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Dorota Klimek-Jankowska • 1) • 2) • 3) John article an wrote. Planted a flower John. Julie tired is her job of. At some point in the process of the evolution our human brain developed a fascinating potential to produce and comprehend language thanks to which we know that sentences (1)-(3) are not grammatically correct. MENTAL GRAMMAR (LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE, UG- UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR A set of grammatical rules which are innate. This means that speakers of all natural languages are born with some mental computational device (grammar) responsible for language production and comprehension. MENTAL GRAMMAR consists of many abstract subsystems: - LEXICON, - PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL RULES - MORPHOLOGICAL RULES - SYNTACTIC RULES Today we focus on the SYNTACTIC COMPONENT of our mental grammar. The SYNTACTIC MODULE of our mental grammar is responsible for the generation of possible sentences in a language. It can be compared to a computer program which consists of a set of basic units/symbols and a set of rules which determine possible arrangements of the basic units. Let’s focus on an example of a formal grammar (similar to a very simple computer program). Our formal grammar consists of: A set of basic units/symbols A, B, C, D, S Rules that generate a possible structure out of these units: S A C this means that whenever S occurs it can be replaced by AC D B A this means that whenever D occurs it can be replaced by B A C B D this means that whenever C occurs it can be replaced by B D One symbol is chosen as the initial symbol: let it be S SAC DBA CBD Which of the following arrangements of symbols are possible according to these rules? PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR A formal grammar that generates the grammatical sentences of a language and captures native speaker’s knowledge of how words are grouped into phrases and how phrases are grouped into sentences PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR consists of: BASIC UNITS SYNTACTIC RULES • What are those basic units? • What are those syntactic rules? BASIC UNITS OF PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR: SYNTACTIC RULES: WHAT ARE THE RULES WHICH ALLOW US TO COMPUTE A GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE out of the basic lexical and functional categories? Before I answer this question, let’s revise the foundational facts about the structure of phrases. Words in a sentence are grouped together into phrases. Phrases are built around categories (nouns, verbs...). Nouns allow us to form NOUN PHRASES (NP) Adjectives allow us to form ADJECTIVE PHRASES (AP) Verbs allow us to form VERB PHRASES (VP) Prepositions allow us to form PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (PP) Those words around which phrases are built arecalled HEADS. HEADS are the only obligatory elements of each phrase. In English, phrases can optionally contain some material to the left e.g. often reads, the birds, almost inside. These elements to the left of the heads are called SPECIFIERS. English phrases can also optionally contain some material to their right e.g. read books, proud of John, students of mathematics. These elements to the right of a head function as COMPLEMENTS. We agreed that the structure of a Verb Phrase (VP) often read books looks as follows: We need an intermediate level V’ because the head + complement grouping is independent of the sepcifier In other words, read books is independent of often. Does John read books? In fact, he often does. (does replaces read books) The tree in Table 1 B is a schematic representation of the structure of a verb phrase often read books. What are the syntactic RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? VP (Q) V’ V’ V (NP) The only obligatory element of a verb phrase is a head - a verb. Brackets indicate that the qualifier in the specifier position and the noun phrase in the complement position are optional: John (often) reads, John read (books), John reads These rules which determine the structure of phrases are called PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES. PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES FOR A VERB PHRASE (VP): VP (Q) V’ V’ V (NP) It is important to note that these formal representations of phrase structures and rules are not just notations used by linguists but they are formal represenations of biological linguistic phenomena which are psychologically real (really happen in our brain/mind and allow us to learn and process language). Linguistics is an empirical science just like physics – physicists observe real phenomena like for instance riding a bike or flying or apples falling down from the apple trees (Newton) and they use their intuitions and reasoning to understand the hidden rules which underly the observed phenomena and once they understand the rules, they create formal representations which are clear, simple and unambiguous. Apart from Verb Phrases (VPs) we also have: Noun Phrases (NPs): these books about dogs Prepositional Phrases (PPs): right under the table Adjective