Syntax

• When we concentrate on the structure & ordering of

components within a sentence = studying the syntax of a

language
• Syntax (originally Greek) = ‘putting together’/ ‘arrangement’

Syntax is the study of the rules governing the way words are

combined to form phrases and sentences in a language.

Symbols used in syntactic analysis

r
 Syntax

• When we set out to provide an analysis of the syntax of a

language, we try to adhere to the “all and only” criterion .

• This means that our analysis must account for:

• all the grammatically correct phrases and sentences and

• only those grammatically correct phrases and sentences in
whatever language we are analyzing.
• In other words, if we write rules for the creation of well-formed

structures, we have to check that those rules won’t also lead

to ill-formed structures.
 Syntax

• The grammar will generate all the well-formed structures of the language
• The grammar will not generate any ill-formed structures
For example,
We might say informally that, in English,
• a preposition (e.g. near) + a noun (e.g. London) = a prepositional phrase (near
London).
• If we follow this rule, we will produce phrases like *near tree or *with dog.
• We clearly need to be more careful in forming this rule.
• a preposition + a noun phrase (not just a noun) = a prepositional phrase.
• NP {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN}
• So that the revised rule can produce these well-formed structures: near London, with
you, near a tree, with the dog
 Syntax

• When we have an effective rule such as “a prepositional phrase

in English consists of a preposition followed by a noun phrase,”
we can imagine an extremely large number of English phrases
that could be produced using this rule.
• In fact, the potential number is unlimited.
• This reflects another goal of syntactic analysis, which is:

• to have a small and finite set of rules that will be capable of

producing a large and infinite number of well-formed structures.

• This small and finite set of rules is sometimes described as
generative grammar because it can be used to “generate” or
produce sentence structures and not just describe them.
 Tree diagrams

• The girl

• Labeled & bracketed format

One of the most common ways to create a visual representation

of syntactic structure is through tree diagrams.
 Tree diagrams

• The girl saw a dog

Symbols used in syntactic analysis

r
 Symbols used in syntactic analysis

Three more symbols:

1. (= consists of)

For example:
• NP Art N
• It is a shorthand way of saying that a noun phrase consists of

an article and a noun.

 Symbols used in syntactic description

2. round brackets ( ) (= an optional constituent)

For example:
• The dog = NP
• The small dog = NP
• When we want to use a NP in English, we can include an (Adj), but we do not
have to. It is optional.
• NP Art (Adj) N
• It is a shorthand way of saying that a noun phrase consists of an article (Art) and
a noun (N), with the option of including an adjective (Adj) in a specific position
between them.
• We can use this notation to generate the dog, the small dog, a cat, a big cat, the
book, a boring book, etc.
 Symbols used in syntactic description

3. curly brackets { } (= only one of the elements

enclosed within the curly brackets must be selected.)
For example:
• NP Art N (e.g. the dog)
• NP Pro (e.g. it)
• NP PN (e.g. Abeer)

More symbols & abbreviations p. 90

 Phrase structure rules

We can think of the tree diagram format in 2 different ways.

1. As a static representation of the structure of the sentence

shown at the bottom of the diagram.

2. As a dynamic format – represents a way of generating a

very large number of other sentences with similar structures.
 Phrase structure rules

• This second approach would enable us to generate a very large

number of sentences with a very small number of rules.
• These rules are called phrase structure rules .
• Phrase structure rules state that the structure of a phrase of a specific
type will consist of one or more constituents in a particular order.
• We can use phrase structure rules to present the information of the
tree diagram in another format.

Tree diagram Phrase structure rule

 Phrase structure rules

• The first rule in the following set of simple phrase structure rules
states that “a sentence rewrites as a noun phrase and a verb
phrase.”
• The second rule states that “a noun phrase rewrites as either an
article plus an optional adjective plus a noun, or a pronoun, or a
proper noun”

r
 Lexical rules

• Phrase structure rules generate structures.

• In order to turn this structure into recognizable English, we

also need lexical rules .

PN {Mary, George} V {followed, helped, saw}

N {girl, dog, boy} Adj {small, crazy}

Art {a, an, the} Prep {near, with}

Pro {it, you} Adv {recently, yesterday, slowly}

 Lexical rules

• We can rely on these rules to generate the grammatical

sentences 1-6, but not the ungrammatical sentences 7-12.

Lexical rules
 Movement rules

• Declarative forms (You will help Mary)

• Interrogative forms (Will you help Mary?)

