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Syntax IV
November 20, 2009
Wrap-up
• Let’s check out the remaining practice sentences…
• One note on syntactic abbreviations:
• The triangle notation
Check This Out
1. A phrase structure rule for NPs looks like:
•
NP  Det N’
•
(Det = the Specifier)
2. And a PP can be a complement of a head noun:
•
N’  N PP
3. And an NP can be a complement of a prepositional
phrase:
•
•
PP  (Deg) P’
•
P’  P NP
Where can this combination of rules take us?
Whoa, Nellie
• There is a possibility for infinite recursion.
• NP  Det N PP
• NP  Det N P NP
• NP  Det N P Det N PP
• NP  Det N P Det N P NP
• NP  Det N P Det N P Det N PP, etc.
• Example: the book from the library in the city near the
airport beside the apartment complex with the
playground of the children from the school behind the
train tracks...
• The fact that our grammar can generate phrases like
this is why we need to know patterns of patterns.
More Patterns of Patterns
•
Awhile back, we heard about potentially infinite
sentences that sounded like:
•
Jean knows that Charlie said that Sue suspects that
Bill thinks that Beth hopes that Barry is a genius.
•
•
Or:
In order to understand the (potentially infinite)
structure of sentences like these, we need to know
more about:
1. Sentence structure
2. Verb complements
Sentences
• The basic phrase types include:
• NP, VP, AP, PP
• A basic sentence is an “inflectional phrase” (IP).
• The head of the IP is the tense of the verb.
• I = INFL = inflection = [past], [future], [present], etc.
• The specifier of the IP is the subject NP.
• The complement of the I is a VP.
• If that complement is an NP, then it is called the
object of the verb.
• Note: verbs have lots of different complement options.
IP
Det
Sentence Structure
NP
I’
N’
I
VP
N
[+past]
V’
the
NP
coach
Note: the V in the VP must
agree in tense with the I
tense marker.
V
Det
dropped
the
N’
N
ball
IP
Det
Sentence Structure
NP
I’
N’
I
VP
N
will
V’
the
NP
coach
• Note: Auxiliaries show up in
the I slot.
• (Verbs after auxiliaries don’t
display tense)
V
Det
drop
the
N’
N
ball
A Note on Tenses
• There are only two tenses in English that are marked
without an auxiliary preceding the verb:
• past
[+past]
• = dropped, ran, sang, watched, lost, etc.
• present
[-past]
• = drop/drops, run/runs, sing/sings, watch/watches, etc.
• For this class, if there is an auxiliary verb in the I slot, it is
not necessary to put an explicit tense marker there.
• Otherwise, choose between [+past] and [-past].
IP
Det
Sentence Terminology
NP
I’
N’
I
VP
N
will
V’
the
NP
coach
V
• The subject of a sentence (in
drop
English) is:
• the NP specifier of the
sentence IP.
Det
N’
the
N
ball
IP
Det
Sentence Terminology
NP
I’
N’
I
VP
N
will
V’
the
NP
coach
• The object of a sentence (in
English) is:
• an NP complement of the
main VP.
V
Det
drop
the
N’
N
ball
English Case Marking
• The form of some English pronouns changes, depending
on whether they are subjects or objects.
• For Example:
I know you.
You know me.
He knows them.
They know him.
We know her.
She knows us.
• But word order is still constrained:
*Her know we.
*Them knows he.
Subject/Object Marking
• In other languages, subjects and objects are specified by
morphological inflections on nouns.
• Example: Russian case marking
ja tita-ju
I
knig-u
read-1st pers-sing. book-object
alternate order : ja knig-u tita-ju
alternate order: knig-u ja tita-ju
• knig-a
byla
v
book-subject was in
komnat-e
room-object
“The book was in the room.”
“I read the book.”
Potential Problems
• There are some limitations on the extent to which the
syntactic rules can ignore the specific words that fit into
each phrase.
• Example (from last week’s Quick Write):
• Is it possible to “dance a horse”?
Sub-categorization
• It turns out that it is necessary to break lexical categories
down further, into sub-categories.
• For instance, some verbs must be followed by a noun
phrase:
I devoured the sandwich.
*I devoured.
I met the teacher.
*I met.
• Other verbs must not be followed by a noun phrase:
I sprinted.
*I sprinted the ball.
I slept.
*I slept the dog.
I danced.
*I danced the horse.
Verb Sub-Category #1
• Intransitive Verbs (Vi): must not be followed by an NP
• = they do not take an object NP as a complement.
• VP  Vi
•  *VP  Vi NP
• Examples: sneeze, sprint, fall, elapse, snorkel
• Good: The boy slept.
• Bad: *The boy slept the dog.
• Good: The girl fell.
• Bad: *The girl fell the dog.
Verb Sub-Category #2
• Transitive Verbs (Vt): must be followed by an NP
• = they must take an object NP as a complement.
• VP  Vt NP
•  *VP  Vt
• Examples: devour, defy, harm, invite
• Good: The children harmed the dog.
• Bad: *The children harmed.
