syntax iii march 27, 2012. just so you know phonology homeworks will be graded by thursday. syntax...
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Syntax III
March 27, 2012
Just So You Know• Phonology homeworks will be graded by Thursday.
• Syntax homework will also be posted on Thursday…
• And will be due the following Tuesday.
• Let’s check out the remaining practice sentences for syntax…
There is no “I” in “verb”• In English, the I slot may be explicitly filled with
auxiliary verbs:
• be {am, are, is, was, were}
• have {has, had}
• Verbs following auxiliaries bear affixes marking them for tense {am going, has gone} or voice {is gone}.
• Modals are a special kind of auxiliary verb:
• will, would, can, could, shall, should, may, might, must, (do/did)
• Verbs following modals are always in their root (infinitive) form. {I must go; I could go; etc.}
Potential Problems• There are some limitations on the extent to which the syntactic rules can ignore the specific words that fit into each phrase.
• Example (from last week’s Quick Write):
• Is it possible to “swim a carcass”?
Sub-categorization• It turns out that it is necessary to break lexical categories down further, into sub-categories.
• For instance, some verbs must be followed by a noun phrase:
I devoured the sandwich. *I devoured.
I invited the teacher. *I invited.
• Other verbs must not be followed by a noun phrase:
I sprinted. *I sprinted the ball.
I slept. *I slept the dog.
I danced. *I danced the horse.
Verb Sub-Category #1
• Intransitive Verbs (Vi): must not be followed by an NP
• = they do not take an object NP as a complement.
• VP Vi
• *VP Vi NP
• Examples: sneeze, fall, elapse, snorkel
• Good: The boy slept.
• Bad: *The boy slept the dog.
• Good: The girl fell.
• Bad: *The girl fell the dog.
Verb Sub-Category #2
• Transitive Verbs (Vt): must be followed by an NP
• = they must take an object NP as a complement.
• VP Vt NP
• *VP Vt
• Examples: devour, defy, harm, invite
• Good: The children harmed the dog.
• Bad: *The children harmed.
• Good: The zombies devoured the vampires.
• Bad: *The zombies devoured.
Verb Sub-Category #3
• Ditransitive Verbs (Vdt): must be followed by two objects
• = either two NPs or a combination of {NP, PP}.
• VP Vdt NP NP
• *VP Vt
• Examples: give, sell, send, put
• Good: The boy gave the dog a bone.
• Bad: *?The boy gave the dog.
• Alternative: The students sold a chew toy to the professor.
A + N Sub-categories• Adjectives and nouns can have complement requirements, too--often for particular PPs:
Mary is fond of John.
*Mary is fond.
*Mary is fond by John.
• Some nouns require specific prepositional phrases:
George talked about our reliance on oil.
*George talked about our reliance.
*George talked about our reliance for oil.
• This information has to be included in the lexicon for each word.
Verb Sub-Category #4• Sentential Verbs (Vs):
• = include a sentence in their complement.
• Examples: know, believe, wonder, think…
• Marge thinks that [Homer ate the cake]IP.
• Don wondered whether [Sidney scored a goal]IP.
• Phoebe believed that [Chandler married Monika]IP.
• Gandalf knew if [Frodo had the ring]IP.
• Notice that the sentence in the VP complement is always preceded by a funny kind of word:
• that, whether, if…
Complementizer Phrases• New lexical category: complementizers (C).
• Ex: if, that, whether
• Complementizers function as the heads of complementizer phrases. (CPs)
• The complement of the CP is another IP (sentence).
• Ex: Marge thinks [that [Homer ate the cake]IP]CP.
• Matrix clause = highest-level sentence
• “Marge thinks…”
• Complement, or embedded clause = within the CP
• “Homer ate the cake.”
IP
NP I’
Marge I VP
[-past] V’ CP
V C’
thinks C IP
that NP I’
Homer I VP
[+past] V’
V NP
ate the cakeCP Example
matrix clause
embedded clause
Infinite Recursion, part 2• It is possible to create infinitely long sentences by embedding complementizer clauses within complementizer clauses…
• John said [that Mary thought [that Robin knew [that Angela hoped [that Quinton wished [that Bronwen believed that…]]]]]
• VP V CP V CP
• CP C IP V C IP
• IP NP VPV C NP VP
• VP V CP V C NP V CP
• etc.
Infinite Recursion, part 3• There is one other (very boring) way to produce inifinitely long sentences in language:
• I like baseball and basketball and hockey and football and soccer and rugby and cricket and ultimate and polo and lacrosse….
• Sentences like this take advantage of the syntactic phenomenon of coordination.
• Coordination combines phrases or words of the same type with a conjunction (and, but, or…)
• to create a phrase or word of the same type.
• General coordination rule: Xn Xn Con Xn
Coordination Examples• NP NP and NP
NP The fat man and the little boy
• VP VP or VP
VP fish or cut bait
• IP IP but IP
IP Ringo plays drums but Paul plays bass.
• Coordination of individual words works the same way:
• P P and P
• She went [[above]P and [beyond]P]P the call of duty.
Ambiguity• Coordination can lead to a very simple kind of structural ambiguity.
• I like green eggs and ham.
• Interpretation #1: just the eggs are green.
• I like [[green eggs]NP and [ham]NP]NP.
• Interpretation #2: both the eggs and ham are green.
• I like [green [[eggs]N’ and [ham]N’]NP.
• Let’s check out the trees…
Interpretation #1• Only the eggs are green:
IP
NP I’
Pro I VP
I [-past] V’
V NP
like NP Con NP
AP N’ and ham
green N
eggs
Interpretation #2• Both the eggs and ham are green:
IP
NP I’
Pro I VP
I [-past] V’
V NP
like AP N’
green N’ Con N’
N and N
eggs ham
Further Ambiguity• Let’s try another one:
• The police shot the terrorists with rifles.
• Why is this sentence ambiguous?
• (How can you describe the ambiguity, structurally?)
• Interpretation #1: the terrorists have rifles.
• [with rifles] is a PP embedded in the object NP.
• Interpretation #2: the police have rifles.
• [with rifles] is a PP that modifies the main VP.
• Let’s check out some more trees…
Interpretation #1IP
NP I’
the police I VP
[+past] V’
V NP
shot Det N’
the N PP
terrorists P’
P NP
with rifles
In this one, the terrorists have the rifles.
Interpretation #2IP
NP I’
the police I VP
[+past] V’ PP
V NP P’
shot Det N’ P NP
the N with rifles
terroristsIn this one, the police are using the rifles to shoot the terrorists.
The PP is a modifier of the VP here, not a complement.
= it’s not required by the verb.
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