Subconscious Knowledge: Inner structure of sentence Syntax Subconscious Knowledge: Inner structure of sentence
Google result for Syntax Definition: The study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Syntax: What do we really want to explain? Short time: Despite of socio-economical environment or IQ scores, all human children acquire their L1 by age 5-6. Complex: Productivity (we can understand/produce infinite # of sentences) as one of the properties of human language
Basic Ideas of Syntax Productivity Autonomy Word order Lexical category Constituent Phrasal category Phrase structure
Q: How does a language work? Combination of Lexicon and rules a). Lexicon b). Sets of rules and combination e.g.{cat, house, the, is, in} The cat is in the house. The house is in the cat. *The is cat in the house. *House in the cat the. *The cat in the is house. *The cat is the house is. *House the in is cat the.
Two Kinds of Syntax (or rules): which one is more attractive? Descriptive grammar (cf. Hierarchical structure) Prescriptive grammar (cf. Linear structure)
Two Aspects of Grammar (a) a) Productivity: combination of lexicon and set of rules understand/produce infinite # of sentences
Two Aspects of Grammar (b) b) Autonomy = grammar is autonomous. (1). *This car no radio. (2). *Who did a book about impress you? (3). Happy little kittens sleep soundly. (4). Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Hierarchical structure Consider the following sentence: (1). A puppy is happy. (2). A puppy that is taking a nap is happy. [a puppy] [a puppy that is taking a nap] They are both noun like chunk, i.e., NP (noun phrase) and [a turtle that is happy] has a inner structure!
Lexical Category Tom discussed it.
Phrasal Category Tom Hanks who played Harvard professor Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angles and Demons discussed his experience on the set of the WB studio on Friday, April 17th with his wife Rita Wilson.
Lexical and Phrasal categories Lexical category (word itself) Phrasal category (phrase with inner structure) [[Tom Hanks] who played Harvard professor Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s [The Da Vinci Code] and [Angels and Demons]] discussed [[his experience on the set of the WB studio] [on Friday, April 17th] [with his wife Rita Wilson]] Cf. The structure of “Tom discussed it”
Constituent = a chunk/unit Q. How do we identify constituents? Constituency tests a). Movement b). Substitution c). Stand alone Constituency tests scientifically confirm your intuition about your native language
Lexical and Phrasal categories Constituency tests a). Movement [with his wife Rita Wilson], Tom Hanks discussed it. b). Substitution Tom Hanks did with his wife Rita Wilson. c). Stand alone Who’s that guy? [Tom Hanks]!
Subcategorization (selectional property of verbs) ex. assassinate Consider the following sentences: (0). *I assassinated. (1). *I assassinated a puppy. (2). *I assassinated a guy on the corner. (3). *I assassinated my poor husband. (4). I assassinated the Queen. The verb “assassinate” is not only a transitive verb, but it also has restrictions on what the object should be.
Subcategorization (selectional property of verbs) 1. Intransitive verbs ex. I slept. 2. Transitive verbs ex. Sam saw him. 3., Ditransitive verbs ex. I gave Tommy a gift. 4. Verbs with sentence complements ex. John believed (that) the earth was flat.
Phrase Structure Rule (PS rule) Core rules: SNP Aux VP NP(Det)(Adj)N VV(NP) (NP)(Adv)(PP) PPPrep NP