• Good: The zombies invited the vampires.
• Bad: *The zombies invited.
Verb Sub-Category #3
• Ditransitive Verbs (Vdt): must be followed by two objects
• = either two NPs or a combination of {NP, PP}.
• VP  Vdt NP NP
•  *VP  Vt
• Examples: give, sell, send, put
• Good: The boy gave the dog a bone.
• Bad: *?The boy gave the dog.
• Good: The students sold the professor a chew toy.
• Bad: *?The students sold the professor.
• Alternative: The students sold a chew toy to the professor.
A + N Sub-categories
• Adjectives and nouns can have complement requirements,
too--often for particular PPs:
Mary is fond of John.
*Mary is fond.
*Mary is fond by John.
• Some nouns require specific prepositional phrases:
George talked about our reliance on oil.
*George talked about our reliance.
*George talked about our reliance for oil.
• This information has to be included in the lexicon for each
word.
Verb Sub-Category #4
• Sentential Verbs (Vs):
• = include a sentence in their complement.
• Examples: know, believe, wonder, think…
• Marge thinks that [Homer ate the cake]IP.
• Don wondered whether [Sidney scored a goal]IP.
• Phoebe believed that [Chandler married Monika]IP.
• Gandalf knew if [Frodo had the ring]IP.
• Notice that the sentence in the VP complement is always
preceded by a funny kind of word:
• that, whether, if…
Complementizer Phrases
• New lexical category: complementizers (C).
• Ex: if, that, whether
• Complementizers function as the heads of
complementizer phrases. (CPs)
• The complement of the CP is another IP (sentence).
• Ex: Marge thinks [that [Homer ate the cake]IP]CP.
• Matrix clause = highest-level sentence
• “Marge thinks…”
• Complement, or embedded clause = within the CP
• “Homer ate the cake.”
matrix clause
IP
NP
I’
Marge I
[-past]
VP
V’
CP
V
C’
thinks C
that
embedded clause
IP
NP
I’
Homer
I
VP
[+past] V’
CP Example
V
NP
ate
the cake
Infinite Recursion, part 2
• It is possible to create infinitely long sentences by
embedding complementizer clauses within
complementizer clauses…
• John said [that Mary thought [that Robin knew [that
Angela hoped [that Quinton wished [that Bronwen
believed that…]]]]]
• VP  V CP
V CP
• CP  C IP
V C IP
• IP  NP VP
V C NP VP
• VP  V CP
V C NP V CP
• etc.
Infinite Recursion, part 3
• There is one other (very boring) way to produce
inifinitely long sentences in language:
• I like baseball and basketball and hockey and
football and soccer and rugby and cricket and
ultimate frisbee and polo and lacrosse….
• Sentences like this take advantage of the syntactic
phenomenon of coordination.
• Coordination combines phrases or words of the same
type with a conjunction (and, but, or…)
• to create a phrase or word of the same type.
• General coordination rule: Xn  Xn Con Xn
Coordination Examples
• NP  NP and NP
NP  The fat man and the little boy
• VP  VP or VP
VP  fish or cut bait
• IP IP but IP
IP  Ringo plays drums but Paul plays bass.
• Coordination of individual words works the same way:
• P  P and P
• She went [[above]P and [beyond]P]P the call of duty.
Ambiguity
• Coordination can lead to a very simple kind of
structural ambiguity.
•  I like green eggs and ham.
• Interpretation #1: just the eggs are green.
• I like [[green eggs]NP and [ham]NP]NP.
• Interpretation #2: both the eggs and ham are green.
• I like [green [[eggs]N’ and [ham]N’]NP.
• Let’s check out the trees…
Interpretation #1
• Only the eggs are green:
IP
I’
NP
Pro
I
I
VP
[-past]
V’
V
NP
like
NP
Con
NP
AP
N’
and
ham
green N
eggs
Interpretation #2
• Both the eggs and ham are green:
IP
I’
NP
Pro
I
I
VP
[-past]
V’
V
like
NP
AP
N’
green N’
Con
N’
N
and
N
eggs
ham
Further Ambiguity
• Let’s try another one:
• The police shot the terrorists with rifles.
• Why is this sentence is ambiguous?
• (How can you describe the ambiguity, structurally?)
• Interpretation #1: the terrorists have rifles.
• [with rifles] is a PP embedded in the object NP.
• Interpretation #2: the police have rifles.
• [with rifles] is a PP that modifies the main VP.
• Let’s check out some more trees…
Interpretation #1
IP
I’
NP
the police
I
VP
[+past]
V’
V
shot
NP
the
In this one, the terrorists
have the rifles.
N’
Det
N
PP
terrorists
P’
P
NP
with
rifles
Interpretation #2
IP
I’
NP
the police
I
VP
[+past]
V’
V
shot
In this one, the police are
using the rifles to shoot
the terrorists.
PP
P’
NP
Det
N’
P
NP
the
N
with
rifles
terrorists
The PP is a modifier of the VP
here, not a complement.
= it’s not required by the verb.