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Syntactic Processes
Introduction to syntax
Overview
The passive construction
 The causative construction
 WH-question
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Syntactic processes that might change the
grammatical relations between a verb and its
arguments
Promotion of NPs
 Demotion of NPs
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The passive construction in
English
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Active
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John took the old lady to the shop.
Passive
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The old lady was taken to the shop by John.
The typical process of
the passive construction
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Subject of the active sentence
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Object of the active sentence
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DEMOTED to a PP (by-phrase) or deleted.
PROMOTED to subject of the passive
Auxiliary BE + past participle in passive
How do we know the NP is the subject
of the passive sentence?
Subject-verb agreement
 Pronominal case
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Subject-nominative
 Object-accusative
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The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical passive construction
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The core arguments of the transitive verb
change the grammatical relations.
The promotion of object NP to S.
 The demotion of subject NP to oblique NP or be
deleted.
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The transitive verb changes its form.
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V-> past participle
Where do we find passive
constructions?
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Typically in syntactically and morphologically
accusative languages.
The passive construction and
intransitive verbs
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The use of a ‘dummy’ subject
An impersonal passive
No NPs are promoted.
German
Die Kinder schliefen
The children sleep:PAST
‘the children slept.’
Es wurde (von den Kindern) geschlafen.
It became by the children
sleep: PP
‘it was slept by the children’
The applicative construction
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John sold his iPod to Mary.
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John sold Mary his iPod.
John bought a cup of coffee for me.
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John bought me a cup of coffee.
The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical applicative construction
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Oblique NP/indirect object
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Former object
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Promoted to object
Demoted to oblique NP
The form of the verb may change to indicate
the applicative construction
Oblique arguments
Non-core arguments
 Can be omitted without any grammatical
adjustment
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Not all languages have an applicative
construction
Marie a donné un cadeau à Pierre.
Marie has give:PP a gift
to Pierre
“Mary has given a gift to Pierre.”
 *Marie a donne Pierre un cadeau.
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The causative construction
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The students read the book.
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The professor made the students read the book.
The students leave.
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The professor let the students leave.
The cross-linguistic properties of the
typical causative construction
A new subject is introduced.
 Former subject is demoted to be
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the object
 The oblique NP
 deleted
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Causation is introduced by
A causative verb
 The causative morphology on the main verb
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The fronting construction
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Move the constituent to the leftward position
to focus on a particular phrase.
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WH-questions
WH-questions
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Move the wh-word to the left of the subject
(in English)
WH-words: what, where, who
 The gap leaves a trace of the wh-word.
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Example
John bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
 What did John buy ______ at Starbucks?
 Where did John bought a cup of coffee
____?
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in other languages
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French
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Qu’est-ce que + S… ‘what…’
 Qu’est-ce
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que vous faites? ‘What do you do?’
Pied-piping
Which book does he like ______?
 *Which does he like _____ book?
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The role of constituents
The promoted, demoted, and fronted phrases
have to be a constituent.
 Structure dependency
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