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S Y N T A X

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS. S Y N T A X. Sentences?. Linguistics Levels. References:. Jong-Bok Kim and Peter Sells, English Syntax: An Introduction , November 20, 2007 Radford, Andrew, English Syntax: An Introduction , UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001

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S Y N T A X

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  1. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS S Y N T A X Sentences?

  2. Linguistics Levels

  3. References: • Jong-Bok Kim and Peter Sells, English Syntax: An Introduction, November 20, 2007 • Radford, Andrew, English Syntax: An Introduction, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001 • Fromkin, Victoria, An Introduction to Language, ninth edition, US: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 2009

  4. SYNTAX • the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences • "Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages

  5. (3) The arrangement of words in a sentence. Adjective: syntactic. • A sentence is a grammatical unit that is composed of one or more clauses . • Etymology: From the Greek, "arrange together"

  6. Noam Chomsky • It’s part of Linguistics • It’s part of the grammar of every language • And the grammar of a language is part of a native speaker’s linguistic knowledge

  7. UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR • Theory of Chomsky • UG has Principles, true of all languages • All languages have the same underlying structure • e.g. all languages have nouns and verbs • and Parameters, whose setting varies from language to language • English and Chinese SVO; Japanese SOV

  8. Phrase structure rules • Some words seem to belong together: • {The crazy man} {is jumping off the bridge} • Groups of words that belong together are called constituents • The component that determines the properties of the constituent is the head, and the constituent can be referred to as a phrase: e.g. noun phrase

  9. NP • If we look at phrases, some patterns emerge: Det N • the instructor = NP Det N • a friend = NP Det N • some homework = NP Det N • two classes = NP

  10. VP VP VP VP V V NP V NP PP Adv sang ate Det N sang Det N P NP badly the cake a song in Det N the shower

  11. Hierarchy • Another way to look at “hierarchies”: construction and constituents • The young must respect the old people. (A) the young (B) must respect the old people (C)the (D) young (E) must respect (F)the old people (G) must (H) respect (I) the (J) old people (K) old (L) people

  12. Clauses Clause Types: • S+V (The dog + is running) • S+V+O (The dog + bites + him) • S+V+C (The car + is + ready) • S+V+A (The picture + lays +on the ground) • S+V+O+O (I + give + him + a pen) • S+V+O+C (He + calls + John a fool) • S+V+O+A (Mary + saw + John +yesterday) • Note: subject (S), verb (V), complement (C), object (O), adverbial (A).

  13. 1.Tree Diagrams (1) “The girl chased the dog.” (Crystal 96) Thegirlchasedthedog • Identify the 2 major constituents (The girl + chased the dog) • Divide the next-biggest constituent into 2: chased + the dog • Continue dividing constituents into 2 units until we can go no further. e.g. the + girl, the + dog, chase + -ed

  14. 1.Tree Diagrams (2) • Tree Diagrams:Different levels in analysis • The tree diagram format may be viewed as: • A static representation of the structure of the sentence at the bottom of the diagram. • A dynamic format, representing a way of “generating” a very large number of sentences with similar structures (by the use of phrase structure rules).

  15. Phrase Structure S NP VP ART N V NP (DET) ART N the girl chased the dog

  16. Phrase Structure Rules • Phrase structure rules(Nash 75-77):present the information of the tree diagram in an alternative format S NP + VP VP V + (NP) + (PP) + (ADV) (ART) + (ADJ)* N NP PRO PP P + NP • Note: see Yule 105 for symbols and abbreviation definition.

  17. Example The children put the toy in the box S NP VP Det N V NP PP Det N P NP Det N The children put the toy in the box 18

  18. Example 19

  19. Deep and Surface Structure • The deep structure is an abstract level of structural organization in which all the elements determining structural interpretation are represented. • Sentences that have alternative interpretations • Sentences that have different surface forms but have the same underlying meaning. • Surface structure= how the sentence is actually represented

  20. Deep structure and surface structure refer • respectively to the abstract structure and to the actually produced structure. (wardaugh, 118) • VP  be + adj • Vi + Adv • Recursion: a set that permits an infinite expansion

  21. Deep and surface structure • How superficially different sentences are closely related? • Charlie broke the window. • The window was broken by Charlie • Charlie who broke the window. • Was the window broken by Charlie? • Difference in their surface structure = difference in syntactic forms • BUT they have the same ‘deep’ or underlying structure

  22. Structural Ambiguity • How superficially similar sentences are different? (multiple meanings) • E.g. Annie whacked the man with an umbrella • Same surface structure but different deep structure • The boy saw the man with a telescope • The question is: What is the scope of "with the telescope"? Does it modify only "the man" or does it modify "saw the man"?

  23. Structural Ambiguity (1)The boy saw the man with the telescope S NP VP Det NP N V Det N PP P NP Det N The boy saw the man with the telescope 24 Meaning: The boy saw the man. The man had a telescope.

