Syntax

Lord, please please help me in everything I do.

Syntax

• The organization of words into phrases, and phrases into sentences

• System of rules and categories that underlies sentence formation

• The most remarkable feature of syntax is the linear order of words in a sentence

Syntactic categorgies

Lexical category and functional (non-lexical) cateogy

Lexical category

a word-level category whose members have substantial meaning (content words)

Functional (non-lexical) category

• a word-level category whose members are grammatical words (function words)

• Often have meanings that are harder to define and paraphrase than those of lexical categories

Nouns

People, place, and things

• Cannot be negated by 不

• Can occur with a classifier: 一本书

Verbs

Actions, sensations, and states

• Can occur with an auxiliary verb

• Can be followed by an object (vt/vi)

• All can be negated by “不” (in comparison with nouns)

Adjective

Properties of nouns

Can occur with a degree word (很, 非常 hen3, fei1chang2...)

• Can be negated by “不”

• AB===AABB 干干净净 (clean)(in comparison with verbs)

• No “是” when used a predicate (in comparison with nouns)

  • e.g., He is suitable.

  • 他合适。

  • *他是合适

Prepositions

Spatial relations

Adverbs

Properties of verbs

Auxiliary verbs

neng and hui
these words used to help express meaning

Conjunctions

He (and)

Determiners

ex. zhe

Syntactic category-the category into which an element is place depending on

distribution

Distribution

• Most reliable method for determining the syntactic category of a word

  • (1)a word’s syntactic category can be determined based on the type of elements with which it can occur

  • (2) Chinese lexical categories or part of speech can be defined in terms of the linear order of words in grammatical sentences, e.g. a noun can occur before or after a verb

Transitive/intransitive verb

Subcategorization frame of a verb - the number of nominals that a verb must co-occur with

transitive verb

two arguments

Intransitive verb

One agreement

Ditransitive verb

Three arguments

Argument

nouns or pronouns before or after the verb.

Subject

• The constituent in a sentence or clause that typically comes first, and of which the rest of the sentence is predicated.

• It often, though by no means always, performs the semantic role of agent, and specifies the topic of the sentence (the Oxford dictionary of English grammar, 2014).

• 妈妈爱我。

Chinese sentences can have

no subject in some situations, compared to English where it is normally obligatory

Object

• A noun phrase or clause which normally occurs after the verb, typically carrying the semantic role of patient (direct object) or recipient (indirect object) (the Oxford dictionary of English grammar, 2014).

• What are the object(s) in the following sentences?

1. 我爱他。

Predicate

It refers to that part of a sentence or clause which is not the subject. Formally the predicate is typically a verb phrase

 我爱他

In Chinese, lexical categories (also called content words) mainly include:

• Nouns

• Verbs

• Adjectives

• Adverbs

The lexical category is called this because

they carry concrete meanings and be expanded with new words (open classes)

In Chinese, functional categories (also called function words) mainly include

• Pronouns

• Prepositions

• Conjunctions

• Particles

• Auxiliary verbs

  • (e.g., 能, 会, 要, 可以, 应该, etc.)

• Interjections

  • (Some treat interjections as a special case.)

Functional category is called this because

they serve mainly grammatical function rather than carrying concrete lexical meaning, and the set is relatively fixed (closed class)

arguments (nominal nouns and pronouns)

• Before the predicate (verb)

  • An agent (causer) that initiates some action

  • An experiencer that experiences some psychological state

• After the predicate (verb)

  • A patient that undergoes the effect of some action

  • A theme that directly receives the action

  • A goal towards which something moves

Subcategorization frame

 the number of nominals that a verb must co-occur with

Lexcial cateogry - verb. Verbs can be classified according to the number and type of arguments they take

• Single-argument verbs (can be used as a one-place predicate (Vi): 笑，哭 (intransitive

• Double-argument verbs (two-place): 打，吃 (transitive)

• Triple-argument verbs (three-place):  给，教，送 (ditransitive)

Chinese adjectives can be marked by a relative marker/phrasal clitic 的 (de), placed in front of the noun it modifies

Scalar adjective and absolute adjective

Scalar adjective

• Can be calibrated in degrees

• Can be modified by an adverb such as 很 (very)

• Ex. 白 (white, bai2)，冷 (cold, leng3)

  • They can all have hen

Absolute adjective

• Cannot be calibrated in degrees

• Cannot be modified by an adverb

• Ex. 雪白(snowy white,xue3bai2),  冰冷 (ice cold, bing1leng3)

Lexical categories - adjective

•  张三好。

  • zhāngsānhǎo

• 张三不好。

  • zhāngsānbúhǎo

• Chinese adjectives can function like an intransitive verb or as a sentence predicate.

