Syntax V

1. Syntax V November 23, 2009

2. Weekday Update • Syntax homework will be posted after class today • …due on Friday. • On Wednesday, we will work on a few more practice syntax exercises. • Afterwards, we’ll wrap up the term with an analysis of meaning: • Pragmatics + Semantics

3. Let’s Recap • So far, we’ve talked about how syntactic rules operate on different lexical categories: • N, V, A, Adv • P, Con, Det, Pro, Deg, Aux, C • A general set of rules (called “Merge”) puts these lexical categories together to form a variety of different phrases: • NP, VP, AP, PP, CP, IP • Elements within these phrases include: • Heads, complements, specifiers, modifiers

4. Modifiers? IP NP I’ the police I VP [+past] V’ PP V NP P’ shot Det N’ P NP the N with rifles terrorists In this tree, 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.

5. More Modifiers • From the last Quick Write: • IP • NP I’ • She I VP • [-past] V’ AdvP • V CP Deg Adv’ • wants IP really Adv • I VP badly • to V NP • play tennis In this interpretation, “really badly” modifies “wants”. (I’m glossing over some of the structure here)

6. More Modifiers IP NP I’ She I VP [-past] V’ V CP wants IP I VP to V NP AdvP play tennis really badly In this interpretation, “really badly” modifies “play”. (I’m glossing over some of the structure here)

7. Language Universals • All languages have phrases with heads and complements. • All languages have nouns and verbs. • All languages can exhibit recursion. • Linguists hypothesize: • All of this information is part of Universal Grammar (UG) • Children do not need to learn these aspects of grammar from their environment. • But: languages can differ syntactically within these universal limits.

8. Language Choices • One syntactic feature which differs between languages: • head-first vs. head-final • English is a head-first language • = the head of the phrase precedes any complements. • For example: • V’  V (NP) (PP) • N’  N (PP) • A’  A (PP) • P’  P (NP) • In general: X’  X (Complement)

9. Language Choices • Other languages are head-final • Ex: Japanese • The head of the phrase in Japanese always follows its complements: • In general: X’  (YP) X • Example: P’  NP P • niwa-de • “garden in” = “in the garden” • N P • By the way: in languages like these, “prepositions” are called “post-positions”

10. Syntactic Typology • Sentences in head-final languages usually follow the pattern: subject - object - verb (SOV) • Japanese examples: • Taro-ga inu-o mitsuketa • Taro-subject marker dog-object marker found • “Taro found a dog.” • Inu-ga niwa-de asonde iru • dog-subject marker garden-in playing is • “The dog is playing in the garden.”

11. Syntactic Typology • There are six possible orders for subject, verb, and object in a sentence. • All six orders have been attested in at least one of the world’s languages. • 44% of the world’s languages are SOV languages. • Japanese, Korean, Turkish • 35% of the world’s languages are SVO languages. • English, French, Chinese • 19% of the world’s languages are VSO languages. • Irish, Arabic, Welsh

12. Syntactic Typologies • 2% of the world’s languages are VOS languages. • Aramaic, Hawaiian, Tagalog, Maori • OSV languages are very rare • Xavante, Jamamadi (spoken in Brazil) • OVS languages are the rarest of all • Guarijio (northwest Mexico), Hixkaryana (also Brazil) • Another OVS language: Klingon • Some languages have free word order • Dyirbal (spoken in Australia) (by about five people)

13. Yodish • What sort of language does Yoda speak? • Some examples are (relatively) straightforward: • My home this is. • To Obi-Wan you listen. • In these sentences, the complement of the verb moves to the front of the sentence. • (= OSV) • The others are slightly different: • Help you I can. • Take you to him I will. • In these two, Yoda moves the whole VP to the front.

14. Wait…things move? • Movement rules can explain syntactic patterns in language that phrase structure rules alone cannot account for. • For instance: some sentences are systematically related to other sentences. • Declarative Interrogative • The boy is sleeping. Is the boy sleeping? • The boy has slept. Has the boy slept? • The boy can sleep. Can the boy sleep? • The boy will sleep. Will the boy sleep? • The boy did sleep. Did the boy sleep? • What’s the pattern?

15. What’s the Pattern? • Declarative sentences like “The boy is sleeping” can be generated with the usual syntactic rules. • IP • NP I’ • Det N’ I VP • the N is V’ • boy V • sleeping • We get the interrogative sentence “Is the boy sleeping?” by inverting the order of the subject and the auxiliary.

