SYNTAX

n Cornerstone of modern linguistic theory

n Generative syntax: Noam Chomsky
n Knowledge about ~:
n How to put sentences together (from phrases)
n How to put words into sentences
n What is grammatical, what is not:
The cat chased the dog.
*The a dog cat chased.

1
Sentence:
n Meaning of ~ ≠ sum of parts: relation
between elements!
The dog bit the man. ≠ The man bit the dog.
n Definition:
n Complete thought??
n Stretch of speech between 2 pauses??

n What a native speaker says is a sentence??

2
What is grammatical?
n Syntactically ungrammatical:
*The a dog cat chased.
§ Semantically problematic:
? My toothbrush is pregnant again.
§ Prescriptively “incorrect” (!) but grammatical:
Which town do you live in?
§ Whatever a native speaker says is ~:
But: variation! AmE, South: I might could do it.
BrE: [Have you seen it?] I have done.

3
Types of syntactic
ungrammaticality:
n Ordering:
*The a dog cat chased.

n Illicit movement:
John likes Mary. --> Who does John like?
That J likes M upsets P. --> *Who does J like that
upsets P?

n Lexical violations:
*John slept the baby.

4
Besides deciding on grammaticality,
speakers can also:
n Tell ambiguity:
a Chinese art dealer: a [Ch art] dealer vs. a Ch [art dealer]
n Paraphrase: (diff. sentences, same meaning, diff.
emphasis):
Teaching Mary is fun for Jane. ~ It’s fun for Jane to teach Mary.
~ (For Jane,) Mary is fun to teach.
n Identify grammatical relations:
Max ate the cake. Max: logical and gramm. subject
The cake was eaten by Max.
Max: logical subject; the cake: gramm. subject
Syntactic rules have to account for all this knowledge!

5
Grouping words into phrases and
sentences:
The man caught a fish.

[The man] [caught [a fish]].

The man caught a fish.

6
n Grouping: constituent structure
n Constituents are hierarchically organized
into sentence trees
n Sentence trees:
n show both linear order and hierarchy of
constituents
n mark syntactic categories of constituents

7
Example:
S
VP

NP NP PP <-- phrasal categories

Det N V Det N P N <-- lexical categories

The man caught a fish on Monday.

8
n Constituents: S, NP, VP, PP, AdjP, AP;
N, V, Adj, A, P, Det
n Phrasal categories:
NP, VP, AdjP, AP, PP
n Lexical categories:
N, V, Det, A, Adj, Conj

9
Syntactic ambiguity:
n Syntactically ambiguous phrases and
sentences have 2 different trees

10
 Ambiguity 1:

A Chinese art dealer A Chinese art dealer

11
Ambiguity 1:

1. NP 2. NP

AdjP AdjP NP

Det A N N Det A Adj N

a Chinese art dealer a Chinese art dealer

12
Ambiguity 2:
The police shot the spy with a gun.

1. The police shot [the spy with a gun].

2. The police shot [the spy] [with a gun].

13
Ambiguity 2:
Meaning 1: [the spy with a gun]
S
VP
NP NP PP
NP
Det N V Det N P Det N
The police shot the spy with a gun.

14
Ambiguity 2:
Meaning 2: [shot [the spy] [with a gun]]
S
VP
NP NP PP
NP
Det N V Det N P Det N
The police shot the spy with a gun.

15
Ambiguity 3:
I saw the lady from the shop.

1. I saw [the lady from the shop]. = the one

I usually see there
2. I saw [the lady] [from the shop]. = I was
in the shop, and I saw her from there

16
Ambiguity 3:
Meaning 1: [saw [the lady from the shop]]
S
VP
NP NP PP
NP
Pro V Det N P Det N
I saw the lady from the shop.

17
Ambiguity 3:
Meaning 2: [saw [the lady] [from the shop]]
S
VP
NP NP PP
NP
Pro V Det N P Det N
I saw the lady from the shop.

18
Ambiguity 4:
Jeff raises miniature badgers and raccoons.

1. Jeff raises [miniature [badgers and

raccoons]]. = all critters are small
2. Jeff raises [miniature badgers] and
[raccoons]]. = only badgers are small

19
Ambiguity 3:
Meaning 1:
[miniature [badgers and raccoons]]
S
VP
NP NP
NP
PN V Adj N Conj N
Jeff raises miniature badgers and raccoons.

20
Ambiguity 3:
Meaning 2:
[[miniature badgers] and [raccoons]]
S
VP
NP NP
NP NP
PN V Adj N Conj N
Jeff raises miniature badgers and raccoons.

21
PS-rules:
n Rules which tell us how to construct
sentences and phrasal categories
S NP PP
NP VP Det N P NP

S--> NP VP
NP--> Det N
PP--> P NP
22
PS-rules:
n All lges have them, but they might differ
from lg to lg:
English: VP --> V NP (catch a fish)
NP --> Det Adj N (the red hat)
Turkish: VP --> NP V (balık yakala)
French: NP --> Det N Adj (le chapeau rouge)

23
An intermediate structural
category:
n NP - N’ - N
n NP --> Det N’ [the [man on a bike]
[the [big fat badger]]
n N’ --> N (PP) [man [on a bike]]
n N’ --> AdjP N [[big fat] badger]
n VP --> V S’ [know [that you are nice]]
n S’ --> Comp S [that [you are nice]]

24
X’ (=X-bar):
n XP --> Specifier X’
n X’ --> X (Complement)
n Common PS-rules underlying all rules in
English and other languages
n Makes cross-linguistic comparison and
generalizations possible

25
Earlier sentence in X-bar:
I [saw [the lady from the shop]]
S
NP VP
N’ NP PP
NP
N’ N’
Pro V Det N P Det N
I saw the lady from the shop.

26
Book and poem titles: usually
phrasal constituents
n NPs:

27
VPs:

28
AP or AdvP:

AP:
AdvP:

29
PP:

30
S:

31
N’:

32
EXCEPTIONS:
nonconstituent titles

can you find

more?

(book titles, film

titles, song
titles, etc.)
33
Recursion: the infinitude of lg
The wonderful grey energetic young squirrel jumped.
NP--> Det N’
N’ --> AdjP N’

I said that Jack claimed that Mary knew that Amy understood that Kay
believed that it snowed on Sunday.
S --> NP VP
VP--> V S’
S’ --> Comp S

Only limit to recursion is human comprehension.

34
Recursion:
n Do all languages have it?
n Generative syntax: YES
n Dan Everett: no, Pirahã does not!
Canguro English podcasts,
“The story of language”
6 episodes
n https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cangu
ro-english/id1332528973

•
35
The lexicon
n Contains words and information on them:
n Subcategorization:
• find: V + NP (transitive verb) *Mary found.
• put: V + NP + PP *John put the dog.
• sleep: V (intransitive) *Jack slept the baby.
n Selection restrictions: semantic constraints
• Animate: eat: animate subject *Dinner ate me.
• Other: kill: living object *They killed the corpse.

36
Transformations
n Rules that move, insert or delete
constituents in sentences
n Move, e.g. questions: John is reading. Is
John reading?
n Insert, e.g. negatives: John is not reading.

n Delete, e.g. subject in Eng. imperatives:

Read! Sit down!
(But not always: You sit down!)

37
Two levels of analysis:
n Deep structure:
PS-rules provide structure
Lexical insertion rules insert words
n Transformations move, insert or delete if need be
n Surface structure:
The sentence that we say.
NB: if no transformation needs to apply, the Deep
Structure and the Surface Structure look the same.

38
Syntactic rules:
n PS-rules
n Lexical insertion rules
n Transformations

39