Phrases (APs): very afraid of spiders What are the structures of these phrases? The structure of the Noun Phrase looks as follows: We need an intermediate level N’ because the head + complement (books about dogs) forms a unit which is independent of the sepcifier (these). Which books about dogs have you read? I’ve read these ones. (ones replaces books about dogs) What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? NP (Det) N’ N’ N (PP) The only obligatory element of a noun phrase is a head that is a noun. Brackets indicate that the determiner in the specifier position and the prepositional phrase in the complement position are optional: books about dogs, these books, books When there is no specifier or complement in a phrase it is marked as Ø . The structure of the Prepositional Phrase looks as follows: Prepositional Phrases (PPs): right under the table We need an intermediate level P’ because the head + complement (under the table) forms a unit which is independent of the specifier (right). Is my book under the table? Yes, it is right there. (there replaces under the table) What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? PP (Int) P’ P’ P (NP) The only obligatory element of a prepositional phrase is a head that is a preposition. Brackets indicate that the intensifier in the specifier position and the noun phrase in the complement position are optional: right under, under the table The structure of the Adjectival Phrase looks as follows: Adjective Phrases (Aps): very afraid of spiders What are the syntactic PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES which allow us to compute this PHRASE STRUCTURE? AP (Int) A’ A’ A (PP) The only obligatory element of an adjectival phrase is a head that is an adjective. Brackets indicate that the intensifier in the specifier position and the prepositional phrase in the complement position are optional: very afraid, afraid of dogs We know enough about Phrase Structure to make some deeper generalisations. We have learned that every phrasal category contains at least one element. Every VP must contain at least a verb, Every NP must contain at least a noun, Every PP must contain at least a preposition. These obligatory elements are called HEADS of the phrases. We can use a variable X (just like in mathematics) which will stand for all HEADS (adjectival, prepositional, verbal, noun HEADS). Using this variable, we can name the whole phrase as XP. We can state a generalisation: Every XP (phrase) must contain an X (a head) What else can a phrase contain? Each phrase contains an intermediate level X’ which separates hierarchically a Specifier (Spec) and a HEAD + Complement (Compl) grouping. This basically means that all phrases pattern in exactly the same way in our brain. This also means we can use a universal phrase structure for all phrases: The phrasal rules which are innately encoded in the brains of human beings (we are born with them) can be schematically represented as follows: XP (Spec) X’ X’ X (Compl) The theory according to which we can represent all phrases using a uniform structure and uniform phrase structure rules is called the X’-theory (x-bar theory) Conclusion: The phrase structure rules XP (Spec) X’ and X’ X (Compl) are part of a speaker’s linguistic competence, the mental knowledge of grammar. They are part of UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (the innate Language Acquisition Device) shared by all human beings. Implications: 1) These simple rules allows us to determine which sentences of English are grammatical and which are not. 2) These simple rules distinguish us from monkeys and other living creatures. 3) These simple rules explain why all children all over the world, independently of their IQ levels, learn a language quickly in spite of the limited linguistic input they are exposed to. Children use those inborn syntactic rules to make correct generalisations about language. • Recursive nature of grammar (sentences can be in principle never-ending): My mum said that Mary thinks that Bill is aware of the fact that what I found in his room under the carpet in a tiny box under a symbol of a rose …..was a Christmas present for Sue which she asked for in her letter to a Santa Claus…. • It is because rules can be embedded recursively within one another for example: Imagine we have the following rules • A BC • C DA The structure of simple sentences We’ve learned enough about the structure of phrases. How do phrases group together to form grammatical sentences? Which phrases do the following simple sentences consist of? [The man]NP [saw [the thief]NP]VP. He saw the thief. Yes, he did. The man saw him. • [John]NP [is [proud [of [his sister]NP ]PP]AP]VP. More about verbs: Verbs can be clasified according to how many complements they occur with: intransitive verbs lack complements: sleep, jump, wink, smile John slept/ jumped/ winked/ smiled. transitive verbs occur with one complement: read a book, eat a sandwich, ride a bike, drive a car John read a book/ ate a sandwich/ rode a bike/ drove a car. diatransitive verbs occur with two complements: give money to John, thraw a ball to Mary John gave money to John. John threw a ball to Mary.