Transcript Syntax The analysis of sentence structure Dr. Alok K Das

Syntax
The analysis of sentence structure
Dr. Alok K Das
http://www.freewebs.com/alokdas/
Syntax in Linguistic Tree
Linguistics
Sounds of
language
Phonetics
Syntax
Dr Alok K Das
Phonology
Grammar
Morphology
Syntax
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Meaning
Semantics
Pragmatics
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
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Reasons for studying syntax
 Infinity of expressions
 There is an infinite number of possible
utterances in every language
 It is obvious that all these utterances cannot
be stored in our brains
 Our knowledge of a language consists of
 A finite number of words (the lexicon; the
“dictionary in your head”), and
 Rules (the grammar of the language)
 It is the job of the syntactician (and the
morphologist) to find out what these
rules are
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Language acquisition
 Everyone who can speak knows how
to use the rules
 and it is amazing that children can do it
so fast
 But nobody can really state exactly
what the rules are!
 Understanding syntax (and
morphology) can help researchers to
understand how young children learn
their native language
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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
 and Parameters, whose setting varies
from language to language
 English and Chinese SVO; Japanese SOV
 Spanish and Chinese pro-drop; English not
pro-drop
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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
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N
V
Johnny
danced
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Phrase structure grammar
 N and V aren’t always
very good labels
 Johnny is similar to the
handsome student,
because they are both
the same kind of
constituent
 They are both Noun
Phrases
 We
can
remove
Johnny and add the
handsome
student,
and
the
sentence
structure
is
still
similar
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S
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NP
VP
The
handsome
student
danced
Different sentence, same
constituents
S
 Now let’s add an object
 danced the lambada is
the same kind of
constituent as danced
 a VP
 You can swap danced for
danced the lambada and
the basic structure is the
same
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NP
VP
The
handsome
student
danced the
lambada
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.




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Phrase structure rules
 Now, you know this phrase structure rule:
 S  NP VP (a Sentence comprises a Noun
Phrase followed by a Verb Phrase)
 Draw a tree for the phrase Emma drinks
 Here are two more phrase structure rules:
 VP  V NP
 NP  N
 Think about that carefully
 Now, draw a tree with more detail
 For the sentence Emma drinks whisky
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Now let’s change the NP rule
 First, DET means determiner
 Function words like the, a, this, several
 NP  (DET) N
 That means a noun phrase can have a determiner,
and it must have a noun
 Now you can diagram Johnny danced the
lambada in a bit more detail than I did on the
other slide
 Remember:
 S  NP VP
 VP  V NP)
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Now let’s change the NP rule
again
 Such that we have
 S  NP VP
 VP  V NP
 NP  (DET) (ADJ) N
 Now you can diagram this sentence
 The unhappy book ate the green lambada
 The sentence is syntactically well-formed,
by the way
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Grammatical or Ungrammatical:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The boy found the ball
The boy found quickly
The boy found in the house
The boy found the ball in the house
Disa slept the baby
Disa slept soundly
Find: Transitive verb (with object)
Sleep: Intransitive verb (no object)
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Syntactic Categories
Lexical categories
 Noun (N)
 Verb (V)
 Adjective (A)
 Preposition (P)
 Adverb (Adv)
Examples
 moisture, policy
 melt, remain
 good, intelligent
 to, near
 slowly, now
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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
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Indicate the category of each
word in the following sentences.
a. The glass suddenly broke.
Det / N / Adv / V
b. A jogger ran towards the end of the lane.
Det / N / V / P / Det / N / P / Det / N
c. The peaches never appear quite ripe.
Det / N / Qual / V / Deg / A
d. Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.
N / Aux / V / Det / N / Conj / Det / N / P / Det / N
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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
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Phrase Structure Rules
 NP  (Det) N (PP)
 PP  P NP
The bus in the yard
NP
The bus (NP)
Det
N
The
bus
Det
N
PP
P
The
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Dr Alok K Das
bus
in
NP
Det
N
the
yard
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Phrase Structure Rules
 VP  V (NP) (PP)
 S  NP (Aux) VP
took the money from the bank
VP
took the money (VP)
V
NP
Det
took
the
V
N
NP
Det
PP
N
P
money
took
Syntax
Dr Alok K Das
the
money
from
NP
Det
N
the
bank
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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
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The main structure rules
1. S  NP (Aux) VP
2. NP  (Det) (AP) N (PP)
3. VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
4. PP  P NP
5. AP  A (PP)
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Example
The old tree swayed in the wind
S
Aux
NP
Det
Adj
N
VP
V
PP
P
The
old
tree
past
swayed
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in
NP
Det
N
the
wind
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Example
The children put the toy in the box
S
NP
Det
VP
N
V
NP
Det
The
children
put
the
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PP
N
toy
P
in
NP
Det
N
the
box
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Ambiguity: a word, phrase or
sentence with multiple meanings
Synthetic buffalo hides (NP)
Synthetic
buffalo hides
Synthetic buffalo hides (NP)
Synthetic buffalo
Buffalo hides that are synthetic.
hides
Hides of synthetic buffalo.
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Ambiguities often lead to humorous results
 For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady
with thick legs and large drawers.
 what does “thick legs and large drawers”
refer to?
The desk or the lady?
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Structural Ambiguity
The boy saw the man with the telescope
S
NP
Det
Aux
N
VP
V
NP
Det
PP
N
P
NP
Det
The
boy
past
saw the
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Dr Alok K Das
N
man with the telescope
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Structural Ambiguity
The boy saw the man with the telescope
S
NP
Det
Aux
N
VP
NP
V
Det
N
PP
P
NP
Det
The
boy
past
saw
the
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Dr Alok K Das
N
man with the telescope
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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.
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Declarative – Interrogative
 Move the auxiliary to the left of the subject.
The boy will leave.
S
NP
Det
Aux
VP
N
The boy
Will the boy leave?
S
Aux
V
will
leave
Will
NP
VP
Det
N
V
the
boy leave
The surface structure
The deep structure
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The Wh Movement
 Surface structure: Which car should the man repair?
 Deep structure: S
NP
Det
The
Aux
N
man
VP
NP
V
should repair
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Det
N
which
car
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Draw the deep structure of the following sentences
1. Will the boss hire Hillary?
2. Is that player leaving the team?
3. Who should the director call?
4. What is Joanne eating?
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