quiz 2. 1. the boy found the ball. 2. the boy found quickly. 3. the boy found in the house. 4. the...
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Review classQuiz 2
1. The boy found the ball.2. The boy found quickly.3. The boy found in the house.4. The boy found the ball in the house.5. Lisa slept the baby.6. Lisa slept soundly.
Sentences are not random strings of words. They must conform to specific patterns.
Grammaticality of sentences
What is the purpose of studying syntax? To investigate word order and sentence
structure.
To be able to consciously articulate our unconscious knowledge of English.
Why bother?
The knowledge of sentences and their structure.
Syntactic rules include:◦ The grammaticality of sentences◦ Word order◦ Hierarchical organization of sentences◦ Grammatical relations such as subject and
object◦ Whether different structures have different
meanings or the same meanings
What is syntax?
Grammaticality judgments do not depend on having heard the sentence before:
Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the party.
Grammaticality judgments do not depend on meaning:
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
*Furiously sleep ideas green colorless
What grammaticality is not based on
Major word classes Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Sentence with only major word classes:
Word classes
Adjectives◦ Modify nouns
My favorite dog is hungry.
Adjectives can have a predicative function or an attributive function.
Major word classes
Adverbs Often considered the ‘garbage’ category
Unfortunately, some students drive very quickly and create extremely dangerous roads.
unfortunately: sentence adverb quickly: manner adverbs very: degree adverbs
Major word classes
Phrasal category Form Function
NP Headed by a noun Subject of sentence
VP Headed by a verb Predicate of sentence
Phrases
NP
det adj N
The friendly person
V
VP
det N
NP
asked a question
The man with the toupee shocked the woman at the bar.
Basic Constituents
Sentence (S)
Subject (NP) Predicate (VP)
The man with the toupee shocked the woman at the bar
Hierarchical constituent structure
Meaning (1)A big sale of stereos (2) a sale of big stereos
Big stereo sale Big stereo sale
Linear vs. Hierarchical structure
Determining and representing hierarchical structure
The tipsy man finished the drink in one minute det adj N V det N P det N
NPNP
NP
PP
S
NP
VP
Every NP has a grammatical relation to some other element in sentence.
NP: ‘the tipsy man’ relationship with ‘finished’= SUBJECT
NPs to left of verbs = subject (dominated by S) NP: ‘the drink’ = direct object NPs to right of verbs and dominated directly by
VP = direct object Other NP not related directly to verb but to
preposition (dominated directly by PP) = object of a preposition
Grammatical Relations of NPs
Test 1: “stand alone” test If a group can stand alone, they form a
constituent Set of word that can answer a question: What did you pass? “the Linguistics class” “passed the”
The student passed the Linguistics class.
Constituent tests
Test 2: “replacement by a pronoun” test◦ Pronouns can substitute for natural groups.
Pronoun that can answer a question:◦ When did you pass the Linguistic class?
“I passed it last trimester” Do can also substitute for the whole
predicate passed the Linguistics class. Som passed the Linguistics class and Boss
did too.
Constituent tests
Test 3: “move as a unit” test◦ If a group of words can be moved, they form a
constituent.
The student passed the Linguistics class It was the Linguistics class that the student
passed. The Linguistics class was passed by the
student.
Constituent tests
The professor said that the student passed the exam.
det N V C det N V det N
NP
VPNP
NP
S
CP
VP
S
1. S = NP + VP2. NP = Det + N3. VP = V + NP4. VP = V The woman laughed.5. VP = V + PP6. PP = P + NP7. VP = V + CP8. CP = C + S
Phrase structure rules
SemanticsThe meaning of language
Questions in Semantics Why does a certain set of words mean
something and a similar set mean something very different?
When do two different sentences mean the same thing?
How can one sentence mean more than one thing?
What is meaning?
Is a word’s meaning simply its dictionary definition? No! In our society, many people feel that the
dictionary definition of a word more accurately represents a word’s meaning than an individual speaker’s understanding of the word.
But descriptivists arrive at their definitions by studying the ways speakers of the language use different words.
The meaning of a word or expression is not just a definition composed of more words in the same language, since ultimately the meaning of some words would have to be known in order to understand the definitions.
Meaning is provided by a community of language speakers, not by some special authority like a dictionary or grammar book.
Concepts of determining meaning
Mental image Reference Sense
Concepts of determining meaning
Synonyms Antonyms Homonyms (homophones) Hyponyms
Lexical Relationships
These properties are overlapping:
MALE
ADULTPARENT
father
bachelor
mother
boy
woman
Semantic properties
Semantic Features and Syntax Incorrect “matching” of the semantic
features of different elements of a sentence can result in ungrammatical (but syntactically sound) sentences:
The man [-female] was pregnant [+female].I sawed [+solid] the water [-solid].
The ideas [-living] are sleeping [+living].
PragmaticsThe importance of context
is concerned with the interpretation of meaning in context.
2 contexts: Linguistic context (discourse) Situational context (anything non-linguistic)
Pragmatics…
What’s the concept of deixis?
Deixis
Cohesive devicesHolding texts together
Cohesion
Grammatical
Reference
Substitution Ellipsis
Lexical
Repetition
Synonyms
Superordinates
Cohesive devices
Reference Using referring
expressions to refer to referents in the context.
Commonly used reference: pronouns
Grammatical Cohesion
SubstitutionLittle boxes on the hillside,Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,Little boxes, little boxes,Little boxes, all the same.There’s a green one and a pink oneAnd a blue one and a yellow oneAnd they’re all made of ticky-tackyAnd they all just look the same.
(Reynolds, 1963)
Grammatical Cohesion
Substitution Similar function as pronouns Using a word to substitute for its referent Ellipsis Omitting words and phrases mentioned
earlier Purpose to avoid repetition Martin loves his wife, and so do I.
Grammatical Cohesion
Repetition Repeated words/phrases to exploit its
stylistic effect◦ “Little boxes”
Synonyms To avoid repetition another word with the
same meaning is used.
Lexical Cohesion
At 75 cm across and capable of cracking open a coconut with its claws, the land-dwelling coconut crab is your beach lounger’s worst nightmare. Fortunately for the sunbather, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod has been confined to tropical islands across the Pacific and Indian oceans only.
(adapted from Cutting, 2002)
Quick Exercise: find the synonyms
Superordinates Similar to hyponomy
The great white shark can grow up to 8m long. It is one of the more dangerous predators in the sea.
Lexical Cohesion