Why Syntax? 1) Syntax and ELL:Taro a dog found. Chan, Alice Y.W. (2004). Syntactic Transfer: Evidence from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL Learners

Why Syntax?Why Syntax?

1) Syntax and ELL: Taro a dog found.

Chan, Alice Y.W. (2004). Syntactic Transfer: Evidence from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL Learners. The Modern Language Journal, 88, 56-74.

2) Syntax to expand meaning

Language and Syntax

• Phonetics- sounds

• Morphology- sounds form meaning

• Phonology- morphemes form words- spelling rules

• Syntax- words, phrases, sentences (word order, hierarchy)

Syntax

““Part of grammar that represents a Part of grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of sentences speaker’s knowledge of sentences

and their structures is called and their structures is called syntax” (Fromkin p.116)syntax” (Fromkin p.116)

Word Categories:1) Lexical (Parts of Speech)

– types of meanings: noun, preposition, verb, adjective, adverb

2) Functional*Auxiliary (Aux) - provide verb time frame- ongoing, past, future, have, had, be, was, wereModal- possibility or necessity- may, might, can, could, must, shall, should, would

*Determiner (Det) Articles- infinite or definite noun- a the Demonstrative- noun to context- this, that,

these, those ‘Counting words’- each, every

Phrase Categories: Each lexical word category has a corresponding phrase

• Noun phrase• Verb phrase

• Prepositional phrase• Adverbial phrase• Adjective phrase

Functions of Syntax

Syntax allows language to be limitless within the structure rules.

John found a book in the library. John found a book in the library in the stacks. John found a book in the library in the stacks on the fourth floor.

Grammar without meaning

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

A verb crumpled the milk.

* “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

Word Order:

Languages have specific word orders.

English: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)

The professor wrote the book.

Book the wrote the professor.

The book was written by the professor.

Word order changes meaning:

Changes to conventional synatx are often used to create dramatic, poetic, or comic effect.

For instance, poets and song lyricists often change syntactic order to create rhythmic effects:

"I'll sing to him, each spring to him And long for the day when I 'll cling to him, Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I." [COLE PORTER]

http://www.buzzin.net/english/syntax.htm

Word order in other languages:

Basic sentence word order and phrase order varies by language.

SVO vs. SOV

Noun Phrase: # - N vs. N- # 4 tables vs. tables 4

Adj- N vs. N- Adj pretty girl vs girl pretty

Spanish

• Quiza venga el Presidente. The President may come.

• La chica es una estudiante excelente.

The girl is an excellent student.

• Yo lo vi.

I saw him.

• El nino escribe poemas preciosos.

The boy writes beautiful poems.

ASL

*Word order + non-manual features• I teacher (with head nod)

I am a teacher.• I from Utah.

I am from Utah• Boy fall

The boy fell down.• My cat chase dog

My cat chased the dog.

http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/syntax.htm





Constituents & Constituency Tests

Constituents = the natural groupings of a sentence

A constituent is formed if…

1) a group of words can stand alone

Ex. “What did you find?” “A puppy” (not “found a”)

2) pronouns can substitute for natural groups

Ex. “Where did you find a puppy?” “I found HIM in the park.”

3) a group of words can be move. [move unit]

Ex. It was [a puppy] that the child found.

[A puppy] was found by the child.

TERMS: • S = SentenceThe boy likes to eat cake.

• Det = DeterminerArticles: a, the

Demonstratives: this that these, those, each, every• N = Noun

puppy, boy, cake, happiness, kiss• Aux = Auxillary

Auxillary verbs: have, had, be, was, wereModals: may, might, can, could, should, will, would

• V = Verb find, run, realize, believe, want• Adj = Adjectivered, big, candid, hopeless, lucky

• Adv = Adverbagain, carefully, never, very,

TERMS• NP = Noun phrase (subject or object in a sentence)

The child is lucky. A police officer found the criminal.

She is the girl that John loved.

• VP = Verb phrase (always contains a verb, may contain other categories, such

as noun phrase or prepositional phrase) The child saw an elephant.

Rob slept on the couch.

• PP = Prepositional Phrase (preposition followed by an NP)

Susan devoured the cake in the pantry.

• CP = Complementizer Phrase (contains complementizer, such as that, if, whether, and is followed by an embedded sentence)

Jack doesn’t know if he should fetch a pail of water. Jill knows that she should fetch a pail of water.

Template vs. Tree DiagramTemplate vs. Tree Diagram

TEMPLATE: The boy raced the girl.

Det-N-V-Det-N

This TEMPLATE says that a determiner is followed by a noun, which is followed be a verb, etc

• This TEMPLATE, however, suggests that words have no internal organization.

• Thus, we can use a TREE DIAGRAM to make it easier to see the parts and subparts of a sentence.

• As a result, the structure of the sentence can be recognized in the tree’s hierarchical organization.

Sentences: Hierarchical OrganizationThe boy raced the girl.

Words grouped into natural units:

[The boy] [raced the girl].

Further division:

[ [The] [boy] ] [ [raced] [ [the] [girl] ] ].

Tree Diagram:

TheThe boyboy

racedraced

thethe girlgirl

noun phrasenoun phraseverb phraseverb phrase

noun phrasenoun phrase

Phrase Structure Tree (PS Trees) Phrase Structure Tree (PS Trees) or Constituent Structure Tree:or Constituent Structure Tree:a tree diagram with syntactic category information

The boy raced the girl.

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are needed to see this picture.

The boy raced the girl.

The sentence above consists of syntactic category nodes VP and NP (subject and direct object). The VP dominates over V, NP (DO), and also Det and N [raced the girl].

Categories that are immediately dominated by the same node are sisters. V and NP are sisters [raced] [the girl] in the PS tree of [The boy raced the girl]



Phrase Structure TreesWord order is important. English is a SVO language.





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TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.



NOT

The boy raced the girl. Raced the girl the boy.

The boy Boy the

PS Rules: PS Rules: finite set of permissible structuresfinite set of permissible structures

1) S -> NP VP

2) NP -> Det N’

3) NP -> N’

4) NP -> NP’s N’

5) NP -> NP PP

6) N’ -> Adj N’

7) N’ -> N

8) VP ->

V

9) VP ->

V NP

10) VP ->

V CP

11) VP -> Aux VP

12) VP -> VP PP

13) PP -> P NP

14) CP -> C S

Emily danced on the beach.



Mark said that you left the office.



The man loves the beautiful The man loves the beautiful intelligent woman.intelligent woman.

NOT:

An adjective modifies the noun BUT

a determiner modifies the adjective + noun complex.



Beautiful intelligent the woman

The man loves the beautiful intelligent woman.



Tree Diagrams for Exercise #4: The magician touched the child with the wand.

Tree # 1: The magician used the

wand to touch the child. Tree # 2: The magician touched a boy

who was holding a wand.





In groups of two or three: create the tree diagrams

• a) She played in the park.

• b) The teacher said that the classroom needs books.

• c) The kind handsome athletic boy mowed the lawn.

Documents

Why Syntax? 1) Syntax and ELL:Taro a dog found. Chan, Alice Y.W. (2004). Syntactic Transfer: Evidence from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL Learners