Syntax: Dependencies

tree diagram ➝ generative approach. main theory of syntax

dependency: when 2+ elements occur in a syntactic arrangement, some kind of dependency exists

• Head: dominant element

• Dependent: all elements that must co-occur because of the head

a dependency relation doesn’t have to have the head next to the dependent

there can be a long-distance dependency

three types of dependency, depending on the strength of the bond

• Bilateral dependence: the occurrence of each element is dependent on the occurrence of the other

  • Subject-Verb. The cyclist crashed

  • Preposition-Object. with the pencil

  • the head still governs the syntactic properties of the construction (verb, preposition)

• Unilateral dependence: the head can occur without any dependents

  • adjuncts ➝ adjectives, time, manner, place, adverbs

• Coordinate dependence: all elements are of equal status, both heads and dependence. shown by ‘and’

  • Kim saw Chris and Dana.

  • Kim saw and loathed Chris.

Dependency relations are crucial to morphosyntax

dependent-marking: some languages require morphosyntactic coding only on the dependents

• head is generally unmarked but the dependent is marked morphology

head-marking: other languages require morphosyntactic coding only on the heads

• dependent is generally unmarked but the head is marked morphologically

• this is how polysynthetic languages work

zero-marking

• usually analytic languages

• no morphology to encode heads or dependents

mixed marking: some morphology on heads and dependents

A Theory of Dependencies

• tree analysis gives no information about dependencies

• notiational dependencies

  • Word Grammar (pointing from head to dependencies)

    • Bilateral: double arrow

    • Unilateral: one arrow

    • Coordinate: no arrow