syntax resit weapon

generative grammar/syntax

a general theory that there is a set of principles and rules that allow us to produce the set of all - and only - grammatical sentences

universal grammar

a specific theory of generative grammar that argues there is a set of principles and constraints that govern all natural language

what two things can the word grammar refer to?

• a speaker's tacit knowledge of a language

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

what is the ‘poverty of stimulus' argument?

children do not receive enough input to acquire language - but they still do -

why is the poverty of stimulus argument relevant to syntax?

because it leads us to posit that there must be some kind of rule-based generalisation in addition to some constraints

what is derivational morphology?

a process of creating new words, which usually involves a change in category - e.g. beauty → beautify

what is inflectional morphology?

the change of a word form in relation to some grammatical relation - e.g. pluralisation or case marking

what are grammaticality judgements?

humans’ inherent knowledge of grammatical vs ungrammatical sentences

what is Merge?

Merge takes 2 (and only 2) elements and combines them to form a bigger element

what is recursion?

using the bigger element (which is the output of Merge) as the input for another Merge

example of recursion?

• the inclusion of multiple adjectives in an NP

• marble statue → old marble statue →dusty old marble statue

complementiser?

(C) that, if, for

bound vs. free morphemes

• free = dog

• bound = the -s in dogs

what are morphemes sensitive to?

categories - e.g. plural -s does not attach to adjectives

what kind of structure do sentences have?

a hierarchical structure

substitution

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

what must a substitution be?

generalised - in the sense that the pronoun/form must be able to substitute for a class of strings

What is a typical DP made up of?

a D and an NP

what to do w/ single words that behave like DP’s, e.g. pronouns, proper names, + single wh- words?

we assume they have no internal structure - i.e. are not made from a D + NP structure

What is a typical PP made up of?

a P and a DP

what is the most efficient way to substitute a PP?

using there

example of substitution test for PP exhibiting idiosyncratic behaviour? - kinda long answer

while there works to subs. for PP’s that express location, they sometimes subs. for the DP in the PP

• there = in the library

• there = the library

what to do to avoid confusion between substituting for DP vs. PP?

• there = PP

• pronominal = DP

NP substitution?

• we can show that a DP contains an NP

• one-substitution

• a red [book] and // a green [one]

• only works if the NP is modified and contrasted with another

Substituting for a VP?

if you can replace the string w/ did so its a VP constituent

what is a typical VP made up of?

V + objects + modifiers

VP’s + the asymmetric structure of sentences

a sentence has to have S+(VO) structure, not (SV)+ O

where do adverbs attach to VP’s on trees?

to the left

what should successful substitutions do (or any constituency test)?

should always allow us to uncover the original meaning

what is clefting?

a way of focusing strings - successful application tells us that the string is a constituent

what does an it-cleft construct?

it is/ was STRING that/who REST OF SENTENCE

• it is the part labelled STRING that is being tested

what do pseudoclefts construct?

wh- words REST OF SENTENCE is/was STRING

how does movement (topicalisation) work?

• moving the string to the front of the sentence - moved string = constituent

how does movement (wh- movement) work?

the relevant string is replaced by a question word and moved to the front

• string that undergoes this = constituent

what is ellipsis?

• ellipsis targets a string by deletion

• essentially substituting a string with silence

• deleted string = constituent, doesn’t tell you what category

• cannot delete non-constituent strings

• the meaning of the elided material MUST BE RECOVERABLE

what is co-ordination?

• only 2 strings of the same category can be coordinated

• e.g. John ate cake at home

• [[John] and [Bill]] ate cake at home

• doesn’t tell us the category, only that the 2 coordinated strings are the same category

BN - what does each set of square brackets represent?

a labelled node

BN - how to structure a set of square brackets?

label goes just after opening bracket, followed by the material of the node, then closing bracket

why is Merge essential to tree drawing?

because that is what happens in every branching node of a tree

• e.g. Merge (V, DP) = [vp [V] [DP]]

• with the vp being the new object formed from Merge

what are morphosyntactic features?

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?

one that is either present or absent

what is a categorial feature?

• an example of a privative feature, e.g. [N] [V]

• words and morphemes bear their category feature

• a phrase inherits the property of its head so a [VP] has a [V] feature

what is a valued feature?

• allows for subtypes of a feature that form a natural class

• e.g. number features → dog = [Num:sg] dogs [Num:pl]

• tense (T) is another example

how many tenses does English have morphologically speaking, and what are they?

• 2

• present + past w/ future expressed either by will or be going to

how many values can a valued feature have

an arbitrary number

how to consider whether something might be a feature in the grammar?

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

examples of category features

• [D]

• [N]

• [Conj]

What are the three features that express grammatical function?

• phi-features

• case features

• thematic (theta) features

what are phi-features?

a set of features that typically bundle together on a DP

collectively refer to the collection of:

• person

• number

• gender

what are case features?

serves to mark the grammatical function of a DP

• nominative/subjective mark the subject

• accusative/objective mark the object

• genitive is the possessor

where do case features appear?

only on pronouns, w/ the exception of genitive

what is a thematic (theta) role?

describe the role an argument plays with respect to the verb

most common theta roles include:

• agent - intentional initiator

• theme - undergoer of action or affected

• goal - recipient or destination

when is it not the case that the subject is always the agent?

in passive construction which deliberately turns the theme into the subject