Transcript Syntax

Linguistics 1
Syntax
Week 2
Lectures 3 & 4
Topics for Syntax
1. The concept of Universal Grammar (UG)
2. Non-viable models for UG
3. Hierarchical grouping of words into phrases
4. Grammatical categories
5. Phrase Structure Grammar
6. Recursion
7. Meaningfulness vs. Grammaticality
8. Word order typology: using S, O, V to categorize
9. “Head of a Phrase” and HEAD INITIAL vs. HEAD FINAL
10. Free word order languages and function marking
2
Expressing lists: ‘I ate peas, carrots, and broccoli’.
Which of the following would probably be
excluded from ALL languages by a principle of UG
as a way to express a list like this?
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of
topics
I ate and-peas and-carrots and-broccoli.
I ate and and and peas carrots broccoli.
I ate peas-and carrots-and broccoli-and.
I ate peas carrots broccoli.
3
Which of the following could NOT be generated
by this word-chain grammar?
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of
topics
The herds are stampeding.
The herds is stampeding.
The herd of cows is stampeding.
The herd of cows are stampeding.
4
Hierarchical structure (1): Which of the trees
represents the complaint of the woman?
A. Tree #1
B. Tree #2
List of
topics
5
Hierarchical structure (2): Which tree represents the understanding of the executive?
A. Tree #1
B. Tree #2
List of
topics
6
Grammatical categories (1): What grammatical
category did Joe have in mind?
Joe was in court fighting a ticket for
parking in a restricted area. The judge
asked him if he had anything to say in
his defense. “They should not put up
such misleading notices,” said Joe.
A. Noun
B. Verb
C. Adjective
List of
topics
7
Grammatical categories (2): What grammatical
category did the server have in mind?
Customer: I would like to have two
lambchops, and make
them lean, please.
Server: To which side, sir?
A. Noun
B. Verb
C. Adjective
List of
topics
8
Phrase Structure grammar: Which sentences
would this grammar NOT generate? State why.
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of
topics
My dog snored loudly.
My dog fiercely growled at my cat.
My cute dog eats pretzels.
My dog in the car in the garage started the engine accidentally.
9
Recursion: Which rule would handle the
recursion in this cartoon?
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of
topics
S  NP VP (S)
VP  V if S
VP  V (if S)
VP  V (if S) (if S) (if S)
10
Trees for 3 and 4
3
4
There is no recursion. The
VP rule just keeps adding
“if” clauses linearly
(though one could stay
“inside” the first (if S) to
generate a structure like
3).
We can return recursively to the S rule, which gives us another VP.
List of
topics
11
Categorize the language in each video clip or
picture as A, B, C, or D.
A.
B.
C.
D.
List of
topics
Meaningful and grammatical
Meaningless but grammatical
Meaningful but ungrammatical
Meaningless and ungrammatical
12
What is your your "home" language, basically,
the language you grew up speaking with your
parents?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
List of
topics
English
Spanish
Korean
Mandarin Chinese
Cantonese
Vietnamese
Japanese
Farsi/Persian
Arabic
Other
13
What is the word order type of your
“home” language?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
List of
topics
SOV
SVO
VSO
VOS
Free word order
I have no idea
14
What is are we referring to by saying that a word
is the “head of a phrase”?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
List of
topics
The first word in a sentence
The first word in a phrase
The last word in a phrase
The type of word that a phrase is named for
The most important word in a phrase
I don’t know
15
Consistency and inconsistency in head placement:
Select an answer that is true for your home language
(some languages might have more than one). My
home language is …
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
List of
topics
a 100% consistent head final language.
a 100% consistent head initial language.
SVO or VSO but puts numbers before nouns.
SOV but puts adjectives after nouns.
SVO or VSO but puts adjectives before nouns.
SOV but has prepositions.
SVO or VSO but has postpositions.
16
Cantonese Word Order
Cantonese and other Chinese languages are problematic for our general word order
correlations. Here are some sentences in Cantonese with questions on the next slide.
List of
topics
17
What is the word order type of
Cantonese?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
List of
topics
Head initial
Head final
Inconsistent head initial
Inconsistent head final
Free word order
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