LINB06 Syntax

Syntactic categories are also called

Parts of speech or Word classes (these provide info on function of a word and allows for generalizations about behaviour of different word types)

(1) a. This is our official policy

b. No official was present during the meeting

This is an example of

Categorial ambiguity (notice the same word but different categorization)

What does {}, *, #, ?, %, and “““ mean?

{} = different options separated by comma
* = unacceptable syntactically
# = strange semantically, but syntactically okay, infelicitious
? = you can say but it’s a little weird
% = some accept some don’t ; “““ = variations of weird

(1) a. This is our {official, new} policy.

b. No {official, new} was present during the meeting.

This is an example of categorial ambiguity. Why?

In a, the adjective ‘official’ can be replaced with another adjective ‘new’, however in b, the noun ‘official’ is spelt the same way but has a different meaning so it has different syntactic category than the other option which is the adjective ‘new’ which is the same meaning and can’t change syntactic categories.

FITB: While a word (or group of words) in a sentence can be interchanged with another with some degree of freedom, this change tends to be ___ by syntactic category.
Example: a. She wanted to (_)
b. The (_) went badly
c. This is our (_) policy

restricted
a. V
b. N
c. A; can be ‘privacy’ even if thats technically a noun but it acts as adjective

Syntactic category of a word can be determined based on ____. Describe the two types.

distributional criteria
1. morphological distribution: types of affixes and other morphology that can appear on a word
e.g. cant inflect privacy with -er (comparative) or -est (superlative)
2. syntactic distribution: where a word can appear in relation to other words in a syntactic structure and vice versa
e.g. privacy cant be used with a degree word “this is an extremely {*privacy} policy”

Difference between lexical and functional

Lexical: (open) nouns, verbs, adjectives

Functional: (closed) conjunctions, negations

What is a verb?

A predicate; expresses a property of and agree with its argument(s)
argument => dependent of the verb; usually NP or PP
they are subcategorized in terms of valency or transitivity (how many arguments is needed to be acceptable)

Intransitive vs transitive vs ditransitive vs ambitransitive

intransitive: 1 argument (he yelled)
transitive: 2 arguments (she broke the chair)
ditransitive: 3 arguments (they sent a letter to their father)
ambitransitive: ditransitive and transitive function

If * is outside = you can NOT omit whats in the parentheses

If * is inside = you CAN omit it

True or False

True

Is “You disappeared (*the house)” optionally transitive?

NO

What is tense inflection?

TENSE = LOCATION + TIME

e.g. He help-ed (PAST) his mother every day.

What is aspect inflection?

ASPECT = INTERNAL MAKEUP OF AN EVENT IN TERMS OF TIME

e.g. She is leav-ing (ASPECT) tonight

What is mood?

MOOD = GRAMMATICAL EXPRESSION OF SPEAKERS BELIEFS WITH REGARDS TO THE ACTUAL POTENTIAL OF LIKELIHOOD OF EVENT

e.g. They would go (HYPOTHETICAL) to Greece tomorrow if.,..

What is a noun?

A noun can be either an argument or predicate.

When it functions as an argument, a noun phrase bears a thematic role assigned by the verb.

Can be inflected for number, gender/noun class, and case

Instrument vs Locative vs Dative

Instrument = being used as an instrument

Locative = where

Dative = indirect object

What is an adjective?

expresses properties/qualities of the denotation of a noun
they can be modified by intensifiers, express comparison and equation, and agree with the noun that they modify in certain features; this is the only gradable syntactic category (i.e. only category where you can add comparative, superlative…)

Adjectives can be attributive or predicative. Give two examples of this.

Attributive: a tall tree; tall modifies the noun that it is attached to

Predicative: they feel very sad; very sad can attach to a verb and form a complex predicate making the adjective like an event

What is an adverb?

an adverb chiefly modifies verbs (also adjectives, and other adverbs)

they are in complementary distribution with adjectives

adverbial modifiers (or adjuncts) are words and phrases that modify verbs

e.g. we’re leaving tomorrow
*try to replace with adjective to tell if it’s an adverb

What is an adposition? What are the two types?

marks locative or temporal information or an instrument; required by the verb
Prepositions: precede their complement
e.g. with that person
Postpositions: follow the complement
e.g. that person with

What is a syntactic tree structure?

A hierarchical structure that has internal organization, represented with branches, nodes, and labels.

Can you define each term?

