Download What is Syntax? Hierarchical Structure Lexical Categories Open vs

What is Syntax?
LING 201
§Definition: the study of the way in which
sentences are constructed from smaller units
called constituents; how sentences are
related to each other
Syntax
Janice Fon
The Ohio State University
1
Hierarchical Structure
2
Lexical Categories
§Definition: classes of words grouped
together based on their morphological and
syntactic properties, traditionally known as
parts of speech
morphological frames: position of a word with
respect to the bound morphemes that can attach
to it
syntactic frames: position in which a word
occurs relative to other classes of words in the
same phrase
4
l
l
3
Open vs. Closed Classes
Open Class I: Nouns
§ Open class/open set (content words): a word
class whose membership allows the unlimited
addition of new items, the chief classes being
nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
§ Closed class/closed system (function words): a
word class whose membership is fixed or
limited, such as the class of determiners,
pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, or
conjunctions
5
§ morphological frames
l
_____ + pl. marker
• dog-s, child-ren, sheep-φ
§ syntactic frames
l
DET + _____ (a, the, some, many, several, several)
l
DET + ADJ + _____
• the class, several stars, φ + John
• a fierce dog, some stupid kid
6
1
Nouns: Subcategories
Open Class II: Verbs
§ morphological frames
§ count nouns: nouns denoting objects that are discrete,
countable units (ex) table, computer, wheel
l
_____ + progressive morpheme
l
_____ + 3rd person singular morpheme
• think-thinks, say-says
§ syntactic frames
singular mass nouns can occur without determiners
l
AUX + _____ (may, might, will)
l
(please) + _____ + imperative form
l
ADV + _____/_____ + ADV
• might be, may eat, will talk
§ abstract nouns: nouns that denote a mental object, an idea,
or concept (ex) justice, truth, beauty
• Please listen to me!; Shut up!; Leave!
singular abstract nouns can occur without determiners
l
l
• talk-talking, type-typing
§ mass nouns: nouns denoting objects that are not countable
or divisible into discrete units (ex) grass, rice, sand, water,
paper
l
_____ + tense morpheme
• go-went, sing-sang, kick-kicked, rig-rigged, pit-pitted
a/one/two/every/each/_____
singular count nouns need determiners
l
l
• hesitantly speak, run breathlessly
7
Verbs: Subcategories
Open Class III: Adjectives
§ intransitive verbs (Vi): verbs that only take subject noun phrases and no
object noun phrases (ex) die, look, walk, exist
l
8
§ morphological frames
He looked but couldn’t find anyone around..
§ transitive verbs (Vt): verbs that take a noun phrase direct object (ex) hit,
wash, murder
l
most + _____ or _____ + -est (superlative)
§ syntactic frames
l
DET + _____ + N
l
LINKING V + _____ (be, seem, look, feel)
l
ADV + _____
• the haunted house, an honest man
I think (that) we can go to the mall together.
§ linking verbs (Vl): verbs that indicate a relationship of identity between
the subject and the predicate of the verb, or of a quality possessed by the
subject and found in the predicate (ex) be, look, seem, become
l
l
• most wonderful, ugli-est
I gave him 50 dollars.
§ verbs with sentential complements (Vdt): verbs that take a following
whole sentence; some of them also require a complementizer (COMP)
(ex) ask, say, think
l
more + _____ or _____ + -er (comparative)
• more beautiful, pretti-er
You should wash those dishes before you go to bed.
§ ditransitive verbs (Vdt): verbs that take both a direct object and an
indirect object (ex) give, sell, tell
l
l
• seems funny, is serious
He became a doctor.
