1.Syntax: the rules of sentence formation; the component of the mental grammar that represent speakers’ knowledge of the structure of phrase and sentence.

1.Syntax: the rules of sentence formation; the

component of the mental grammar that

represent speakers’ knowledge of the

structure of phrase and sentence.

Sentences are not simple random strings or

words; they conform to specific patterns

determined by the syntactic rules of the

language.

Grammaticality judgments do not depend

on whether the sentence is meaningful or not.

e.g. My father went to Taipei by bus at 8 this

morning.

My father took a bus to Taipei at 8 this

morning.

2. The hierarchical structure (tree diagram)

(Recursive)

The child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the puppy

3. Syntactic Categories: A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category.e.g.

The child found the puppy.

A police officer found the puppy.

Your neighbor found the puppy.

This yellow cat found the puppy.

He found the puppy.

The child, a police officer, your neighbor, this yellow cat, he belong to the syntactic category.

4. Phrase Structure Tree: a linear string of words a hierarchical structure

5.lexical Categories: the lowest categories, whose members are words Ambiguity

S

NP VP

Art N

the boy

V PPNP

saw Art N P NP

the man with Art N

the telescope

6. Phrasal categories:

The categories that occur to the left of the arrow in a phrase structure rule are called phrase categories; categories that never occur on the left side of any rule are lexical categories.

7. Phrase Structure Rule: (X-bar theory)

(1) NP (Swedish)

Art n

the man

(2) VPV :buy VPV NP :buy the book VPVNP PP :buy the book from the store

(3) PPP NP :in the store (Japanese)

(4) NPArt (Adj.)*N (PP)

e.g. The large fierce black dog looked out the

window.

8. Subcategorization: A transitive verb must be followed by a Noun Phrase, its “ directive object.” This additional specification is called subcategorization, and is also included in the lexical entry of each word.

9. complementizer: A syntactic category of words that precede the S in an S-bar.

e.g. that in “I know that you know…” NP Pronoun VP VS’ S’(Comp) S

He believes that she loves the cat.

S

NP VP

V S’

comp S

NP VP

V NP

Art N

the cat

loves

Pronoun

She

that

believes

Pronoun

He

10. Phrase Structure Tree: Syntactic Categories

Phrasal Categories

Lexical Categories

11. Transformational Rules

e.g. The boy who is spelling is dreaming.

Is the boy who is spelling dreaming?

S

NP Aux VP

The boy who is sleeping is dreaming

Transformational Rules Applied

S

Aux NP VP

Is The boy who is sleeping dreaming

12. Long-Distance RelationshipsIn English, the verb in the present-simple tense has an “s” added whenever the subject is the third person singular. Such a relationship is called subject-verb agreement. And this agreement may take over a long distance; besides, there is no limit to how many words may intervene, as the following sentences illustrates:

e.g. The guy we met at the party next door seems kind of cute The guys we met at the party next door seem kind of cute The guys(guy) we met at the party next door that lasted until three A.M. and was finally broken up by the cops who were called by the neighbors seem(seems) kind of cute

13. A Summary Of All The Phrase Structure Rules Presented In This Chapter

S NP (Aux) VPS’ (Comp) SNPArt (Adj)* N (PP)NPPronounVPV (NP) (PP)VPV S’PPP NP

These rules do not constitute all the rules that English speakers know. English speakers know many other rules of this kind, and produce many sentences and phrase structures using rules other than these.