  24. Structural Ambiguity (2)The boy saw the man with the telescope S NP VP Det N V NP PP Det N P NP Det N The boy saw the man with the telescope Meaning: Using the telescope, the boy saw the man 25

  25. Recursion Rules can be applied more than once in generating sentences E.g. repeat prepositional phrase more than once The gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom in the pink house Put sentences inside sentences This is the cat that ate the rat that ate the cheese that was sold by the man that lived in the city that was on the river… No end to recursion- produce longer complex sentences 26

  26. Recursion • Some phrasal categories may appear to the left or right of the arrow NP  (Det) N (PP) PP  P (NP) • Recursion: the property of language that allows for the embedding of categories (which can yield infinitely long phrases)

  27. the cat on the mat in the house on the street NP Det N PP the cat P NP on Det N PP the mat P NP in Det N PP the house P NP on Det N the street

  28. Back to recursion [Mary helped George]. (A sentence) [Cathy knew] that [Mary helped George]. (a sentence within a sentence) [John believed] that [Cathy knew] that [Mary helped George]. The word thatintroduces the complement phrase 29

  29. 3. Recursiveness (Recursion) • Recursive rule: VP VS (Yule 107) e.g.: John said [ Cathy thought (Mary helped George)]. • Another e.g. of recursiveness The Rose in My Garden This is the rose in my garden. This is the bee that sleeps on the rose in my garden. These are the holly hocks high above ground, that give shade to the bee that sleeps on the rose in my garden.

  30. Complement Phrases Cathy knew thatMary helped George That = complementizer (C) introducing complement phrase (CP) The CP comes after the VP S NP VP VP V CP CP C S 31

  31. Complement Phrases 32

  32. Transformational-generative grammar • Transformations: processes that change the deep structure into surface structure. • Generative: using phrase structure rules, se can produce (generate) infinite sentences. • Surface Structure: S NP VP V NP eat ART N the chou tofu

  33. TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR MODEL OF LANGUAGE Phrase structure Lexical component Deep structure Transformations Surface structure Morphophonemic rules Sentence

  34. Deep and Surface Structure • Deep and surface structure: “the form of a sentence we produce and understand is very often not the same as the basic form which shows its meaning” (Nash 79) A. Deep Structure: the abstract, underlying level, but basic form of the sentence B. Surface Structure: the superficial, syntactic form that we produce in reality e.g. old men and women e.g. Annie whacked a man with an umbrella.(Yule 103) same surface structure form, two underlying interpretations (deep structures) Other examples: 1. Help yourself. 2. The runner broke the world record.

  35. Deep Structure: S imperative NP VP transformation pro V NP ART N you eat the chou tofu

  36. Surface structure: Help yourself! • Deep Structure: S S NP VP reflexive NP VP pro V NP transformation pro V NP pro (reflexive pro) you help you you help yourself

  37. S NP VP imperative Pro V NPtransformation (reflexive pro) Help yourself You help yourself

  38. Transformational Rules Phrase structure rules represent ‘deep’ structure- always generate structures with fixed word order. Mary saw George recently Recently Mary saw George Transformational rules= take a specific part and attach it in another place You will help Cathy Will you help Cathy? 39

  39. Transformational Rules 40

  40. PARAPHRASE & AMBIGUITY Paraphrase When several surface structures relate to one deep structure. John bought the book from Mary. Mary sold the book to John. The book was sold to John by Mary. Ambiguity One surface structure relating to several deep structures. Flying planes can be dangerous. To fly planes. Planes which are flying.

  41. Language Ambiguity 1. Sentence Ambiguity: e.g.: Visiting relatives can be a nuisance. 2. Word Ambiguity: e.g.: The man put his straw on the floor.

  42. Exercises Draw a labeled tree diagram for the following English phrases. (Hint: what part of speech is the leader for the phrase?) a.  ancient pyramids b.  in the early evening c.  Drove a car 43

  43. Exercises Draw phrase structure trees for the following sentences: The puppy found the child The ice melted The hot sun melted the ice. The house on the hill collapsed in the wind. The boat sailed up the river. A girl laughed at the monkey. 44

  44. Domination – phrases can dominate words in a sentence tree. But how do we know which phrases dominate what? A tree has a hierarchical structure, which means that a node or label dominates all that is below it.

  45. We can see here that phrase A dominates phrase B and ‘in’. We know this because phrase A is above phrase B and it is above the word ‘in’. When a phrase is directly above something, we call this immediate domination. Phrase A immediately dominates phrase B and ‘in’, but it does not immediately dominate ‘the’ or ‘car’.

  46. The Grammatical Roles in Word Order • functions to distinguish the grammatical and semantic roles of sentence constituents. • Grammatical roles include subject, verb, object, complement, & adverbial. • Semantic roles include agent, action, goal, beneficiary, instrument, location, and more.

  47. The Grammatical Roles in Word Order • Word order helps us understand the grammatical function of each constituent. • Subjects in English for example are usually at the beginning of the clause. • John left yesterday after he gave his lecture. • Objects in English occur after the verb. • “Close the door,” she yelled, kicking it shut.

  48. The Semantic Roles in Word Order • Constituents also serve semantic roles in sentences, such as agent, action, goal, instrument, location and many more. • John opened the door with a key.agentactiongoalinstrument • subject verb object adverbial In most cases, grammatical & semantic roles overlap, but not always.

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