• very quiet, helplessly absent-minded
9
Adjectives: Subcategories
Open Class IV: Adverbs
§ stative adjectives: adjectives denoting more or less
permanent qualities (ex) red, small, wooden, short
§ morphological frames
l
l
l
[ADJ + -ly]ADV
• happi-ly, sad-ly, glad-ly;
• exceptions: friend-ly, love-ly, like-ly
• exceptions: counterclock-wise, east-ward
§ nonstative adjectives: adjectives denoting
temporary or changeable qualities (ex) mad, noisy,
cute
l
l
*Kathy is being very _____
Kathy is very _____
10
§ syntactic frames
l
_____ + ADJ / ADV / V
l
V + _____
• unusually quiet, very cynically, carefully observe
Kathy is being very _____
Kathy is very _____
• devour hungrily, sit restlessly
11
12
2
Closed Class (I)
§ determiner: a, the, many, each, all, possessive (your, my,
John’s)
l
syntactic frame: _____ + (ADJ) + N
• the secret garden, my beloved son
syntactic frames:
• NP + _____ + VP: Rose should arrive at 8:30.
• _____ + NP + VP: Would you leave?
• _____ + not: I cannot go.
l
l
syntactic frame: _____ + NP
• in the room, on Friday
§ postposition:
l
syntactic frame: NP + _____
• [C] zhuozi shang ‘table on = on the table’
§ conjunctions: used to combine words or phrases of the
same categories, (ex) and, or, but
§ pronouns: used to replace nouns
l
§ preposition: to, on, in, at, with
l
§ auxiliary (= auxiliary verb): will, may, would, shall, can
l
Closed Class (II)
subjects: I, he, she, we, they
objects: me, him, her, us, them
both subjects and objects: you, it
l
• coffee or tea; I eat cereal but he eats rice; ugly but cute; walk
and talk
14
13
Caution!
syntactic frames: N + _____ + N, S + _____ + S, ADJ +
_____ + ADJ, V + _____ + V
Constituents
§ a word will sometimes belong to more than one lexical categories
l It’s cold. (ADJ) vs. I got a cold. (N)
l a past week (ADJ) vs. in the past (N)
l a promise (N) vs. I promise. (V)
§ a word will sometimes belong to more than one subcategories
l I walked in the park. (V ) vs. I walked the dog in the park. (V )
i
t
l He sang beautifully. (V ) vs. He sang the song beautifully. (V )
i
t
§ homonyms: two or more distinct words with the same
pronunciation and spelling but different meaning
l tree barks (N) vs. dog barks (V)
§Definition: groupings of words that form a
coherent syntactic or semantic unit
l
l
l
l
l
The President kissed the baby.
?? [The President [kissed the]] [baby]
?? [The [President kissed] the] baby]
?? [[The President kissed] [the baby]]
?? [The President] [kissed [the baby]]
15
16
Constituent Tests I
Constituent Tests II
§ ability to stand alone (can be used to answer a whquestion)
§ substitution by a pro-form
l
[[The President] [kissed [the baby]]]
l
l
• Who kissed the baby? The president.
• Who did the president kiss? The baby.
• What did the president do? Kissed the baby.
l
pronouns: I, you, we, us, me, it
proverbs: do, be, have
proadverbs: there, then
• [[The President] [held a press conference] [last night]]
l
[[The President] [held a press conference] [last night]]
l
[[Smith] [dated [a woman from Boston]]]
• [held a press conference last night] is not a constituent
– The President held a press conference last night, and he
regretted it. He shouldn’t have done it then.
• [[Smith] [dated [a woman from Boston]]]
– Smith dated a woman from Boston. He didn’t like her and he
regretted it.
• [dated a woman] not a constituent
17
18
3
Constituent Tests III
Caution!
§a group of words can be a constituent in one
sentence but not in the other
§ movement: if some part of a sentence can be
moved, it is a constituent
[[The President] [held a press conference] [last
night]]
l
l
l
• Last night, the President held a press conference
§constituent structures are hierarchical
[[Smith] [dated [a woman from Boston]]]
l
• It’s the woman from Boston that Smith dated
l
§ Caution! This test does not always work!
l
l
*Held a press conference the President last night
l
Brian kissed [Mary and Jason]? did too.
