* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Syntax (LANE-334)
Old Norse morphology wikipedia , lookup
Lithuanian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Ukrainian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Arabic grammar wikipedia , lookup
Udmurt grammar wikipedia , lookup
Macedonian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Zulu grammar wikipedia , lookup
Old Irish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Kannada grammar wikipedia , lookup
Navajo grammar wikipedia , lookup
Japanese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Modern Greek grammar wikipedia , lookup
Lexical semantics wikipedia , lookup
Malay grammar wikipedia , lookup
Modern Hebrew grammar wikipedia , lookup
Swedish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Georgian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Old English grammar wikipedia , lookup
French grammar wikipedia , lookup
English clause syntax wikipedia , lookup
Portuguese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Greek grammar wikipedia , lookup
Chinese grammar wikipedia , lookup
Esperanto grammar wikipedia , lookup
Icelandic grammar wikipedia , lookup
Russian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Scottish Gaelic grammar wikipedia , lookup
Latin syntax wikipedia , lookup
Italian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Turkish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Serbo-Croatian grammar wikipedia , lookup
Yiddish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Spanish grammar wikipedia , lookup
Polish grammar wikipedia , lookup
King Abdulaziz University Department of European Languages & Literature Syntax (LANE-334) Chapter 2 Constituents Dr. Abdulrahman Alqurashi 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 1 Words How do we identify word boundaries? e.g. Johnhastwobrothersandonesister. • It is our linguistic competence which allows us to do that. • linguistic competence is the linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language. • e.g. John-has-two-brothers-and-one-sister. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 2 Word Classes Word classes in English are: • • • • • • • • Nouns Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Prepositions Pronouns Determiners Conjunctions 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 3 Nouns Subtypes • Count noun = (it can be counted. e.g. one chair, two chairs ) • Mass noun = ( it is uncountable. e.g. *one furniture, * two furnitures) ********* • Common noun = ( it can be modified by a determiner. e.g. the chair, the boy, these books) • Proper noun = ( it can not be modified by a determiner. e.g. *The Ahmad is writing, *The Jeddah is a beautiful city) 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 4 Nouns Forms: • Singular (e.g. The teacher is teaching his child) • Plural (e.g. The teachers are teaching their children) Grammatical functions: • Subject (e.g. Ahmad wrote a book) • Object (e.g. Ahmad met Ali yesterday) 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 5 Noun Phrases The noun is the head of the noun phrase. • The head is the central element (non-omissible) of the phrase. • For example: • [NP The teacher ] = [NP teacher ] • [NP The math teacher ] = [NP teacher ] • [NP The good math teacher ] = [NP teacher ] 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 6 Noun Phrases Elements before the head: • The head noun can be preceded by a determiner or an adjective. a Determiner can be: • a definite article such as the • an indefinite article such as a and an. • a possessor pronoun such as his , her, their, our, my, your and its. • a demonstrative pronoun such as this , that, these and those. • a numeral such as one, two, three …. • an item like some, any, each, every, all, both, half, many, much , which and whose 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 7 Noun Phrases Determiners are specifiers because they specify what person or thing is indicated by (or referred to by) the NP. Determiner = grammatical category Specifier = grammatical function • Examples: • [a student], [ the student] • [his book] , [their books] • [this car], [these cars] • [two boys], [all girls], [some girls] Items like some, any, each, every, all, both, half, many, much are known as quantifiers 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 8 Noun Phrases Determiners may be: • Predeterminers (e.g. half, all , both) • Central determiners (e.g. the, a, my, that , this …) • Postdeterminers (numerals such as two, three, …) Determiners predeterminers central determiners postdeterminers • e.g. [ NP Both the two students] passed the exam. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 9 Noun Phrases Elements before the head: • The head noun can also be preceded by an adjective. Adjectives are modifiers because they modify the head noun. • Examples: • [smart boy] , [easy job] , [expensive book] Adjectives which precede the nouns are called premodifiers and they follow determiners NP determiners 2014 pre-modifiers KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 NOUN 10 Noun Phrases Elements after the head: • The head noun can also be followed by other elements such as relative clauses. Elements that follow the nouns are called postmodifiers. • Examples: • [NP The car [ which you bought]] is stolen • [NP The tall man [ with the red hair]] entered the room. NP determiners pre-modifiers NOUN 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 post-modifiers 11 Personal pronouns Plural Possessive Possessive determiner pronoun reflexive First person I me my mine myself Second person you you your yours yourself Masculine he him his his himself Feminine she her her hers herself Neutral it it its its itself First person we us our ours ourselves Second person you you your yours yourselves Third person they them their theirs themselves Third person Singular Subject Object 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 12 Personal pronouns A pronoun can be linked with another NP in the sentence or outside the sentence. Pronouns are referential. • e.g. Ahmad met Khaled at the university. He gave him a book. The noun Ahmad and the pronoun he are co-referential. The noun Khaled and the pronoun him are co-referential • e.g. Ahmad met him at the university. The noun Ahmad and the pronoun him are not co-referential. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 13 Personal pronouns Possessive determiners precede the noun (they must be followed by a noun). • e.g. I like my car very much. • e.g. * I like my very much. Possessive pronouns can be used to replace a complete noun phrase (NP). • e.g. This is your car. [NP My car] is there. • e.g. This is your car. Mine is there. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 14 Verbs Main verbs or lexical verbs e.g. (go, read, buy, travel , … etc.) Auxiliaries (AUX) or helping verbs e.g. (is, are, was, has, have, had, will , … etc.) Grammatical functions: Predicate • A predicate might be a single word or a group of words. • e.g. Ahmad left. • e.g. Ahmad will leave. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 15 Verbs Forms: Main verbs and auxiliaries can have different forms depending on the following: Tense • Past e.g. Omar wrote a book last year. • Present e.g. Omar writes a book every year. • Future e.g. Omar will write a book next year. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 16 Verbs Agreement In many languages, verbs agree with their subjects. Examples: • (The man / he / the lady / she ) is sleeping. • (The men / they / you ) are sleeping. • (The man / he / the lady / she ) teaches English. • (The men / they / you ) teach English. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 17 Modal auxiliaries or Modals: (e.g. will - would, can - could, may-might , shall, must) Examples: • Omar will meet the king. • He said that he would meet the king. • you can speak English • you could speak English • It may rain today. • It might rain • The students should come early to the class. • The students must study hard to pass the exam. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 18 Other types of auxiliaries • There are auxiliary verbs which are not models such as: • • • have- has - had be (am, is, are, was, were) do - does – did Primary auxiliaries are used to indicate the aspect and the voice of the sentence. They can also be used as main verbs. Aspect: A term typically used to denote the duration of the activity described by a verb (i.e.whether the activity is ongoing or completed) Perfect Aspect Indicated by the auxiliary verb have + past participle form: • e.g. Mary has taken the medicine. • e.g. I have taken my medicine. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 19 Primary Auxiliary Progressive Aspect (in progress activity) Indicated by the presence of the auxiliary be + main verb-ing such as: • Mary is taking the medicine. • Mary was taking the medicine when John entered the room. Voice: A term refers to whether a sentence or a clause is ACTIVE or PASSIVE. Active Voice: • e.g. The thieves stole the jewels. Passive Voice • e.g. The jewels were stolen by the thieves. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 20 Verb phrases (VP) The verb is the head of the verb phrase. • e.g. The student passed the exam. • e.g. [S [NP The student] passed [NP the exam]]. Is the verb passed constitute a verb phrase? • No. • Clefting and fronting suggest that the verb passed is not a constituent as shown below: • * It is passed that the student the exam. • * Passed the student the exam. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 21 Verb phrases (VP) Pseudo-cleting shows that the passed the exam is a constituent as shown below: • what the student did was pass the exam. • [S [NP The student] [VP passed [NP the exam]]]. The NP [the exam] is a part of the VP. It completes the meaning of the verb passed. The NP [the exam] is called a complement of the verb passed. Complements are those elements presence is syntactically required. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 whose 22 Verb phrases (VP) Verb Complements • • • • • • Consider the following: Intransitive verb The boy laughed. The verb laughed takes no complement. VP V The story was interesting. Copula verb The verb was requires the AdjP [interesting ] as its complement. VP V AdjP Ahmad finished the course. Monotransitive verb The verb finished takes the NP [the course] as its complement. VP V NP 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 23 Verb phrases (VP) Verb Complements Ditransitive verb He told the girl an interesting story. • The verb told requires two complements: the NP [the girl ] and the NP [an interesting story]. • VP V NP NP Complex transitive verb He called him stupid. • The verb called requires two complements: the NP [him] and the AdjP [stupid ] • VP V NP AdjP Intransitive verb He drove towards the mountains. • drove requires the PP [towards the mountains] as its complement. • VP V PP 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 24 Verb phrases (VP) Verb Complements Transitive verb The boy put the cup on the table. • The verb put requires two complements: the NP [the cup] and the PP [on the table]. • VP V NP PP A verb subcategorizes for a certain type of complements (i.e. a verb occurs inside a certain frame and must be followed by certain classes of categories). 