1. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian1 Ch. 2: Phrase Structure Syntactic Structure (basic concepts) Syntactic Structure (basic concepts)  A tree diagram marks constituents hierarchically S NP AUX VP NP AUX VP Ali will V NP Ali will V NP help D N help D N the man the man  A node is any point in the tree diagram and it can be:  Branching node like S and lower NP.  Non-branching node like AUX and V.  Terminal nodes: lexical items at end of tree like help  Nodes are related to each other by two relations:

2. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian2 1. Dominance:  A node X dominates node Y if: X is higher than Y and X is connected to Y by a branch. For example, NP dominates Ali, VP dominates D and NP.  Immediate dominance: A node immediately dominates another if there’s no intervening node. e.g. S immediately dominates NP, AUX, VP but not help. 2. Precedence:  A node X precedes Y if it is on the left and both aren’t dominating each other. e.g. Ali precedes will, but the doesn’t precede man.

3. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian3 Phrase Structure Rules Phrase Structure Rules These rules derive different types of phrases and unlimited number of sentences: NP (D) (AdjP) N This rule cannot predict the structure of the phrase and we need to memorize infinite number of rules. The Structure of Phrases The Structure of Phrases 1. VP: It consists of - lexical category: head V - Phrasal category or maximal projection: VP as a whole -Intermediate category: V’ (part of VP)

4. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian4 V’ V’  V’ is a level that contains the object and verb’s modifiers:  The head verb (and its object if there is one) is in the lowest V’ level  The verb’s modifiers are placed in higher V’ levels, called adjunct  Subject combines with highest V’ level, i.e. specifier of VP For example: they eat lunch in school tonight VP spec V’ spec V’ they V’ NP they V’ NP V’ PP tonight V’ PP tonight V NP in school V NP in school eat lunch eat lunch

5. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian5 Evidence for V’ Evidence for V’  V’ is a constituent structure that can be replaced by do so: - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali does so. (eat lunch in school tonight) - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali did so this morning. (eat lunch in school) - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali does so at work this morning. (eat lunch)  adjuncts are recursive, i.e. repeatedly added. 2. NP  N’ is a level that contains the object and noun’s modifiers:  The head noun (and its object if there is one) is in the lowest N’ level  The noun’s modifiers are placed in higher N’ levels, called adjunct  The determiner combines with the highest N’, i.e. specifier of VP For example, the big book of poems with the blue cover

6. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian6 NP NP Det N’ 1 Det N’ 1 the N’2 the N’2 AP N’3 PP AP N’3 PP big N PP with blue cover big N PP with blue cover book of poems book of poems Evidence for N’ Evidence for N’  N’ is a constituent structure that can be replaced by one: - I want this [big book of poems with the blue cover] not that one (N’1) - I want this big [book of poems with the blue cover] not that small one (N’2) - I want this big [book of poems] with the blue cover not that small one with the red cover (N’3) 3. AdjP & PP We apply the same structure to these phrases:

7. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian7 He is [quite jealous of Ali]. He stood [right across the bridge]  The lowest P’ and adj’ includes these heads (and their complements).  The spec combines with P’ and adj’ and is placed by modifiers (like quite, very, rather, so …for the adj and straight, right for the prep). General structure (x-bar) General structure (x-bar)  We can have these general rules that exactly predict the structure of different types of phrases: XP spec X’ (specifier) X’ X YP (head and complement) X’ X’ YP (adjunct= modifier)

8. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian8 Sentence structure Sentence structure  Aux is the head of the sentence because it carries tense and agreement: They are working hard. But what about non-auxiliary verbs: They worked hard Aux is the head even though it isn’t overt.  Evidence for aux as head of sentence: 1. Cleft sentence: work hard, they did indeed. The tense is on aux and not part of VP.

9. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian9 2. Pseudo-cleft: what they did was work hard. Tense is part of a node, Infl(ection), which can be filled with overt aux or left empty. s NP I VP NP I VP +tense +tense +agr +agr  I is finite because it has (+t, +agr).  Infinitive clause: I ask [Ali to work hard] To is the head of the infin clause and it’s -t, -agr, non-finite I

10. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian10  The structure of IP IP NPI’ NPI’ I VP I VP will V’ will V’ -ed V NP -ed V NP to finish the work to finish the work IP spec I’ I’ I VP VP is always a complement of I.

11. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian11  IP is a functional category, not a lexical category, because it is used for grammatical function: t, agr Complementizer phrase (CP) Complementizer phrase (CP)  CP is another functional category since its head, c, introduces a subordinate clause:  C= that, for [-wh] if, whether [+wh] if, whether [+wh] I believe [that Ali will work hard]. I want [for Ali to work hard]. I wonder [if/whether Ali worked hard].

12. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian12  The above CP clauses have the following structure: CP spec C’ spec C’ C IP C IP Ali will worked hard Ali will worked hard - IP is always the complement of C. - C is filled by that, for and moved will, forming yes/no question: CP CP spec C’ spec C’ C IP C IP will NP I’ will NP I’ [+wh] Ali I VP [+wh] Ali I VP work hard work hard

13. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Dobaian13 - C can be filled by either will or that, not both - Spec is filled by whether, if and wh-questions: CP CP spec C’ spec C’ when C IP when C IP will NP I’ will NP I’ Ali I VP Ali I VP work hard work hard  Structure of CP: CP Spec C’ C’ C IP