,Constituents Are these sentences good english sentences?
1) Between you and I, the show was awful.
➸ Prepositions are followed by accusative forms of pronouns: with me, him, her, them - *with I,
he, she, they ▸ Node = the
2) You and me are going to have fun. ▸ Domination
What is syntax?
➸ Subjects are in the nominative form: I am going to have fun. - *Me am going to have fun. ▸ Constituen
3) Neither Tasha no Ashanti are coming.
➸ None, no-one, and nothing are singular forms Phrase mar
4) I‘ll no can tell ye. Constituency
➸ Scottish English, but *I‘ll not can tell you. ▸ The movem
5) Mummy home. ▸ The substi
➸ Early child language ▸ The omissi
▸ The wh-qu
To recap Example
▸ we will describe the syntax (i.e. the internal structure) of grammatical English sentences There was a
The syntax of a language ▸ grammaticality is an aggregated judgment about structure from all native speakers
The syntax of a particular language L is a description of:
▸ How words are organised into groups (called phrases) in L Why do this?
▸ How these phrases are organised into sentences in L ▸ helps to develop analytical skills (applying diagnostics, testing hypothesis)
▸ provides some insight into why certain sentences sound ‚strange‘
The main aim of this course ▸ provides a useful pedagogical tool for teaching English (e.g. at high school or abroad)
▸ develop a basic familiarity with the syntax of English ▸ helpful in learning other languages (some universality)
Grammaticality Syntax: Chunks or strings of words?
▸ in this course we are only interested in describing the grammatical sentences of English ▸ the basic unit of the sentence is the word
▸ but what are the grammatical sentences of English? ▸ Are sentences simply strings of individual words or are sentences built from chunks of words?
➸ is there a comprehensive list?
▸ no list is available because sentences are potentially infinite B) The subst
2 declaratives:
1) Gareth‘s nose is very very very very very very very….(handsome). 1) Susan will leave.
2) Lucia owns a cat that ate a rat that ate a spider that caught a fly that saw a banana 2) The boy will leave.
that…
▸ with no list available, we ask native English speakers to judge which sentences are good and How do we turn declaratives (statements) into interrogatives (questions)?
which are bad ➸ Swap will and the preceding word:
▸ native speakers have implicit knowledge about their language 1) Will Susan leave?
⊳ Where did this knowledge come from? ➸ Language Acquisition 2) *The will boy leave?
⊳ What form does this knowledge take (e.g. a list of rules)? ➸ Formal Linguistic Theory
➸ Swap will and the first phrase (chunk):
Grammaticality versus acceptability 1) Will Susan leave?
A) Acceptability = a general judgement about a sentence‘s suitability in a real-world context
2) Will the boy leave?
B) Grammaticality = whether a sentence displays acceptable structure
Conclusion: Syntactic rules make reference to phrases. Therefore, sentences must be ‚chunky‘.
▸ unacceptable sentences can still be grammatical
1) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. Phrases
[nonsensical] Sentences are composed of phrases and phrases are composed of words:
2) I enjoyed the party very very very (x500) much.
[too long for conversation]
← ☒
3) To the king: Yo my homeboy, whaddup?
☒
[wrong register]
▸ an ungrammatical sentence is marked by an asterisk (*)
⊳ *Harry married has Megan.
⊳ *Not queen the is happy very.
⊳ *Kate jealous maybe is. D) The wh-q
, Functions Subjects and predicates
▸ both example sentences fit the same phrase marker
heads and modifiers
▸ the phrase dangerous criminals is a
➸ eternal structure of this NP?
Reminder from last week: Phrases
1) The nasty burglar had taken a bath.
▸ S always immediately dominates two constituents
▸ these are the subject and the predicate
▸ the phrase extremely dangerous is
Some grammatical properties of english subjects
▸ forming yes/no questions involves inverting the order of subject and auxiliary verb ➸ eternal structure of this AP?
2) Those people from Moscow left yesterday.
1) The man stroking a cat will bake a cake.
2) Will the man stroking a cat bake a cake?
Heads and modifiers
▸ subjects show agreement with the finite verb ▸ the functional relationship between
3) The man bakes many cakes. ▸ a modifier is dependent on its head
4) Those men bake many cakes. ▸ a head is not dependent on its modi
1) Batman regularly apprehends (dang
Constituents in sentences
Looking inside the predicate ➸ noun phrase
▸ the predicate must contain at least one verb 2) These people are (extremely) dange
The president entered the room.
▸ it may also contain other items ➸ adjective phrase
He entered the room.
Who entered the room? - The president.
Heads and complements
▸ the phrase into the ditch is a prepo
The president entered it.
An aside: Talking about structural relations
What did the president enter? - The room.
▸ if two nodes are immediately dominated by the same node, then they are sisters a) Charles fell into the ditch.
▸ an immediate domination relationship is also called a mother-daughter relationship b) *Charles fell into.
➸ Nominal constituents: The president (a phrase) + The room (a phrase)
⊳ A is the mother of B and C c) *Charles fell the ditch.
⊳ B and C are the daughters of A
3 possible structures:
▸ the functional relationship between
⊳ the complement is dependent o
Function versus form ⊳ the head is dependent on its co
▸ subject and predicate are grammatical functions
▸ Function = a dependency relation with respect to a sister constituent
▸ Form = the syntactic category of a constituent (noun, verb, etc.) Recursive phrases
▸ phrases often contain many modifier
An analogy ▸ constituency tests show that:
1) sings songs is constituent
2) sings songs acts like a verb ph
▸ often seems to modify the VP sings
Simplifying the problem
▸ therefore, the VP is a head
▸ let‘s compare our sentence to a simpler version, such as:
▸ in recursive phrases, there is one h
1) Between you and I, the show was awful.
