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SYNTAX
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS
Sentences?
Linguistics Levels
References:
• Jong-Bok Kim and Peter Sells, English Syntax:
An Introduction, November 20, 2007
• Radford, Andrew, English Syntax: An
Introduction, UK: Cambridge University Press,
2001
• Fromkin, Victoria, An Introduction to
Language, ninth edition, US: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning. 2009
SYNTAX
(1)the study of the rules that govern the
ways in which words combine to form
phrases, clauses, and sentences
(2)"Syntax is the study of the principles
and processes by which sentences are
constructed in particular languages
• (3) The arrangement of words in a
sentence. Adjective: syntactic.
• A sentence is a grammatical unit that is
composed of one or more clauses .
• Etymology:
From the Greek, "arrange together"
Noam Chomsky
• It’s part of Linguistics
• It’s part of the grammar of every
language
• And the grammar of a language is part
of a native speaker’s linguistic
knowledge
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
• Theory of Chomsky
• UG has Principles, true of all languages
– All languages have the same underlying structure
• e.g. all languages have nouns and verbs
• and Parameters, whose setting varies from
language to language
– English and Chinese SVO; Japanese SOV
Phrase structure rules
• Some words seem to belong together:
– {The crazy man} {is jumping off the bridge}
• Groups of words that belong together are called
constituents
• The component that determines the properties
of the constituent is the head, and the
constituent can be referred to as a phrase: e.g.
noun phrase
NP
• If we look at phrases, some patterns emerge:
Det
N
• the instructor = NP
Det N
• a friend = NP
Det
N
• some homework = NP
Det
N
• two classes = NP
VP
VP
V
sang
VP
V
ate
VP
NP
Det
V
N
NP
sang
Det
badly
the
cake
a song
the shower
in Det N
PP
N
P
Adv
NP
Hierarchy
• Another way to look at “hierarchies”:
construction and constituents
• The young must respect the old people.
(A) the young (B) must respect the old people
(C) the
(D) young (E) must respect
(G) must
(H) respect
(I) the
(F) the old people
(J) old people
(K) old
(L) peopl
Clauses
Clause Types:
•
S+V
(The dog + is running)
•
S+V+O
(The dog + bites + him)
•
S+V+C
(The car + is + ready)
•
S+V+A
•
S+V+O+O (I + give + him + a pen)
•
S+V+O+C (He + calls + John a fool)
•
S+V+O+A (Mary + saw + John +yesterday)
•
Note: subject (S), verb (V), complement (C), object (O), adverbial
(A).
(The picture + lays +on the ground)
1.Tree Diagrams (1)
“The girl chased the dog.” (Crystal 96)
The girl
chased
the
dog
a. Identify the 2 major constituents (The girl +
chased the dog)
b. Divide the next-biggest constituent into 2: chased
+ the dog
c. Continue dividing constituents into 2 units until
we can go no further.
e.g. the + girl, the + dog, chase + -ed
1.Tree Diagrams (2)
•
Tree Diagrams: Different levels in analysis
•
The tree diagram format may be viewed
as:
a. A static representation of the structure of the
sentence at the bottom of the diagram.
b. A dynamic format, representing a way of
“generating” a very large number of
sentences with similar structures (by the use
of phrase structure rules).
Phrase Structure
S
NP
ART
VP
N
V
NP
(DET)
the
girl
chased
ART
N
the
dog
Phrase Structure Rules
• Phrase structure rules (Nash 75-77): present
the information of the tree diagram in an
alternative format
S NP + VP
VP
V + (NP) + (PP) + (ADV)
(ART) + (ADJ)* N
NP
PRO
PP
P + NP
• Note: see Yule 105 for symbols and abbreviation definition.
Example
The children put the toy in the box
S
NP
Det
VP
N
V
NP
Det
PP
N
P
NP
Det
The
children
put
the
toy
in the
N
box
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Example
19
Deep and Surface Structure
• The deep structure is an abstract level of
structural organization in which all the
elements determining structural
interpretation are represented.
– Sentences that have alternative
interpretations
– Sentences that have different surface forms
but have the same underlying meaning.
• Surface structure= how the sentence is
actually represented
• Deep structure and surface structure refer
• respectively to the abstract structure and
to the actually produced structure.
(wardaugh, 118)
• VP  be + adj
•
Vi + Adv
• Recursion: a set that permits an infinite
expansion
Deep and surface structure
• How superficially different sentences are closely
related?
–
–
–
–
Charlie broke the window.
The window was broken by Charlie
Charlie who broke the window.
Was the window broken by Charlie?
Difference in their surface structure = difference
in syntactic forms
BUT they have the same ‘deep’ or underlying
structure
Structural Ambiguity
• How superficially similar sentences are different?
(multiple meanings)
• E.g. Annie whacked the man with an umbrella
• Same surface structure but different deep
structure
– The boy saw the man with a telescope
• The question is: What is the scope of "with the
telescope"? Does it modify only "the man" or
does it modify "saw the man"?
Structural Ambiguity (1)
The boy saw the man with the telescope
S
NP
Det
VP
N
NP
V
Det
N
PP
P
NP
Det
The
boy
saw
the
N
man with the telescope
Meaning: The boy saw the man. The man had a telescope.
