Syntax Das

Syntax The analysis of sentence structure

Dr. Alok K Dashttp://www.freewebs.com/alokdas/

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Syntax in Linguistic Tree

Phonetics Phonology

Sounds of language

Linguistics

Grammar

Morphology

Syntax

Meaning

Semantics

Pragmatics

Syntax Dr Alok K Das

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Why syntax?

It’s part of Linguistics It’s part of the grammar of every

language And the grammar of a language is

part of a native speaker’s linguistic knowledge


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Reasons for studying syntax Infinity of expressions

There is an infinite number of possible utterances in every language

It is obvious that all these utterances cannot be stored in our brains

Our knowledge of a language consists of A finite number of words (the lexicon; the

“dictionary in your head”), and Rules (the grammar of the language)

It is the job of the syntactician (and the morphologist) to find out what these rules are


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Language acquisition Everyone who can speak knows how

to use the rules and it is amazing that children can do it

so fast But nobody can really state exactly

what the rules are! Understanding syntax (and

morphology) can help researchers to understand how young children learn their native language


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Universal grammar

Theory of Chomsky UG has Principles, true of all languages

All languages have the same underlying structure e.g. all languages have nouns and verbs

and Parameters, whose setting varies from language to language English and Chinese SVO; Japanese SOV Spanish and Chinese pro-drop; English not

pro-dropSyntax Dr Alok K Das

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All languages have constituents Take a simple sentence

Johnny danced We can call the sentence S, and label the syntactic

categories N and V

S

N Johnny

Vdanced


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Phrase structure grammar N and V aren’t always

very good labels Johnny is similar to the

handsome student, because they are both the same kind of constituent They are both Noun

Phrases We can remove

Johnny and add the handsome student, and the sentence structure is still similar

S

NPThe handsome student

VPdanced


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Different sentence, same constituents

Now let’s add an object danced the lambada is

the same kind of constituent as danced a VP

You can swap danced for danced the lambada and the basic structure is the same

S

NPThe handsome student

VPdanced the lambada


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What are the NP and VP? The frog ate the lizard. The frog sat on the lilypad. The fat frog ate the long lizard slowly. The fat frog with a lizard in its mouth

sat on the lilypad. The fat frog who was sitting on the

lilypad with a lizard in its mouth danced the lambada.


Phrase structure rules Now, you know this phrase structure rule:

S NP VP (a Sentence comprises a Noun Phrase followed by a Verb Phrase)

Draw a tree for the phrase Emma drinks Here are two more phrase structure rules:

VP V NP NP N

Think about that carefully Now, draw a tree with more detail

For the sentence Emma drinks whisky

11Syntax Dr Alok K Das

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Now let’s change the NP rule First, DET means determiner

Function words like the, a, this, several NP (DET) N

That means a noun phrase can have a determiner, and it must have a noun

Now you can diagram Johnny danced the lambada in a bit more detail than I did on the other slide

Remember: S NP VP VP V NP)


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Now let’s change the NP rule again

Such that we have S NP VP VP V NP NP (DET) (ADJ) N

Now you can diagram this sentence The unhappy book ate the green lambada The sentence is syntactically well-formed,

by the way


Grammatical or Ungrammatical:

1. The boy found the ball2. The boy found quickly3. The boy found in the house4. The boy found the ball in the house5. Disa slept the baby6. Disa slept soundly

Find: Transitive verb (with object)Sleep: Intransitive verb (no object)


Syntactic Categories

Lexical categories Noun (N) Verb (V) Adjective (A) Preposition (P) Adverb (Adv)

Examples moisture, policy melt, remain good, intelligent to, near slowly, now


Syntactic Categories

Non-lexical categories Determiner (Det) Degree word (Deg) Qualifier (Qual) Auxiliary (Aux) Conjunction (Con)

Examples the, this very, more always, perhaps will, can and, or


Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences.

a. The glass suddenly broke.

b. A jogger ran towards the end of the lane.

c. The peaches never appear quite ripe.

d. Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.

Det / N / Adv / V

Det / N / V / P / Det / N / P / Det / N

N / Aux / V / Det / N / Conj / Det / N / P / Det / N

Det / N / Qual / V / Deg / A


Phrases

NP : Noun PhraseThe car, a clever student

VP : Verb Phrasestudy hard, play the guitar

PP : Prepositional Phrasein the class, above the earth

AP : Adjective Phrasevery tall, quite certain


Phrase Structure Rules NP (Det) N (PP) PP P NP

The bus (NP)

The

NDet

bus

The bus in the yard NP

The

NDet

bus

PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

yard19Syntax

Dr Alok K Das

Phrase Structure Rules VP V (NP) (PP) S NP (Aux) VP

took the money (VP)

took

NPV

took the money from the bank VP

took

NPV PP

from

NPP

the

Det N

bank

the

Det N

money

the

Det N

money20Syntax

Dr Alok K Das

Draw the tree diagram.

1. repaired the telephone

2. the success of the program

3. a film about pollution

4. move towards the window

5. cast a spell on the broomstick


The main structure rules

1. S NP (Aux) VP

2. NP (Det) (AP) N (PP)

3. VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

4. PP P NP

5. AP A (PP)


Example The old tree swayed in the wind

old

V PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

windThe

N

swayed

S

NP VP

Det Adj

tree

Aux

past


Example The children put the toy in the box

V PP

in

NPP

the

Det N

boxThe

N

put

S

NP VP

Det

children

NP

the

Det N

toy


Ambiguity: a word, phrase or sentence with multiple meanings

Synthetic buffalo hides (NP) Synthetic buffalo hides (NP)

Synthetic buffalo hides Synthetic buffalo hides

Buffalo hides that are synthetic. Hides of synthetic buffalo.


Ambiguities often lead to humorous resultsAmbiguities often lead to humorous results

For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers. what does “thick legs and large drawers” refer to? The desk or the lady?


Structural Ambiguity

The boy saw the man with the telescope

V PP

with

NPP

the

Det N

telescopeThe

N

saw

S

NP VP

Det

boy

NP

the

Det N

man

Aux

past


Structural Ambiguity

The boy saw the man with the telescope

V

PP

with

NPP

the

Det N

telescopeThe

N

saw

S

NP VP

Det

boy

NP

the

Det N

man

Aux

past28Syntax

Dr Alok K Das

Draw two phrase structure trees representing the two meanings of the sentence:

The magician touched the child with the wand.

Be sure you indicate which meaning goes with which tree.


Declarative – Interrogative Move the auxiliary to the left of the subject.

The boy will leave.

S

VPNP

Det

Aux

N

The boy will leave

Will the boy leave?

S

VPNP

Det

Aux

N

the boyWill leave

The deep structure The surface structure

V V


The Wh Movement Surface structure: Which car should the man repair? Deep structure:

V

N

carThe

N

repair

S

NP VP

Det

man

NP

which

Det

Aux

should31Syntax

Dr Alok K Das

Draw the deep structure of the following sentences

1. Will the boss hire Hillary?2. Is that player leaving the team?3. Who should the director call?4. What is Joanne eating?


Syntax Das

Documents

lambada syntax dr alok

similarsyntax dr alok

phrase structure rules

rules aresyntax dr alok

prodropsyntax dr alok

native languagesyntax

v s njohnnysyntax dr

language english