1. Syntax Word order, constituency
LING 200
Spring 2006

2. Overview of unit Characterizing syntactic competence Word order
Representing the structure of sentences
Tests for constituent structure
(time permitting) Transformations
Cross-linguistic variation
(time permitting) Syntactically relevant morphology in Sahaptin
Japanese syntax (guest lecture)

3. Syntactic competence What native speakers know about:
Possible vs. impossible sentences
Restricted distributions of words/ morphemes
Relations between sentences
What sentences mean

4. How to characterize infinity?
Sentences are potentially infinitely long.
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt
that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat
that ate the malt
...

5. This is the priest all shaven and shorn
that married the man all tattered and torn
that kissed the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house that Jack built.
...

6. How to characterize (potential) infinity?
Phrase structure rules
General form of phrase structure rules
L  M N
(“L consists of/is M N”)
M  P Q
Q  R L
Properties of phrase structure rules
specify word order
are recursive (output of one rule can be rewritten via another rule)

7. Some phrase structure rules
English
PP  P NP
it cooked [on the grill]
Abbreviations
P = Preposition (or postposition)
English: on, from, to, under, …
PP = Prepositional phrase
NP = Noun phrase

8. Equivalent representational devices
phrase structure rule: PP  P NP
labeled bracketing: PP[P NP]
tree structure: PP
P NP

9. Some terminology constituent
syntactic unit consisting of one or more words
= node (in tree)
root node
branching nodes
terminal nodes PP
P NP
with Det N
the money

10. More phrase structure rules
S  NP VP
S = sentence
NP = noun phrase
VP = verb phrase
similar to list in File 6.5, p. 182

11. More phrase structure rules
NP  (Det) (Adj+) N (PP)
Det = determiner
Adj = adjective
N = noun
() = optional
+ = one or more

12. Determiners vs. adjectives
More PS rules
Det  a/an, some, the, that, your (etc.)
Adj  big, old, green (etc.)
One determiner per NP
your truck, the truck
*your the truck, *the your truck
More than one Adj possible
big trucks, big green trucks, big old green trucks
Det precedes Adj
your big truck

13. More phrase structure rules
VP  V (NP) (PP)
VP = verb phrase
V = verb
transitive (requires an object)
find: *I found; I found my keys
intransitive (cannot occur with an object)
arrive: I arrived; *I arrived my office
optionally transitive (object possible or not)
eat: I ate; I ate a bagel

14. Some simple tree structures
S  NP VP
NP  (Det) (Adj+) N (PP)
VP  V (NP) (PP) S
NP VP
N V
cats sleep

15. Some simple tree structures
NP  (Det) (Adj+) N (PP)
PP  P NP NP
N PP
fog P NP
in Det N
the morning

16. NP
Det N PP
the piano P NP
on Det N PP
the stage P NP
in Det N PP
the music building P NP
on N
campus

17. More simple tree structures
VP  V (NP) (PP) VP
V NP PP
put Det N P NP
the car in Det N
the garage

18. Summary Syntactic competence Infinity of syntax
Representing the structure of sentences
phrase structure rules, a recursive system
tree diagrams
labeled bracketing
Some PS rules of English