LF 5.0

Introduction to Syntax

  • Syntax is a component of mental grammar that deals with sentence construction.

  • It relates to how sentences and phrases can be constructed from smaller phrases and words.

  • Native speakers instinctively know which combinations of words form valid sentences in their language due to their understanding of syntactic combinations.

  • Syntax also refers to a subfield of linguistics that studies this aspect of grammar.

Importance of Syntax

  • Sentence construction is complex; not all combinations of words create valid sentences.

  • Understanding which combinations of words form sentences and which do not is a key focus for syntacticians.

  • Questions explored in syntax include:

    • What factors influence permissible word combinations?

    • How do languages compare regarding sentence structure?

Contents Overview

5.1 Basic Ideas of Syntax

  • Introduces linguistic expressions, grammaticality, and independent syntactic properties.

5.2 Syntactic Properties

  • Discusses word order restrictions and co-occurrence requirements of expressions, including arguments and adjuncts.

5.3 Syntactic Constituency

  • Introduces syntactic constituents and general constituency tests.

5.4 Syntactic Categories

  • Explains syntactic categories and distribution, introducing major syntactic categories in English.

5.5 Constructing a Grammar

  • Guides the reader in constructing a simple descriptive grammar of English.

5.6 Practice

  • Provides exercises, discussion questions, activities, and further readings related to syntax.

Basic Ideas of Syntax

(Un)Grammaticality

  • Syntax focuses on how words and phrases combine into larger structures.

  • Linguistic expressions can be single words or phrases, each with form, meaning, and syntactic properties.

  • Successful combinations of words lead to grammatical sentences; unsuccessful ones lead to ungrammatical strings.

  • Example:

    • Grammatical: "Sally likes Bob."

    • Ungrammatical: "*Likes Bob Sally."

  • A grammaticality judgment reflects a speaker’s mental grammar rather than prescriptive rules.

  • Example of a syntactically acceptable but prescriptively incorrect sentence: "We are going to quickly wrap up this paragraph..."

Relationship between Syntax and Semantics

  • Syntax and semantics intersect since sentence assembly communicates complex meanings.

  • Example comparison:

    • "Sally likes Bob."

    • "Bob likes Sally."

  • Although both sentences use the same words, the different syntactic arrangements lead to different meanings.

  • Principle of Compositionality: The meaning depends on the combination of expressions, leading to infinite new sentences despite a finite lexicon.

Independence of Syntax and Semantics

  • Syntax can produce grammatical sentences with bizarre meanings and non-sentences that convey understandable meanings.

  • Example of a grammatical but nonsensical sentence by Chomsky: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."

  • Comparison:

    • Syntactically valid: "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."

    • Syntactically invalid: "*Green sleep colorless furiously ideas."

  • It is also clear that meanings do not determine syntactic properties.

Syntactic Behavior Variation

  • Example verbs:

    • "Sally ate an apple."

    • "Sally devoured an apple."

    • But:

    • "Sally ate."

    • "*Sally devoured."

  • Possessive pronouns example:

    • "This dog is mine." (grammatical)

    • "*This dog is my." (ungrammatical)

  • Different languages exhibit distinct syntactic properties despite similar meanings.

    • Example in English: "Ana has a dog."

    • Equivalent in Serbo-Croatian exhibits different syntactic requirements.

    • Anglicized: "*Ana has dog."

    • Serbo-Croatian allows: "Ana ima psa."

  • Conclusion: Syntactic rules are not governed solely by meanings and are influenced by the innate rules of the language.