1. Introduction to
Linguistics IX
Syntax

2. Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously
Introduction to
Linguistics
Syntactic intuitions
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously
Furiously sleep Ideas Green Colorless
’Twas dark, and the leafy branches
Did move and tremble in the wind;
All scared were the children,
And the big dogs barked.

3. to Modeling Infinity Linguistics Introduction
- Humboldt: "infinite use of finite means“
- Chomsky: Production rules make it possible to generate all
grammatical forms of language from smaller units
In his landmark Syntactic Structures (1957),
Chomsky discusses three successively more powerful kinds of mechanisms (and resulting structures) to model the range of expressions that our language faculty allows

4. Finite-state machines
Introduction to
Linguistics
Finite-state machines
The pretty girl ran
The
pretty
girl
ran S1 S2 S3 S4 S5
The (very very very very… ) pretty girl ran S1 S2 S3 S4
The
pretty
girl S5
ran
very

5. Finite-state machines
Introduction to
Linguistics
Finite-state machines
a finite-state model of English-like monosyllables

6. Finite-state machines: limitations
Introduction to
Linguistics
Finite-state machines: limitations S1 S2 a S3 b
Which sentences can L1 produce? L1
Requires its sentences to consist of n occurrences of a followed by n occurrences of b and only these L2 S1 b a
lack of memory

7. Finite-state machines: limitations
Introduction to
Linguistics
Finite-state machines: limitations
Real linguistic examples:
• “either... or...”; “if… then…”
• Verb agreement:
- The children [that Elaine saw] were (not: was) sleeping
• Anti n Missile n+1
finite-state machine can not capture dependency between an element x in a sentence and another element y that is not immediately before x
missile
anti

8. Phrase Structure Grammar
Introduction to
Linguistics
Phrase Structure Grammar
Rewrite rules:
The rewrite rule
Initial symbol
To generate an infinite array of expressions of the sort required in L2, all we have to add is:
Does it also capture the anti-missile missile example?

9. hierarchical / Embedded structures
Introduction to
Linguistics
hierarchical / Embedded structures
Rewrite-rule machines have the effect of creating
hierarchical / embedded structures
משמעות א': הילד תלש את הפוסטר מהעיתון עצמו
הילד תלש את הפוסטר מהעיתון
משמעות ב': הילד תלש את הפוסטר שהופיע במקור בעיתון (מהקיר)
The boy is happy
The boy who is watching TV is happy
Who is watching TV
It is because of this hierarchical/embedding effect that rewrite rules/phrase
structure grammars are now regarded as the foundation of human languages

10. Some basic rewrite rules
Introduction to
Linguistics
Some basic rewrite rules NP
Det N VP V S
The rewrite rules:
The Sentence:
The boy likes the girl N NP V
boy
the
likes
girl
Det VP S
1. Σ: S
2. S  NP VP
3. NP  Det N
4. VP  V NP
5. NP  Det N

11. Some basic rewrite rules
Introduction to
Linguistics
Some basic rewrite rules NP
Det N VP V S
The rewrite rules: N PP V
boy
the
slept in
Det NP VP P S
tent VP V PP PP P NP
The Sentence:
The boy slept in the tent

12. Some basic rewrite rules
Introduction to
Linguistics
Some basic rewrite rules
The rewrite rules: S S NP VP NP
Det
N PP VP NP NP
Det N
Det N PP PP V NP VP NP V P NP P NP N
Det VP V PP
Det N
Det N VP V
NP PP PP P NP
the
boy in
the
car
drove
the
girl to
the
school
The Sentence:
The boy in the car drove the girl to the school

13. Some basic rewrite rules
Introduction to
Linguistics
Some basic rewrite rules S S NP VP
The rewrite rules:
(Det)
N (PP) PP P V
(NP) (PP) VP NP
Det N PP PP V NP P NP P NP N
Det
Det N
Det N
the
boy in
the
car
drove
the
girl to
the
school
The Sentence:
The boy in the car drove the girl to the school

