23672165 Introduction to Syntax

7/29/2019 23672165 Introduction to Syntax

1/40

Introduction to Syntax


2/40


3/40

Syntax

Syntax is the study of the part of the human

linguistic system that determines how

sentences are put together out of words.

Syntactic rules in a grammar account for

the grammaticality of sentences, and the

ordering of words and morphemes.


4/40

Syntax

Syntax involves

our knowledge of structural ambiguity

our knowledge that sentences may be

paraphrases of each other

our knowledge of the grammatical function

of each part of a sentence, that is, of the

grammatical relations.


5/40

Syntax

It is also concerned with speakers' ability to

produce and understand an infinite set of possible

sentences.The sentence is regarded the highest-ranking unit

of grammar, and therefore that the purpose of a

grammatical description is to define, making use

of whatever descriptive apparatus that may benecessary (rules, categories, etc).


6/40

Sentence

Clause

Phrase/Group

Word

Morpheme

Grammatical Units and Scale


7/40

Sentence Structure

One aspect of the syntactic structure of

sentences is the division of a sentence into

phrases, and those phrases into furtherphrases, and so forth. Another aspect of the

syntactic structure of a sentence is

"movement" relations that hold between onesyntactic position in a sentence and another.


8/40

Constituents

A unit forming part of a largerstructureChalker and Weiner 1998

Although the term string is often used technically to referto sequences of words, sentences are not merely strings ofwords in a permissible order and making sense.

They are structured into successive components, consistingof single words or groups of words. These groups and

single words are called constituents (i.e. structural units),and when they are considered as part of the successiveunraveling of a sentence, they are known as its immediateconstituents.


9/40

Constituents

When we consider sentenceMy friend came home late lastnight, we find out that it consists of seven word arranged ina particular order.

In syntax, the seven words in this model sentence are itsultimate constituents. This sentence and in general anysentence of the language may be represented as a particulararrangement of the ultimate constituents, which are theminimal grammatical elements, of which the sentence iscomposed.

Every sentence has therefore what we will refer to as alinear structure. The small units are known as itsimmediate constituents.


10/40

Immediate Constituent AnalysisOne of the parts which a linguist unit is immediatelydivisible, by a process of immediate constituentanalysis. IC Chalker and Weiner

Formal accounts of syntax are based on establishingthe basic constituents, namely, categories, from whichword strings are formed. Sentences are regarded ashierarchies of interlocking smaller units, orconstituents. After a sentence is cut into its constituent

elements, the two parts that are yielded are calledimmediate constituents. Then, we get the smallestgrammatical unit obtained through the division, orsegmentation, which is seen as the ultimate constituent.


11/40

The segmentation of the sentence up into its

immediate constituents by using binary cuttings

until its ultimate constituents are obtained is animportant approach to the realization of the nature

of language, called Immediate Constituent

Analysis (IC Analysis). The analysis can be

carried out in ways of tree diagrams, bracketing orany other. For example:

(1) Poor| John ran |out.


12/40

Immediate Constituent Analysis


13/40

construction

A construction is a relationship between constituents.Constructions are divided into two types: endocentricconstructions and exocentric constructions.

Endocentric construction is one whose distribution isfunctionally equivalent to that of one or more of itsconstituents. A word or a group of words acts as adefinable center or head.

Exocentricconstruction refers to a group ofsyntacticallyrelated words where none of the words is functionallyequivalent to the group as a whole. There is no definablecenter or head inside the group.


14/40

Endocentric Construction

Some types of phrase contain a HEAD word

and have the same formal function in their

clause as the single head would: Too dreadful

Rather moresurprisingly

She who must be obeyed


15/40

Containing no element that is functionallyequivalent to the whole structure (non-headed orunheaded)

Some phrases are always exocentric The boy stood on the burning deck.

Who was the man in the iron mask?

A basic English sentence (consisting of subject andpredicate) is always exocentric, since neither partcan stand for the whole:

The boy / stood on the burning deck.

Exocentric Construction


16/40

Syntactic Rules

Three universal basic syntactic rules:

Linear order of constituents

Categorization of constituents

Grouping of constituents into constituentstructures


17/40

Sentence Types

Sentences in any language are constructed from a rathersmall set of basic structural patterns and through certain

processes involving the expansion or transformation ofthese basic patterns.

When we consider sentence types from anotherperspective, it can be shown that each of the longersentences of a language (and these are in the majorityusually) is structured in the same way as one of arelatively small number of short sentences which are

impossible to reduce to a short form.These short sentences have the basic sentence types. Thereare different ways of dealing with sentence types.


18/40

Sentence Types

The structure of every sentence is a

lesson in logic.

John Stuart Mill

Simple Sentence

Coordinate Sentence

Complex Sentence


19/40

Simple SentenceA simple sentence contains only oneclause with a single verb group.

