Syntax: Darrell Larsen
Syntax: Darrell Larsen
Notes
Syntax
Darrell Larsen
Linguistics 101
Notes
Outline
Introduction
Syntactic Categories
Constituency Tests
Notes
Determining Word Categories
Tree Drawing
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
The Basics
Definition
The study of phrase/sentence structure.
Notes
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.
Notes
The Basics
Syntax and Meaning
NP VP NP VP
D N V NP D N V NP
a rat a cat
Notes
Syllable Types
Syntax, Grammaticality and Meaning
Notes
Grammatical Relations
Notes
The Basics
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 ]]
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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.
Notes
The Basics
Sentence Length
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.
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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?
Notes
Syntactic Categories
Notes
Syntactic Categories
English Word Categories
Notes
Syntactic Constituents
Notes
Syntactic Constituents
English Phrasal Categories
Notes
Syntactic Constituents
English Phrasal Categories
S
NP VP
N
V CP
John
said
C S
that
NP VP
D N V PP
off D N
the table
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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?
Notes
Constituency Tests
Overview
Notes
Stand-alone Test
Notes
Stand-alone Test
Example
Notes
Stand-alone Test
Example
NP VP
D N
V NP
the boy
watched
D Adj N
a funny movie
Notes
Substitution Tests
Notes
Substitution Tests
Substitution with Pronouns → NPs
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘do (so)’ → VPs
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Substitution Tests
Substitution with ‘one’ → NPs
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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
Notes
Clefting Test
Notes
Move-as-a-unit Test
Notes
Deletion Test
Notes
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
Notes
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
Notes
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
Notes
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
Notes
Syntactic Constituents
Constituency Tests: Some Notes
Notes
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
Notes
Determining Word Categories
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Prepositions
Syntactic Tests
• Must be followed by NPs (at least in our class).
to the store (‘the store’ = NP)
Notes
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.
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Complementizers
Syntactic Tests
• Must be followed by a full sentence.
John say that Bill left. (Bill left = S)
John asked if/whether Bill left.
Notes
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.
Notes
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
Notes
Noun Phrases
Notes
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
Notes
Prepositional Phrases
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Verb Phrases
Notes
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
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
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
Notes
Sentences
NP VP
NP VP
N V
D N V NP
John walked
the cat chased D N
the rat
Introduction Syntactic Categories Constituency Tests Notes
Notes
Complementizer Phrases
NP VP
N
V CP
Lisa
said
C S
that
NP VP
N V NP
John bought D N
a book
Notes