Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Syntax

Darrell Larsen

Linguistics 101

Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Outline

Introduction

Syntactic Categories

Constituency Tests

Notes
Determining Word Categories
Tree Drawing
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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The Basics

Definition
The study of phrase/sentence structure.

• Syntax is one component of grammar.

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The Basics
Grammaticality
• Given a set of words, such as the, a, cat, rat, chased, only
certain orders are grammatical.
• The syntax of a language determines grammatical and
ungrammatical orders.

The cat chased a rat.

A cat chased the rat.
The rat chased a cat.
A rat chased a cat.
* The cat a rat chased.
* Cat the chased rat the.
* Chased the cat a rat.
* The a cat rat chased.
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The Basics
Syntax and Meaning

• The syntactic structure of an expression also reflects the order

in which words are combined (thereby reflecting meaning).
S , S

NP VP NP VP

D N V NP D N V NP

the cat chased D N the rat chased D N

a rat a cat

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Syllable Types
Syntax, Grammaticality and Meaning

• The grammaticality of a syntactic structure is not dependent

on meaning.
• Native speakers share intuitions about even nonsensical
sentences.

‘Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.’

* ‘Ideas green sleep colorless furiously.’
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Grammatical Relations

• Grammatical relations and syntactic position (e.g. subject,

object) are distinct.
• Sentences with the same meaning may have more than one
grammatical order.
• In both sentences below, ‘the cat’ is the chaser and ‘the rat’ is
the chasee.
• [The cat]subject chased the rat.
• [The rat]subject was chased by the cat.

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The Basics
Ambiguity

• Just as words can be ambiguous (=lexical ambiguity), phrases

can be as well (=structural ambiguity).

Example
‘We need more intelligent administrators’
• [more intelligent] administrators
• more [intelligent administrators]

Example
‘I saw the man with a telescope’
• I saw [the man] [with a telescope]
• I saw [the man [with a telescope ]]
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The Basics
Recursiveness

• Syntax is recursive.
e.g. A clause can be placed inside another clause.
‘John left.’
‘Bill said that [John left.]’
e.g. A noun phrase can be placed inside another noun phrase.
‘John’s dog.’
‘Mary’s [brother’s [dog’s tail]]’
• Languages all appear to have recursion, though not always of
the same type.

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The Basics
Sentence Length

• Because syntax is recursive, there is no maximum length of a

sentence.
John said that Mary said that Susan said that...that the sky is
blue.

The girl [at the store [with the expensive coat [made of wool
[taken from sheep [living in a country [where sheep wear gold
[which is plentiful in the mines [in which . . . ]]]]]]]] bought a
glass of water.
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Syntactic Categories

Questions
1. How do we know if a word is a noun, verb, adjective, etc?
2. How do we even know that there are syntactic categories?

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Syntactic Categories

• Evidence of different syntactic categories comes from the

distribution of words.
The is on the table. I the flower.
cat smelled
wallet picked
*run *cat
*pretty *pretty
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Syntactic Categories
English Word Categories

• Languages do not all have the same categories; however,

they all seem to have nouns and verbs.
• In English, we have the following word categories (and more):
1. determiners (D) a, the, an, my, his, each, that...
2. nouns (N) cat, book, wallet, happiness...
3. verbs (V) run, walk, surpass, alienate...
4. adjectives (Adj) pretty, old, small, likeable...
5. prepositions (P) in, on, up, to, with, from...
6. complementizers (C) that, whether, if...
7. auxiliaries (Aux) be, do, can, will...
8. adverbs (Adv) quickly, very, surprisingly...

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Syntactic Constituents

• Combining words together forms constituents.

• Non-constituents: a, small, dog
• Constituents: [small dog], [a small dog]
• A phrase is a type of constituent.
• Non-phrase: [small dog]
• Phrase: [a small dog]
• In discussing constituents, we will concern ourselves only with
phrases.
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Syntactic Constituents
English Phrasal Categories

• In English, we have the following phrasal categories (and

more):
1. sentence (S)
2. noun phrase (NP)
3. verb phrase (V)
4. complementizer phrase (CP)
5. prepositional phrase PP
• Note that phrases can occur inside other phrases.

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Syntactic Constituents
English Phrasal Categories
S

NP VP

N
V CP
John
said
C S

that
NP VP

D N V PP

the cat fell P NP

off D N

the table
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Syntactic Constituents
Constituency Tests

Question
1. How do we determine whether a group of words forms a
constituent?
2. How do know what type of phrase a group of words forms?

• Various constituency tests are used to resolve these

questions.

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Constituency Tests
Overview

• Some common constituency tests are listed below.

1. stand alone
2. substitution
i pronoun (picks out NPs)
ii ‘do (so)’ (picks out VPs)
iii ‘one’ (picks out NPs)
3. clefting
4. move-as-a-unit
5. deletion
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Stand-alone Test

• If a group of words can stand alone in response to a question,

it is a constituent.
• The stand-alone test does not distinguish between types of
phrases.