Dora yelled.

Christ resembled his father.

Jack and Jill love each other.

A runner from Ethiopia won the New

York marathon this year. The students should have been working

on the term paper.


20/40

Coordinate Sentence

(Compound Sentence)A coordinate sentence has two clauses

conjoined into one by a coordinating

conjunction. (and, but, or). They holdequal status.

Christ resembled his father, but his

brother resembled his mother. Mark loves Dora, and she feels it.


21/40

Complex SentenceA complex sentence is composed of twoclauses with one holding main status(matrix clause) and the other

incorporated or embedded into it(embedded clause), which is oftenintroduced by a subordinator (who, that,though, when, because, as, since,

although) Mark denied that Dora yelled.

The murderer escaped when the police

arrived at the scene.


22/40

Syntactic Function

The traditional approach to syntactic function

identifies constituents of the sentence, states the

part of speech each word belongs to, describes theinflexion involved, and explains the relationship

each word related to the others.

According to its relation to other constituents, aconstituent may serve certain syntactic function in

a clause.


23/40


24/40

Constituency and Hierarchy

A constituency refers to the whole body of

a sentence which is made up of lexicalitems (constituents) that are

hierarchically ordered with respect to

each other


25/40

Constituency and Hierarchy

diagramA

B C

D E

This diagram formally reads as

1. B and C are constituents of A

2. D and E are constituents of C.

3. D and E are not constituents of B as they are not linked to B.


26/40

Tree DiagramsWho climbs the Grammar-Tree distinctly knows

Where Noun and Verb and Participle grows.

John Dryden

In describing the constituent of a structure,

a tree diagram is employed as a tool to

link members of a structure.


27/40

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree Joyce Kilmer


28/40

Phrase Structure RuleA rule which states that a phrase of a

specific category. E.g. a rule = NP+VP,

S must consist of a NP followed by VP

Phrase Marker: a string of elements

Phrase structure tree: a tree diagram

which shows the division of a form into

successively smaller constituents andlabels each as belonging to one or more

categories

Also labelled bracketing boys play well


29/40

Tree Diagrams and Phrase-

MarkersPhrase-markers can be related to each other bydominanceand precedence.

Dominance1. VP node dominates all the other nodes.

2. VP node immediately dominates the nodes labeled

V and PP.


30/40

Tree Diagrams and Phrase-

Markers

Precedence

1. V node precedes the nodes labeled PP, P, NP,det, and N as well as in, the and house.

2. V node immediately precedes the PP, P and

in.


31/40

Grammatical Categories:

Number and GenderNumber is a grammatical category for the analysisof such contrasts as singular and plural of certainword classes. In English, number is a feature of

nouns and verbs.

Gender demonstrates such contrasts as "masculine,feminine, and neuter", and "animate: inanimate",etc. for the analysis of certain word classes. Inmost languages, grammatical gender has little todo with the biological sex. For instance, in French,the moon, which has nothing to do with the

biological sex, is grammatically feminine.


32/40

Case

Inflectional category, basically of nouns, which

typically marks their role in relation to other parts

of the sentence.The case category is often used in the analysis of

word classes to identify the syntactic relationship

between words in a sentence.


33/40

Tense and Aspect

Inflectional category whose basic role is to indicatethe time of an event etc. in relation to the moment of

speakingDivided notionally: present, past, future

Inflectional distinction: past , present loved, love

Verbal categories that distinguish the status of events,

etc. in relation to specific period of time, as opposedto their simple location in the present, past, or futureIam reading your paperI have read your pap


34/40

Chomskyan Syntax

Syntax is seen to be a fundamental principle forencoding and decoding meaning and is the part ofgrammar shared by speakers and listeners in

communication. In 1957, the American linguistChomsky proposed the transformational-generative grammar(TG), thus providing a modelfor the description of human languages. The goal

of TG is to find out a system of rules to accountfor the linguistic competence of native speakers ofa language to form grammatical sentences.


35/40

Chomskyan Syntax

It is called "transformational-generative"grammar because it attempts to do two

things:to provide the rules that can be used togenerate grammatical sentences

how basic sentences can be transformedinto either synonymous phrases or morecomplex sentences.


36/40

Deep Structure and Surface

StructureAbstract syntactic representation posited

to explain the way in which actual

sentences are interpreted Visiting aunts can be boring

John is eager to please

John is easy to please Flying planes can be dangerous


37/40

Surface structure is the actually producedstructure.

directly observable actual form ofsentences as they are used incommunication


38/40

The relationship between deep structure and

surface structure is that of transformation.

Since the relationship is usually acomplicated one, we can best use

transformational rules in the total process of

relating deep structure to surface structures.


39/40


40/40

Thanks for your patience

Documents

23672165 Introduction to Syntax