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Structural Ambiguity (2)
The boy saw the man with the telescope
S
NP
Det
VP
N
V
NP
Det
PP
N
P
NP
Det
The
boy
saw the
N
man with the telescope
Meaning: Using the telescope, the boy saw the man
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Recursion
• Rules can be applied more than once in
generating sentences
• E.g. repeat prepositional phrase more than once
– The gun was on the table near the window in the
bedroom in the pink house
• Put sentences inside sentences
– This is the cat that ate the rat that ate the cheese that
was sold by the man that lived in the city that was on
the river…
• No end to recursion- produce longer complex
sentences
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Recursion
• Some phrasal categories may appear to the left
or right of the arrow
NP  (Det) N (PP)
PP  P (NP)
• Recursion: the property of language that allows
for the embedding of categories (which can yield
infinitely long phrases)
the cat on the mat in the house on the
street
NP
Det N
the cat
PP
P
NP
on Det
N
PP
the mat P
NP
in Det
N
the house
PP
P
on
NP
Det
N
the
street
Back to recursion
• [Mary helped George]. (A sentence)
• [Cathy knew] that [Mary helped George].
(a sentence within a sentence)
• [John believed] that [Cathy knew] that
[Mary helped George].
• The word that introduces the complement
phrase
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3. Recursiveness (Recursion)
• Recursive rule: VP
VS (Yule 107)
e.g.: John said [ Cathy thought (Mary helped George)].
• Another e.g. of recursiveness
The Rose in My Garden
This is the rose in my garden.
This is the bee that sleeps on the rose in my garden.
These are the holly hocks high above ground, that
give shade to the bee that sleeps on the rose in my
garden.
Complement Phrases
• Cathy knew that Mary helped George
• That = complementizer (C) introducing
complement phrase (CP)
• The CP comes after the VP
• S
NP VP
• VP
V CP
• CP
CS
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Complement Phrases
32
Transformational-generative
grammar
• Transformations: processes that change the
deep structure into surface structure.
• Generative: using phrase structure rules, se can
produce (generate) infinite sentences.
• Surface Structure:
S
NP
VP
V
NP
eat
ART N
the
chou tofu
TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR
MODEL OF LANGUAGE
Phrase structure
Lexical component
Deep structure
Transformations
Surface structure
Morphophonemic rules
Sentence
Deep and Surface Structure
• Deep and surface structure: “the form of a
sentence we produce and understand is very often not the
same as the basic form which shows its meaning” (Nash 79)
A. Deep Structure: the abstract, underlying level, but
basic form of the sentence
B. Surface Structure: the superficial, syntactic form tha
we produce in reality
e.g. old men and women
e.g. Annie whacked a man with an umbrella.
(Yule 103)
same surface structure form, two underlying interpretation
(deep structures)
Other examples:
1. Help yourself. 2. The runner broke the world record.
• Deep Structure:
S
NP
VP
pro
V
imperative
transformation
NP
ART
you
eat the
N
chou tofu
• Surface structure: Help yourself!
• Deep Structure:
S
NP
pro
S
VP
V NP
reflexive
transformation
NP
pro
pro
you
help
you
VP
V NP
(reflexive pro)
you
help
yoursel
S
NP
Pro
VP
V
imperative
NP
transformation
(reflexive pro)
You help
yourself
Help yourself
Transformational Rules
• Phrase structure rules represent ‘deep’
structure- always generate structures with fixed
word order.
• Mary saw George recently
Recently Mary saw George
• Transformational rules= take a specific part
and attach it in another place
• You will help Cathy
• Will you help Cathy?
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Transformational Rules
40
PARAPHRASE & AMBIGUITY
•
Paraphrase
•
Ambiguity
•
When several surface structures
relate to one deep structure.
•
One surface structure relating to
several deep structures.
•
Flying planes can be dangerous.
1. John bought the book from
Mary.
2. Mary sold the book to John.
3. The book was sold to John by
Mary.
1. To fly planes.
2. Planes which are flying.
Language Ambiguity
1. Sentence Ambiguity:
e.g.: Visiting relatives can be a nuisance.
2. Word Ambiguity:
e.g.: The man put his straw on the floor.
Exercises
• Draw a labeled tree diagram for the
following English phrases. (Hint: what
part of speech is the leader for the
phrase?)
a. ancient pyramids
b. in the early evening
c. Drove a car
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Exercises
• Draw phrase structure trees for the
following sentences:
–
–
–
–
–
–
The puppy found the child
The ice melted
The hot sun melted the ice.
The house on the hill collapsed in the wind.
The boat sailed up the river.
A girl laughed at the monkey.
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• Domination – phrases can dominate
words in a sentence tree. But how do we
know which phrases dominate what? A
tree has a hierarchical structure, which
means that a node or label dominates all
that is below it.
• We can see here that phrase A dominates
phrase B and ‘in’. We know this because
phrase A is above phrase B and it is above
the word ‘in’. When a phrase is directly
above something, we call this immediate
domination. Phrase A immediately
dominates phrase B and ‘in’, but it does
not immediately dominate ‘the’ or ‘car’.