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Stand-alone Test
Example

‘The boy watched a funny movie.’

Q) Who watched a funny movie?
A) The boy. = constituent
A) *The.
A) *Boy

Q) What did the boy watch?

A) A funny movie. = constituent
A) *A funny.
A) *funny movie

Q) What did the boy do?

A) Watch a funny movie. = constituent
A) *Watch.
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Stand-alone Test
Example

• The constituency of words is reflected in syntactic trees.

NP VP

D N
V NP
the boy
watched
D Adj N

a funny movie

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Substitution Tests

• Certain words can substitute for groups of words. These

words can determine what forms a constituent.
• Some substitution tests can distinguish between phrase types.
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Substitution Tests
Substitution with Pronouns → NPs

‘The boy watched a funny movie’

The boy He watched a funny movie. ‘The boy’ = NP
*The boy he watched a funny movie.
*The He boy watched a funny movie.

The boy watched a funny movie it ‘a funny movie’ = NP

*The boy watched a funny movie it
*The boy watched a funny movie it

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Substitution Tests
Substitution with Pronouns → NPs

S → S

NP VP
NP VP
He V NP
D N
V NP
watched it
the boy
watched
D Adj N

a funny movie
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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘do (so)’ → VPs

‘The boy watched a funny movie.’

I watched a funny movie did, too. ‘watched a funny movie’ = VP
*I watched did a funny TV show.

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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘do (so)’ → VPs
‘John said that Bill died, and...
‘...Tom said that Bill died did, too.’ ‘said that Bill died’ = VP
‘...Tom died did, too.’ ‘died’ = VP
S and S

NP VP S too

NP VP
N said CP
N did
John C S

NP VP Tom
that

N V

Bill died
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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs

‘I met a professor of linguistics with a sexy smile, and ...’

Sarah met a professor of linguistics with a sexy smile one, too.
Sarah met a professor of lingustics one with a great
personality.
*Sarah met a professor one of math with a great personality.

• In the sentence above, ‘a professor’ is not a constituent!

• In other sentences, it can be:
I met a professor. Sarah met a professor one, too.
• Constituency, therefore, must be determined one a
case-by-case basis.

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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs

NP VP

I
V NP

met

NP PP

P NP
D N PP
with
a professor D Adj N
P NP
a sexy smile
of N

linguistics
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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs

NP VP

I
V NP

met

NP PP
one

P NP

D N PP with
D Adj N
a professor P NP
a great personality
of N sexy smile

linguistics

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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs

NP VP

I
V NP
one
met

NP PP

P NP
D N PP
with
a professor D Adj N
P NP
a sexy smile
of N

linguistics
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Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs

*S

NP VP

I
V NP

met

NP PP
one

P NP

D N PP with
D Adj N
a professor P NP
a great personality
of N sexy smile

math
linguistics

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Clefting Test

• The clefting test involves placing a group of words in the

frame:
‘It was/is a that/who/when/etc S’
• The clefting test does not distinguish phrasal categories.

‘The boy watched a funny movie.’

It was a funny movie that the boy watched a funny movie.
It was the boy that/who the boy watched a funny movie.
*It was the boy watched that the boy watched a funny movie.
‘The man slept under the tree.’
It was under the tree that the man slept under the tree.
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Move-as-a-unit Test

• If a group of words can move together, it is a constituent.

• The move-as-a-unit test does not distinguish phrasal
categories.

John studied syntax because it was so fascinating.

→ Because it was so fascinating, John studied syntax.

...and without a second thought, he jumped into the pit.

→ ...and without a second thought, into the pit he jumped.

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Deletion Test

• If a group of words can be deleted together, it is a constituent.

• The deletion test picks out VPs.

‘Robin was planning to see the movie on Tuesday, and...’

Lee was planning to see the entire movie on Wednesday.
Lee was planning to see the movie on Tuesday also.
Lee was planning to see the entire movie on Tuesday also.

• Note, however, that deletion can also pick out Vs alone.

‘John bought a book, and Mary, bought a bag.’

Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Deletion Test
‘Robin was planning to see the movie on Tuesday, and...’
S

NP Aux VP

N was

Lee V XP

planning

to VP

VP PP

P NP
V NP
on N
see
D Adj N Wednesday

the entire movie

Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Deletion Test
‘Robin was planning to see the movie on Tuesday, and...’
S

NP Aux VP

N was

Lee V XP

planning

to VP

VP PP

P NP
V NP
on N
see
D Adj N Wednesday

the entire movie

Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Deletion Test
‘Robin was planning to see the movie on Tuesday, and...also’
S

NP Aux VP

N was

Lee V XP

planning

to VP

VP PP

P NP
V NP
on N
see
D Adj N Wednesday

the entire movie

Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Deletion Test
‘Robin was planning to see the movie on Tuesday, and...also’
S

NP Aux VP

N was

Lee V XP

planning

to VP

VP PP

P NP
V NP
on N
see
D Adj N Wednesday

the entire movie

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Syntactic Constituents
Constituency Tests: Some Notes

• Constituency tests are sentence-specific.

