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Syntax Lecture 2: Categories and Subcategorisation Recap • All phrases are structurally the same: • All phrases differ in their lexical content • Lexical content determines the syntactic differences between phrases – Particularly the lexical head Differences in lexical heads • So how syntactically different can lexical heads be? • There are two way heads differ – They have different categories – They differ in what complements they select How many different categories are there? • Most syntactic descriptions work with a relatively small number of different categories • • • • • • Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Preposition Pronoun • • • • • • Determiner Particle Subordinator Coordinator Auxiliary verb Degree adverb • In fact, some of these collapse into single categories Collapsing categories: pronouns and determiners • Many determiners work as pronouns – This book was banned This was banned – Some people are sad Some are sad – Few aeroplanes crashFew crash • Some pronouns work as determiners – We humans – Them rocks (dialectal) – You lot • It has been suggested that pronouns should be analysed as determiners Important Consequence • If pronouns are determiners, then they head DPs • Pronouns have the same distribution as phrases such as the man: – The man/he drove to the shops – I saw the man/him in the car – I’ve heard about the man/him • Therefore these phrases must also be DPs Important Consequence Collapsing categories: subordinators and adverbs • Some subordinating particles behave exactly like adverbs • Obviously, he had gone • He, obviously, had gone • He had gone, obviously • However, he had gone • He, however, had gone • He had gone, however • There is no reason not to analyse these as adverbs Collapsing categories: subordinators and adverbs • Some subordinating particles don’t behave like adverbs • Obviously, he had gone • He, obviously, had gone • He had gone, obviously • ... that he had gone • * ... he that had gone • * ... he had gone that • These are clearly of a different category • We call them Complementisers Collapsing Categories: adverbs and adjectives • Many adverbs and adjectives have the same root: – obvious: obviously fast: fast great: greatly • Adverbs and adjectives are in complementary distribution – Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives modify nouns • They might be different subcategories of a general category of ‘modifier’ (often called A) Conclusion • So it seems that the number of categories we need to describe language is very small • Why is that? • Without a theory of categories, we can’t explain this. Different categories sometimes have things in common • Verbs and prepositions take ‘bare’ objects: – visited London – to London saw the man for the man shot him with him • Nouns and Adjectives take objects with ‘of’: – Picture of Mary – Fond of Mary growth of the trees mindful of the trees • How can we explain these facts if categories are completely unconnected? A theory of categories • We know that all categories fall into one of two main types • Functional • • • • Determiners Auxiliary verbs Complementisers Etc. • Thematic • • • • Nouns Verbs A (modifiers) Etc. A theory of categories • This suggests a ‘binary feature’ analysis – (like distinctive features in phonology: ±voice, ±long) • Suppose we assume a feature ±F – +F = Functional categories – -F = Thematic categories A theory of categories A theory of categories • But this still isn’t very restrictive • One way to restrict the system is to assume that all categories are defined by binary features • This would also account for similarities between different categories – Distinct categories can share one or more features A theory of categories • How many more binary features do we need? • Not too many!: – 1 feature = 2 categories – 2 features = 4 categories – 3 features = 8 categories – 4 features = 16 categories – 10 features = 1024 categories - not enough! - not enough! - perhaps - too many! - way too many! A theory of categories • Suppose we suggest two extra features: – ±N – ±V (things which are ‘nounlike’) (things which are ‘verblike’) • Assuming nouns and verbs to be opposites to each other we get: – Noun = [-F, +N, -V] – Verb = [-F, -N, +V] • This is supported by the fact that nouns and verbs share very little in common -F categories • There are two more –F categories: – [-F, +N, +V] – [-F, -N, -V] • The first seems appropriate for A – They modify both nouns and verbs – Adjectives are often used as nouns • The good, the bad and the ugly – In some languages adjectives are used as verbs – Nouns and adjectives don’t take bare objects -F categories • [-F, -N, -V] seems appropriate for prepositions: – Prepositions have no morphological properties • They can’t be tensed • They can’t be plural – Like verbs, they take bare objects (both are –N) -F categories • We predict the following possible categories • Some categories have some things in common • We also predict that there are no other thematic categories +F categories • The theory predicts four functional categories • These are the functional equivalents to: – Nouns – Verbs –A – Prepositions ([+F, +N, -V]) ([+F, -N, +V]) ([+F, +N, +V]) ([+F, -N, -V]) Functional equivalents • The most obvious functional nominal is the determiner – Determiner = [+F, +N, -V] • The most obvious functional verb is the auxiliary – Auxiliary = [+F, -N, +V] • Degree adverbs are similar to determiners in APs (the man : so tall) – Degree adverbs (Deg) = [+F, +N, +V] • Complementisers are similar to prepositions (both introduce arguments) – Complementisers = [+F, -N, -V] +F categories • We predict the following possible categories • We also predict that there are no other thematic categories A theory of categories Subcategories • The subcategories of a category are determined by what follows them – E.g. Verbs can be transitive (i.e. they are followed by an object) or intransitive (i.e. they are not followed by an object) • In other words, subcategories are determined by what appears in the complement position Complement Position Complement The complement of functional categories • The functional categories do not usually have subcategories – they almost always take the same complements – The complement of an auxiliary verb is always a VP • may [VP win the race] – The complement of a complementiser is always a sentence • that [he may win the race] The complement of functional categories – The complement of a degree adverb is always an AP • so [AP fond of chocolate] – The complement of a determiner is usually an NP • The [NP man from Brazil] The complements of thematic categories • Thematic categories can take various types of complement and so have a number of subcategories • Verbs can be followed by – A DP – A clause – A PP – An AP see [DP the news] think [ that he saw the news] react [PP to the news] feel [AP sorry] The complements of thematic categories • Prepositions can have the same range of complements as verbs, except for clauses – DP – PP – AP to [DP the west] from [PP under the bed] (range) from [AP heavy] to [AP medium] The complements of thematic categories • Nouns can have the same complements as verbs, except for DPs – Clauses – PP – AP belief [that he can fly] reaction [PP to the news] (his) feeling [AP ill] The complements of thematic categories • ‘A’s can take clausal and PP complements – Clause – PP likely [that he will fail] keen [PP on ice hockey] Conclusion • Heads determine the category of phrases – But there are only 8 categories of heads – So there can only be 8 different categories of phrases • Heads determine the category of their complements – Functional heads only take one type of complement – Thematic heads take more types of complement, but none of them are unrestricted • We still have a restricted theory of phrases