Syntax

(Yule, 2006)
 Syntax
• The structure and ordering of components within a sentence.

• The word comes from the Greek and means “ a putting together” or
“arrangement”.
• There are different approaches for the different types of arrangements
 Generative Grammar
Noam Chomsky
• It is a very explicit system of rules which has a lot in common with the types of rules of
mathematics.

3x + 2y
We can “generate” an endless set of values by following the simple rules of arithmetic.
If the sentences of a language can be seen as a comparable set,
there must be a set of explicit rules that can produce all those
sentences.
 Syntactic structures
• A generative grammar defines the syntactic structures of a language.
• Grammar will generate all the well-formed syntactic structures (sentences) of
the language .
• “all and only” criterion: all the grammatical sentences and only the
grammatical sentences will be produced.
• Grammar: a finite number of rules will generate an infinite number of well-
formed structures.
 Deep and surface structure
• Two superficially different sentences:
Charlie broke the window.
The window was broken by Charlie.
Their difference is in their surface structure= different syntactic forms
(active and passive voice)
But it disguises the fact that the two sentences are very closely related at a less
superficial level…
 Deep structure

Charlie broke the window.

The window was broken by Charlie.

• As per Chomsky deep structure refers to concepts, thoughts, ideas & feelings
whereas surface structure refers to the words/language we use to represent
the deep structure.
• Have you ever experienced a situation where you felt words were not
enough to express what you had in mind?

• If yes, you already understand what is the difference between deep

structure and surface structure. Deep structure is what you wish to
express and surface structure how you express it in with the help of
words and sentence.
 Structural ambiguity
Veronica whacked a man with an umbrella.

Veronica had an umbrella and whacked a man with it.

Veronica whacked a man that happened to be carrying an umbrella.

The sentence has two distinct underlying interpretations.

 Comedian Groucho Marx once said…
I once shot an elephant in my pajamas;
How he got in pajamas, I’ll never know.

Underlying (deep) structure 1: I shot an elephant (while I was) in my pajamas.

Underlying (deep) structure 2: I shot an elephant (which was) in my pajamas.
There are 2 underlying structures with the same surface structure
 Now try these structures
• “Speaking to you as an intelligent person”
• “My spouse’s parents treat my children differently because they are
handicapped.”
• “I bought colorful clothes” and “Colorful clothes were bought by me”
 Recursion
• This property allows for the repetition of any number of items when
generating a structure.
e.g. prepositional phrase describing location (on the table):
The gun was on the table.
We can repeat this type of phrase with different words: near the window -
in the bedroom, for as long as the sentence makes sense.
The gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom.
 …sentences inside other sentences.
Christian knew that Ariana helped Cesar.

Ariana helped Cesar is inside it.

Sebastian believed that Christian knew that Ariana helped Cesar.

 Symbols used in syntactic structure
We saw in the previous chapter (grammar) some abbreviations for syntactic
categories:
S = Sentence NP= Noun Phrase N= Noun Art= Article
But, there are 3 more symbols that are commonly used in syntactic description:
An arrow ( ) which is interpreted as “consist of ” or “rewrites as” and it is
typically used for notating rules:
NP Art N
 Symbols used in syntactic structure
The second symbol is a pair of parenthesis (or round brackets).
This symbol means that whatever happens inside them is optional.
e.g. the dog or the small dog
Both are NP; we can include and adjective in English to the NP, but we don’t
have to.
NP Art (Adj) N
The third symbol is in the form of curly brackets { }.
They indicate that only one of the elements enclosed within the curly brackets
must be selected. In other words, there is a choice from 2 or more constituents.
NP= the dog – it – Daniela
Pro – PN
NP Art N NP Pro NP PN
NP {Art N, Pro, PN}
Art N
NP Pro
PN
 Tree diagrams
• In the previous chapter (grammar) we looked at ways to describe the
structure of sentences as a linear sequence of constituents.
• A tree diagram is a more explicit representation of the hierarchical
organization of a structure.
Phrase structure rules
Lexical rules
• What, who, which are pronouns
• Why, how, where, when are adverbs
• This, these, that, those and ‘s are determiners
For visualizing the phrase structure, we can
draw a tree diagram:
 Back to recursion
Christian knew that Ariana helped Cesar.

“that” is know as a Complementizer (C)

Its role is to introduce a Complement Phrase (CP)
CP CS
VP V CP
Looking at the
previous rules:
• S NP VP
• VP V CP
• CP C S

Sebastian believed that Christian knew that Ariana helped Cesar.

Transformational rules
Using info from the phrase structure rules,
complete the following tree diagrams.
Using info from the phrase structure rules, complete
the following tree diagrams.
•

My head hurts.
The accident upset them.
The brick wall collapsed.
Give the next person another turn.
Which tall dark-haired man is my big brother?
Seven sevens are forty-nine.
All the glazed pots are my own work.