Download Sentence structure and phrase structure

SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND
PHRASE STRUCTURE
AIM
How do we define sentences and clauses?
 What are subjects and predicates?
 What is a phrase?
 What types of phrases are there in Turkish?
 What are phrase structure rules?
 How are the following types of phrases
organised?
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


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NP
PP
AP
ADVP and adverbials
VP
SENTENCES AND CLAUSES
In traditional grammar,
Sentence is the complete expression of one thought.
BUT

Kaya parçası = one thought, not a sentence
Dün seninle sinemaya gitmek için geldim = one
sentence, two thoughts
THEN
Consider sentences in terms of clauses.
Clauses are the syntactic units that have a subject and
a predicate.
Sentence= one or more clauses due to their recursive
properties.
Seni görmeye geldim = sentence with two clauses
IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS OF CLAUSES:
SUBJECTS AND PREDICATES
[Ahmet] [sessizce uyudu]
 [semra] [açık havada dolaştı]
 [sarı saçlı kız] [okulu bitirdi]

SUBSTITUTION TEST FOR CONSISTENCY
KIM NE YAPTI?






Constituent B is the subject of the sentence
Constituent C is the predicate of the sentence
Predication: the relationship between the subject and the
predicate
All sentences consist of a subject and a predicate
A predicate is what remains in a sentence after the subject
is excluded.
Subjects and predicates are also sisters like complements
and heads.
SUBJECTS
A simple subject is usually a NP
 Subjects in Turkish are usually the initial NP in
a sentence with a tensed verb.

1.
2.
Ünlü şarkıcı deniz kenarındaki lokantada
balık yedi
Dün satın aldığım kitap çok pahalıydı
Pronouns are also NPs
 Ben, siz, o, onlar, bu, şu, etc

THE PRO-DROP PARAMETER


1.
2.
3.
(THE SUBJ PRONOUN CAN BE DROPPED, OR NOT)
Turkish can have null subjects (pro-drop language)
languages such as English and French dont allow null
subjects (non- pro drop languages)
Küçük bebek sincabı gördü - NP
O sincabı gördü - Pronoun
Sincabı gördü – null subject
Different discourse functions:
1.
Introduce a new person into the conversation
2.
Shows the baby has been mentioned previously
3.
Provides the topic continuity
It is strange to use overt subjects when the speaker
continues to talk about the same entity
 Murat eve geldi, #Murat yemek pişirdi, # o
yemek yedi, # O kitap okudu

Null subjects are also considered to be NPs.
Even if the subject is empty, the sentence still
has a subject-predicate constituent structure.
The null subject is represented with pro (an
empty pronpun)
SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT IN SENTENCES
Turkish verbs have agreement suffixes: number
and person.
 Number can be singular or plural
 Person can be first, second and third person.

1.
2.
Ben çok çalışırım (first person singular)
Siz çok çalışırsınız (second person plural)
PREDICATES
Typically constituents that follow subjects in
sentences.
 Express the action carried by the subject
(arkadaşım yüzdü)
 Provide description of the subject (Ahmet
yakışıklı bir subaydır)
 Show what happened to the subject (adam yere
düştü)
 Express a psychological state experienced by the
subject (Ahmet sevindi)
 Almost universally predicates contain verbs, they
may contain other constiuents such as
direct/indirect objects and adverbs.

PHRASES AND PHRASE
STRUCTURE RULES



Phrases are the constituents which function as
subjects, objects, etc in a sentence.
A phrase may consist of one or more constituents
with a syntactic significance.
There are different types of phrases in languages
such as NP, VP, ADJP, ADVP, PP
The category of the head determines the category
of the phrase.
NP – head N
VP – head V


Simple subjects are usually NPs and predicates
are VPs since predicates have verbs as their
central element.
PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE
Phrases are rule-governed constituents.
 Phrase structure rules are intended to model
mental representations of possible phrases in a
language.
 S -> NP VP


Human beings store a limited number of rules to
produce infinite number of phrases and
sentences.
HEAD PARAMETER


