Transcript 5 Syntax

5
Syntax
• Syntax:
• a branch of linguistics that studies how
words are combined to form sentences
and the rules that govern the formation of
sentences.
Transformational Generative
Grammar (TG)
• Norm. Chomsky, the most influential linguist in
20th century, some important works:
• (1957) Syntactic Structure;
• (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax;
• (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding;
• (1986) Barriers
• (1993) A Minimalist Program for Linguistic
Theory;
• (1995) The Minimalist Program;
• (1998) The Minimalist Inquiry……
Criteria on good grammar
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Observational adequacy
Descriptive adequacy
Explanatory adequacy
The ultimate goal for any theory is to
explain.
• TG differs from traditional grammar in that
it not only aims at language description,
but also its explanation.
Chomsky is much more interested in the
similarities (language universals) between
languages rather than their differences.
• Linguists should attempt to find a grammatical
framework which will be suitable for all languages;
• Linguists should concentrate on the elements and
constructions that are available to all languages
rather than on elements that actually occur in all
languages.
• There are likely to be universal constraints on the
ways linguistic elements are combined
• Chomsky proposed that the grammars of all human
languages share a common framework (Universal
Grammar).
Categories
• A group of linguistic items which fulfill the
same or similar functions in a particular
language such as a sentence, noun
phrase or a verb.
word-level categories（词法范畴）
syntactic categories（句法范畴）
affixes（词缀）：prefix， suffix
parts of speech（词类）
determiner (Det)限定词
degree words (Deg) 程度词
qualifier (Qual)修饰词
major lexical categories
minor lexical categories
verb
adjective
Major lexical
categories
noun
preposition
qualifier
Degree
word
determiner
auxiliary
Minor lexical
categories
conjunction
Three criteria: meaning, inflection, and distribution
• Phrase:
• Syntactic units that are built around a
certain word category.
• Phrase categories:
• NP; VP; AP; PP
Phrases: head, specifier and complement
Phrase structure rules
• The grammatical mechanism that regulates the
arrangement of elements that make up a phrase is
called a phrase structure rule, such as:
• NP  (Det) + N +(PP)……e.g. those people, the fish
on the plate, pretty girls.
• VP  (Qual) + V + (NP)……e.g. always play games,
finish assignments.
• AP  (Deg) + A + (PP)……very handsome, very
pessimistic, familiar with, very close to
• PP  (Deg) + P + (NP)……on the shelf, in the boat,
quite near the station.
The XP rule
XP
Specifier
X
Complement
Head
Note: The phrase structure rules can be
summed up as XP rule shown in the diagram, in
which X stands for N, V, A or P.
X’ Theory
• XP  (Specifier)X’
• X’  X(complement)
XP(Phrase level)
X’
specifier
X(head)
complement
Coordination rule
• Coordination structures-----the structures that are
formed by joining two or more elements of the same
type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc.
----Coordination has four important properties:
• no limit on the number of coordinated categories
before the conjunction;
• a category at any level can be coordinated;
• the categories must be of the same type;
• the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical
to the category type of the elements being conjoined.
Phrase structure rule:
NP: (Det) N (PP)
VP: (Qual) V (NP)
AP: (Deg) A (PP)
PP: (Deg) P (NP)
XP rule: XP: (specifier) X (complement)
Phrase structure rule
NP: a story about a sentimental girl
VP: often have noodles for lunch
AP: very hot in summer
PP: without hesitation
Xˉ Theory:
The intermediate level formed
by the head and the complement between
word level and phrase level.
X’ Theory
• XP  (Specifier)X’
• X’  X(complement)
XP(Phrase level)
X’
specifier
X(head)
complement
Coordination rule:
Some structures are formed by
joining two or more elements of
the same type with the help
of conjunction
X→ X﹡Con X
Coordination rule
• Coordination structures-----the structures that are
formed by joining two or more elements of the same
type with the help of a conjunction such as and, or, etc.
----Coordination has four important properties:
• no limit on the number of coordinated categories
before the conjunction;
• a category at any level can be coordinated;
• the categories must be of the same type;
• the category type of the coordinate phrase is identical
to the category type of the elements being conjoined.
Phrase elements
• Specifiers
• Complements
• modifiers
Specifiers 标志成分
semantic roles 语义功能
syntactic roles句法功能
Determiners serve as the specifiers of Ns
While qualifiers typically function as the
specifiers of Vs and degree words as the
specifiers of As and sometimes Ps.
Complements
The information about a word's complement is included
in the head and termed subcategorization(次范畴化).
Tree structure
The XP Rule (revised)
XP (Specifier) X (Complement*)
a story about a sentimental girl in India in the 1960s
• This rule also captures the simple but important
fact that complements, however many there are,
occur to the right of the head in English.
•
complementizers(补语化成分) (Cs).
•
complement clause(补语从句)
•
complement phrase(补语短语) (CP)
•
matrix clause(主句)
• Example:
• Miss Herbert believes that she will win.
Modifiers specify optionally expressible properties of
heads. Although all lexical categories can have
modifiers, we will focus here on the types of
categories that can modify Ns and Vs.
The Expanded XP rule:
XP (Spec) (Mod) X (Complement*) (Mod)
This rule allows a modifier to occur
either before the head or after it.
Where there is a complement, a
modifier that occurs after the head
will normally occur to the right of
the complement as well.
Revised XP rule:
XP→ (Specifier) X (Complement﹡)
The expanded XP rule:
XP→ (Spec) (Mod) X (Complement﹡) (Mod)
Sentences (the S rule):
S→NP VP
Sentences (the S rule)
• S  NP VP
S
VP
NP
Det
A
NP
N
boy
V
found
Det
the
N
evidence
Sentences (the S rule)

