Syntax The analysis of sentence structure Dr. Alok K Das http://www.freewebs.com/alokdas/

Syntax in Linguistic Tree Linguistics Sounds of language Grammar Meaning Phonetics Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Why syntax? It’s part of Linguistics It’s part of the grammar of every language And the grammar of a language is part of a native speaker’s linguistic knowledge Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Reasons for studying syntax Infinity of expressions There is an infinite number of possible utterances in every language It is obvious that all these utterances cannot be stored in our brains Our knowledge of a language consists of A finite number of words (the lexicon; the “dictionary in your head”), and Rules (the grammar of the language) It is the job of the syntactician (and the morphologist) to find out what these rules are Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Language acquisition Everyone who can speak knows how to use the rules and it is amazing that children can do it so fast But nobody can really state exactly what the rules are! Understanding syntax (and morphology) can help researchers to understand how young children learn their native language Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Universal grammar Theory of Chomsky UG has Principles, true of all languages All languages have the same underlying structure e.g. all languages have nouns and verbs and Parameters, whose setting varies from language to language English and Chinese SVO; Japanese SOV Spanish and Chinese pro-drop; English not pro-drop Syntax Dr Alok K Das

All languages have constituents Take a simple sentence Johnny danced We can call the sentence S, and label the syntactic categories N and V S N Johnny V danced Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Phrase structure grammar N and V aren’t always very good labels Johnny is similar to the handsome student, because they are both the same kind of constituent They are both Noun Phrases We can remove Johnny and add the handsome student, and the sentence structure is still similar S NP The handsome student VP danced Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Different sentence, same constituents Now let’s add an object danced the lambada is the same kind of constituent as danced a VP You can swap danced for danced the lambada and the basic structure is the same NP The handsome student VP danced the lambada Syntax Dr Alok K Das

What are the NP and VP? The frog ate the lizard. The frog sat on the lilypad. The fat frog ate the long lizard slowly. The fat frog with a lizard in its mouth sat on the lilypad. The fat frog who was sitting on the lilypad with a lizard in its mouth danced the lambada. Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Phrase structure rules Now, you know this phrase structure rule: S  NP VP (a Sentence comprises a Noun Phrase followed by a Verb Phrase) Draw a tree for the phrase Emma drinks Here are two more phrase structure rules: VP  V NP NP  N Think about that carefully Now, draw a tree with more detail For the sentence Emma drinks whisky Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Now let’s change the NP rule First, DET means determiner Function words like the, a, this, several NP  (DET) N That means a noun phrase can have a determiner, and it must have a noun Now you can diagram Johnny danced the lambada in a bit more detail than I did on the other slide Remember: S  NP VP VP  V NP) Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Now let’s change the NP rule again Such that we have S  NP VP VP  V NP NP  (DET) (ADJ) N Now you can diagram this sentence The unhappy book ate the green lambada The sentence is syntactically well-formed, by the way Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Grammatical or Ungrammatical: 1. The boy found the ball 2. The boy found quickly 3. The boy found in the house 4. The boy found the ball in the house 5. Disa slept the baby 6. Disa slept soundly Find: Transitive verb (with object) Sleep: Intransitive verb (no object) Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Syntactic Categories Lexical categories Examples Noun (N) Verb (V) Adjective (A) Preposition (P) Adverb (Adv) Examples moisture, policy melt, remain good, intelligent to, near slowly, now Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Syntactic Categories Non-lexical categories Examples Determiner (Det) Degree word (Deg) Qualifier (Qual) Auxiliary (Aux) Conjunction (Con) Examples the, this very, more always, perhaps will, can and, or Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences. a. The glass suddenly broke. b. A jogger ran towards the end of the lane. c. The peaches never appear quite ripe. d. Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra. Det / N / Adv / V Det / N / V / P / Det / N / P / Det / N Det / N / Qual / V / Deg / A N / Aux / V / Det / N / Conj / Det / N / P / Det / N Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Phrases NP : Noun Phrase The car, a clever student VP : Verb Phrase study hard, play the guitar PP : Prepositional Phrase in the class, above the earth AP : Adjective Phrase very tall, quite certain Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Phrase Structure Rules NP  (Det) N (PP) PP  P NP The bus in the yard NP The bus (NP) Det N Det N PP The bus P NP Det N The bus in the yard Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Phrase Structure Rules VP  V (NP) (PP) S  NP (Aux) VP took the money from the bank VP took the money (VP) V NP V NP PP Det N Det N P NP took the money Det N took the money from the bank Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Draw the tree diagram. 1. repaired the telephone 2. the success of the program 3. a film about pollution 4. move towards the window 5. cast a spell on the broomstick Syntax Dr Alok K Das

The main structure rules 1. S  NP (Aux) VP 2. NP  (Det) (AP) N (PP) 3. VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv) 4. PP  P NP 5. AP  A (PP) Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Example The old tree swayed in the wind S Aux NP VP Det Adj N V PP P past swayed in the wind Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Example The children put the toy in the box S NP VP Det N V NP PP Det Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Ambiguity: a word, phrase or sentence with multiple meanings Synthetic buffalo hides (NP) Synthetic buffalo hides (NP) Synthetic buffalo hides Synthetic buffalo hides Buffalo hides that are synthetic. Hides of synthetic buffalo. Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Ambiguities often lead to humorous results For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.  what does “thick legs and large drawers” refer to? The desk or the lady? Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Structural Ambiguity The boy saw the man with the telescope NP Aux VP Det N V NP PP Det N P NP Det N The boy past saw the man with the telescope Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Structural Ambiguity The boy saw the man with the telescope NP Aux VP Det NP N V Det N PP P NP Det N The boy past saw the man with the telescope Syntax Dr Alok K Das

The magician touched the child with the wand. Draw two phrase structure trees representing the two meanings of the sentence: The magician touched the child with the wand. Be sure you indicate which meaning goes with which tree. Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Declarative – Interrogative Move the auxiliary to the left of the subject. The boy will leave. S Will the boy leave? S NP Aux VP Aux NP VP Det N V Det N V The boy will leave Will the boy leave The deep structure The surface structure Syntax Dr Alok K Das

The Wh Movement S NP Aux VP Det NP N V Det N The man should repair Surface structure: Which car should the man repair? Deep structure: S NP Aux VP Det NP N V Det N The man should repair which car Syntax Dr Alok K Das

Draw the deep structure of the following sentences Will the boss hire Hillary? Is that player leaving the team? Who should the director call? What is Joanne eating? Syntax Dr Alok K Das