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Head directionality: the direction of the head
differs from one language to another.
Turkish is a head final language while English is
head initial.
Dün satın aldığım kitap – NP- head kitap
The book that I bought yesterday – NP- head book
Kitap okumak – VP- head okumak
Read the book – VP- head read
Makas ile – PP – head ile
With scissors – PP- head with
NOUN PHRASES (NPS)



A.
B.
C.
NPs mostly function as subjects and objects in sentences
A NP can consist of a single word, a noun or a pronoun or
more than one word.
The head of a NP is almost always inflected for case, ie.
Nominative, accusative, genitive, possessive, etc.
Ünlü şarkıcı deniz kenarındaki lokantada balık yedi
İki akıllı kız marul salatası yediler
Dün satın aldığım kitap çok pahalıydı
Further examples:
1.
Filler, ev, boya, etc- common Ns
2.
İstanbul, Mersin, Aslı, etc- proper Ns
3.
Kırmızı kitap, en başarılı sanatçı, etc – modified by ADJP
4.
Gelen adam, yeni aldığım kitap- consisting of Rel. Cl.
5.
Demir kapı, deri koltuk, etc – attributive Ns
6.
Ben, sen, o, bu, şu, etc - pronouns
Pronouns can also stand for NPs
 Benim kitabım, Canın kalemi, Onların evleri, bir
ev, iki kardeş, bütün yollar, etc

The above NPs consist of determiners.
Determiners are function words, whose
functions are to determine the referential and
quantificational properties of nouns.
Quantificational determiners: bazı, birkaç,
her, bütün, etc
 Referential determiners: bu, şu, o, bunlar,
benim, senin, etc.

Turkish does not have a definite article but an
indefinite article «bir», which is also a determiner
 Bir has two different meanings: 1. shows the
number, 2. functions as a determiner

1.
2.

Bir güzel genç kız, iki güzel genç kız, etc
Güzel bir genç kız, ?güzel iki genç kız
A quantificational determiner and the indefinite
article cannot occur in the same NP.
3. * benim her akıllı bir öğrencim
To sum up, a NP in Turkish may consist of the
following types of constituents:
 The head (obligatory by definition)
 One or more adjective phrases
 An attributive noun
 One or more relative clauses
 One or more determiners
The phrase structure rule of NP in Turkish:
 NP > (referential det.) (rel.cl) (quantificational
det.) (adj) (indefinite article) (noun) Noun
 [Det
Ali’nin [RL dün yıkattığım] [ADJP güzel] [Head
halısı]
1.
2.

İyi bir konser salonu bulduk
* iyi bir konser bulduk salonu
Phrases are determined according to their
function and position in a sentence.
POSTPOSITIONAL PHRASES
Adpositions are word classes that express a
relationship between two entities such as place, time,
location etc.



Prepositions = adposition + NP (like in English)
Postposition = NP + adposition (like in Turkish)
Some Turkish postpositions such as ile can become
clitics (Nerminle)
Postpositions have complements that complete them:
 NP+gibi : bütün arkadaşları gibi
 * gibi çalışıyor

Postpositions, like verbs, assign case to their
complements (Table, pp 198-199)

PP > NP P

PP > (Adv) NP P
ADJECTIVE PHRASES
It is difficult to draw a line between adjectives and
nouns in Turkish (as adjs takes case and plural
endings as nouns)
1. Kız (N)- kızlar, genç (ADJ)-gençler, kıza, gence,
etc
2.
3.
4.
5.
*daha kız, en kız (Ns not allowed in comparative, superlatives)
Daha genç, en genç (table, pp 201)
Kırmızı kitap (attributive adjective)
Kitap kırmızıdır (predicative adjective)
Adjectives as a head at final
 Çok güzel, en kolay, yakın
Adjs with NP complements
1. [gitmeye gönüllü]
2. *[gönüllü]
3. Ahmet [annesine çok düşkün]
4. * Ahmet [düşkün]
Some ADJPs require PP complements
A. [ADJP [PP Cana karşı] duyarlı]
B. [ADJP [PP seninle] mutlu]

ADJP > (NP/PP) (Degree ADV) adj.