• When an adjective is used as a predicate in Chinese, we don’t need to put a link verb such as “是”, which means “is/are” in English, before it

Other syntactic categories

• Verbs, nouns, and adjectives:

  • A verb subcategorizing a certain number of augments to make up the participants （v）

  • Subcategorized positions: argument positions (n)

  • Syntactic clause: verb + subcategorized arguments (adj)

• Adverbs, auxiliaries, prepositions, classifiers, determiners

  • Modifiers of a clause

  • Optional

  • Non-argument positions

Syntactic categories - Adverbs

• Follows the noun at the beginning of a clause but precedes the verb of the clause

• Some can never occupy the position in front of the sentence-initial noun, such as 都 (dou1) all, 又 (you4) again, 就 (jiu4) then, 经常 (jing1chang2) frequently, and

• 常常/常 (chang2) often.

• Non-movable adverbs:

1. 你又吃这么多。

• niyouchi zhemeduo

• you again eat this much

1. 他天天都上班。

• ta tiantiandoushangban

• he everyday goes to work

1. 都他天天上班。

Syntactic categories - adverbs

• 能(be able)/可以(can)/会(will)

• Occur in front of a verb

• Not movable

• Some can occur all by itself

• Such as to answer questions

1. 我能做这件事。

• wo nengzuozhejianshi

• I can do this.

1. 他能说流利的中文。

• ta nengshuoliuli de zhongwen

• He can speak fluent Chinese.

1.  他能流利地说中文。

• ta nengliuli de shuozhongwen

• He can speak Chinese fluently.

1.  他能不能说流利的中文？

• -能

Syntactic categories - prepositions

• 在-at, in, on/ 从from/ 跟with / 用by

• Originated from verbs: maintaining some properties of verbs

• Occur in front of the verb of a clause

• An optional part of a verb phrase

 

• 她在家。

Basic sentence structure 1

• Subject: noun

• Predicate: verb, adjective, *preposition (coverb)

• Object: noun

• Ex. 他打我

Basic sentence structure 2

• Subject: noun

• Link verb: be—是,become–变

• Predicative: noun, adjective with “的”

• Ex. 花园是美丽的。

Basic sentence structure 3

• Subject: noun

• Predicate: adjective without “的”

• Ex. 花园(garden)(很)美丽。

Sentence types

• Declarative (more frequently, S (NP) VP

• Interrogative

• Imperative

Interrogative

• Wh-word questions  什么，哪，怎么，谁，几

• Disjunctive questions 还是 hái shì, or

• A-not-A questions (是不是)

• Particle questions 吗？呢？

• Derived tag questions (it is raining, isn’t it?)

Phrase

• A group of words (or possibly a single word) as a constituent in the syntax of a sentence, a single unit within a grammatical hierarchy

• Head - the obligatory word around which a phrasal category is built

  • May be a verb, noun, adjective, or preposition (VP, NP, AP, PP).

Noun phrase determiner

demonstrative, possessive, and quantifier

Demonstrative

• 这-this 那-that

• 这些-these 那些-those

Sentences of NP

Subject + predicate + object

Subject + link verb + predicative

The kinds of modifiers frequently used in NP

• Adjectives with and without 的

• Classifier

• Numeral

• Determiner

• Noun

More types of NP

• NP – PRO (pronoun) 他，她，他们...

• NP – PRO + N 她妈妈，他女朋友...

• NP – DET 这，那，这里，那里, 我的，老师的，一些...

