Intro and Sentence Structure

Why is Psycholinguistics part of Cognitive Psychology?

• Language is a mental faculty (part of the mind)

• Relies on key cognitive systems:

  • Long-term & short-term memory

  • Information processing mechanisms

  • Attention

  • Auditory & visual perception

• Studies how the mind understands, produces, and stores language

What are the main language units from smallest to largest?

• Letters / phonemes (smallest sound or written units)

• Morphemes (smallest units of meaning)

• Words

• Phrases

• Clauses

• Sentences

• Discourse (largest unit of language use)

Why is syntax important for understanding sentences?

• Syntax = study of sentence structure

• Understanding requires grouping abstract units (phrases, clauses)

• Humans can:

  • Produce completely new sentences

  • Understand sentences never encountered before

  • Create infinitely long/complex sentences

  • Judge grammaticality without prior exposure

• This is possible because sentences follow underlying structure

Why does sentence structure (syntax) matter?

• Sentences do have structure

• Same words ≠ same meaning:

  • Word order changes meaning

• Sentence processing ≠ just combining word meanings

• Some sentences are ungrammatical despite clear meaning

• Shows sentences are more than word meanings alone

• Syntax operates independently from semantics (meaning)

How does syntactic independence show that syntax ≠ meaning?

• Some sentences are grammatical but meaningless

  • e.g. “Colourless green ideas sleep furiously”

• Some sentences are ungrammatical and meaningless

• We can judge grammaticality without relying on meaning

• Shows sentence structure ≠ word meaning

• Syntax operates independently of semantics

How does semantic ambiguity show that meaning depends on syntax?

• Some sentences have multiple interpretations

• Example: “The policeman saw the thief with the binoculars”

  • Policeman has binoculars

  • Thief has binoculars

• Same words → different meanings

• Ambiguity comes from different underlying structures

• Shows meaning (semantics) can depend on syntax

What is the difference between competence and performance?

• Competence = knowledge of grammar rules

• Performance = actual language use in real situations

• People don’t always follow rules in performance:

  • Speech errors, stutters, slips

• Grammatical sentences can still be hard to understand

• Complexity (e.g. nested clauses) increases difficulty

• Ungrammatical ≠ difficult

• Shows a gap between what we know and how we use language

How do competence and performance differ in linguistics?

• Distinction proposed by Noam Chomsky

• Competence:

  • Knowledge of language rules

  • Studied by theoretical linguists

  • Reflects ideal language use

• Performance:

  • Actual language production & comprehension

  • Studied by psycholinguists

  • Affected by processing limits

• Errors or difficulty ≠ lack of competence

• Shows real language use can be imperfect despite underlying knowledge

What is competence and how do we form a mini-grammar?

• Competence = intuitive knowledge of language structure

• We can form rules/principles based on this knowledge

• Helps explain:

  • Why sentences are grammatical or ungrammatical

  • Why different structures → different meanings

  • Why some sentences are ambiguous

  • How sentences are related

• A set of these syntactic rules = grammar

How do rules on word groups (phrases) support grammar?

• Aim: create universal rules → Universal Grammar (Chomsky)

• But languages also have language-specific grammars

• Phrases act as single units in sentences

• Some phrases can be moved (e.g. “in the morning”)

• Movement shows what counts as a phrase

• Not all movements are allowed → some are ungrammatical

• Non-phrases cannot be moved

• Helps identify structure and build grammatical rules

What are the main types of phrases in syntax?

• NP (Noun Phrase): head (most important word) = noun

  • e.g. The gentleman, John

• VP (Verb Phrase): head = verb

  • e.g. left the old building, slept

• PP (Prepositional Phrase): head = preposition (usually first word)

  • e.g. in the morning

• Each phrase is built around a head word that determines its type

How can sentence structure be visualised and what does it show?

• Sentence structure can be shown using tree diagrams

• Based on phrase structure rules

• Helps show how sentences are related and share structure

• S (Sentence / S’ Clause) = whole sentence or clause

  • Contains a tensed verb

• Example structures:

  • John slept in the morning = one S

  • Two clauses can combine into one sentence:

    • John slept… and he got up…

• Visualisation reveals underlying syntactic organisation

What are phrase structure rules and what is hierarchical structure in sentences?

• Sentences have hierarchical structure (phrases inside phrases)

• Phrase Structure Rule 1:

  • S → NP + VP

• Sentence = Subject (NP) + Predicate (VP)

• Example: The farmer injured a cow with an axe

  • NP = The farmer

  • VP = injured a cow with an axe

• Shows sentences are built from embedded phrase units

What is Phrase Structure Rule 2 for a verb phrase (VP)?

• VP always contains a verb (V)

• VP may also include:

  • Direct object (NP)

  • Prepositional phrase (PP)

• Example: [NP] The farmer [VP] injured a cow with an axe

  • V = injured

  • NP (object) = a cow

  • PP = with an axe

• Shows VP can be expanded with additional phrases

What is Phrase Structure Rule 3 for a prepositional phrase (PP)?

• PP always consists of:

  • Preposition (P) + Noun Phrase (NP)

• Structure: PP → P + NP

• Example: [NP] The farmer [VP] injured a cow [PP] with an axe

  • P = with

  • NP = an axe

• Shows PP is built from a head preposition + noun phrase complement

What is Phrase Structure Rule 4 for a noun phrase (NP)?

• NP often consists of:

  • Determiner (Det) + Noun (N)

• Structure: NP → Det + N

• Example: The farmer injured a cow with an axe

  • NP: the farmer → Det = the, N = farmer

  • NP: a cow → Det = a, N = cow

  • NP: an axe → Det = an, N = axe

• Shows NP is built from a specifier (Det) + head noun

How do phrase structure rules and lexical rules describe sentence structure?

• Words are embedded in phrases, and phrases in other phrases (hierarchical structure)

• Phrase structure rules (general grammar rules):

  • S → NP + VP

  • VP → V + (NP) + (PP)

  • PP → P + NP

  • NP → (Det) + N

• Apply to many sentences in the language

• Lexical rules (word-specific rules):

  • V → injured

  • P → in

  • Det → the, a

  • N → farmer, cow, axe

• Phrase structure rules = sentence structure framework

• Lexical rules = actual word meanings used in sentences

What is generative grammar and what role do phrase structure rules play?

• Theory by Noam Chomsky

• Grammar uses a limited set of rules

• Rules must:

  • Generate all possible grammatical sentences

  • Block ungrammatical structures

• Phrase structure rules are central to this system

• Explains how humans can produce infinite sentences from finite rules

How do phrase structure rules explain infinite sentence formation?

• Phrase structure rules allow many combinations

• Enable production of infinite syntactic structures

• Recursiveness (embedding/nesting):

  • Rules can include versions of themselves

• Iteration (repetition):

  • Rules can be applied repeatedly

• Together, recursion + iteration explain unlimited sentence complexity

What is recursion in phrase structure rules?

• Recursion = rules that can apply within themselves

• Creates nesting/embedding of phrases

• Example: PP inside PP inside PP…

  • in the box / under the table / in the room…

• Structure builds layered meaning (like Russian dolls)

• Tree diagrams grow deeper (vertical expansion)

• Allows potentially infinite sentence structure

What is iteration in phrase structure rules?

• Iteration = repeated use of the same structure

• Multiple phrases added in a sequence (not nested)

• Example: repeated VP coordination

  • [S, [[NP]], Peter /VP/ met the woman, /VP/ tried to hide, /VP/, found an exit, /VP/, ran away…

• Structure shows parallel elements

• Tree diagrams grow horizontally (adding branches)

• Unlike recursion, iteration = side-by-side repetition