GENERAL LINGUISTICS 178 A2S2
SYNTAX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4
Grammaticality and Acceptability .............................................................................................. 5
Glossing ................................................................................................................................... 7
Word Classes (content words) .................................................................................................... 9
Nouns ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Verbs ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Adjectives .............................................................................................................................. 10
Adverbs .................................................................................................................................. 11
Prepositions ........................................................................................................................... 11
Words Classes (function words) ............................................................................................... 13
Determiners ........................................................................................................................... 13
Conjunctions .......................................................................................................................... 14
Pronouns ............................................................................................................................... 14
Auxiliary Verbs ........................................................................................................................ 15
Aspectual Auxiliaries ........................................................................................................... 15
Modal Auxiliaries ................................................................................................................. 16
Voice Auxiliaries .................................................................................................................. 16
Main Verbs vs. Auxiliary Verbs .................................................................................................. 16
Phrase Structure (introduction) ................................................................................................ 17
Phrase Head ........................................................................................................................... 17
Phrase-complement ............................................................................................................... 18
Phrase Structure ..................................................................................................................... 18
The Three Types of Phrases: NP, PP, VP .................................................................................... 19
Noun Phrase (NP) ................................................................................................................ 19
Prepositional Phrase (PP) ..................................................................................................... 19
Verb Phrase (VP).................................................................................................................. 20
Phrase Structure Rules ............................................................................................................. 20
Page 1 of 54
, Phrase Structure Rules: NPs .................................................................................................... 20
Phrase Structure Rules: PPs .................................................................................................... 21
Phrase Structure Rules: VPs .................................................................................................... 22
Phrase Structure (constituency tests) ....................................................................................... 23
Substitution Test (aka replacement test) .................................................................................. 23
Co-ordination Test .................................................................................................................. 24
Sentence Fragment Test .......................................................................................................... 25
Clauses and Sentences ............................................................................................................ 26
Finiteness .............................................................................................................................. 27
Infiniteness ............................................................................................................................ 27
Sentences .............................................................................................................................. 27
Simple Sentence ................................................................................................................. 28
Compound Sentence ........................................................................................................... 28
Complex Sentence .............................................................................................................. 28
Mood ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Declarative Mood ................................................................................................................ 29
Interrogative Mood .............................................................................................................. 30
Imperative Mood ................................................................................................................. 30
Irrealis Mood ....................................................................................................................... 31
Complementisers ................................................................................................................... 31
Sentence Structure ................................................................................................................... 33
The Build of a Sentence ........................................................................................................... 33
Word Order ............................................................................................................................ 34
Principles and Parameters of Language (introduction) .............................................................. 35
Language Faculty: Noam Chomsky .......................................................................................... 35
Universal Grammar ................................................................................................................. 35
Requirements for an Adequate Theory of UG ......................................................................... 35
Innateness Hypothesis ............................................................................................................ 36
UG Principles ......................................................................................................................... 36
UG Parameters ....................................................................................................................... 36
Principles and Parameters of Language (subject principle) ....................................................... 37
SUBJECT PRINCIPLE ............................................................................................................... 37
Page 2 of 54
, Null-Subject Parameter ........................................................................................................... 37
Principles and Parameters of Language (head principle) ........................................................... 38
Head-position Parameter ........................................................................................................ 38
Principles and Parameters of Language (wh-principle).............................................................. 39
Types of Questions ................................................................................................................. 39
Wh-principle .......................................................................................................................... 39
Wh-parameter ........................................................................................................................ 39
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (introduction) ..................................................................................... 40
Sentence Formation................................................................................................................ 40
The police arrested a suspect. .............................................................................................. 41
Complementisers (recap) ........................................................................................................ 44
Core Devices in Syntactic Derivations ...................................................................................... 45
Assignment of Tense Value ...................................................................................................... 45
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (tense and auxiliary phrases) ............................................................. 47
The children see five dogs. ................................................................................................... 47
Auxiliary Verbs in Syntactic Derivations .................................................................................... 49
The police have arrested a suspect. ...................................................................................... 49
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (biclausal sentences) ......................................................................... 52
This lecturer must go on vacation. ........................................................................................ 52
The girl thinks that the cat might climb the tree. ..................................................................... 52
The man asks whether the team had won the game. .............................................................. 53
Page 3 of 54
, SYNTAX
LECTURE ONE
INTRODUCTION
Aims of this Course:
1. Using glosses to interpret linguistic data.
2. Distinguishing between lexical and functional categories.
3. Writing phrase structure rules.
4. Conducting constituent tests to identify phrases.
5. Identifying clause and sentence types.
6. Categorising languages based on word order.
7. Understanding the basics of UG and the Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach.
8. Explaining variation between languages by using the P&P approach.
9. Drawing basic syntactic tree diagrams.
SYNTAX
Def: The study of the way in which words combine to form larger meaningful units and the rules that
govern these operations.
GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE
Def: Language knowledge about grammar, including both explicit and implicit understanding of the
rules and structures that govern language use.
Grammatical knowledge provides fluent speakers of a language with three general types of abilities:
1. Sentence Formation: The ability to form the various types of sentences found within that
language, e.g., negative sentences, active and passive sentences, different kinds of question
sentences, imperative sentences, etc.