16. Inversion CP C’ C IP NP I’ Det N’ I VP the N is V’ boy V sleeping

17. Inversion CP C’ C IP NP I’ Det N’ I VP the N is V’ boy V sleeping • Note: the auxiliary verb moves from one head slot to another. • Rule: move the I head to the C node. • This “inversion” rule creates a yes/no question.

18. Inversion Results CP C’ C IP is NP I’ [+Q] Det N’ I VP the N t V’ boy V sleeping The movement leaves a “trace” (t) behind in the I slot. • The C slot has to be marked with a [+Q] (for “question”) to make this movement happen. • …like the I slot being marked for tense.

19. Transformations • The syntactic rules that we’ve seen so far are phrase structure rules: • NP  Det N’ • P’  P NP • A rule that generates one kind of sentence from another sentence is called a transformational rule. • “Transformations” give us the questions for “free”… • so long as our phrase structure rules generate the corresponding declarative sentences.

20. A More Complex Case • Does our transformational rule work for this sentence? • The chicken crossed the road. • Maybe. • To create this question: “Did the chicken cross the road?” • …it is first necessary to add the auxiliary verb “do”. • = “Do” insertion • The chicken crossed the road.  • The chicken did cross the road.  • Did the chicken cross the road? • In English, it is not possible to invert non-auxiliary verbs.

21. Split-Levels • Syntactic phrase structure rules (“Merge”) create the Deep Structure of a sentence. • Transformation rules (“Move”) change the Deep Structure into the Surface Structure that we see in interrogative sentences. • Phonology analogy: • Underlying representation = Deep Structure • Surface representation = Surface Structure • In both cases, this is called a derivation. • and multiple rules can apply before the final product appears on the surface.

22. A More Complex Case • Does our transformational rule work for this sentence? • Bob said that the chicken crossed the road. • Maybe. • There are actually two options: • Did Bob say that the chicken crossed the road? • *Did Bob said that the chicken cross the road? • Yes/No questions can only be formed from the main (highest level) sentence. • They cannot be formed from an embedded sentence. • The Complementizer (“that”) fills the C slot and prevents an embedded auxiliary from moving up.

23. Wh Questions • Here’s another relationship between sentences: • Declarative Interrogative • Bart kicked the ball. • What did Bart kick? • Lisa put the leash on the table. • Where did Lisa put the leash? • Marge sent a card to Selma. • Who did Marge send a card to? • These questions are known as “Wh-Questions” • why, who, where, when, what, how

24. Wh Question Rules • The formation of these questions is considerably more complex. • Step 1: Wh-substitution • Substitute impersonal NPs with “what” • Substitute personal NPs with “who” • Substitute location PPs with “where” • etc. • Examples: • Bart kicked the ball.  Bart kicked what? • Lisa put the leash on the table.  • Lisa put the leash where?

25. Wh Movement Rules • Step 2: Move (or insert) the auxiliary verb to the beginning of the sentence. • Bart kicked what?  Did Bart kick what? • Lisa put the leash where?  • Did Lisa put the leash where? • Step 3: Move the Wh word to the beginning of the sentence. • Did Bart kick what?  What did Bart kick? • Did Lisa put the leash where?  • Where did Lisa put the leash?

26. Wh-Movement CP Spec C’ C IP NP I’ Bart I VP did V’ V NP kick what

27. Wh-Movement CP Spec C’ C IP did NP I’ Bart I VP t V’ V NP kick what

28. Wh-Movement The Wh- particle moves from a non-head position to another non-head position. (so it doesn’t cross paths with move #1) CP NP C’ What C IP did NP I’ Bart I VP t V’ V NP kick t

29. Questions around the World • In other languages, questions can be formed by moving any verb (not just an auxiliary) to the front of the sentence. • Dutch: • Femke leest veel boeken. • “Femke reads many books.” • Q: Leest Femke veel boeken? • reads Femke many books • “Does Femke read many books?”

30. Wh non-movement • Some languages form Wh questions without moving anything. • Japanese: • Taro-ga nani-o mitsuketa-no? • Taro-subject what found-question marker • “What did Taro find?” • Swahili: • Ulipatia nani kitabu • you gave who a book • “Who did you give a book?”

31. Principles and Parameters • Language has universal features = principles • Nouns, verbs, etc. • Phrases with heads and complements. • Individual languages have options = parameters • Head-first or head-last? • Wh-movement or no Wh-movement? • Kids acquiring language get the universal principles for free; • it’s part of Universal Grammar (UG) • …but they have to figure out the “parameters” from what they hear in the world around them, as they grow up.