Brian kissed [Mary and Jason]
[[Brian] [kissed [Mary and Jason]]]
[[Smith] [dated [a woman from Boston]]]
[[The President] [kissed [the baby]]]
19
NPs: Noun Phrases
Phrasal Categories
§Definition: a syntactic category whose
members are composed of one or more
words that form a phrase; one type of
phrase is usually interchangeable with
another phrase of the same category
NP (noun phrase), VP (verb phrase), PP
(prepositional phrase), ADJP (adjective phrase),
S (sentence)
l
21
VPs: Verb Phrases
John
laughed.
walked into the room.
took a nap.
gave a speech in the conference room.
l
l
22
§ Definition: a constituent structure formed by a
preposition and a noun phrase
l
into the room, on the table, on Friday
§ phrase structure rule for PP
l
§ phrase structure rules for VP
l
§ Definition: a construction with a noun as head
§ NP can function as subjects or objects
l John
laughed.
The man
The woman from Boston
The little boy
l I like
John.
the little boy.
the man.
The woman from Boston
§ phrase structure rules for NP
l NP → DET ADJ N
l NP → DET N
l NP → N (proper name)
l NP → NP PP
PPs:Prepositional Phrases
§ Definition: a group of words with a verb as a head which
together have the same syntactic function as a single verb
l
20
PP → P NP
§ a PP can be a constituent of a wide range of phrases
VP → Vi (ex) laugh
VP → Vt NP (ex) take
VP → VP PP
l
l
l
23
walk towards the stadium (VP)
my cousin in Florida (NP)
crazy with ice cream (ADJP)
24
4
ADJPs:Adjectival Phrases
Ss: Sentences
§ Definition: a construction with an adjective as head
l
The candidate is
very old.
extremely intelligent.
certain to win the election
§ phrase structure rule for ADJP
l
ADJP → ADV ADJ
§ ADJPs are often used to modify nouns and often
appear as elements of NPs
l
[a [very intelligent]ADJP man]NP,
§ Definition: the largest structural unit in terms of which the
grammar of a language is organized
l The dictionary is very old.
l I am reading something on Atlantis.
§ phrase structure rule for S
l S → NP VP
§ a sentence may also appear as an element of another expression
l the fact that [the earth is round] (NP)
l my assistant [who works part-time] (NP)
l tell her [that I don’t feel like going] (VP)
l excited [that you will be staying with us] (ADJP)
25
26
Tree Diagrams (I)
Tree Diagrams (II)
§ A blind man robbed the bank.
§ Labeled tree diagram tells us
l
l
l
l
a blind man (NP)
robbed the bank (VP)
the bank (NP)
a blind man robbed the bank (S)
l
l
S
l
l
NP
DET
a
ADJ
blind
linear word order
categories of constituent of a sentence
hierarchical structure of a sentence (constituent)
(ex) The President kissed the baby.
S
VP
N
man
robbed
NP
NP
V
DET
DET
N
the
bank
VP
N
V
NP
DET
N
the
baby
the President kissed
27
Phrase Structure Rules (PS Rules)
l
l
l
A Toy Grammar
§ X, Y are phrasal categories, a, b, c, d are lexical
categories
§ Definition: rules that show the possible (i.e. grammatical)
relationships between phrasal categories and the words or
phrasal categories that they dominate
l
28
l
generativity: property of human languages to use a finite set of
rules and elements to produce an infinite set of grammatical
sentences
ambiguity: property of sentences of having two or more meanings
hierarchical structure: term used to describe the dominance
relationship among elements in a word, phrase, or sentence
infinite recursion (productivity): property of languages allowing
for the repeated application of a rule, yielding infinitely long
sentences or an infinite number of sentences
29
l
l
l
l
l
S→XY
X → ab
X→a
Y → bcd
Y → cd Y
Y → cd
S
X
a
S
ambiguity
X
Y
b
c
Y
a
d
b
c d
S
X
a
Y
b c
recursiveness
d Y
c
d Y
c
d Y
30
5
PS Rules for English (I)
PS Rules for English (II)
§ S → NP VP (ex) [John] [sings]/[John] [ate an apple]
§ NP → DET ADJP* N (ex) [a] [very nice], [very honest]
[person]
§ NP → PRO (ex) [He] [likes to eat pizza].