Verb phrase

• Subcategorization frame

• Single-argument verbs：笑，哭

• Double-argument verbs：打，吃

• Triple-argument verbs：给，教

Types of verb phrase

Vp = Vi

VP = Vt NP

VP = VdtNP1 NP2

More types of VP

VP = VP + VP

VP - (PP) VP

PP - PREP NP

VP - V (NP) PP

A postverbal, locative PP is obligatory

Summary of VP

1. VP – Vi

2. VP – Vt NP

3. VP – Vdt NP1 NP2

4. VP – (PP) VP (PP – PREP + NP)

5. VP – AUX VP

6. VP – ADV (AUX) VP

7. VP – V (NP) PP

Selectional restrictions

• Co-occurrence constraints between concrete nouns and a numeral classifier (measure word)

• 一个人，两个苹果，三支笔，四条腿，五本书

 

• Most commonly used classifiers like 个，本, can be modified by adjectives like 大，小.

• 一大个苹果，五小本书

• 一个大苹果，五本小书

Negation

• Chinese negators: 不 (bu4), 别 (bie2), 没 (mei2), 没有 (mei2you3)

• Among them, 不 is the most commonly used.

Particle questions

ma

Wh-word questions

• Interrogative nominals:

  • 谁

  • 什么

  • 什么时候

  • 哪儿

• Interrogative adjectives

  • 多少

  • 几

  • 怎么

• Interrogative adverbs

  • 怎么样/怎样'how' for manner, means, state, or property;

  • 怎么'how' for means, property, or reason;

  • 什么样'(in) what manner, how' for state or property;

  • 为什么'why' for reason or purpose;

  • 多 'how' for questions of degree.

• Interrogative determinative: 'which' • 哪个

Disjunctive questions

• Present a respondent with a couple of options to choose from

• Marked by the connector 还是

Nominalization

•  The grammatical process through which a verb phrase, or a sentence, is turned into a noun phrase. (he destroyed... - his destruction)

• Chinese nominalization involves the placement of a clitic 的 after an otherwise verb phrase, or sentence

Relative clauses

• A clause that modifies a noun, which is commonly referred to as the head noun of the relative clause

• NP – (DP) S 的 (ADJ) N

• 你刚刚骑的白马

Identify the head

• 刚买的一匹马 (for emphasis)

• The head nouns function either as the doer (施事者, shi1shi4zhe3) or the undergoer (受事者, shou4shi4zhe3)

Cleft sentences

• Nominalization is also related to cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences that are marked by the optional nominalizer 的 at the end of a sentence.

• 是 ... 的， 是 is placed right in front of the constituent to be emphasized

 

• To emphasize the undergoer that follows the verb, it must be separated from the verb and placed after the verb 是.

 

• Pseudo-cleft construction: the focus after the verb 是 appears in the form of a relative clause

Adverbial clauses

• An adverbial clause with an adverbial connector

• An adverbial clause that appears like a relative clause before the main clause

• A common adverb that marks both clauses

• Adverbial connector: 不但 (bu2dan4)...而且 (er2qie3) although...also 虽然 (sui1ran2)...但是/还是 (dan4shi1, hai2shi4) although...but/still 因为 (yin1wei4)...所以 (suo3yi3) because...so

Flexibility word order

Type I: the placement of the two verb phrases in a series is sometimes flexible

No flexibility

• Word order is constrained by the nature order of the sequence of real-world events.

• The initial verb can take the progressive marker indicating the common aspectual nature of the VPs in the series.

• Syntactic constraint that does not allow a stative complement to follow the undergoer NP after a transitive verb (He played the game well, 他打球得好 is not allowed)

• Instead, the verb is reduplicated to avoid a sequence of two complement.

Linear word order in Chinese

• Chinese has minimal morphology → word order is crucial.

• Example:

• tā hē jiǔ → “He drinks wine.” ✅

• jiǔ hē tā → Ungrammatical ❌

• Word order helps identify lexical categories.

Semantic roles

• Semantic roles define how arguments relate to verbs:

• Agent: initiator (e.g., 我 in 我骑马)

• Patient/Theme: affected entity (e.g., 马)

• Experiencer: psychological subject

• Goal, Recipient