Chapter Four

1. Chapter Four Syntax 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

2. Outline 4. 1Definition 4. 2 Word-level categories 4. 3 Phrase categories 4. 4 Phrase structure rule 4. 5 Sentences (The S rule) 4. 6 Transformations 4. 7 Task 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

3. 4.1 Definition • It’s a kind of micro linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. (Transformational syntax to be introduced in the book.) 4.2 Word-level categories • Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language. Traditionally, category is termed as “parts of speech”. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

4. 4.2.1 Major lexical categories and minor lexical categories: Examples of some lexical categories 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

5. 4.2.2 Tree criteria • To Determine a word’s category, three criteria are usually played. • Word category often bear some relationship with its meaning. • Words of different categories take different inflections. • Distribution means a certain type of elements can co-occur with a certain word. Meaning: John, pen, book, pretty lady, left quietly Inflection: plural affixes, tenses, degrees Distribution: the girl, a card, should stay, will help 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

6. 4.3 Phrase categories • Definition: A word or group of words written or spoken as a unit and separated by pauses or other junctures. • Types: Noun phrase Eg: (NP): the pretty girl Verb phrase (VP): often dream Adjective phrase (AP): very pessimistic Prepositional phrase (PP): in the house Adverbial phrase (ADVP) : very quickly(Wen, p. 118) • Phrases that are formed of more than one word usually contain the elements:Head, specifier(标志语) and complement. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

7. 4.4 Phrase structure rule 4.4.1 Introduction: NP (Det) N (PP) … VP (Qual) V (NP) … AP (Deg) A (PP) … PP (Deg) P (NP) … (Note: “ ” means “consist of”; ( ) means “can be omitted”; “…” means other complement options are available) 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

8. 4.4.2 XP rule( X stands for the head N, V, A or P) The XP rule: XP (specifier) X (complement) 4.4.3 Xˉ Theory a. XP (specifier) Xˉ b. Xˉ X (complement) XP X Complement Specifier head XP(Phrase level) Xˉ Specifier X(head) Complement 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

9. 4.4.4 Coordination rule • The structures are formed by joining two or more elements of the same type with the help of conjunction such as and or or. X X * Con X • X stands for “a category at any structural level”; * indicates that one or more category s can occur to the left of the Con (conjunction). 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

10. 4.4.5 Phrase elements • Specifiers: They help make more precise the meaning of head, and are attached top level of phrase structures, to the left of the head. • Complements: They provide information about entities and locations. The information about a word’s complement is included in the head and termed subcategorization. • Revised XP rule: XP (specifier) X (complement *) 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

11. Examples of some As, Ns, and Ps permitting CP complements (CP = Complement Phrase) 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

12. Modifiers: Modifier position in English 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

13. 4. 5 Sentences (The S rule) S • The S rule S NP VP InflP (=S) (following the XP rule, with an internal structure) NP VP Infl NP Det N V Det N Pst boy A found the purse S VP NP Infl NP Det N V N Det boy will buy the book A 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

14. 4.6 Transformations 4.6.1 Auxiliary movement Inversion: Move Infl to the Left of the subject NP. CP (Complement Phrase) S C NP VP Infl Det N V will arrive the train 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

15. Inversion (revised):Move Infl to C • One application * The teacher wonders [CP if should his student _____ stay]. (Note: complementizers and auxiliaries are mutually exclusive) • Auxiliary unchanged, trace and head movement 4.6.2 Do insertion • Insert interrogative do into an empty Infl position. Then move the do to C position. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

16. Do insertion(1) Do insertion(2) CP C S Do fly Do insertion 4.6.3 Deep structure and surface structure • The structure is the abstract representation of the syntaxtic properties of a construction, which is formed by the XP rule in accordance with the head’s subcategorization properties. CP S C NP VP S NP Infl Infl Infl V N V N (do) birds e fly birds 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

17. The surface structure is the final stage in the syntactic derivation of a construction, which closely corresponds to the structural organization of construction people acturally produce and receive. • The deep structure for the question: Will the train arrive? can be given as below. • The surface structure for the question pattern formed by applying the inversion transformation is given as below. Will the train arrive? S NP VP Infl Det N V will arrive the train 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

18. Further illustration The XP rule DEEP STRUCTURE Transformations (Subcategorization restricts choice of complements) SURFACE STRUCTURE (Note: When transformations are not necessary, the representations of these two levels are the same) 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

19. 4.6.4 Wh Movement • An example in which wh- occupies the subject position What language can you speak ? (S-structure) you can speakwhat language(D-structure) • An example sentence with a relative clause She has finally found the man whom she loves . (S-structure) she has finally found the man she[loves whom](S-structure) inversion Wh Movement N Infl V NP Wh Movement N VP 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

20. 4.6.5 Move α and constrains on transformations • α(alpha) is a cover term for any element that can be moved from one place two another. (1) Inversion can move an auxiliary front the Infl to the nearest C position, but not to more distant C position. Geoffrey should know [that the train might be late]. (Ds) should Geoffrey know [whether the train might be late ](Ss) CP Infl CP 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

21. (2)No element may be removed from a coordinate structure. The little girl will tell us [a story or a joke]. * What will the little girl tell us [a story or ]? 4.7 Summary In this part introduced word categories and phrase categories.Then do some analyses of sentence formation: phrase structure rules, deep structure subcategorization, transformations, and surface structure, etc. which enables to combine words into sentences in endlessly novel way. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

22. 4.7 Task Do the following as required in groups of four or five: • The following sentences all contain embedded clauses that function as complements of a verb, an adjective, a preposition or a noun. Draw a tree structure for each sentence. • You know that I hate war. • He said that Tom asked whether the class was over. • Gerry can’t believe the fact that Anna flunked the English exam. • Chris was happy that his father bought him a Rolls-Royce. • The children argued over whether bats had wings. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

23. Each of the following sentences contains a relative clause. Draw the deep structure and the surface structure trees for each of these sentences. • The essay that he wrote was too long. • ]The dog that he keeps bites • Herbert found the man she loved. • The girl whom he often quarrels with majors in linguistics. 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》

24. The derivations of the following sentences involve the inversion transformation. Give the deep structure and the surface structure of each of these sentences. • Would you come tomorrow? • Can you pass me the newspaper? • Should the student report the incident? • What did you eat for lunch? • Who should this be reported to? • What was Helen bringing to the party? 外语学院精品课程《英语语言学》