Transcript Morph & Synt supertut slides - Linguistics and English Language

Morphology and
Syntax
Tree structures
A tree structure reflects the internal structure of
complex words, phrases and sentences.
V
V
en
N
force
V
re
V
V
en
N
force
N
V
re
N
er
V
V
en
N
force
N
N
V
re
N
er
V
V
en
s
N
force
WRONG:
N
V
re
N
V
en
N
N
N
force er
s
OK:
NP
Det
a
AP
Adv
very
A
N
P
strange collection of
PP
NP
stamps
This very strange collection of stamps and that one
This very strange collection of stamps and that quite
ordinary one
*This very strange collection of stamps and that one of
coins
SO ALSO OK:
Det
a
AP
Adv
A
very
strange
stamps
NP
N’
N
collection
PP
P
NP
of
WRONG:
Det
a
NP
N’
PP
AP
N
P
Adv A collection of
very strange
NP
stamps
What if there is no specifier and/or
complement?
OK:
NP
N’
N
ALSO OK:
NP
N
Sentences in English:
OK:
S
NP Infl
VP
Given that Infl is the head, you may also call S an InflP, or IP, or
AuxP (other names for Infl position are I or Aux).
ALSO OK (if we want to make sentences fit into
the ‘X bar’ schema for phrase structure):
S (or InflP)
NP
Infl’
Infl
VP
Full sentence structure
CP
C’
C
S (or InflP)
NP
Infl’
Infl
VP
V’
V
Agglutination versus Fusion
Example of agglutination:
paruka = eat
-bur = 1st person, -bap = 2nd, -pil = 3rd
-kal = plural
-gop = past tense
parukabur = ‘I eat’
parukaburkal = ‘we eat’
parukapil = he/she eats’
parukapilkal = ‘they eat’
parukagoppil = ‘he/she ate’
parukagoppilkal = ‘they ate’
el
hand
‘hand’
el-im
hand-1poss
‘my hand’
el-im-iz
hand-1poss-plur
‘our hand’
el-im-iz-i
hand-1poss-plur-acc
‘our hand’
(in object function)
Fusion:
paruka = ‘eat’
parukabing = ‘I eat’
parukamoop = ‘you eat’
parukala = ‘I ate’
parukabam = ‘we ate’
masculine
grad ‘city’
sg
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
Instrumental
Locative
grad
grada
gradu
grad
gradom
gradu
pl
gradovi
gradova
gradovima
gradove
gradovima
gradovima
neuter
selo ‘village’
feminine
ovca ‘sheep’
sg
pl
sg
pl
selo
sela
selu
selo
selom
selu
sela
sela
selima
sela
selima
selima
ovca
ovce
ovci
ovcu
ovcom
ovci
ovce
ovaca
ovcama
ovce
ovcama
ovcama
Ergative Case and Absolutive Case
Some languages have nominative case and
accusative case.
Some other languages have ergative case and
absolutive case.
Nominative/accusative languages:
Nominative case marks subjects.
Accusative case marks objects.
The woman-NOM laughed.
The woman-NOM read the book-ACC.
Ergative/absolutive languages:
Ergative case marks subjects of transitive verbs.
Absolutive case marks objects of transitive verbs AND
ALSO subjects of intransitive verbs.
The woman-ABS laughed.
The woman-ERG read the book-ABS.
If English were an ergative/absolutive language...
She laughed.
Him saw she. (meaning ‘he saw her’)
Class I and Class II affixes
What’s the difference?
THE difference is: Class I affixes influence the
stress pattern of the word they attach to. Class
II affixes do not.
Often (but not always) Class I affixes are closer to
the stem then Class II affixes (when both occur).
Sentences with two or more main
verbs
Claire wants to go shopping.
The verb in the main sentence, wants, takes a nonfinite clause as its complement here: a VP headed
by the infinitive to go.
NP
Claire
S
Infl
VP
V’
V
wants
VP
V’
V
to go
VP
shopping
Why ‘movement’?
‘Movement’ is a metaphor for the phenomenon that
something with a particular grammatical function is not
in the position in the sentence that elements with that
function normally are, but instead goes into a ‘special’
position in the sentence structure.
The notation using ‘movement’ and empty positions is
one way (among others) of keeping track of the
grammatical function of the ‘moved’ element.
Why this phenomenon exists is a different matter.
Question 5 of this week’s tutorial
Differences between ‘multiple wh-movement’ in
Bulgarian and Czech.
Question 6 of this week’s tutorial
Generalized verb movement to C.
In English, verb movement to the C position is limited to
(i)
Interrogative sentences
and
(ii) Auxiliary verbs
*Which string quartet heard George yesterday?
Which string quartet did George hear yesterday?
In some other languages, verb movement to C can also
apply to main verbs...
Hvad koster en billet?
what costs a ticket
‘What does a ticket cost?’
*Hvad gør en billet koste?
what does a ticket cost
... and verb movement to C also occurs in declarative sentences:
Denne film har børnene set.
this film have children seen
‘The children have seen this film (rather than another one)’.
*Denne film børnene har set.
this
film children have seen
*This film have the children seen.
This film the children have seen.
CP
NP
denne film
C’
C
har
S (= InflP)
NP
børnene
Infl’
Infl
e
VP
V’
V
set
NP
e
Prediction: if subject-verb inversion is the result
of the verb going into the C position of the
sentence, then such inversion does not take
place in embedded sentences in which the C
position is already occupied by a
complementizer.
Contradicted by Icelandic and Yiddish.