§ NP → Npr (ex) [Joshua] [can dance tango well]
§ NP → (DET) ADJP* Npl (ex) ([many]) [pretty]
[women]
§ NP → (DET) ADJP* Nm (ex) ([the]) [extremely white]
[beach sand]
§ NP → NP PP (ex) [the man] [with glasses]
§ VP → Vi (ex) [He] [jogged] [in the park]
§ VP → Vt NP (ex) [The students] [ate their dinner] [at the
commons]
§ VP → Vdt NP NP (ex) [I] [gave] [him] [my ID]
§ VP → VP PP (ex) [The roach] [scurried] [across the
kitchen floor]
§ ADJP → ADV* ADJ (ex) [very] [very] [intelligent]
§ PP → P NP (ex) [into] [the woods]
§ NP → NP+ CONJ NP (ex) [Tom], [Henry], [and] [Harry]
§ VP → VP+ CONJ VP (ex) [We] [sang] [and] [danced]
§ S → S+ CONJ S (ex) [I went to bed early] [but] [he stayed
up late]
31
32
Ambiguity
Structural Ambiguity (I)
§ Definition: property of words or sentences of having
two or more meanings
§ We need more intelligent leaders.
l
lexical ambiguity: a situation in which a lexical item
has two or more meanings
S
• He found a bat (a flying animal vs. a baseball bat)
l
S
NP
structural ambiguity: a characteristic of phrases that
have more than one possible constituent structure and
therefore more than on semantic interpretation
N
VP
NP
V
NP
N
ADJP
• We need more intelligent leaders (a greater number of
intelligent leaders vs. leaders that are more intelligent)
• The mother of the boy and the girl left (1 vs. 2 people)
• John killed the man in the park (the man in the park was killed
vs. the man was killed in the park)
ADV
VP
V
NP
N
ADJP
ADJ
NP
ADJ
we need more intelligent leaders
ADJ
N
we need more intelligent leaders
33
Structural Ambiguity (II)
Structural Ambiguity (III)
§ The mother of the boy and the girl left.
§ John killed the man in the park
S
NP
NP
NP
V
NP
NP
P
NP
VP
PP
PP
N
S
S
VP
CONJ
NP
DET
34
P
DET N
DET N
the mother of the boy and the girl left
V
N
NP
DET N
N
VP
S
V
NP
NP
NP CONJ
DET
NP
NP
DET N
the mother of the boy and the girl left
35
DET
N
NP
PP
P
NP
DET N
John killed the man in the park
VP
N
VP
V
PP
NP
DET
P
N
NP
DET N
John killed the man in the park
36
6
Syntactic Acquisition (I)
Syntactic Acquisition (II)
§ Holophrasic stage (one-word stage): a phase in child language
acquisition in which children are limited to one word at a time in their
production
§ Telegraphic stage: a phase during child language acquisition in
which children use utterances composed primarily of content
words
l
no, gimme, mine, allgone, whasat
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
Tense/Aspect:
• Tommy kick kitty. → Chris eating apple. → Cindy goes to school
• Marty saw the mice → I seed/sawed two mans. → Toby saw the
geese.
§ Two-word stage: a phase in child language acquisition in which
children start to put two words together
agent + action (ex) dolly eat
action + object (ex) hit kitty
action + locative (ex) walk park
entity + locative (ex) cookie floor
possessor + possession (ex) Jimmy bear
entity + attribute (ex) box big
demonstrative + entity (ex) that milk
l
Negatives:
l
Interrogatives:
• No I wear mittens → Timmy no cry. → I not eat cereal.
• Teddy go? → Can Liz go? → Why Dad go?
37
38
Syntax Problem I
Syntax Problem II
§The clouds rolled across the sky.
§The thieves opened the door with a credit
card.
39
40
Syntax Problem III
Syntax Problem IV
§The walk through the park was very
pleasant.
§Tonika’s favorite show is about a rich
family from California.
41
42
7
Syntax Problem V
§The lifeguard found my cousin from
Alabama’s ring in the pool.
43
8