14. to Embedded clauses Linguistics Introduction told Danny John aliceNP VP
The rewrite rules:
(Det)
N (PP) PP P V
(NP) (PP) (CP) CP
comp N CP V
told
Danny
John
alice
that NP VP
comp S
won NP N N V
The Sentence:
Danny told John that Alice won
complementizer clause
(Pat said that I heard that Bill thinks that Mary said that John left…)

15. Crossing dependencies
Introduction to
Linguistics
Crossing dependencies
• Rewrite rule are great at capturing
unbounded discontinuous dependencies
- The children [that Elaine saw] were sleeping
- The children [that Elaine thinks she saw] were sleeping
• However, some additional mechanism is needed to fully capture the notion of
(mental) structure in language
• The type of relation that rewrite rules fail to capture neatly is technically known
as a cross-serial discontinuous dependency

16. Crossing dependencies: example
Introduction to
Linguistics
Crossing dependencies: example
One of the most famous examples of cross-serial dependencies in language
comes from Chomsky’s discussion of the English auxiliary system
John sings, John laughed
John can sing, John must run, John is running, John has sung
Auxiliary verbs
“Main” verbs
modals
have be
John will have left
John may be running
John has been running
John could have been running
John may have been running

17. Crossing dependencies: example
Introduction to
Linguistics
Crossing dependencies: example
One of the most famous examples of cross-serial dependencies in language
comes from Chomsky’s discussion of the English auxiliary system
John sings, John laughed
John can sing, John must run, John is running, John has sung
Auxiliary verbs
“Main” verbs
modals
have be
Generalization A: When a sentence contains a modal auxiliary (call it M), it is
always the first verb-like thing after the subject in a declarative sentence.
(*John has must be running)
Generalization B: In the presence of M, no verbal element (auxiliary or main verb) bears agreement morphology that cross-references the subject
(*John must has been running)
Generalization C: When some form of have and some form of be co-occur, be
immediately follows have.
(*John must be have running)
Generalization D: The main verb is always the last element of the verbal sequence.
(*John must have running be) . .

18. Crossing dependencies: example
Introduction to
Linguistics
Crossing dependencies: example
Verb  Aux V V
hit, take, walk, read etc.
Aux → Inflection (M) (have en) (be ing) M
will, can, may, must.. .
the man Verb the book
the man Aux V the book
the man has been reading the book
the man S have en be ing read the book
cross-serial dependencies
(which PS grammars can
not capture nicely)
the man Aux read the book
the man inflection have en be ing read the book
the man S have en be ing read the book
the man have S be en read ing the book

19. Crossing dependencies: example
Introduction to
Linguistics
Crossing dependencies: example
Verb  Aux V V
hit, take, walk, read etc.
Aux → Inflection (M) (have en) (be ing) M
will, can, may, must.. .
the man Verb the book
the man Aux V the book
cross-serial dependencies
(which PS grammars can
not capture nicely)
the man Aux read the book
the man inflection may have en be ing read the book
the man S may have en be ing read the book
the man may have been reading the book
the man may S have en be ing read the book
the man may have be en read ing the book

20. to Transformations Linguistics Introduction Syntactic structure
Chomsky argues that PS grammars must be supplemented with transformations, a device that moves elements around:
John can swim
Can John swim?
John arrested Peter
Peter was arrested by John
active to passive
declarative to interrogative
common structural core,
different word orders!
Surface structure
Deep structure
transformations
maps to Semantics
Maps to Phonology (speech)
Syntactic structure

21. to Transformations Linguistics Introduction
ב. מה סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
א. סיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ג. דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ד. מה דנה סיפרה שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
ה. דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף בננה
ו. * מה דנה סיפרה את הסיפור שסיגל ביקשה מרוני שתקטוף ____?
ה. השיחה שלך עם יוסי עצבנה את דני
ו. * עם יוסי השיחה שלך ____ עצבנה את דני
א. דני דיבר עם יוסי
ב. עם יוסי דני דיבר _____
ג. ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר עם יוסי
ד. עם יוסי ליאת אמרה שדני דיבר ____