Branches: a line that connects two nodes within a tree structure
Node: end of a branch, each has a label according to syntactic category
Terminal nodes: does not dominate any other node in the tree (there is no branch underneath it)
Non-terminal node: dominates another node in the tree (there is a branch underneath it)
Root node: dominates all other nodes in the tree; there is only one root node per tree structure

What is exhaustive dominance and how does it relate to constituency?

Constituency can be formalized as exhaustive dominance

→ a set of terminal nodes is a constituent if only and all of its members are dominated by a particular node
i.e. the up/down vertical relations among the nodes

A node immediately dominates another if ___________________.

there are no intervening nodes between them

What is precedence?

A node will precede another in linear order if neither dominates the other and the former sister-precedes the latter (or another that dominates it).
i.e. the left/right horizontal relationships

What is c-command?

A node c-commands another if neither dominates the other and the first branching node that dominates the former also dominates the latter.
i.e. a node c-commands its sister and everything that this sister contains

What is symmetrical c-command?

A node symmterically c-commands another if this other node also c-commands it.

What is asymmetrical c-command?

A node asymmterically c-commands another if this other node does NOT also c-commands it.

What are R-expressions?

Express content; i.e. A NP that gets its meaning by referring to an entity in the world

→ cannot be co-indexed thus cannot have a local syntactic antecedent anywhere

e.g. Bill Clinton, a teddy bear

What are anaphors?

A NP that obligatorily gets its meaning from another NP in the sentence.

→ must be c-commanded and co-indexed by a local syntactic antecedent = bound

e.g. Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini

What are pronouns?

A NP that may (but need not) get its meaning from another word in the sentence. It can also get its meaning from a noun previously mentioned in the discourse, or by context.

→ can be coindexed and c-commanded but cannot have a local syntactic antecedent

e.g. Art said that he played basketball

What is an antecedent?

A NP that gives its meaning to a pronoun or anaphor.

e.g. Heidi (ANT) bopped herself (ANA) on the head with a zucchini

Two NPs that have the same index are said to be ___. Two NPs that are co-indexed are said to ____.

co-indexed + co-refer

What is binding?

A binds B if and only if :
A c-commands B + A and B are co-indexed

What are the principles?

Principle A: An anaphor must be bound (coindexed + c-commanding antecedent) in its local binding domain.

Principle B: Pronouns must be free in its local binding domain.

Principle C: An R-expression must be free everywhere.

Binding domain: the clause containing the anaphor (or pronoun)

Replacement test

a group of words that can be replaced with an appropriate pro-form

e.g. A very friendly cat jumped into the box.

a. It jumped into the box

b. A very friendly cat jumped into it.

c. A very friendly cat jumped there.

d. A very friendly cat did (so).

Stand-alone test

replaced by a wh-word and stand alone as an answer to the resulting question

e.g. A very friendly cat jumped into the box.

a. Who jumped into the box? A very friendly cat.

b. A very friendly cat jumped into what? The box

c. A very friendly cat jumped where? Into the box

d. A very friendly cat did what? Jumped into the box

Clefting test

appear in the focus position of a cleft sentence

e.g. A very friendly cat jumped into the box.

a. It was a very friendly cat that ___ jumped into the box.

b. It was the box that a very friendly cat jumped into ____.

c. It was into the box that a very friendly cat jumped ___.

d. *It was jumped into the box that a very friendly cat ___.

Coordination/Conjunction test

can be coordinated (or conjoined) with another, similar group of words

e.g. A very friendly cat jumped into the box.

a. A very friendly cat and a rather energetic dog jumped into the box.

b. A very friendly cat jumped into the box or the flowerpot.

c. A very friendly cat jumped into the box and over the fence.

What is a syntactic structure?

a hierarchical structure of constituents (group of words that function together as a syntactic unit)

Head of a phrase

expresses core of its meaning and determines its category/distribution

phrase must have a head; obligatory

dependent of head may or may not be obligatory

e.g. a (very friendly) cat

Head-directionality

Head-initial (or left-headed) = head appears first in its phrase

e.g. [PP of [NP his son]]

Head-final (or right-headed) = head appears last in its phrase

e.g. [VP [NP chocolate] son]

Phrase rules

NP → (D) (AdjP+) N (PP+)

AP → (AdvP) Adj

PP → P (NP)

VP → (AdvP) V (PP) (NP); objects agree on valency and categorial requirements of its head

TP → NP T (inflectional element) VP; simple sentence with subject and predicate

CP → C TP; complex sentence with multiple clauses/predicates (matrix, embedded)