• Constituency tests are language-specific.

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Categories and Phrases

• The following word and phrasal categories are the ones you
must know when drawing syntactic trees for this courses.
N noun NP noun phrase
P preposition PP prepositional phrase
V verb VP verb phrase
C complementizer CP complementizer phrase
D determiner S sentence
Adj adjective
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes

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Determining Word Categories

• The following slides summarize some ways to identify word

categories.
• Word-category tests are language-specific.
• A word of caution: words do not necessarily pass all of the
tests for the category they belong to.
• Even if you are already competent identifying word categories,
you should look at ‘determiner’ and ‘complementizer’.

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Nouns

Syntactic Tests
• Can ‘license’ determiners like the and a.
the cat (cat = N)
*the pretty (pretty , N), the pretty bird (bird = N)

Morphological Tests
• Can often take plural marker -s
one cat, two cat-s
• Can often take possessive marker -’s
the cat’s tail, women’s health center
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Prepositions

Syntactic Tests
• Must be followed by NPs (at least in our class).
to the store (‘the store’ = NP)

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Verbs
Syntactic Tests
• Can follow ‘to’ following verbs like want or try
want to leave / go / try
try to fly / eat / run
• Can license modals like can, will, must, should.
I can go / leave / try
*You must. / *You must quickly. (ungrammatical without context)
You must quickly go.

Morphological Tests
• Can often take past-tense marker -ed
walked, jumped
• Can take agreement marker -s
I walk, he walks
• Can take progress marker -ing)
I am trying to leave.
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Complementizers

Syntactic Tests
• Must be followed by a full sentence.
John say that Bill left. (Bill left = S)
John asked if/whether Bill left.

• There is a complementizer ‘that’, and a determiner ‘that’. Do

not confuse them.
• Determiner ‘that’ precedes nouns, not sentences.
e.g. ‘that cute, little puppy’

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Determiners
Syntactic Tests
• Must occur with (and precede) a noun.
*I saw the.
*I saw the pretty.
I saw the pretty cat.
• May not occur with other determiners.
My book.
The book.
*The my book. / *My the book.

• Note that adjectives may occur between a D and a N.

• The traditional class of articles is a subset of the class of Ds.
• Caution: possessive pronouns (my, your, his...) are Ds, not Ns
or Adjs.
• Examples: {a, an, the, my, you, his, this, that, these, those,
each, no}
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Adjectives

Syntactic Tests
• Can occur between a D and the N that licenses it.
the pretty cat (cat = N)
• Can follow intensifiers very or too.
very hot, very smart
too hot (for me to eat), too smart (for his own good)
• Can often follow comparative more or superlative most.
comfortable → more comfortable → most comfortable

Morphological Tests
• Can often take comparative -er or superlative -est markers.
happy → happier → happiest

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Noun Phrases

• NPs must contain a N.

• NPs may contain a D or Adj.
• NPs may also contain a PP, if it modified the noun.
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Noun Phrases
a. NP b. NP c. NP

N D N
NP PP
John the bike
N P NP
you a
my
hamburgers with N
this
ketchup
d. NP

D Adj Adj N

the crazy little girl

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Prepositional Phrases

• PPs always contain a P.

• PPs always contain a NP.

a. PP b. PP

P NP
P NP
with N
at
ketchup NP PP

D Adj N P NP

on D N
the old store
the corner
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Verb Phrases

• VPs always contain a V.

• VPs may contain one or two NPs.
• VPs may contains PPs or CPs.

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Verb Phrases

a. VP b. VP c. VP

V V NP V NP NP

gave D N D N
walk shot D N
the dog a treat

a bear
d. VP

V NP PP

gave D N P NP

a treat to D N

the dog
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Verb Phrases

e. VP f. VP

V CP
VP PP
said C S
V PP P NP
that NP VP
walk with D N
P NP N V

D N the dog
to Gina left

the river

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Sentences

• The sentences you will draw always contain an NP (subject)

and a VP.
a. S b. S

NP VP
NP VP
N V
D N V NP
John walked
the cat chased D N

the rat
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Complementizer Phrases

• Complementizers introduce sentences, so a CP will always

have a C and an S.
• The only complementizer we will use is ‘that’ (not to be
confused with the determiner ‘that’).
a. S

NP VP

N
V CP
Lisa
said
C S

that
NP VP

N V NP

John bought D N

a book

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