Week 1
The syntax of a language:
The syntax of a particular language L is a description of:
o How words are organised into groups (called phrases) in L.
o How these phrases are organised into sentences in L.
Grammaticality:
What are the grammatical sentences of English? Is there a comprehensive list?
No list is available because sentences are potentially infinite.
E.g., Gareth’s nose is very very very very very very very very very very…
(handsome).
Lucia owns a cat that ate a rat that ate a spider that caught a fly that saw a banana
that…
With no list available, we ask native English speakers to judge which sentences are
good and which are bad because native speakers have implicit knowledge about their
language.
o Where did knowledge come from?
Language Acquisition
o What form does this knowledge take (e.g., a list of rules)?
Formal Linguistic Theory (introduced in Ling III)
Grammaticality versus acceptability:
Acceptability: a general judgment about a sentence’s suitability in a real-world
context.
Grammaticality: whether a sentence displays acceptable structure.
Unacceptable sentences can still be grammatical, e.g.,
o Colourless green ideas sleep furiously nonsensical
o I enjoyed the party very very very (x500) much too long for conversation
o To the King: “Yo my homeboy, whaddup?” wrong register
Notation:
An ungrammatical sentence is marked by an asterisk (*), e.g.,
o *Harry married has Megan.
o *Not queen the is happy very.
o *Kate jealous maybe is.
An unacceptable but grammatical sentence is marked by a pound sign (#), e.g.,
o #The hammer picked up Elise.
Appeal to authority:
Don’t some native speakers know better than others what makes a grammatical
sentence?
This depends on your point of view.
,2 points of view:
Prescriptivism: Descriptivism:
Seeks to prescribe how a language Seeks to describe how native speakers
should be used use their language
Associates certain language use with Seeks to explain why some sentences are
certain moral judgments grammatical and some are not in a
certain language
Emphasises the importance of rules of Only concerned with the rules of
language that are taught explicitly language that are learned naturally and
implicitly
Offers rules that prescribe what is socially Offers rules that describe scientifically
Acceptable in a large community observed regularities in a language
Syntax: chunks or strings of words?
The basic unit of the sentence is the word.
Are sentences simply strings of individual words?
Or are sentences built from chunks of words?
Chunks or strings? Question formation:
How do we turn declaratives (statements) into interrogatives (questions)?
2 declaratives:
o Susan will leave.
o The boy will leave.
Swap ‘will’ and the preceding word:
o Will Susan leave?
o *The will boy leave?
Swap ‘will’ and the first phrase (chunk):
o Will Susan leave?
o Will the boy leave?
Conclusion:
Syntactic rules refer to phrases. Therefore, sentences must be ‘chunky’.
Phrases:
Sentences are composed of phrases, and phrases are composed of words:
E.g., Sentence Sentence
Phrase Phrase Phrase Phrase
Susan left The boy left
Phrases are usually meaningful units: Susan and the boy carry a clear meaning.
,Phrase markers and constituency:
Sentence These diagrams have many names:
Phrase markers
Syntax trees
Phrase Phrase Parse trees
The boy left
Node: the end of a line.
Domination: a node dominates everything below it which is connected to it by a line.
Constituent: a node and everything it dominates (if it dominates anything).
Tests that determine a constituent:
Omission test: if a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another
grammatically correct sentence, then it’s a constituent.
“Questions”: who/which/what/why/where/when/whose/how?
Movement: if a sequence of words can be moved and the sentence is still
grammatically correct, it’s a constituent.
Week 2
Phrases:
The nasty burglar had taken a bath.
*Phrase Phrase
The nasty burglar The Phrase
nasty burglar
Those people from Moscow left yesterday.
Phrase
Those Phrase
people Phrase
from Moscow
Constituents in sentences:
, The president entered the room. Nominal constituents:
He entered the room.
Who entered the room? – The president The president (a phrase)
The president entered it.
What did the president enter? – The room The room (a phrase)
3 possible structures:
The president entered the room.
S
Phrase Phrase Phrase
The president entered the room
S
Phrase Phrase
the room
Phrase entered
The president
S
Phrase Phrase
The president
entered Phrase
the room
Simplifying the problem:
Let’s compare the sentence to a simpler version, such as:
o The president choked.
