Linguistics Exam 2

5 Parts of Language

Phonology

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

Pragmatics

Syntax

the organizational rules/arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses to create sentences

Sentence Structure

Subject + Predicate

• Janine + ate

• Janine + ate catfish

• Janine + ate catfish at the restaurant

Subject + Verb + Object

• Janine + ate (no object!)

• Janine + ate + Catfish

• Janine + ate + catfish at the restaurant

Subject

Occurs at the beginning of the sentence, before the verb (in English)

Who or what the sentence is about/who is doing the very

• Simple Subjects

• Complete Subjects

• Compound Subjects

Simple Subjects

nouns or pronouns

• Ex) The dog ate my homework.; Spot ate my homework.; He ate my homework

Complete Subjects

Compound Subjects

Predicate

Everything NOT the subject

Usually the verb and what follows

Ex) Janine + ate catfish at the restaurant, Janine + always ate catfish at the restaurant.

Object (Direct and Indirect)

Many sentences include a direct object, some contain an indirect object

Ex)

• Janine + ate (nothing is being eaten)

• Janine + ate + quietly (NOT an object)

• Janine + ate + catfish (DO)

• Janine + gave + catfish + to (Prep Phrase) + her sister (IO)

Indirect Object vs Prepositional Phrase

Prep Phrase (when or where something took place)

Ex)

• Janine (subject) + cooked (verb) + catfish (direct object) + for (prep phrase) + her mother (indirect object)

• Janine (subject) + cooked (verb) + catfish (DO) at the park (prep phrase)

Subject Complements

Indirect object vs. subject complements

provide more info about the subject and follow copular verbs

Ex)

• Janine + was + a catfish farmer.

• Janine + will be + full after dinner.

Verb

he action being done (or state)

• What is being done?

Subject

who/what is instigating or being referred to by the verb

• Who/what is the sentence about?

• In this case → who is doing the handing?

Direct Object

recipient of the action

• What is being handed?

Indirect Object

recipient of the direct object

• Who is receiving the fishing pole?

• Carl sells the fishing pole for a profit

Hasan asks Tine a question

S = Hasan

asks = verb

Tina = IO

a Question = DO

The fishing pole is handed to Moira by Carl

The fishing pole = S

is handed = verb

to Moira = IO

by Carl = X (dont worry about this)

A question is asked of Tina

A question = S

is asked = verb

of Tina = DO (recipient of question)

by Hasan = X (dont worry about this)

Developmental Progression

When children first start combining words, they have not yet developed true syntax

Early word combinations reflect semantic relations

At about two and a half (in typical development), children start to develop early syntax

Semantic Relations

The relationships between words, instead of the structure of a phrase or sentence

Examples of Early Word Combos

• Mommy throw (agent + action)

• Throw ball (action + object)

• Doggie ball (possessor + possession)

• Happy doggie (attribute + entity)

• Doggie floor (entity + locative)

Early Syntax Examples

• S + V + O

• S + V + Complement

Parts of Speech

Lexical - have inherent meaning

Functional - only serve a grammatical function

Nouns

Person, place, thing, and abstractions

• Simple nouns

• Compound nouns

Compound Nounse

Closed Compound Noun

Hyphenated Compound Nouns

Open Compound Nouns

Closed Compound Noun

Hyphenated Compound Nouns

Open Compound Nouns

Noun Classes

Common noun

Proper Noun

Common Noun

Proper Noun

Concrete vs Abstract nouns

Concrete = can touch, see, taste, etc (Ex. pencil, curtain, camera)

Abstract = can’t see, touch, taste (Ex. love, fear, youth)

Children typically learn…

common nouns before proper nouns

• Ex) doggie —> Rufus

concrete nouns before abstract nouns

• Ex) cookie —> happiness

Basic level before superordinate/subordinate

• doggie —> animals/poodle

Pronouns

Group of words that can take the place of nouns

Removes reduplications and repetitiveness

Personal Pronouns

Replace nouns that represent persons or entities

• Nominative pronouns: I, you, she, he, it, we, they

• Objective pronouns: me, you, her, him, it, us, them

• Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs

• Reflexive pronouns: when a person or entity performs an action

his-, her-, itself

• Myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves,

themselves, yourselves

Nominative Pronouns

Objective Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

Identify or highlight a particular antecedent (i.e., something that has already been/is being referred to in some way)

Take the place of a noun

• Singular demonstrative pronouns

• Plural demonstrative pronouns

Singular demonstrative pronouns

Plural demonstrative pronouns

Determiners

Clarify aspects of a noun

The noun is still present

• Articles

  • Definite (the)

  • Indefinite (a, an)

• Possessive determiners (look like POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, but NOT)

  • Her toolkit is extensive

Demonstrative determiners (look like DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, but NOT) (those, that, this, these)

Quantifiers

• I need more coffee before the day beings

• Every Wednesday I buy two lottery tickets

Determiner vs Pronoun and Examples

Determiner = classify aspects of noun, if noun is still there

Ex)

• Janine ate her catfish.

