Syntax II

1. Syntax II “I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences.” --Gertrude Stein

2. Quick Review • Syntax: the study of how words are put together to form sentences and phrases. • These rules operate on lexical categories… • independently of the meaning of the words. • Lexical categories can be defined by: • the syntactic distribution of words • the types of inflectional affixes which may attach to them • Lexical categories (noun, verb, adjective, preposition, etc.) were used to make the old game “Mad Libs” work.

3. The Last Quick Write • Mad Libs! • The following sentence is both grammatical and (somewhat) sensible:

4. Colorless Green Libs? • These sentences are grammatical but don’t make that much sense:

5. Bad Libs. • The following sentences are not grammatical.

6. Bad Libs. • The following sentences are not grammatical.

7. Artsy Libs. • Some of you were quite enthusiastic about the exercise.

8. How does this work? • We know that words of different lexical categories have to fit together with the words in their environment to make a sentence grammatical. • A first hypothesis--the rules for putting sentences together string one word category after another: • S  Det N V Det N • ( = “may consist of”) • The child found a puppy. • S  Det A N V P Det N • The slithy toves gimbled in the wabe. • These syntactic rules capture patterns of words.

9. Important Data • What’s going on in these sentences? • We need more intelligent leaders. • I like green eggs and ham. • The police shot the terrorists with rifles. •  Syntax also puts words together in units that are smaller than sentences. • These units are called phrases. • Same string of words, more than one interpretation = • more than one phrase structure • structural ambiguity

10. Ambiguity (again) • In order to represent phrase structure, we will use tree diagrams. • more intelligent leaders • more intelligent leaders

11. Phrases • The nodes in a syntactic tree above the word level represent phrases. • phrase = string of words that function as a unit • Basic phrase types: • Noun Phrases (NP): [intelligent leaders] • Verb Phrases (VP): [shoot terrorists] • Prepositional Phrases (PP): [with rifles] • Adjective Phrases (AP): [more intelligent]

12. Phrase Phacts • Every phrase has to have at least one constituent • This constituent is called the head of the phrase. • The head determines the phrase’s function, behavior and category. • For example, noun phrases have to consist of at least one noun. • Robin the book • a picture of Robin a picture of the unicorn • that weird picture of Bob’s unicorn

13. In General • There’s a pattern to how these things work: • Noun phrases (NPs) are headed by nouns • NP  N • Verb phrases (VPs) are headed by verbs • VP  V • Prepositional phrases (PPs) are headed by prepositions • PP  P • Adjective phrases (APs) are headed by adjectives • AP  A • Basic Phrase Structure Rule: XP  X

14. More About Phrases • Beyond the heads, phrases can be expanded with specifiers and complements. • Specifiersprecede the head of the phrase; • they pick out a particular version of the head. • Examples: • this book (Determiner specifying noun) • very late (Degree word specifying adjective) • often forgets (Adverb specifying verb) • almost in (Degree word specifying preposition)

15. Complements • Complements always follow the head of the phrase… • And provide more information about that head. • this book about unicorns • PP complement of the head of the NP. • very late to class • PP complement of the head of the AP. • often forgets his hat • NP complement of the head of the VP. • almost in the basket • NP complement of the head of the PP.

16. X-Bar Theory • Together, heads and their complements form a phrasal structure known X’ (“X-bar”). • Here’s the way phrases (of all kinds) normally break down: • XP • (Specifier) X’ • X (Complement) • Head • note: heads are the only obligatory element in the phrase • optional stuff is in parentheses

17. Tests for Phrase Structure • There are some tests you can use to figure out if a group of words constitutes a phrase. • Substitution • Phrases (and only phrases) can be substituted for by shorter expressions. • Ex: Pronouns can be substitutes for NPs. •  The coach wanted a picture of the book. • She wanted a picture of the book. (= the coach) • The coach wanted it. (= a picture of the book) • The coach wanted a picture of it. (= the book)

18. Tests for Phrase Structure • VPs can be substituted with the phrase “do so”. • Ex: The coach dropped the ball, and the professor did so, as well. (= dropped the ball) • PPs can be substituted with “there”. • The children waited at the corner, and we waited there, too. (= at the corner) • Substitutions do not work for non-constituents (or the wrong constituents): • *The coach dropped the ball, and the did so, too. • *The children waited at the corner, and we waited at there, too. • *The coach dropped the it.

19. Tests for Phrase Structure 2. Movement: sometimes, constituents can be moved to another part of the sentence. • NP movement: He hated the Jedi Knights.  • The Jedi Knights, he hated. • Bad examples: • *Jedi Knights, he hated the. • *The Jedi, he hated Knights. • VP movement: • Hate the Jedi Knights, he did. • PP movement: We ran up the hill.  • Up the hill, we ran.

20. Tests for Phrase Structure • Coordination • Conjunctions like {and, but, or} coordinate phrases of the same type. • NP-coordination: • I like [romantic sunsets] and [long walks on the beach]. • PP: We went [over the river] and [through the woods]. • VP: They want to [eat pizza] or [play video games]. • AP: The blizzard was [very intense] but [surprisingly short].

21. Tests for Phrase Structure • Coordination • Conjunctions like {and, but, or} coordinate phrases of the same type. • Coordination of unlike phrases can sound quite bad: • NP + AP: *I like [romantic sunsets] and [surprisingly short]. • PP + VP: *We went [over the river] and [play video games]. • VP + NP: *They want to [eat pizza] or [long walks on the beach]. • AP + PP: *The blizzard was [very intense] but [through the woods].

22. Example Tree NP Det N’ the N book How about: “a picture of the book?”

23. NP Det N’ a N PP picture P NP of Det N’ the N book

24. More Example Trees • Let’s draw trees for the following phrases: • VP: often forgets his hat • PP: almost in the basket • AP: very late to class

25. VP Adv V’ often V NP forgets Det N’ his N hat A VP Example

26. AP Deg A’ very A PP late P NP to N’ N class An AP Example

27. Check This Out • A phrase structure rule for NPs looks like: • NP  Det N’ • And a PP can be a complement of a head noun: • N’  N PP • And an NP can be a complement of a prepositional phrase: • PP  (Deg) P’ • P’  P NP • Where can this combination of rules take us?

28. Whoa, Nellie • There is a possibility for infinite recursion. • NP  Det N PP • NP  Det N P NP • NP  Det N P Det N PP • NP  Det N P Det N P NP • NP  Det N P Det N P Det N PP, etc. • Example: the book from the library in the city near the airport beside the apartment complex with the playground of the children from the school behind the train tracks... • The fact that our grammar can generate phrases like this is why we need to know patterns of patterns.