For Example:
She drank the coffee. (declarative sentence)
She didn’t drink the coffee. (negated sentence)
The coffee was drunk by her. (passive sentence)
Did she drink the coffee? (yes/no question)
What did she drink? (wh-question)
Drink the coffee! (imperative sentence)
Page 4 of 54
SYNTAX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4
Grammaticality and Acceptability .............................................................................................. 5
Glossing ................................................................................................................................... 7
Word Classes (content words) .................................................................................................... 9
Nouns ...................................................................................................................................... 9
Verbs ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Adjectives .............................................................................................................................. 10
Adverbs .................................................................................................................................. 11
Prepositions ........................................................................................................................... 11
Words Classes (function words) ............................................................................................... 13
Determiners ........................................................................................................................... 13
Conjunctions .......................................................................................................................... 14
Pronouns ............................................................................................................................... 14
Auxiliary Verbs ........................................................................................................................ 15
Aspectual Auxiliaries ........................................................................................................... 15
Modal Auxiliaries ................................................................................................................. 16
Voice Auxiliaries .................................................................................................................. 16
Main Verbs vs. Auxiliary Verbs .................................................................................................. 16
Phrase Structure (introduction) ................................................................................................ 17
Phrase Head ........................................................................................................................... 17
Phrase-complement ............................................................................................................... 18
Phrase Structure ..................................................................................................................... 18
The Three Types of Phrases: NP, PP, VP .................................................................................... 19
Noun Phrase (NP) ................................................................................................................ 19
Prepositional Phrase (PP) ..................................................................................................... 19
Verb Phrase (VP).................................................................................................................. 20
Phrase Structure Rules ............................................................................................................. 20
Page 1 of 54
, Phrase Structure Rules: NPs .................................................................................................... 20
Phrase Structure Rules: PPs .................................................................................................... 21
Phrase Structure Rules: VPs .................................................................................................... 22
Phrase Structure (constituency tests) ....................................................................................... 23
Substitution Test (aka replacement test) .................................................................................. 23
Co-ordination Test .................................................................................................................. 24
Sentence Fragment Test .......................................................................................................... 25
Clauses and Sentences ............................................................................................................ 26
Finiteness .............................................................................................................................. 27
Infiniteness ............................................................................................................................ 27
Sentences .............................................................................................................................. 27
Simple Sentence ................................................................................................................. 28
Compound Sentence ........................................................................................................... 28
Complex Sentence .............................................................................................................. 28
Mood ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Declarative Mood ................................................................................................................ 29
Interrogative Mood .............................................................................................................. 30
Imperative Mood ................................................................................................................. 30
Irrealis Mood ....................................................................................................................... 31
Complementisers ................................................................................................................... 31
Sentence Structure ................................................................................................................... 33
The Build of a Sentence ........................................................................................................... 33
Word Order ............................................................................................................................ 34
Principles and Parameters of Language (introduction) .............................................................. 35
Language Faculty: Noam Chomsky .......................................................................................... 35
Universal Grammar ................................................................................................................. 35
Requirements for an Adequate Theory of UG ......................................................................... 35
Innateness Hypothesis ............................................................................................................ 36
UG Principles ......................................................................................................................... 36
UG Parameters ....................................................................................................................... 36
Principles and Parameters of Language (subject principle) ....................................................... 37
SUBJECT PRINCIPLE ............................................................................................................... 37
Page 2 of 54
, Null-Subject Parameter ........................................................................................................... 37
Principles and Parameters of Language (head principle) ........................................................... 38
Head-position Parameter ........................................................................................................ 38
Principles and Parameters of Language (wh-principle).............................................................. 39
Types of Questions ................................................................................................................. 39
Wh-principle .......................................................................................................................... 39
Wh-parameter ........................................................................................................................ 39
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (introduction) ..................................................................................... 40
Sentence Formation................................................................................................................ 40
The police arrested a suspect. .............................................................................................. 41
Complementisers (recap) ........................................................................................................ 44
Core Devices in Syntactic Derivations ...................................................................................... 45
Assignment of Tense Value ...................................................................................................... 45
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (tense and auxiliary phrases) ............................................................. 47
The children see five dogs. ................................................................................................... 47
Auxiliary Verbs in Syntactic Derivations .................................................................................... 49
The police have arrested a suspect. ...................................................................................... 49
Syntactic Tree Diagrams (biclausal sentences) ......................................................................... 52
This lecturer must go on vacation. ........................................................................................ 52
The girl thinks that the cat might climb the tree. ..................................................................... 52
The man asks whether the team had won the game. .............................................................. 53
Page 3 of 54
, SYNTAX
LECTURE ONE
INTRODUCTION
Aims of this Course:
1. Using glosses to interpret linguistic data.
2. Distinguishing between lexical and functional categories.
3. Writing phrase structure rules.
4. Conducting constituent tests to identify phrases.
5. Identifying clause and sentence types.
6. Categorising languages based on word order.
7. Understanding the basics of UG and the Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach.
8. Explaining variation between languages by using the P&P approach.
9. Drawing basic syntactic tree diagrams.
SYNTAX
Def: The study of the way in which words combine to form larger meaningful units and the rules that
govern these operations.
GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE
Def: Language knowledge about grammar, including both explicit and implicit understanding of the
rules and structures that govern language use.
Grammatical knowledge provides fluent speakers of a language with three general types of abilities:
1. Sentence Formation: The ability to form the various types of sentences found within that
language, e.g., negative sentences, active and passive sentences, different kinds of question
sentences, imperative sentences, etc.
For Example:
She drank the coffee. (declarative sentence)
She didn’t drink the coffee. (negated sentence)
The coffee was drunk by her. (passive sentence)
Did she drink the coffee? (yes/no question)
What did she drink? (wh-question)
Drink the coffee! (imperative sentence)
Page 4 of 54