• That girl ate catfish.

• My sister ate catfish.

• Janine ate this catfish.

• We ate more catfish.

Pronoun = take the place of noun

Ex)

• The catfish is hers.

• Janine served catfish to her.

• She ate the catfish.

• Janine ate this.

• We ate more

Adjectives

Describe/provide information about nouns and pronouns

• Simple adjectives

• Compound adjectives

  • Pickup truck, ballpoint pen, no-nonsense woman, parent-child relationship

Ordinal adjectives

• Shauna came in fourth place

Proper adjectives

• They took a Disney vacation

Positive, comparative, superlative

• sleepy (P), sleepier (C), sleepiest (S)

• serious (P), more serious (C), most serious (S)

• studious (P), less studious (C), least studious (S)

• good (P), better (C), best (S)

Conjuctions

Words that join words with words, phrases with phrases, and clauses with clauses

• Words/Simple

  • The horse and carriage are in the backyard

  • You can have chocolate or vanilla ice cream cake

  • I’ll do anything but that

• Phrases

  • The new dog and the old dog do not get along

• Clauses

  • You should have a party this Friday, unless John has one then

Simple Conjuctions

Phrasal Conjunctions

Compound

Coordinating

Correlative

Subordinating

T/F: “Then” can be a coordinating conjunction

True

in example, child doesn’t say “and”, instead says “then”, but it functions as “and”

Initial frequent use of “and” as a coordinating conjunction

Phrasal “and” first, then clausal

“and”

• “The new dog and the old dog

do not get along” → “I ate dinner

and my mom took a nap”

• Temporal conjunctions

• when, then

• Causal conjunctions

• because, so

Verb

Signify an action or

state of being

• Describe:

• What the nouns and

pronouns do (subject)

• What is done to the

nouns and pronouns

(direct objects)

Verb Classes

Main verb

• Principal descriptor of an action or state of being

• These verbs can stand alone

  • E.g., eat, walk, stand, talk

Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs)

• Provide additional information about person, tense, mood, etc.

• These verbs cannot stand alone

• I can help. vs. I might help vs. I should help. (tense/mood)

• They are coming. vs. They were coming. vs. They will be coming. (person/tense)

Copula

something that feels like it should be an auxillary verb is functioning as a main verb

Ex) “I am happy”

I am leaving —> auxillary

I feel tired —> copula

Sally is not my friend —> copula

we are late —> copula

We are taing the test early —> auxillary

she appears hungry —> copula

the light was blinking on and off —> auxillary

copula

copula

auxillary

Contractible vs. uncontractible copula or auxiliary

I am happy. → I’m happy.

• Sally is not planning to be there. → Sally’s not planning to be

there.

• We are late. → We’re late.

• The light is blinking on and off. → The light’s blinking on and off.

Adverbs

Describe/modify verbs (adjectives, and

other adverbs)

• She thought quickly

• The coat is too ugly

• We are almost there

• Usually ends with suffix –ly

• He slept peacefully

• May also end with suffix –wise

• Play continues clockwise

• May also end with suffix –ward

• He looked skyward

Modifies a noun = adjective

Modifies anything else = adverb

Prepositions

Indicate relationships between other words in a sentence

• Often tell you where or when something happened

• Direction: She drove in the garage

• Time: I go to bed at midnight

• Location: His phone is on the bed

• Space: Your shoes are under the table

• We rake leaves in the fall

• She is waiting at the corner

• Often occur as a part of a prepositional phrase

The catfish was thrown by Janine to her father

S: The catfish

IO: her father

(by Janine is Prep Phrase, dont worry about)

Her father was thrown the catfish by Janine

S: Her Father

DO: the catfish

Prep Phrase: by Janine (dont wory about)

Active vs. Passive Voice Example

A: The cat ate the dog

P: The dog was eaten by the cat

Syntax

The organization rules/arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses to create sentences

The relationships between words that create the larger meaning

How we arrange words matters

Examples of Syntax Meaning Changing

The boy chased the dog

The dog chased the boy

The dog was chased by the boy

Components of Syntax

• Words

• Phrases

• Clauses

Phrases

Multiple words with NO subject + verb pair

• Ex)

