Syntactic structures

generative grammar/syntax

theory that there is a set of principles that allow you to produce the set of all (and only) grammatical sentences

universal grammar

often conflated w/ generative grammr but is a specific theory of generative grammar that argues that there is a set of principls and constraints that govern all natural language

grammar can refer to which 2 things?

• a speakers tacit knowledge of a language

• a linguist's explicit theory of a speaker's tacit knowledge of a language

derivational morphology

a process of creating new words - usually involves a change of category

inflectional morphology

the change of a word-form in relation to some grammatical relation

what is Merge?

taking two elements and combining them to form a bigger element - this bigger element can then be fed as input for further Merge - using the output as the input of the same process is known as recursion

possible word orders (most to least common)

a. SOV (Hindi, Japanese, Korean)

b. SVO (English, Mandarin)

c. VSO (Irish, Welsh, Tagalog)

d. VOS (Malagasy)

e. OVS (Urarina [Peru])

f. OSV (Xavante [Brazil])

what structure do sentences have?

hierarchical

what is constituency?

how words group together to form coherent units

what is one of the most general forms of substitution?

the use of pronouns

Substitution (or Replacement)

if a string of words can be replaced by a suitable pronoun or pro-form, that string is a constituent

example of constituency tests demonstrating idosyncratic behaviour?

• there works to substitute for PP's that express location, but they can sometimes substitute for the DP inside the PP

• e.g. John read a book in the lib // John read a book there (=in the lib) // John read a book in there (=the lib)

what is the rule for substitution of PP's and DPs?

use there-substitution for PP, pronominal substitution for DP

which substitution test would be used to show a DP contains an NP

the one-substitution test, e.g. a red [book] and a green [one] - sometimes this method doesn't work unless the NP is modified and contrasted with another

which substitution test identifies a VP?

did so test - John [read a book] John [did so]

issues w/ did so test - asymetrical structure of sentences

the verb and object form a VP constituent, but the subject and verb do not - telling us that a sentence has the structure S + (VO) not (SV) + O

what does recursion allow for with VPs?

• bc recursion allows the use of output as input of a process, each VP that is modified becomes a bigger VP, so recursion allows us to potentiallygenerate an infinite number of VP's

trying to target non-constituents with substitution

• ungrammaticality will occur

• successful subs. (or any constituency test) should always allow us to recover the original meaning

how do you form a pseudocleft?

starting w/ a h- word with the string to be tested at end of sentence

• Wh-word REST OF SENTENCE is/was STRING

what is movement?

refers to material that starts in one location but is pronounced in another

what is a property of movement?

only constituents can be moved

what are the most common types of movement in English and what do they involve?

• topicalisation

• wh- movement

• both cases involve moving a string to the front of the sentence where the moved string is a constituent

explain topicalisation w/ examples

a. John ate an apple in the living room

b. [an apple], John ate in the living room

c. *[the living], John ate an apple in room

• the moved string an apple is a constituent

important note about constituency tests

• they only work positively

• a successful test tells u a string is a constituent, a single failed test DOES NOT ALLOW U to conclude that the string isn't a constituent

explain wh- movement w/ examples

• combo of substitution and movement

• relevant string = replaced by a question word (wh-) and moved to the frontof the sentence

• the string that undergoes wh-movement is a constituent

• John ate [an apple] in the room

• John ate [what] in the room

• what did John eat in the room

• now we kno that an apple = constituent

what does ellipsis do?

targets a string by deleting it - the deleted string is a constituent, though the test doesn't tell u what category

key notes for ellipsis

• for a construction involving ellipsis to be valid, the meaning of the elided material must be recoverable

• it is ungrammatical to elide the verb phrase along w/ the modal auxiliary

what is coordination, give 1 key characteristic?

• a simple way of showing constituency

• 1 key characteristic is that only two strings of the same category can be coordinated

important notes on co-ordination

• syntactic categories have nothing to do w/ the size of the constituent

• doesn't tell u what category, only that the co-ordinated strings are of the same category

what are morphosyntactic features?

• a smaller subunit of a morpheme you get when you break it down

• a property of syntactic items/objects that syntax is sensitive to, and may determine the morphological form the word has

what is a privative feature?

a feature that is either present or absent

what do valued features allow for?

subtypes of a feature that form a natural class e.g. numbered features

how can something be considered a feature?

whether there are systematic or morphological changes associated w/ a syntactic or semantic property

examples of category features

• D

• N

• V

• Adj

• P

• Adv

what are Phi-features

• a set of features that typically bundle together on a DP

• refers to the collection of person number and gender

common cases

• [nom]inative

• [acc]usative

• [dat]ive

• [gen]itive

what is a theta-role?

• describes the role an argument plays with respect to the verb

• three most common are agent, theme, and goal

what are interpretable vs uninterpretable features?

• interp - is interpretable to the semantics because it carries some semantic info

• uninterp - is uninterpretable to the semantics bc it doesn’t carry semantic info

what are languages sensitive to?

not only whether one element is higher than another, but about their relative positions

explain the structural terminology - this is a long one good luck

• R is the root node

• R dominates all other nodes

• R is the mother of A and D

• A and D are the daughters of R

• A and D are sisters, as are B and C, E and F, and G and H

• A dominates B and C

• D dominates E, F, G, and H

• R immediately dominates A and D

• A immediately dominates B and C

C-command

• C = constituent

• a node X c-commands a node Y if either:

  a. X and Y are sisters OR

  b. X’s sister dominates Y

• AKA a node C commands its sister and all her descendants

explain this with c-command

• R c-commands nothing

• A c-commands D, E, F ,G and H

• D c-commands A, B, and C

• B c-commands C

• C c-commands B

• E c-commands F, G, and H

• F c-commands E

• G c-commands H

• H c-commands G

What is an anaphor?

• it is a class of DP

• it is usually a reflexive pronoun like ‘himself’

What do you call it when two DP’s refer to the same individual?

coreferential

what is the DP that a pronoun corefers with called?

antecedent

What is the anaphor class made of and what do they depend on?

• reflexives and reciprocal

• they depend on other elements in order to have their reference fixed

what do we say when an environment is one where some construction is grammatical?

we say that environment licenses that construction

what does a reflexive require in a sentence that they co refer with

another DP

summarise the relevant generalisations regarding reflexives

a reflexive must

1. be in the same sentence as its antecedent

2. appears after its antecedent

3. match with its antecedent in phi features (gender, number, person)