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Syntax Constituent structure: ambiguity

Syntax Constituent structure: ambiguity. LING 200 Spring 2003. Reading: Files 6.1, 7.4. Constituent structure. phrase structure rule: VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv) tree: VP V NP PP put Det N P NP the car in Det N

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Syntax Constituent structure: ambiguity

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  1. SyntaxConstituent structure: ambiguity LING 200 Spring 2003 Reading: Files 6.1, 7.4

  2. Constituent structure phrase structure rule: VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv) tree: VP V NP PP put Det N P NP the car in Det N the garage

  3. Constituent structure • Some tests: • Structural ambiguity • Coordination • Substitution • Movement

  4. Compositionality • Meaning of complex expressions is compositional • I.e., meaning of morphologically complex words, phrases is determined by: • morpheme meaning • syntactic structure

  5. Structurally ambiguous words File 5.3 Adj Adj un Adj V Adj V Adj un V able fold able fold 2 readings (interpretations) of unfoldable: ‘not capable of being folded’ ‘capable of being unfolded’ un- negative: Adj[___Adj[ un- ‘reverse’: V[___V[

  6. Structurally ambiguous headlines • “Enraged cow attacks man with axe.” • "The nomination of Dr. Henry Foster to the Surgeon General's office appears to be in trouble after he admitted that he had performed at least 39 abortions on TV last night."

  7. Structural ambiguity and constituency “Enraged cow attacks man with axe.” the real world reading: S NP VP Adj N V NP enraged cow attacks N PP man P NP with N axe

  8. “Enraged cow attacks man with axe.” the humorous reading: S NP VP Adj N V NP PP enraged cow attacks N P NP man with N axe

  9. Structural ambiguity and constituency • “he admitted thathe performed...last night” complementizerembedded sentence (complement) • More phrase structure rules • VP  V S’ (“S-bar”) • S’  that S

  10. Structural ambiguity and constituency ‘ he performed last night’ reading: S NP VP N V S’ he admitted that S NP VP N V NP Adv he performed abortions last night

  11. ‘he admitted ... last night’ reading S NP VP N V S’ Adv he admitted that S last night NP VP N V NP he performed N abortions

  12. Summary of structural ambiguity • Meaning is compositional: meaning of whole = meaning of parts • Structural ambiguity as a test for syntactic structure • Reading1 < Structure1 • Reading2 < Structure2

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