➸ Prepositions are followed by accusative forms of pronouns: with me, him, her, them - *with I,
he, she, they ▸ Node = the
2) You and me are going to have fun. ▸ Domination
What is syntax?
➸ Subjects are in the nominative form: I am going to have fun. - *Me am going to have fun. ▸ Constituen
3) Neither Tasha no Ashanti are coming.
➸ None, no-one, and nothing are singular forms Phrase mar
4) I‘ll no can tell ye. Constituency
➸ Scottish English, but *I‘ll not can tell you. ▸ The movem
5) Mummy home. ▸ The substi
➸ Early child language ▸ The omissi
▸ The wh-qu
To recap Example
▸ we will describe the syntax (i.e. the internal structure) of grammatical English sentences There was a
The syntax of a language ▸ grammaticality is an aggregated judgment about structure from all native speakers
The syntax of a particular language L is a description of:
▸ How words are organised into groups (called phrases) in L Why do this?
▸ How these phrases are organised into sentences in L ▸ helps to develop analytical skills (applying diagnostics, testing hypothesis)
▸ provides some insight into why certain sentences sound ‚strange‘
The main aim of this course ▸ provides a useful pedagogical tool for teaching English (e.g. at high school or abroad)
▸ develop a basic familiarity with the syntax of English ▸ helpful in learning other languages (some universality)
Grammaticality Syntax: Chunks or strings of words?
▸ in this course we are only interested in describing the grammatical sentences of English ▸ the basic unit of the sentence is the word
▸ but what are the grammatical sentences of English? ▸ Are sentences simply strings of individual words or are sentences built from chunks of words?
➸ is there a comprehensive list?
▸ no list is available because sentences are potentially infinite B) The subst
2 declaratives:
1) Gareth‘s nose is very very very very very very very….(handsome). 1) Susan will leave.
2) Lucia owns a cat that ate a rat that ate a spider that caught a fly that saw a banana 2) The boy will leave.
that…
▸ with no list available, we ask native English speakers to judge which sentences are good and How do we turn declaratives (statements) into interrogatives (questions)?
which are bad ➸ Swap will and the preceding word:
▸ native speakers have implicit knowledge about their language 1) Will Susan leave?
⊳ Where did this knowledge come from? ➸ Language Acquisition 2) *The will boy leave?
⊳ What form does this knowledge take (e.g. a list of rules)? ➸ Formal Linguistic Theory
➸ Swap will and the first phrase (chunk):
Grammaticality versus acceptability 1) Will Susan leave?
A) Acceptability = a general judgement about a sentence‘s suitability in a real-world context
2) Will the boy leave?
B) Grammaticality = whether a sentence displays acceptable structure
Conclusion: Syntactic rules make reference to phrases. Therefore, sentences must be ‚chunky‘.
▸ unacceptable sentences can still be grammatical
1) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously. Phrases
[nonsensical] Sentences are composed of phrases and phrases are composed of words:
2) I enjoyed the party very very very (x500) much.
[too long for conversation]
← ☒
3) To the king: Yo my homeboy, whaddup?
☒
[wrong register]
▸ an ungrammatical sentence is marked by an asterisk (*)
⊳ *Harry married has Megan.
⊳ *Not queen the is happy very.
⊳ *Kate jealous maybe is. D) The wh-q
, Functions Subjects and predicates
▸ both example sentences fit the same phrase marker
heads and modifiers
▸ the phrase dangerous criminals is a
➸ eternal structure of this NP?
Reminder from last week: Phrases
1) The nasty burglar had taken a bath.
▸ S always immediately dominates two constituents
▸ these are the subject and the predicate
▸ the phrase extremely dangerous is
Some grammatical properties of english subjects
▸ forming yes/no questions involves inverting the order of subject and auxiliary verb ➸ eternal structure of this AP?
2) Those people from Moscow left yesterday.
1) The man stroking a cat will bake a cake.
2) Will the man stroking a cat bake a cake?
Heads and modifiers
▸ subjects show agreement with the finite verb ▸ the functional relationship between
3) The man bakes many cakes. ▸ a modifier is dependent on its head
4) Those men bake many cakes. ▸ a head is not dependent on its modi
1) Batman regularly apprehends (dang
Constituents in sentences
Looking inside the predicate ➸ noun phrase
▸ the predicate must contain at least one verb 2) These people are (extremely) dange
The president entered the room.
▸ it may also contain other items ➸ adjective phrase
He entered the room.
Who entered the room? - The president.
Heads and complements
▸ the phrase into the ditch is a prepo
The president entered it.
An aside: Talking about structural relations
What did the president enter? - The room.
▸ if two nodes are immediately dominated by the same node, then they are sisters a) Charles fell into the ditch.
▸ an immediate domination relationship is also called a mother-daughter relationship b) *Charles fell into.
➸ Nominal constituents: The president (a phrase) + The room (a phrase)
⊳ A is the mother of B and C c) *Charles fell the ditch.
⊳ B and C are the daughters of A
3 possible structures:
▸ the functional relationship between
⊳ the complement is dependent o
Function versus form ⊳ the head is dependent on its co
▸ subject and predicate are grammatical functions
▸ Function = a dependency relation with respect to a sister constituent
▸ Form = the syntactic category of a constituent (noun, verb, etc.) Recursive phrases
▸ phrases often contain many modifier
An analogy ▸ constituency tests show that:
1) sings songs is constituent
2) sings songs acts like a verb ph
▸ often seems to modify the VP sings
Simplifying the problem
▸ therefore, the VP is a head
▸ let‘s compare our sentence to a simpler version, such as:
▸ in recursive phrases, there is one h
