Introduction to Linguistics IX Syntax

Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously Introduction to Linguistics Syntactic intuitions Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously Furiously sleep Ideas Green Colorless ’Twas dark, and the leafy branches Did move and tremble in the wind; All scared were the children, And the big dogs barked.

to Modeling Infinity Linguistics Introduction - Humboldt: "infinite use of finite means“ - Chomsky: Production rules make it possible to generate all grammatical forms of language from smaller units In his landmark Syntactic Structures (1957), Chomsky discusses three successively more powerful kinds of mechanisms (and resulting structures) to model the range of expressions that our language faculty allows

Finite-state machines Introduction to Linguistics Finite-state machines The pretty girl ran The pretty girl ran S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 The (very very very very… ) pretty girl ran S1 S2 S3 S4 The pretty girl S5 ran very

Finite-state machines Introduction to Linguistics Finite-state machines a finite-state model of English-like monosyllables

Finite-state machines: limitations Introduction to Linguistics Finite-state machines: limitations S1 S2 a S3 b Which sentences can L1 produce? L1 Requires its sentences to consist of n occurrences of a followed by n occurrences of b and only these L2 S1 b a lack of memory

Finite-state machines: limitations Introduction to Linguistics Finite-state machines: limitations Real linguistic examples: • “either... or...”; “if… then…” • Verb agreement: - The children [that Elaine saw] were (not: was) sleeping • Anti n Missile n+1 finite-state machine can not capture dependency between an element x in a sentence and another element y that is not immediately before x missile anti

Phrase Structure Grammar Introduction to Linguistics Phrase Structure Grammar Rewrite rules: The rewrite rule Initial symbol To generate an infinite array of expressions of the sort required in L2, all we have to add is: Does it also capture the anti-missile missile example?

hierarchical / Embedded structures Introduction to Linguistics hierarchical / Embedded structures Rewrite-rule machines have the effect of creating hierarchical / embedded structures משמעות א': הילד תלש את הפוסטר מהעיתון עצמו הילד תלש את הפוסטר מהעיתון משמעות ב': הילד תלש את הפוסטר שהופיע במקור בעיתון (מהקיר) The boy is happy The boy who is watching TV is happy Who is watching TV It is because of this hierarchical/embedding effect that rewrite rules/phrase structure grammars are now regarded as the foundation of human languages

Some basic rewrite rules Introduction to Linguistics Some basic rewrite rules NP Det N VP V S The rewrite rules: The Sentence: The boy likes the girl N NP V boy the likes girl Det VP S 1. Σ: S 2. S  NP VP 3. NP  Det N 4. VP  V NP 5. NP  Det N

Some basic rewrite rules Introduction to Linguistics Some basic rewrite rules NP Det N VP V S The rewrite rules: N PP V boy the slept in Det NP VP P S tent VP V PP PP P NP The Sentence: The boy slept in the tent

Some basic rewrite rules Introduction to Linguistics Some basic rewrite rules The rewrite rules: S S NP VP NP Det N PP VP NP NP Det N Det N PP PP V NP VP NP V P NP P NP N Det VP V PP Det N Det N VP V NP PP PP P NP the boy in the car drove the girl to the school The Sentence: The boy in the car drove the girl to the school

Some basic rewrite rules Introduction to Linguistics Some basic rewrite rules S S NP VP The rewrite rules: (Det) N (PP) PP P V (NP) (PP) VP NP Det N PP PP V NP P NP P NP N Det Det N Det N the boy in the car drove the girl to the school The Sentence: The boy in the car drove the girl to the school

to Embedded clauses Linguistics Introduction told Danny John alice NP VP The rewrite rules: (Det) N (PP) PP P V (NP) (PP) (CP) CP comp N CP V told Danny John alice that NP VP comp S won NP N N V The Sentence: Danny told John that Alice won complementizer clause (Pat said that I heard that Bill thinks that Mary said that John left…)

Crossing dependencies Introduction to Linguistics Crossing dependencies • Rewrite rule are great at capturing unbounded discontinuous dependencies - The children [that Elaine saw] were sleeping - The children [that Elaine thinks she saw] were sleeping • However, some additional mechanism is needed to fully capture the notion of (mental) structure in language • The type of relation that rewrite rules fail to capture neatly is technically known as a cross-serial discontinuous dependency

Crossing dependencies: example Introduction to Linguistics Crossing dependencies: example One of the most famous examples of cross-serial dependencies in language comes from Chomsky’s discussion of the English auxiliary system John sings, John laughed John can sing, John must run, John is running, John has sung Auxiliary verbs “Main” verbs modals have be John will have left John may be running John has been running John could have been running John may have been running

Crossing dependencies: example Introduction to Linguistics Crossing dependencies: example One of the most famous examples of cross-serial dependencies in language comes from Chomsky’s discussion of the English auxiliary system John sings, John laughed John can sing, John must run, John is running, John has sung Auxiliary verbs “Main” verbs modals have be Generalization A: When a sentence contains a modal auxiliary (call it M), it is always the first verb-like thing after the subject in a declarative sentence. (*John has must be running) Generalization B: In the presence of M, no verbal element (auxiliary or main verb) bears agreement morphology that cross-references the subject (*John must has been running) Generalization C: When some form of have and some form of be co-occur, be immediately follows have. (*John must be have running) Generalization D: The main verb is always the last element of the verbal sequence. (*John must have running be) . .

Crossing dependencies: example Introduction to Linguistics Crossing dependencies: example Verb  Aux V V hit, take, walk, read etc. Aux → Inflection (M) (have en) (be ing) M will, can, may, must.. . the man Verb the book the man Aux V the book the man has been reading the book the man S have en be ing read the book cross-serial dependencies (which PS grammars can not capture nicely) the man Aux read the book the man inflection have en be ing read the book the man S have en be ing read the book the man have S be en read ing the book

Crossing dependencies: example Introduction to Linguistics Crossing dependencies: example Verb  Aux V V hit, take, walk, read etc. Aux → Inflection (M) (have en) (be ing) M will, can, may, must.. . the man Verb the book the man Aux V the book cross-serial dependencies (which PS grammars can not capture nicely) the man Aux read the book the man inflection may have en be ing read the book the man S may have en be ing read the book the man may have been reading the book the man may S have en be ing read the book the man may have be en read ing the book

to Transformations Linguistics Introduction Syntactic structure Chomsky argues that PS grammars must be supplemented with transformations, a device that moves elements around: John can swim Can John swim? John arrested Peter Peter was arrested by John active to passive declarative to interrogative common structural core, different word orders! Surface structure Deep structure transformations maps to Semantics Maps to Phonology (speech) Syntactic structure

to Transformations Linguistics Introduction ב. מה סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____? א. סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה ג. דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה ד. מה דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____? ה. דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה ו. * מה דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____? ה. השיחה שלך עם יוסי עצבנה את דני ו. * עם יוסי השיחה שלך ____ עצבנה את דני א. דני דיבר עם יוסי ב. עם יוסי דני דיבר _____ ג. ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר עם יוסי ד. עם יוסי ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר ____