Sub-constituents of NP in English September 12, 2007

This boy must seem incredibly stupid to that girl. Det N M V Adv Adj P Det N NP AP PP NP VP S

Phrase Structure Rules S  NP M VP The mother node S has daughters NP, M, and VP in that order. S NP M VP

Phrase Structure Rules What other rules are needed to describe the tree of This boy must seem incredibly stupid to that girl?

The Lexicon This: Det That: Det Boy: N Girl: N Must: M Seem: V Incredibly: Adv Stupid: Adj To: P

Generative Capacity What other sentences can be described with the same rules and lexicon? What rules and lexical entries would we have to change or add to cover these sentences: –Sam seems stupid to Sue. –Sam likes Sue.

Sub-Structure of Noun Phrases Goals of the exercise: –Letting tests lead you to something you didn’t know existed. –Learning a linguistic universal (something that all languages have in common)

Sub-structure of NP This student of linguistics This student with long hair This student of linguistics with long hair Which sub-strings pass the coordination test?

A pro-form test I saw this student of linguistics and you saw that one. One substitutes for student of linguistics, not the whole NP, this student of linguistics. Which other substrings can one substitute for? –This student of linguistics –This student with long hair –This student of linguistics with long hair

Other differences between student of linguistics and student with long hair Ordering: –A student of linguistics with long hair –*A student with long hair of linguistics Repeatability: –A student with long hair with short arms –*A student of linguistics of computer science –A student of high moral principles (ambiguous) –A student of linguistics of high moral principles (not ambiguous) –?A student of high moral principles of linguistics.

Other differences between student of linguistics and student with long hair Occurrence with other nouns: –A boy with long hair –A girl with long hair –?A boy of linguistics –?A girl of linguistics

Other differences between student of linguistics and student with long hair Extraposition –A man who was wearing a hat came to see me. –A man came to see me who was wearing a hat. –A student with long hair came to see me. –A student came to see me with long hair. –A student of linguistics came to see me. –*A student came to see me of linguistics

Other differences between student of linguistics and student with long hair Can’t conjoin of linguistics and with long hair –A student of linguistics and of chemistry –A student with long hair and with short arms –*A student with long hair and of linguistics –*A student of linguistics and with long hair. –The coach turned into the driveway. –The coach turned into a pumpkin. –*The coach turned into the driveway and into a pumpkin. –Sam opened the door. –The key opened the door. –*Sam and the key opened the door.

Write Phrase Structure Rules for NP There can be at most one determiner. There can be exactly one noun (not counting the ones in the PPs). There can be at most one “of linguistics” type PP. There can be zero or more “with long hair” type PPs. The “of linguistics” PP has to be before the “with long hair” type PPs. Student of linguistics is a constituent. Student with long hair is a constituent. Student of linguistics with long hair is a constituent.

Adjectives The smart student of linguistics with long hair. Constituency Repeatability Order

This student of linguistics with long hair This smart student of linguistics So completely in the wrong So very fond of Mary So fond of Mary in some ways YP X’ X’’ YP X n XnXn Specifier Adjunct X YP XnXn Adjunct X’ YP X’’ Specifier X n YP XnXn YP X X’ Argument