1. Linguistics 1 Syntax
Week 2
Lectures 3 & 4

2. Topics for Syntax The concept of Universal Grammar (UG)
Non-viable models for UG
Hierarchical grouping of words into phrases
Grammatical categories
Phrase Structure Grammar
Recursion
Meaningfulness vs. Grammaticality
Word order typology: using S, O, V to categorize
“Head of a Phrase” and HEAD INITIAL vs. HEAD FINAL
Free word order languages and function marking

3. I ate and-peas and-carrots and-broccoli.
Expressing lists: ‘I ate peas, carrots, and broccoli’. Which of the following would probably be excluded from ALL languages by a principle of UG as a way to express a list like this?
I ate and-peas and-carrots and-broccoli.
I ate and and and peas carrots broccoli.
I ate peas-and carrots-and broccoli-and.
I ate peas carrots broccoli.
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4. Which of the following could NOT be generated by this word-chain grammar?
The herds are stampeding.
The herds is stampeding.
The herd of cows is stampeding.
The herd of cows are stampeding.
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5. Hierarchical structure (1): Which of the trees represents the complaint of the woman?
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6. Hierarchical structure (2): Which tree repre-sents the understanding of the executive?
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7. Grammatical categories (1): What grammatical category did Joe have in mind?
Joe was in court fighting a ticket for parking in a restricted area. The judge asked him if he had anything to say in his defense. “They should not put up such misleading notices,” said Joe.
Noun
Verb
Adjective
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8. Grammatical categories (2): What grammatical category did the server have in mind?
Customer: I would like to have two lambchops, and make them lean, please.
Server: To which side, sir?
Noun
Verb
Adjective
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9. Phrase Structure grammar: Which sentences would this grammar NOT generate? State why.
My dog snored loudly.
My dog fiercely growled at my cat.
My cute dog eats pretzels.
My dog in the car in the garage started the engine accidentally.
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10. Recursion: Which rule would handle the recursion in this cartoon?
S  NP VP (S)
VP  V if S
VP  V (if S)
VP  V (if S) (if S) (if S)
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11. Trees for 3 and 4 3 4
There is no recursion. The VP rule just keeps adding “if” clauses linearly (though one could stay “inside” the first (if S) to generate a structure like 3).
We can return recursively to the S rule, which gives us another VP.
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12. Categorize the language in each video clip or picture as A, B, C, or D.
Meaningful and grammatical
Meaningless but grammatical
Meaningful but ungrammatical
Meaningless and ungrammatical
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13. What is your your "home" language, basically, the language you grew up speaking with your parents?
English
Spanish
Korean
Mandarin Chinese
Cantonese
Vietnamese
Japanese
Farsi/Persian
Arabic
Other
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14. What is the word order type of your “home” language?
SOV
SVO
VSO
VOS
Free word order
I have no idea
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15. What is are we referring to by saying that a word is the “head of a phrase”?
The first word in a sentence
The first word in a phrase
The last word in a phrase
The type of word that a phrase is named for
The most important word in a phrase
I don’t know
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16. Consistency and inconsistency in head placement: Select an answer that is true for your home language (some languages might have more than one). My home language is …
a 100% consistent head final language.
a 100% consistent head initial language.
SVO or VSO but puts numbers before nouns.
SOV but puts adjectives after nouns.
SVO or VSO but puts adjectives before nouns.
SOV but has prepositions.
SVO or VSO but has postpositions.
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17. Cantonese Word Order Cantonese and other Chinese languages are problematic for our general word order correlations. Here are some sentences in Cantonese with questions on the next slide.
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18. What is the word order type of Cantonese?
Head initial
Head final
Inconsistent head initial
Inconsistent head final
Free word order
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