its complements and its adjuncts. The clause is a useful unit because it gives us a framework for discussing the relationship between, for example, bought and the other phrases. 1.5 Dictionary Entries and Collocations Dictionary entry is a set of information that describes the status of phrases as complement or adjunct. English possesses combinations of verb and object in which the actual lexical items that can occur are severely limited. The regular fixed combination of verbs and nouns, verbs and adjectives, or verbs and particular prepositions are called collocations, and they involve heads and complements. Examples: 1. toast bread (V+N), 2. prove useless (V+Adj) 3. blame someone for something (V+Prep) 1.6 Verbs, Complements, and the Order of Phrases The relationship between heads and modifiers are called dependencies or dependency relations. In this chapter, heads have been described as controlling modifiers; modifiers are said to depend on, or to be dependent on, their heads. Heads and their modifiers cluster together to form a phrase. Summary: Every phrase contains a head and possibly, but not necessarily, one or more modifiers. Each clause has a head, the verb. There are two types of modifiers, namely complements and adjuncts. Adjuncts are optional; complements are typically obligatory and are always mentioned in the lexical entries for verbs (or noun or prepositions).  Many collocation restrictions apply to head and complements (but also to phrases other than complements). Heads and complements are typically adjacent; where a head has two or more complements, adjuncts typically come before or after the sequence of head and complements.