The Grammatical Roles in Word
Order
• functions to distinguish the grammatical
and semantic roles of sentence
constituents.
• Grammatical roles include subject, verb,
object, complement, & adverbial.
• Semantic roles include agent, action,
goal, beneficiary, instrument,
location, and more.
The Grammatical Roles in Word
Order
• Word order helps us understand the
grammatical function of each constituent.
• Subjects in English for example are
usually at the beginning of the clause.
• John left yesterday after he gave his
lecture.
• Objects in English occur after the verb.
• “Close the door,” she yelled, kicking it
shut.
The Semantic Roles in Word
Order
• Constituents also serve semantic roles in
sentences, such as agent, action, goal,
instrument, location and many more.
• John
opened the door
agent
action
goal
with a key.
instrument
• subject verb
object
adverbial
In most cases, grammatical & semantic role
overlap, but not always.
Function Words & Syntax
• Function words are minor word
classes.
• In English, those are prepositions,
pronouns, articles, and conjunctions.
• These function words provide valuable
grammatical information: how easily can
you read the following text for example?
Examples of Function Words
• Was walking front door, dropping bags
going.
• It was me -- walking out of my front
door, dropping my bags and going back
in. (O. J.)
• Function words provide important
information about the grammatical &
semantic roles played by the constituents
in a sentence.
Major word classes
• English uses grammatical inflections to
provide different kinds of grammatical
information on the major word classes -nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Grammatical Inflections in
Nouns
• English uses the grammatical morphemes
to mark case
• This is John’s book,
• number
• He owns several rare books,
• and gender
• Adrienne Rich hates being called a
poetess.
Grammatical Inflections in
Verbs
• English uses grammatical morphemes
to mark
• tense Liz walked with her sister.
• aspect
Liz has helped her often.
• voice Liz was pleased by her
cleverness.
• modality Liz must be smarter than
Dad.
Grammatical Inflections in
Adjectives & Adverbs
• English uses grammatical morphemes on
adjectives and adverbs to mark
• grammatical function
• Ingenious Liz can do this easily.
• comparison (degree)
• Liz is smarter than her father. She learns
faster than he does.
CONSTITUENT and
CONSTRUCTION
• A constituent is any word or construction that enters
into some larger construction.
• An immediate constituent is any one of the largest
grammatical units that constitute a construction.
Immediate constituents are often further reducible.In
the complex noun phrase (CONSTRUCTION) the dog
that killed the cat, each of the following items are
immediate constituents:
• the
• dog
• that killed the cat
• An ultimate constituent is one of the grammatically irreducible
units that constitutes a construction. In the construction the dog
that killed the cat, the following are ultimate constituents:
• the
• dog
• that
• kill
• -ed
• the
• cat
• A construction is an ordered arrangement of
grammatical units forming a larger unit.
• immediate constituent analysis, also
called Ic Analysis, in linguistics, a system
of grammatical analysis that divides
sentences into successive layers, or
constituents, until, in the final layer, each
constituent consists of only a word or
meaningful part of a word.
• In the sentence “The old man ran away,”
the first division into immediate
constituents would be between “the old
man” and “ran away.” The immediate
constituents of “the old man” are “the”
and “old man.” At the next level “old man”
is divided into “old” and “man.” The term
was introduced by the United States
linguist Leonard Bloomfield in 1933,
• The sentence You eat bananas contains the
following constituents:
• Immediate constituents
– you
– eat bananas
• Ultimate constituents
–
–
–
–
you
eat
banana
-s
CONSTRUCTION TYPES
1. MODIFICATION
H (Head) – M (Modifier)
- old ( M) – man (H)
- runs slowly
- stood at the back
- slowly, he stood up
- he left because he was left
2. PREDICATION
a structure of predication contains
Subject (Sb) and predicate (P)
- John sang
- The old man cultivated the garden
- The man who came left early
3. Complementation
A structure of complementation contains
a verbal (V) and a complement (C).
- Peter kissed Mary
- John is clever
- John is a student
- I want to go
4. Subordination
A structure of coordication contains a
subordinator (Sub) – prep, particle,
subordinating conj (in, over, to, after,
because, etc) and a dependent unit (D)
- Mary stood at the back
- I want to go
- She cried when she fell down
5. Coordination
it contains a marker or coordinator (Co)
and two or more independent units (I) –
words, phrases, or clauses.
- Jokowi and Prabowo
- Peter, Paul and Mary
- Jack sings and Peter dances
• Show the hierarchies of constructions of
the following sentence:
• Peter and Susan bought an old house last
year.
S
Sb
P
etc
Deep and Surface Structure
• The term deep structure and surface
structure refers to Abstract structure
and to the actually produced structure.
• Example: The old house fell down
S
•
• The house
•
fell down
The house was old
• Deep Structure [the house [the house was old] fell down]
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
relative transformation
[the house [which was old] fell down]
relative pronoun – deletion
[the house [was old] fell down]
be – deletion
[the house [old] fell down]
adj movement
• Surface Structure [The old house fell down]
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