S  NP infl VP
InflP(=S)
NP

Infl
VP
Many linguists believe that sentences, like other
phrases, also have their own heads. Infl is an
abstract category inflection (dubbed ‘Infl’) as
their heads, which indicates the sentence’s tense
and agreement.
Infl realized by a tense label
InflP （ =S ）
VP
NP
Det
A
NP
N Infl
boy Pst
V
found
Det
the
N
evidence
Infl realized by an auxiliary
InflP （ =S ）
VP
NP
NP
Det
A
N Infl
boy will
V
find
Det
the
N
evidence
Deep structure and
surface structure
Do insertion
transformations
Wh movement
Auxiliary
movement
Move a and constraints
on transformations
Transformations
•
•
•
•
•
Auxiliary movement (inversion)
Do insertion
Deep structure & surface structure
Wh-movement
Move α and constraints on transformations
Auxiliary movement
(inversion)
• Inversion Move Infl to the left of the subject NP.
• Inversion (revised) Move Infl to C.
CP
S
NP
C
Det
the
N Infl
train will
V
arrive
Auxiliary movement
(inversion)
CP
S
C
Infl Det
Will the
NP
N Infl
train e
V
arrive
Do insertion
• Do insertion---- Insert interrogative do into an empty
Infl position.
CP
S
C
NP
Infl
Birds
VP
fly
Figure-1
CP
CP
S
C
NP
Infl
Birds do
Figure-2
VP
fly
S
C
Infl NP
Infl
Do birds e
Figure-3
VP
fly
Deep structure & surface
structure
• Consider the following pair of
sentences:
John is easy to please.
John is eager to please.
•Structurally similar sentences
might be very different in their
meanings, for they have quite
different deep structures.
Deep structure & surface
structure
• Consider one more sentence:
Flying planes can be dangerous.
• It can mean either that if you fly planes you are
engaged in a dangerous activity or Planes that
are flying are dangerous.
Deep structure & surface
structure
• Deep structure----formed by the XP rule in accordance
with the head’s sub-categorization properties; it
contains all the units and relationships that are
necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence.
• Surface structure----corresponding to the final
syntactic form of the sentence which results from
appropriate transformations; it is that of the sentence
as it is pronounced or written.
The organization of the syntactic
component
The XP rule
Deep structure
transformations
Surface structure
Subcategorization restricts
choice of complements
Wh-movement
• Consider the derivation of the following
sentences:
What languages can you speak?
What can you talk about?
• These sentences may originate as:
You can speak what languages.
You can talk about what.
Wh-movement
• Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the
beginning of the sentence.
• What language can you
speak
?
• What can you
talk about
?
Wh-movement
• Wh-movement---- Move a wh phrase to the
specifier position under CP. (Revised)
CP
S
NP
Who
C
VP
NP
e
Infl
Pst
V
won
NP
the game
Move α and constraints on
transformations (α移位及转换制约)
1. Inversion can move an auxiliary
from the Infl to the nearest C
position, but not to a more distant
C position
2. No element may be
removed from a coordinate
structure.