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Today

Today. What is syntax? Grammaticality Ambiguity Phrase structure Readings: 6.1 – 6.2. Productivity. e.g., Laura ate two peanuts. Laura ate three peanuts. … Laura ate forty-three million, five hundred and nine peanuts. …  Laura ate X peanuts. (where X = number).

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Today

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  1. Today • What is syntax? • Grammaticality • Ambiguity • Phrase structure Readings: 6.1 – 6.2

  2. Productivity e.g., Laura ate two peanuts. Laura ate three peanuts. … Laura ate forty-three million, five hundred and nine peanuts. …  Laura ate X peanuts. (where X = number)

  3. Productivity • We do not store whole sentences, but the words (mental lexicon) and the rules that combine them • The set of rules is finite, but the set of possible sentences is not

  4. Syntax • The study of the structure of phrases/ sentences and the rules governing how words are combined to form phrases/sentences • These rules are acquired at a very young age and internalized.

  5. Grammaticality • Sequences of words that conform to the rules of a language are grammatical (well-formed) • “Grammatical” is different from “comprehensible”

  6. Grammatical or ungrammatical? The cat is on the mat. The mat is on the cat. The cat on is the mat.  Word order is important. * ‘*’ = an ungrammatical or ill-formed sentence

  7. Grammatical or ungrammatical? This sentence no verb. Contains a verb.  Sentences need a subject and a verb This sentence has cabbage six carrots. * * *

  8. Grammatical or ungrammatical? Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. Sleep furiously ideas green colorless.  Grammaticality and sense/meaning can be independent of one another. This shows the independence of syntactic rules. *

  9. Ambiguity • The property of having two or more meanings. • Lexical ambiguity • Structural ambiguity

  10. Lexical ambiguity Headlines: • PROSTITUTES APPEAL TO POPE • IRAQI HEAD SEEKS ARMS • SOVIET VIRGIN LANDS SHORT OF GOAL AGAIN • CHILD’S STOOL IS GREAT FOR USE IN GARDEN • Lexical ambiguity: when a word has more than one meaning

  11. Structural ambiguity • “I once shot an elephant in my pajamas.” • “Tonight’s program will discuss sex with Dr. Ruth Westheimer.” • “We will not sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container.” • “This mixing bowl is designed to please any cook with a round bottom for efficient beating.”

  12. Structural ambiguity • Ambiguity resulting from the structure of the phrase or sentence e.g., discuss [sex with Dr. Ruth Westheimer] [discuss sex] [with Dr. Ruth Westheimer] e.g., a large [man’s hat] [a large man’s] hat

  13. Hierarchy and ambiguity large man’s hat large man’s hat (un lock able) (un lock able)

  14. Phrase structure 1) Every word belongs to a lexicalcategory 2) Lexical categories forms heads (“main words”) of phrases which can function as a unit 3) How phrases are formed is governed by rules (= ‘phrase structure rules’)

  15. Lexical categories • Nouns (N): Laura, peanut, house • Verbs (V): eat, see, sleep, dive • Adjectives (Adj): big, lazy, colorless • Determiners (Det): the, a, those, every • Prepositions (P): in, of, over, with • Adverbs (Adv.): quickly, often  A word’s lexical category determines what kind of phrasal category it can form

  16. Phrases • Built up from lexical categories (their heads) • May consist of one or more words • They function as a unit • These units come together to form sentences

  17. Types of phrases • Noun phrase (NP) • John • the boy • a book about a boy • a big picture of the boy in a bubble • A friend that I’ve known for a long time

  18. Types of phrases • Verb phrase (VP) • fall • fell slowly • fell (slowly) into the pond • buy the book • *buy slowly the book • buy the book with a credit card

  19. Types of phrases • Prepositional phrase (PP): • in • with a smile • of my little teeth • between a rock and a hard place • at the store by my house

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