Syntax The analysis of sentence structure

1. Syntax The analysis of sentence structure

2. Syntax in Linguistic Tree Linguistics Sounds of language Grammar Meaning Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Syntax Dr Alok K Das

3. Why syntax? • 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 Syntax Dr Alok K Das

4. 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 Syntax Dr Alok K Das

5. All languages have constituents • Take a simple sentence • Johnny danced • We can call the sentence S, and label the syntactic categories N and V S N Johnny V danced Syntax Dr Alok K Das

6. What are the NP and VP? • The frog ate the lizard. • The frog sat on the lilypad. • The fat frog ate the long lizard slowly. • The fat frog with a lizard in its mouth sat on the lilypad. • The fat frog who was sitting on the lilypad with a lizard in its mouth danced the lambada. Syntax Dr Alok K Das

7. Lexical categories Noun (N) Verb (V) Adjective (A) Preposition (P) Adverb (Adv) Examples moisture, policy melt, remain good, intelligent to, near slowly, now Syntactic Categories Syntax Dr Alok K Das

8. Syntactic Categories Non-lexical categories • Determiner (Det) • Degree word (Deg) • Qualifier (Qual) • Auxiliary (Aux) • Conjunction (Con) Examples • the, this • very, more • always, perhaps • will, can • and, or Syntax Dr Alok K Das

9. Phrases • NP : Noun Phrase The car, a clever student • VP : Verb Phrase study hard, play the guitar • PP : Prepositional Phrase in the class, above the earth • AP : Adjective Phrase very tall, quite certain Syntax Dr Alok K Das

10. Phrase Structure Rules • NP  (Det) N (PP) • PP  P NP The bus in the yard NP The bus (NP) Det N Det N PP The bus P NP Det N The bus in the yard Syntax Dr Alok K Das

11. Phrase Structure Rules • VP  V (NP) (PP) • S  NP (Aux) VP took the money from the bank VP took the money (VP) V NP V NP PP Det N Det N P NP took the money Det N took the money from the bank Syntax Dr Alok K Das

12. Draw the tree diagram. 1. repaired the telephone 2. the success of the program 3. a film about pollution 4. move towards the window 5. cast a spell on the broomstick Syntax Dr Alok K Das

13. Example The old tree swayed in the wind S Aux NP VP Det Adj N V PP P NP Det N The old tree past swayed in the wind Syntax Dr Alok K Das

14. 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 Syntax Dr Alok K Das

15. Draw two phrase structure trees representing the two meanings of the sentence: The magician touched the child with the wand. Be sure you indicate which meaning goes with which tree. Syntax Dr Alok K Das

16. Draw the deep structure of the following sentences • Will the boss hire Hillary? • Is that player leaving the team? • Who should the director call? • What is Joanne eating? Syntax Dr Alok K Das