Syntax Lecture Notes

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Flashcards for Syntax Lecture Review

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23 Terms

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Syntax

the set of rules and principles that govern how words and phrases are arranged to form well‑formed sentences.

The sailors spoled the girls with binoculars.

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infinite

The ability to make endless new sentences using a limited set of words and rules.

  • "The cat sleeps."

  • "The small cat sleeps on the warm blanket."

  • "The small cat that the dog chased sleeps on the warm blanket near the window."

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Syntactic Categories

Words classified into syntactic categories

  • word classes

  • pard of speech

e.g. nouns, verbs, etc.

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Syntactic Word Classes

Classification of words based on meaning, inflection, and distribution.

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Distribution of word depends on

its syntactic properties, incl. position and function within a phrase

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Phrases

A group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence.

[The yellow cat][sits [on [a dirty mat]]].

<p><span>A group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence.</span></p><p><span style="color: purple">[</span>The yellow cat<span style="color: purple">]</span><span style="color: green">[</span>sits <span style="color: red">[</span>on <span style="color: blue">[</span>a dirty mat<span style="color: blue">]</span><span style="color: red">]</span><span style="color: green">].</span></p>
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Movement (identify phrase)

Phrases move as whole units.

Little Mary-Sue picked a cute, cuddly cat

 Create new sentences using the exact same words but start with...

  • What Little Mary-Sue ...

  • Who picked ...

  • It was a cute, cuddly cat ..

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Meaning (identify phrase)

Phrases form units of meaning.

Can you figure out the meaning of these word sequences?

  • Little Mary-Sue

  • picked a

  • cute, cuddly

What means together is a phrase

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Substitution (identify phrase)

Phrases can be substituted with other phrases.

Davina sold candy yesterday at the corner store.

Substitute another phrase for each of the underlined phrases

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Heads

Determine grammatical properties of a phrase.

are semantically central

dirty mat : head = mat → NP

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distributional properties

grammatical properties

i.e. where units can appear relative to one another

  • The cat sleeps.

  • The dog sleeps.

"Cat" and "dog" are both nouns because they can go in the same spot — after "the" and before the verb.

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Modifiers

Non-heads.

  • Adjective (modifies a noun):

    • The red car is fast.
      → "red" is a modifier of "car"

  • Adverb (modifies a verb):

    • She sings beautifully.
      → "beautifully" modifies "sings"

  • Prepositional Phrase:

    • The book on the table is mine.
      → "on the table" modifies "book"

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Noun Phrases (NPs) + consist of ..+ constituents

words centered around a noun

  • DET

  • NOM

Constituents:

  • adjective phrases AP

    • e.g. the red bicycle

  • Prepositional phrases PP

    • e.g. the man in the moon

<p>words centered around a noun</p><ul><li><p>DET</p></li><li><p>NOM</p></li></ul><p>Constituents: </p><ul><li><p>adjective phrases AP </p><ul><li><p>e.g. the <u>red </u>bicycle </p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p>Prepositional phrases PP </p><ul><li><p>e.g. the man <u>in the moon</u></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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Determiner(Det)

  • ART(article:a, the)

  • DEM(demonstrative: this, that, these, those)

  • Q(quantifiers: some, any, no, each)

  • POSS( possessive: my, your, its)

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Nominal (NOM)

N( nouns: shoes, habits)

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PP + modifiers 3

Prepositions as head.

I’m going

Modifiers

  • noun phrases, e.g. in a room

  • prepositional phrases, e.g. up on the plateau

  • degree adverbs, e.g. just inside the door

<p>Prepositions as head.</p><p>I’m going </p><p>Modifiers </p><ul><li><p>noun phrases, e.g. in a room</p></li><li><p>prepositional phrases, e.g. up on the plateau </p></li><li><p>degree adverbs, e.g. just inside the door</p></li></ul><p></p>
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Adjective Phrases (AdjPs)

adjectives as heads

quite old; moderately expensive

constituents of AdjPs

  • modifiers

    • adverb phrases AdvP (incl. degree adverbs, e.g. very, quite= heads of adverb phrases)

    • e.g. moderately expensive

  • prepositional phrases PP

    • e.g. long in the arms

<p>adjectives as heads</p><p>quite <strong><u>old</u></strong>; moderately <strong><u>expensive</u></strong></p><p>constituents of AdjPs </p><ul><li><p>modifiers </p><ul><li><p>adverb phrases AdvP (incl. degree adverbs, e.g. very, quite= heads of adverb phrases) </p></li><li><p>e.g. <strong><u>moderately </u></strong>expensive </p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p>prepositional phrases PP </p><ul><li><p>e.g. long<strong><u> in the arms</u></strong></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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Adverb Phrases (AdvP)

Modify adjective phrases

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VP Heads

Lexical verbs as head.

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Verb group (Vgrp)

AUX and V

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Clauses

Consist of at least a NP and a VP

subject-predicate structure

Sam swims.

John is fantastic.

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Finite Clauses

has a subject and a verb with tense (like past or present).

  • She eats pizza. Finite (has "she" + "eats")

  • He was tired. Finite (has "he" + "was")

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Sentence

Consists of one or several clauses.

Sam swims

Sam swimming*

Sam, swimming to the other side of the lake, called for help

<p>Consists of one or several clauses.</p><p>Sam swims </p><p>Sam swimming* </p><p>Sam, swimming to the other side of the lake, called for help</p>