  • a dog

  • a very fluffy dog

  • that sassy cat

  • her cat

Clauses

Multiple words WITH a subject + verb pair

• Ex)

  • because he is (verb) a very fluffy dog (not a sentence)

  • I love him bc he is a very fluffy dog (2 clauses, 1 sentence)

  • He is a very fluffy dog (1 clause, 1 sentence)

  • who is a sassy cat (1 clause, not sentence)

  • I like the sassy cat that she bought (2 clauses, 1 sentence)

  • the sassy vat that she bought (1 clause, not sentence)

Constituents

words that function as single units within a sentence

words → phrases → clauses → sentences

Identifying Constituent Phrases

1. Standalone (e.g., answering WH questions)

2. Replacement (e.g., with pronouns)

3. Move as a unit (e.g., It’s _____ that ____ → cleft construction)

Constituent Example: “The boy chased the dog in the garden”

Constituents

• The boy

• The dog

• (in) the garden

• chased

Constituent Example: “Mara read the book quickly”

Constituents:

• Mara

• read

• the book

• quickly

Types of Phrases

• Noun Phrase (NP

• Verb Phrase (VP)

• Prepositional Phrase (PP)

• Adjective phrase (AdjP)

• Adverbial phrase (AdvP)

• Complementizer phrase (CP)

Noun phrase

NP → N (dog), Det + N (the dog)

Verb Phrase

VP → V (jumped), V + NP (jumped the fence), V + PP (jumped over the fence)

Prepositional phrase

PP → P + NP (over the fence)

Adjective phrase (AdjP)

AdjP → Adj (fluffy), Adj + PP (fluffy around his face), Adv + Adj (incredibly fluffy)

Adverbial phrase

AdvP → Adv (nimbly), Deg + Adv (very nimbly)

Complementizer phrase

CP → C + S (because he saw a rabbit)

Subject + Predicate =…

= NP + VP

Syntax Trees: “John Loves Pizza”

S: John

DO: pizza

V: Loves

John + Loves Pizza

Syntax Trees: “The man loves cheese pizza”

S: The man

DO: cheese pizza

V: loves

The man + loves cheese pizza

Syntax Trees: “The silly dog barked at the squirrel”

S

• NP: The silly dog

  • Det = The

  • Adj = Silly

  • NP = Dog

• VP:

  • V: Barked

  • PP: at a squirrel

    • P: at

    • NP: a squirrel

Syntax Trees: “The dog barked at two squirrels ferociously”

S:

• NP:

  • Det = A

  • N: dog

• VP

  • V: barked

  • PP:

    • P: at

    • Adj: two

    • N: squirrels

  • Adv: ferociously

Structural Ambiguity: ”I saw an elephant in my pajamas”

some sentences are unclear where constituents are (see pic)

Lexical Ambiguity: “Karla found a bat”

multiple word meanings can make sentence meaning unclear

• Ex) baseball bat or the animal?

“That Cow ate grass”

Det = That

N: cow

V: ate

N: grass

“The tired student drank a coffee”

NP:

• Det: The

• Adj: tired

• N: student

VP:

• V: drank

• NP:

  • Det: a

  • N: coffee

“A happy dog runs in the park”

S

• NP

  • Det

  • N

• VP

  • V

  • NP

    • Det

    • N

“The mascot cheers”

S

• NP

  • Det

  • N

• VP

  • V

“My shoe taps a quick beat”

S

• NP

  • Det: “My”

  • N

• VP

  • V

  • NP

    • Det

    • Adj

    • N

“A bird on the branch sang in the morning”

S

• NP

  • Det

  • N

  • PP

    • P

    • NP

      • Set

      • N

• VP

  • V

  • PP

    • P

    • NP

      • Det

      • N

“A pumped up Aubie throws t-shirts to the fans”

S

• NP

  • Det

  • Adj

  • N

• VP

  • V

  • NP

    • NP

    • PP

      • P

      • Np

        • Det

        • N

Sentence Types

Function of a sentence

• Declarative

• Interrogative

• Imperative

• Exclamatory

Declarative

statement ending in a period

• Ex)

  • joanne milked the cow

  • she paid the bill

  • the tired hippo took a nap

Interrogative

asks a question, ends in a question mark

• Ex)

  • did Joanne milk the cow?

  • who paid the bill?

Imperative

command, ending in a period or exclamation point

• Ex)

  • milk the cow!

  • pay the bill!

  • take a nap!

Exclamatory

expresses surprise, ends in an exclamation point

may start with “what” or “how”

Ex)

• surprise!

• The tiger is loose!

Sentence Structures

• simple

• compound

• complex

• compound-complex