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 25 Verb phrases (VP) Subcategorization frames for verbs: Head Complements Verb types Verbs like laugh, sleep, ------- Intransitive Verbs like is , are AdjP , NP or PP Copula Verbs like say ,… NP or S Monotransitive Verbs like told , send, … NP+ NP or NP + PP Ditransitive Verbs like call NP + AdjP or NP Complex transitive Verbs like move, lean PP Intransitive Verbs like put NP - PP Transitive 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 26 Verb phrases (VP) Verb Complements are obligatory. Adjuncts are optional. Adjuncts e.g. The boy put the cup on the table last night. • The verb put requires two complements: the NP the cup and the PP on the table . What about [last night ] ? • It is optional. The verb does not require [last night ] as its complement. It is called an adjunct. Adjuncts are those elements whose presence is syntactically optional. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 27 Verb phrases (VP) Auxiliaries precede main verbs in certain order: tense models perfect progressive passive main verb suffix Ø may have been ----- work _ing _ed could have ------ been stole _n • e.g. She may have been working in the garden. • e.g. My car could have been stolen. What is the grammatical function of auxiliaries? They are specifiers. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 28 Adjectives Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. For example: • Ahmad is smart. • He is smart. Adjectives may have different forms depending on the degree of quality they express: (base > comparative > superlative) • Mary is nice, Philip is nicer, but James is the nicest. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 29 Adjectives Longer adjectives cannot be graded by adding -er, -est to the base. We must add more and most before the adjective to form comparative and superlative like e.g. : • She is ambitious, • She is more ambitious than her sister • She is the most ambitious student in the first year. There are also irregular degree of comparison such as: • good > better > best ----- bad > worse > worst • little > less > least 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 30 Adverbs Adverbs modify verbs. Adverbs may have corresponding adjectives and they are formed by adding -ly For example: • kind (Adj) > kindly (Adv). • beautiful (Adj) > beautifully (Adv). There are other adverbs which have no corresponding adjectives like : • e.g. soon, well, then, there , fast , now. Some elements can be both adverbs and adjectives such as early, fast, hard and late. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 31 Adverbs Like adjectives, adverbs may have different forms depending on the degree of quality they express: (base > comparative > superlative) • early > earlier > earliest. • slowly > more slowly > most slowly 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 32 Adjective phrases (AdjP) Adjectives are Heads of adjective phrases. An adjective may be preceded by an adverb phrase which specifies it. • e.g. Ahmad is[AdjP [AdvP [Adv very ]] [Adj smart ]]. An adjective may also be followed by a PP or a S which serves as a complement. • e.g. Ahmad is [AdjP [ Adj worried ][PP about the future]]. • e.g. Mary is[AdjP [Adj afraid] [S that she might die]]. e.g. Mary is[AdjP [AdvP [Adv extremely] [Adj afraid] [S that she might die]]. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 33 Adjective phrases (AdjP) Function Specifier Head Complements Category (AdvP ) adjective PP / S [Adj handsome] [Adj worried] [Adj afraid] -----[PP about his future] [S that she might die] [AdvP very] Examples [AdvP extremely] [AdvP extremely] Adjective phrases may occur as a Premodifier (adjunct) inside a NP or as Predicative complement inside VP: • He likes [NP the [AdjP German] [N girl] ] • Her voice [VP was [AdjP very soft]] • She [VP is [AdjP afraid that she might die]] 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 34 Adverb phrases (AdvP) Adverbs are Heads of adverb phrases. An adverb may be preceded by another adverb which specifies it. • e.g. Ahmad came [AdvP [AdvP [Adv very ] ] [Adv soon ]]. Adverb phrases may occur inside a VP or an AdjP • He [VP left [AdvP [AdvP [Advvery] ] [Adv early] ] ] • She is [AdjP [ AdvP [Adv typically] ] [ Adj British] ] 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 35 Adverb phrases (AdvP) Function Specifier Head Category (AdvP ) adverb [AdvP very] [Adv recently] [Adv typically] [Adv slowly] Examples 2014 [AdvP extremely] KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 36 Prepositional Phrases (PP) Prepositions function as the Head of a PP. Prepositions may consist of: • only one word like e.g. on, at, in, over, under, inside, outside, … etc. • or more than one word like e.g. in relation to , with respect to , because of , in favour of , in aid of Prepositions can be followed by some elements which are called prepositional complements like: • [PP [P in] [NP the corner] ]] • [PP [P with ] [NP red hair] ]] • [PP [P about ] [NP this topic] ]] 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 37 Prepositional Phrases (PP) Prepositions can be preceded by some element which are called specifiers like: • • [PP [ AdvP [Adv right]] [P on ] [NP the spot]] [PP [AdvP [Adv straight ]] [P through ] [NP the wall] PPs may occur within other phrases such as VPs , NPs. • e.g. He [VP met her [PP at the entrance]]. • e.g. [NP the noise [ PP in the room]] 2014 Function Specifiers Head Complements Category AdvP / NP Preposition NP Examples [AdvP straight] [NP two minutes] [P before] [NP his arrival] KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 38 Conjunctions Conjunctions serve to link sentences/clauses, or phrases. Conjunctions can be subdivided into: Coordinators like e.g. and, or, but , for … etc. • a) John got up and walked out. • b) Not Paul, but Bill failed his finals. • c) We had to hurry, for we were late. Subordinators like e.g. when, before, that, if, because ,although , so that, as soon as … etc. • a) The snake killed the rat before it swallowed it. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 39 Conjunctions • b) He didn’t go, because he felt ill. • c) They came back early, in order that they could see the film on TV. A subordinator is referred to as Complementiser because it appears in COMP position. Coordinators appear between two clauses whereas subordinators are parts of the subordinate clauses. As a result, subordinators can be fronted but not coordinators: • • a) Before it swallowed it, the snake killed the rat. b) * And it swallowed it, the snake killed the rat. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 40 Clauses and sentences Sentences are used to give information (Declarative sentences) or to ask for information (interrogative sentences). Interrogative sentences may be: Yes/ no question • They are used to ask for the answer yes or no. • They are introduced by an auxiliary. • e.g. Do you like swimming? Wh-question • They are used to ask for a specific information (e.g. time, reason, thing, place, ...) 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 41 Clauses and sentences Wh-question • They are used to ask for a specific information (e.g. thing, time, reason, place, ...). • They are often introduced by a wh-word (what, where, when and which) or by a word like how. Examples: • What did she say? • When did she go? • Where did she go? • How did she get to know you? 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 42 Clauses and sentences Declarative sentences are used to make statements. They may be: Simple sentences are those that normally contain one statement. • e.g. Ahmad works in the airport. (Main clause) Compound sentences are those which contain two or more clauses of equal status joined by a coordinator (and, or , but). • e.g. [[ The snake killed the rat] and [ it swallowed it]]. (Main clause) (Main clause) • [ S1 [S2 ] coord [S3] ]. Complex sentences are those which contain two or more clauses that are not equally balanced ( i.e. one main clause + one or two subordinate clauses). 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 43 Clauses and sentences Examples: • [S1 I knew [S2 that the snake killed the rat.]] • [S1 The snake killed the rat [S2 before it swallowed it.]] • [S1 The policeman ask me [S2 what I had seen there]] (main clause) (subordinate clause) • [ S1 [S2 subord ] ] A clause is a group of words that contain a verb. A clause may be a part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself. A main clauses is the one that makes sense on its own. A subordinate clause depends on the main clause for its meaning. It cannot stand alone. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 44 Clauses and sentences Complementizers and COMP position Elements such as that, whether, if and for , etc are called complementizers and they occupy COMP position. • [ S They know [CP [comp that ] [S the snake killed the rat.]]] • [ S They asked [CP [comp whether ] [S they might go home early]]] • [ S They asked [CP [comp if ] [S they can go home]]] • [ S The asked [CP [comp why ] [S the snake killed the rat.]]] 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 45 Clauses and sentences Complementizers and COMP position S NP PRN VP V CP C They They They They 2014 S know the cat killed the rat asked if they can go home asked whether they can go home asked why the cat killed the rat KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 46 Clauses and sentences Finite and nonfinite clauses Finite VPs are those which are marked for tense (past or present). Finite clause is a clause that contains an auxiliary or nonauxiliary verb and have a nominative subject like I /we / he / she / they. For example, compare the two bracketed clauses in: • (i) What if [people annoy her]? • (ii) Don’t let [people annoy her] • In (i), we can have a nominative pronoun like they in the subject position instead of people • In (ii), the subject people cannot be replaced by a nominative pronoun like they (only by an accusative pronoun like them) 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 47 Clauses and sentences • (iii) What if [they annoy her]? • (iv) Don’t let [them/(*they) annoy her] (Finite) (Nonfinite) Nonfinite forms include: a). Infinitive forms like: • e.g. [John believes [the prisoner to be innocent]] • (Finite) (Non-finite) b). –ing / -ed participle forms like: • e.g. [I saw [Mary leaving]] • (Finite) (Non-finite) • e.g. [I found [all the seats occupied]] • (Finite) (Non-finite) 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 48 Word order Consider the following: Oxford – recently – graduated – John – form a) John graduated from Oxford recently. b) Recently John graduated from Oxford. c) From Oxford John graduated recently. d) From Oxford John recently graduated. e) John recently graduated from Oxford. Consider also the following: a) John died. b) * died John. English has Subject- verb (SV) word order. Arabic, for example, has both SV and VS word order. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 49 What to do next week Read chapter 3. Prepare for your quiz. See you next lecture. 2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 50