There’s only one possible structure for this sentence:
S
The syntax of a language:
The syntax of a particular language L is a description of:
o How words are organised into groups (called phrases) in L.
o How these phrases are organised into sentences in L.
Grammaticality:
What are the grammatical sentences of English? Is there a comprehensive list?
No list is available because sentences are potentially infinite.
E.g., Gareth’s nose is very very very very very very very very very very…
(handsome).
Lucia owns a cat that ate a rat that ate a spider that caught a fly that saw a banana
that…
With no list available, we ask native English speakers to judge which sentences are
good and which are bad because native speakers have implicit knowledge about their
language.
o Where did knowledge come from?
Language Acquisition
o What form does this knowledge take (e.g., a list of rules)?
Formal Linguistic Theory (introduced in Ling III)
Grammaticality versus acceptability:
Acceptability: a general judgment about a sentence’s suitability in a real-world
context.
Grammaticality: whether a sentence displays acceptable structure.
Unacceptable sentences can still be grammatical, e.g.,
o Colourless green ideas sleep furiously nonsensical
o I enjoyed the party very very very (x500) much too long for conversation
o To the King: “Yo my homeboy, whaddup?” wrong register
Notation:
An ungrammatical sentence is marked by an asterisk (*), e.g.,
o *Harry married has Megan.
o *Not queen the is happy very.
o *Kate jealous maybe is.
An unacceptable but grammatical sentence is marked by a pound sign (#), e.g.,
o #The hammer picked up Elise.
Appeal to authority:
Don’t some native speakers know better than others what makes a grammatical
sentence?
This depends on your point of view.
,2 points of view:
Prescriptivism: Descriptivism:
Seeks to prescribe how a language Seeks to describe how native speakers
should be used use their language
Associates certain language use with Seeks to explain why some sentences are
certain moral judgments grammatical and some are not in a
certain language
Emphasises the importance of rules of Only concerned with the rules of
language that are taught explicitly language that are learned naturally and
implicitly
Offers rules that prescribe what is socially Offers rules that describe scientifically
Acceptable in a large community observed regularities in a language
Syntax: chunks or strings of words?
The basic unit of the sentence is the word.
Are sentences simply strings of individual words?
Or are sentences built from chunks of words?
Chunks or strings? Question formation:
How do we turn declaratives (statements) into interrogatives (questions)?
2 declaratives:
o Susan will leave.
o The boy will leave.
Swap ‘will’ and the preceding word:
o Will Susan leave?
o *The will boy leave?
Swap ‘will’ and the first phrase (chunk):
o Will Susan leave?
o Will the boy leave?
Conclusion:
Syntactic rules refer to phrases. Therefore, sentences must be ‘chunky’.
Phrases:
Sentences are composed of phrases, and phrases are composed of words:
E.g., Sentence Sentence
Phrase Phrase Phrase Phrase
Susan left The boy left
Phrases are usually meaningful units: Susan and the boy carry a clear meaning.
,Phrase markers and constituency:
Sentence These diagrams have many names:
Phrase markers
Syntax trees
Phrase Phrase Parse trees
The boy left
Node: the end of a line.
Domination: a node dominates everything below it which is connected to it by a line.
Constituent: a node and everything it dominates (if it dominates anything).
Tests that determine a constituent:
Omission test: if a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another
grammatically correct sentence, then it’s a constituent.
“Questions”: who/which/what/why/where/when/whose/how?
Movement: if a sequence of words can be moved and the sentence is still
grammatically correct, it’s a constituent.
Week 2
Phrases:
The nasty burglar had taken a bath.
*Phrase Phrase
The nasty burglar The Phrase
nasty burglar
Those people from Moscow left yesterday.
Phrase
Those Phrase
people Phrase
from Moscow
Constituents in sentences:
, The president entered the room. Nominal constituents:
He entered the room.
Who entered the room? – The president The president (a phrase)
The president entered it.
What did the president enter? – The room The room (a phrase)
3 possible structures:
The president entered the room.
S
Phrase Phrase Phrase
The president entered the room
S
Phrase Phrase
the room
Phrase entered
The president
S
Phrase Phrase
The president
entered Phrase
the room
Simplifying the problem:
Let’s compare the sentence to a simpler version, such as:
o The president choked.
There’s only one possible structure for this sentence:
S