• In making the question, we move one part of the structure to a

different position.
• This process is based on a movement rule.

r
 Movement rules

With these components, we can specify a simple

movement rule that is involved in the creation of one basic
type of question in English.

r
 Movement rules

This type of rule has a special symbol and can be illustrated in the

process of one tree, on the right, being derived from the tree on the left.
 Movement rules

Using this simple rule, we can also generate these other

questions:
 Deep and surface structure

This type of grammar should also be capable of revealing the

basis of two other phenomena:

1. how some superficially different sentences are closely related

2. how some superficially similar sentences are in fact different.

 Deep and surface structure

• Charlie broke the window.

• The window was broken by Charlie.
• Charlie was the one who broke the window.
• It was Charlie who broke the window.
• Was the window broken by Charlie?
• Different in their surface structure = different arrangement or ordering

• BUT they have the same ‘deep’ or underlying structure = same basic

components (NP + V + NP)

• The deep structure is an abstract level of structural organization in which all the

elements determining structural interpretation are represented.

• In short, the grammar must be capable of showing how a single underlying

abstract representation can become different surface structures.

 Structural ambiguity

• Annie whacked the man with an umbrella.

• Same surface structure
• BUT different deep structure
• What are the two possible meanings/ the two distinct deep structures/ two distinct underlying
interpretations here?

• The boy saw the man with the telescope.

• Small boys and girls

• Our syntactic analysis should be capable of showing the structural distinction

between these underlying representations.

Structural ambiguity: a situation in which a single phrase or sentence has two
(or more) different underlying structures and interpretations.
 Structural ambiguity

The boy saw the man with the telescope.

Meaning 1: Using the telescope, the boy saw the man

Meaning 2: The boy saw the man. The man had a telescope.

New rule: NP Art (Adj) N (PP)

 Structural ambiguity
26

The boy saw the man with the telescope.

S

NP VP

Art N V NP PP

Art N Prep NP

Art N

The boy saw the man with the telescope

Meaning: Using the telescope, the boy saw the man

 Structural ambiguity
27
The boy saw the man with the telescope.
S

NP VP

Art N V NP

Art N PP

Prep NP

Art N

The boy saw the man with the telescope

Meaning: The boy saw the man. The man had a telescope.
 Recursion

• Recursive Rules can be applied more than once in generating a structure.

• e.g.

• repeat prepositional phrase more than once

• The gun was on the table.
• The gun was on the table near the window.
• The gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom.

• Put sentences inside other sentences

• Mary helped George
• Cathy knew that Mary helped George.
• John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped George.
• This is the cat that ate the rat that ate the cheese that was sold by the
man that lived in the city that was on the river…
 Recursion

• No end to recursion that would produce longer complex

sentences.
• Our syntactic analysis should account for the fact that a
sentence can have another sentence inside it or that a
phrase can be repeated as often as required.
 Complement phrases

• Cathy knew that Mary helped George

• that = complementizer (C) =

• The role of that as a complementizer is to introduce a complement phrase (CP)

• that Mary helped George = CP

• New rule:

CP r C S
“A complement phrase consists of a complementizer and a sentence.”
• From the example, the CP comes after a V

• This means that we are using the CP as part of a VP (knew that Mary helped George).

• Now, we have a new rule, “A verb phrase consists of a verb and a complement

phrase.”
or, VP V CP
 Complement phrases

r
 Exercises

• Try this:
• Ahmed thinks that the teacher knows that Muhammad met Hani.
 Exercises

took the money took the money from the bank

VP VP

V NP PP
V NP

Art N Art N Prep NP

took the money Art N

took the money from the bank

 Exercises

The old tree swayed in the wind .

S

NP VP

Art Adj N V PP

Prep NP

Art N

The old tree swayed in the wind

 Exercises

The children put the toy in the box.

S

NP VP
Art N V NP PP

Art N Prep NP

Art N

The children put the toy in the box

 Exercises

The small boy saw George with a crazy dog recently.

 Exercises

• Try this:
• Sarah went to the hospital.
• He saw John with an amazing car yesterday.
• I met her yesterday.
 Exercises

• Form the phrase structure rules of the following sentences.

• Can John see it?

• Should Mary follow the small boy?

• Draw a tree diagram to represent each of the above sentences.

 Exercises

• Draw a tree diagram to represent the different syntactic

components of the following sentences.

• The guy met the researcher.

• The smart guy met the researcher.
• The smart guy met the famous researcher.

• Now, create a labeled & bracketed analysis of the above sentences.

 Exercises

Draw two phrase structure trees representing the two

meanings of the sentence:

The magician touched the child with the wand.