JPN494: Japanese Language and Linguistics JPN543: Advanced Japanese Language and Linguistics

1. JPN494: Japanese Language and LinguisticsJPN543: Advanced Japanese Language and Linguistics Syntax (1)

2. Plan Part I: • The basic architecture of modern syntactic theory Part II: • Major constructions (passives, causatives, benefactives). • Pronoun “zibun (自分)” • Particles

3. What is syntax? • Syntax is the subfield of linguistics that studies the internal structure of sentences and the relationships among the internal parts.

4. What is generative syntax? • The basic idea of generative syntax(a.k.a. generative grammar, formal syntax): “A grammar is a formal (algebraic) system for generating the sentences of a language.” • language (in this particular sense) = grammar + lexicon • grammar = a system of rules, principles, and constraints that characterize all and only the well-formed sentences (and meanings thereof).

5. The dog bit the horse. • *Dog the horse the bit. • He likes us. • *He like we.

6. They saw Pat with Chris. • Who did they see Pat with _? • They saw Pat and Chris. • *Who did they see Pat and _? (from Sag et al. 2003)

7. Pat seems to be helpful. • Pat tries to be helpful. • There seems to be a tiger in the garden. • *There tries to be a tiger in the garden. (from Sag et al. 2003)

8. Linguistic expressions must occur in a certain linear order. • *Dog the horse the bit. • *犬が馬かんだを • Linguistic expressions must be grouped in a certain way. • The mother of the boy and the girl will arrive soon. • 美しい本のカバー • cf. I bought a mouse; I saw her duck

9. What does a “formal system for generating the sentences of a language” look like? • simple phrase structure grammar • Lexicon: D: the, a, some A: big, brown, old N: birds, dog, hunter, telescope V: attack, ate, watched P: for, beside, with • Grammatical Rules: S → NP VP NP → (D) A* N PP* VP → V (NP) (PP) PP → P NP

10. the dog attacked birds • the hunter watched the dog with a telescope • the big brown dog watched the birds besides the hunter with a telescope • *attacked the hunter the dog • *birds dog the hunter watched • *telescope with ate the birds

11. the hunter watched the dog with a telescope • Lexicon: D: the, a, some A: big, brown, old N: birds, dog, hunter, telescope V: attack, ate, watched P: for, beside, with • Grammatical Rules: S → NP VP NP → (D) A* N PP* VP → V (NP) (PP) PP → P NP

12. Lexicon: Mod: この, 大きな N: 猟師 (りょうし), 肉屋 (にくや), 犬, 魚 V: あげた, 見た, ほめた P: が, を, に • Grammatical Rules: S → (NP) (NP) (NP) V NP → (Mod) N P

13. 猟師が肉屋を見た • 猟師が大きな魚を犬にあげた • ほめた • *猟師が見た肉屋を • *犬にを見た • *をほめた

14. Limitations of simple phrase structure grammar #1 Subcategorization • The defendant denied the accusation. • The problem disappeared. • The teacher handed the student a book. • *The defendant denied. • *The teacher disappeared the problem. • *The teacher handed the student. VP → IV VP → TV NP VP → DTV NP NP

15. #2 Agreement and transitivity • The bird sings. • The birds sing. • *The bird sing. • *The birds sings. S → NP-sg VP-sg S → NP-pl VP-pl

16. NP-sg → (D) N-sg NP-pl → (D) N-pl VP-sg → IV-sg VP-pl → IV-pl

17. The bird devours the worms. • The birds devour the worms. • The boy gives the girls flowers. • The boys give the girls flowers. VP-sg → TV-sg {NP-sg | NP-pl} VP-pl → TV-pl {NP-sg | NP-pl} VP-sg → DTV-sg {NP-sg | NP-pl} {NP-sg | NP-pl} VP-pl → DTV-pl {NP-sg | NP-pl} {NP-sg | NP-pl}

18. “This set of rules is cumbersome, and clearly misses linguistically significant generalizations.” (ibid.: p.39)

19. Phrases (1) a group of syntactically combined expressions. (2) a group of expressions that does not require syntactic dependents (subject, complements, determiner, etc.); “saturated” groups of expressions bird, birds, small birds, small bird, the small bird, the small birds devours, devours a chicken, sings (itr.)

20. Two major approaches in formal syntax • transformational approach • a.k.a.: Chomskyan syntax, minimalist approach • founder: Noam Chomsky • constraint-based approach • a.k.a.: lexicalist approach

21. Transformations • Transformations: operations that change/modify phrase structure representations (copy, deletion, movement, etc.) • S → NP Aux VP (e.g. John can sing.) • John sings. • D-structure: John φ sing • intermediate stage: John -s sing(affix insertion) • S-structure: John sings(verb raising or affix hopping)

22. Who did John see? • D-structure: John -ed see who • i.s. #1: -ed John see who(subj.-aux. inversion) • i.s. #2: did John see who(do-support) • S-structure: Who did John see(wh-movement)

23. The vase was broken • D-structure: φ -ed break the vase • i.s. #1: φ -ed break-en the vase(en-insertion) • i.s. #2: the vase -ed broken(movement) • S-structure: the vase was broken(be-support)

24. 太郎を花子が見た • D-structure: [S H-ga [VPT-o mi-ta]] • S-structure: [S T-o [S H-ga [VP mi-ta]]](scrambling) S → NP VP or S → NP NP V

25. 3 人の学生が来た • 学生が 3 人来た • 3人の学生がピアノを持ち上げた (ambiguous) • 学生が 3 人 ピアノを持ち上げた (not ambiguous)

26. [3 人の学生] が来た (pre-nominal) • [学生 3 人] が 来た (post-nominal) • 学生が 3 人来た (adverbial) • [(その) 3 冊の本] を読んだ (pre-nominal) • [本 3 冊] を読んだ (post-nominal) • 本を 3 冊読んだ (adverbial)