Introduction to Syntax
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Transcript Introduction to Syntax
Syntactic Processes
Introduction to syntax
Overview
The passive construction
The causative construction
WH-question
Syntactic processes that might change the
grammatical relations between a verb and its
arguments
Promotion of NPs
Demotion of NPs
The passive construction in
English
Active
John took the old lady to the shop.
Passive
The old lady was taken to the shop by John.
The typical process of
the passive construction
Subject of the active sentence
Object of the active sentence
DEMOTED to a PP (by-phrase) or deleted.
PROMOTED to subject of the passive
Auxiliary BE + past participle in passive
How do we know the NP is the subject
of the passive sentence?
Subject-verb agreement
Pronominal case
Subject-nominative
Object-accusative
The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical passive construction
The core arguments of the transitive verb
change the grammatical relations.
The promotion of object NP to S.
The demotion of subject NP to oblique NP or be
deleted.
The transitive verb changes its form.
V-> past participle
Where do we find passive
constructions?
Typically in syntactically and morphologically
accusative languages.
The passive construction and
intransitive verbs
The use of a ‘dummy’ subject
An impersonal passive
No NPs are promoted.
German
Die Kinder schliefen
The children sleep:PAST
‘the children slept.’
Es wurde (von den Kindern) geschlafen.
It became by the children
sleep: PP
‘it was slept by the children’
The applicative construction
John sold his iPod to Mary.
John sold Mary his iPod.
John bought a cup of coffee for me.
John bought me a cup of coffee.
The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical applicative construction
Oblique NP/indirect object
Former object
Promoted to object
Demoted to oblique NP
The form of the verb may change to indicate
the applicative construction
Oblique arguments
Non-core arguments
Can be omitted without any grammatical
adjustment
Not all languages have an applicative
construction
Marie a donné un cadeau à Pierre.
Marie has give:PP a gift
to Pierre
“Mary has given a gift to Pierre.”
*Marie a donne Pierre un cadeau.
The causative construction
The students read the book.
The professor made the students read the book.
The students leave.
The professor let the students leave.
The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical causative construction
A new subject is introduced.
Former subject is demoted to be
the object
The oblique NP
deleted
Causation is introduced by
A causative verb
The causative morphology on the main verb
The fronting construction
Move the constituent to the leftward position
to focus on a particular phrase.
WH-questions
WH-questions
Move the wh-word to the left of the subject
(in English)
WH-words: what, where, who
The gap leaves a trace of the wh-word.
Example
John bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
What did John buy ______ at Starbucks?
Where did John bought a cup of coffee
____?
in other languages
French
Qu’est-ce que + S… ‘what…’
Qu’est-ce
que vous faites? ‘What do you do?’
Pied-piping
Which book does he like ______?
*Which does he like _____ book?
The role of constituents
The promoted, demoted, and fronted phrases
have to be a constituent.
Structure dependency