Syntax Thestructureofsentences
Learningobjectives Explainthenotions “language organ” and “UniversalGrammar” Explainthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenlanguages (principlesandparameters) Explain how sentences are constructed
Evidence for anindependentlanguagefaculty: Peopledisplay a knowledgeofgrammarthat is deeperthanwhattheycouldgetfromthelinguisticinputtheyreceive – thepoverty-of-thestimulus argument Languageimpairment (aphasia/Downsyndrome): languageindependentfromintelligence
UniversalGrammar: Principles & parameters People – “pre-programmed” withprinciplesofgrammar – UniversalGrammar (UG) Universalgrammarhas a biologicalbasis– alanguage organ Principlesof UG are commonacross all languages One oftheseprinciples, which is considered as anessentialpropertyof human language, is recursion: allowsindividuals to understandanunlimitednumberofsentenceswithoutmemorizingeach one ofthem (cf. povertyofstimulus)
Principleofrecursion Grammars are finite but theynonethelessenableindividuals to produceandunderstandaninfinitenumberofsentences This is madepossiblethroughtheprincipleofrecursion Recursionmeansthatgrammaticalprocessescanapply more thanonce, whichenablesspeakers to producesentencesofindefinitelengthandcomplexity
Mechanismsofrecursion Embedding: One canalwaysaddadditionalsubordinateclauseswithin a frameofthe sentence e.g. This is thehousethatJackbuilt<ThisisthecheesethatlayinthehousethatJackbuilt< Thisisthe mouse thatnibbledthecheesethatlayinthehousethatJackbuiltetc. Coordination: Wecan use coordinatingconjunctions (and, but, oretc.) to link anindefinitenumberofsentences e.g. Marywent to theairportandJohnwenttothe bus station but Joannacancelled her tripandwent to themall.
Parametersof UG Some oftheprinciplesof UG are underspecified, whichmeansthattheycanberealizedthroughdifferentparametersindifferentlanguages Once all theparametershavebeencorrectly set for a particularlanguage, thenwehaveagrammar for thislanguage Example: everylanguage must have a subject – principle (underspecified); subjectcanbeexpressedindifferentways – parametervalues (pronounsinEnglishandItalian)
Modularityoflanguage Principlesandparameters – partof a syntacticcomputationalmechanism Thismechanismfeedsboththearticulatory (phonetic) componentandtheinterpretative (semantic) component Eachofthesecomponentsfunctionsindependently - modularity Variousmodulescanfeedeachotherthroughinterfaces Phoneticform (PF) interfacewitharticulatory module; Logicalform (LF) – interfacewiththeinterpretative module
Y-model: centralityofsyntax Syntaxdrawsinformationfromthelexiconand “feeds” both PF and LF PF LF Lexicon Syntax
Table ofgrammaticalcategories
Lexical vs. Functionalcategories Wordsthatbelong to lexicalcategories are semanticallyrichandcontributeprimarily to themeaningofthe sentence (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions) – opencategory Wordsinfunctionalcategories – semanticallyweak, andcontribute more to thegrammarofsentencesthan to themeaning (e.g. determiners) – closedcategory
Compositionality Grammarofeverylanguage – compositionalandhierarchical Sentences are madeofsmallerconstituents (phrases), whichinturn are madeupofevensmallerconstituents (words)
Compositionality: Constituencytests 1) nounreplacement (A girlwith a golden earring ate anapple > Sheateanapple vs. *Shewith a golden earring ate anapple)- onlyanentirenominalconstituentcanbereplacedwith a pronoun 2) verbreplacement (She ate anappleandsodid I vs. *She ate anappleandsodid I a pear)- onlyanentireverbalconstituentcanbereplacedwithdo Certain groups ofwordsform close units: constituents, e.g. Nominalconstituent (1) (NP=nounphrase), (2) verbalconstituent (VP=verbphrase)
Hierarchy Eventhoughsentences are linear on thesurface, theirconstituents are organizedin a hierarchicalway
Projection Composingthestructureof a sentence beginswithwordsthatbelong to categoriessuch as noun, verb, preposition, adjective, or determiner Thesewords – heads ofphrases Phrases are constructedbottom-up: wordsaredrawnfrom a lexicon – amentaldictionarystoredinpeople’s brain - andmergedintostructures Oncethey are insertedintostructuresthey project phrases (XPs) ofthe same category (e.g. NP, VP, DP) whichformlargerconstituentsthatcompose a sentence
Complementizerphrase (CP) Thebasicfunctionofcomplementizers is to turnanindependent sentence into a complement Thereforeeachsubordinateclause is headedbyanadditionalphraseprojectedbythecomplementizer (CP) Differenttypesofcomplementizersdepending on thetypeofsubordinateclause: indeclaratives, complementizers like that (I heardthatthosechildrenwant a puppy); ininterrogatives, complementizers like if (He wonderedif it wouldrain) A CP selects a TP inthiscontext
CP insimplesentences Matrixclausescanalsobedividedindifferenttypes (e.g. declarative, interrogative, exclamative) Insubordinatecontexts, differenttypesofclauses are associatedwithdifferentcomplementizers,
Adjunction Heads, complements, andspecifiersmakeupthecoremeaningof a phrase, whileadjunctsaddextradescription (Thoselittlechildreninthe park want a puppybadly)
Movement Besides building phrasestructures, syntaxcanalsomovepartsofphrasestructuresaround, bydetachingthemfromthepositioninwhichtheywereoriginallyinsertedinthestructure, andmovingthemsomewhereelse
Movementanddeletion Movementfunctionsbycopyinganiteminto a new location, leaving a copyinthe original position (sometimesdescribed as a trace (t). Thiscopy must laterbedeleted, becausebothcopiescannotbepronounced at the same time Syntaxdistinguishesbetweentwotypesofmovements: headmovement (e.g. auxiliarymovementinquestions) andphrasalmovement (e.g. wh-movementinquestions)
Summary Muchofgrammaticalstructuredoesnothave to be “learned” People “know” a lotaboutwhat is or isn’t a possiblegrammaticalstructurewithouthavingbeentaught, or evenhaving had therightkindofexperience to havelearned it: theyknowitbecauseprinciplesof UG are innate Theprincipleofrecursionenablesindividuals to produceandunderstandaninfinitenumberofsentencesbased on a limitedinput (cf. Povertyofstimulus)
Summary One principleofthestructureofsentences – compositionality: sentences are composedofclausesandphrases, whichinturnaremadeupofsmallerclausesandphrases or words Compositionality - achievedbyprojectionofsimplephrasesfromwordsfromthementallexicon Thephrasesprojectedtake on thelexicalandfunctionalcategoriesofthewordsthat project them
Summary Some phraseshavecomplementand/or specifierbrancheswhichmergewithphrasesthathavebeenprojectedfromotherwords A specialkindofmerge – adjunction, whichallowsmodifiers (e.g. adjectivesandadverbs) to beincludedin a phrase Oncephrases are constructedbyprojectionandmerge, theycanbefurthermodifiedbyvarioustypesofmovement (e.g. headmovementandphrasalmovement)
Summary Formalsyntax - based on deducingabstractgrammaticalprinciplesfromobservingwhatsentences are possibleandnotpossible, withoutregard to how they are used Formalapproachesinsist on thecentralityofsyntaxwhithinthe human languagefaculty; othertypesofapproaches (e.g. functionalperspectives) put greateremphasis on semantics or languageusage
