Constituency Lec. 5

Syntax & Constituents Syntactic rules determine the order of words in a sentence, and how the words are grouped. E.g. NP + VP + NP the child found the puppy = (the child) + (found the puppy) (the child) = (the) + (child) (Found the puppy) = (found) + (the puppy) (the puppy) = (the) + (puppy)

Constituents A constituent is an identifiable subpart of a sentence. It can either be a single word or a group of words. Most constituents are called phrases. The natural groupings of a sentence are called constituents Constituents = these internal structures Constituents = the units of substructure

Constituents If one word modifies the meaning of another, they will be linked in a constituent. E.g. The very big can of tuna (very & big)  (very & can ) 

Phrase structure rules S  NP VP

Typical constituents S  sentence NP  noun phrase VP  verbal phrase PP  prepositional NP N  V  Art.  Adj.  Adv.  Prep. 

Constituents Please note: Constituents are usually parts of other constituents e.g. The very big can of tuna Words that modify one another need not be adjacent to each another The beautiful old town houses

Exercise / semantic modification test for constituency A black cat quickly scratched the rather large couch Yes No 1 Does a modify black? 2 Does a modify cat? 3 Does black modify cat? 4 Does the modify rather? 5 Does the modify large? 6 Does the modify couch? 7 Does rather modify couch? 8 Does rather modify large? 9 Does rather large modify couch? 10 Does quickly modify scratched?

Constituents Constituent: A linguistic unit (usually in sentence analysis) which is part of a larger construction. Constituents are usually parts of other constituents

Constituent structure The arrangement of linguistic units (constituents) in a phrase, clause, sentence, etc., in order to show their relationship to one another. A constituent structure can be represented in various ways. A popular way is to use a tree diagram.

Representing constituents In the tree notation, the name of the whole constituent is written on top; ach subconstituent is connected to this label with a line e.g. The penguin swallowed the fish The monkey ate a banana

Constituent structure & tree diagram The penguin swallowed the fish The Penguin swallowed The fish The penguin Swallowed the fish

Rules & Constituents There are some rules that govern what goes into each constituent: There are various linguistic tests that reveal the constituents of a sentence.

Stand-alone Test If a string of words can stand alone in answer to a question, then it is a constituent. Remember that: When a string of words is a constituent, it functions as a unit

Example The child found the puppy in the garden What did the child find? Who found the puppy? Where did the child find the puppy?

Example I found The very big can of tuna in the cupboard this morning What did you find in the cupboard? How big was that can of tuna? Where did you find the can of tuna? When did you find the can of tuna?

Exercise A black cat scratched the rather large couch Yes No 1 a black 2 a black cat 3 the rather 4 rather large 5 the rather large couch 6 quickly scratched 7 quickly scratched the rather large couch

2. Replacement test for constituency If you can replace a string of words with a single word. Without changing the meaning of the rest of the sentence, then that string is a constituent. Remember that: When a string of words is a constituent, it functions as a unit

Examples E.g. The big fat cat with black and white fur demanded attention Calvin demanded attention

Exercise Replace the underlined strings (constituents) with a single word: I took the garbage to the dump. The guy with the feather hat fell on the floor. Susan arrived from Chicago.

3. The displacement or movement test If a string of words can be displaced (i. e. moved) as a unit, then it is a constituent a cleft is a displacement, where a string of words is placed at the beginning of the sentence after the words it is/ it was / it will be but before a word like that, who, where, or whose and the rest of the sentence

Example I saw the cat with the black and white fur The Cleft structure It was the cat with the black and white fur that I saw

Exercise Try clefting the underlined string to see if they are constituents: Calvin brought a really expensive ring. Cleft: I was going to the store Pangur ate his tuna very quickly