linguistics -syntax
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The Sentence Patterns of Language
By: Steffany Villanueva
SYNTAX
Grammar Mental representation of a
speaker’s linguistical competence What a speaker knows about the
language, including its phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and lexicon
BEFORE YOU GET CONFUSED…
Syntax The rules of sentence formation. The component of the mental
grammar that represents speakers’ knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentence.
BEFORE YOU GET CONFUSED…
σύν syn, "together", and τάξις táxis, "an ordering“
arrangement
Refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any
individual languagestructure (word order)
SYNTAX
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
nonsense, but grammatically correct.
Chief swore President the Justice the in new
Sequence is made up of meaningful wordsDOES IT MAKE SENSE?
Chief swore president the justice the in new.
Every sentence is a sequence of wordsBut not every sequence of words is a sentence.
Chief swore president the justice the in new.
Determined by rules shared by the speakers of a languageExample:
WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS BASED ON
Determined by rules shared by the speakers of a languageExample:
Jack and Jill ran the hill up.
WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS BASED ON
I am proud to be my mother
Vicente believes to be a gentleman
Joana ate the baby
Not based on what is taught in school but on the rules constructed unconsciously as children
Children acquire most of the syntactic rules of their language even before learning to read.
Does not depend on having heard the sentence before.Example:
Enormous crickets in pink socks danced at the
prom.
WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS
NOT BASED ON
Does not depend on the truth of the sentenceIf it did, lying would be impossible.
Example:
Does not depend on the truth of the sentenceIf it did, lying would be impossible.
Example:
I look like Jessy Mendiola.
WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS NOT BASED ON
Constituent- (phrase) is a group of words which “belong together” in a sentence. Ability to stand
alone.
COMPONENTS
String – group of words is constituent or not
A. Proform test- stands for contituents already mentioned.
E.g. pronouns (which replace NPs; she/him/they etc). Other proforms: somewhere, do so, there).
Examples:a. The lady running the group handed in her resignation
at noon.b. She handed in her resignation. [→ The lady running
the group is a constituent]
CONSTITUENTSTESTS
A string is a constituent if you can ask about it using a wh-expression (e.g. where/how/when/why/what/who(m); with whom?, at what time?, in whose house?). The answer to the question is also a constituent.
Ex.A: What did the lady running the group hand in at noon? B: Her resignation.
A: Who handed in her resignation at noon? B: The lady running the group
A: When did the lady running the group hand in her resignation? B: At noon
B. QUESTION TEST
If a string can be moved to some other position in the sentence, it is very likely to be a constituent.
a. Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on the balcony on Sunday.
b. b. On Sunday, Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on the balcony.
c. On the balcony, Egbert was reading a thick book about formal logic on Sunday.
d. Egbert was reading on the balcony on Sunday a thick book about formal logic.
C. MOVEMENT TEST
If you can coordinate two strings (i.e. join them together using conjunctions (e.g. and, or)), the
strings are constituents
a. I went to the post office to post a letter. b. I went to the post office to post a letter and did
the shopping. c. I did the shopping and went to the post office
to post a letter.
D. COORDINATION TEST
NOUN PHRASEa. the woman; a big tree; this coffee, our
existenceb. a (famous) singer (of exceptional talent) (who
got run over by a truck) c. a (renowned) expert (on indigenous Australian
music) (from Brisbane) d. the (most important) representatives (of
workers' interests) (at the conference)
PHRASES
Ex. . Her mother READ A BOOK
a. (suddenly) died (of cancer) (at a young age) b. (blindly) rely on the advice of a counsellor c. (often) called him a maladjusted sociopath d. (quickly) give Basil the key e. (often) eats (dinner) (in the kitchen)
VERB PHRASE
The three main types: spatial PPs (expressing places or directions, as in ), temporal PPs (expressing times,) and
other PPs expressing more abstract meanings
a. [PP near [NP the fireplace]] b. [PP towards [NP the building]] c. [PP after [NP the discussion]] d. [PP in [NP the evening]] e. [PP of [NP her parents]] f. [PP despite [NP the situation]]
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
A. S = NP VPB. NP= (Det)(Adj) N (PP)C. PP= P NPD. VP= V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
Ambiguity (Double Meaning)Example:We need more (intelligent leaders). (more of intelligent leaders) We need (more intelligent) leaders. (leaders that are more intelligent)
Grammatical Relations and how they are understoodEx. Mary hired Bill.
Bill hired Mary.Bill was hired by Mary.
ABOUT SYNTAX?
The TREE DIAGRAMRoot (entire sentence)
Leaves (individual words)
Hierarchical structure (groupings)
Constituent structures
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
the child found the puppy
the child found the puppy
the child found the puppy
the puppy
A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality
Ex. The child found the puppy.Your neighbor found the puppy.This yellow cat found the puppy.He found the puppy.
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES
Noun Phrase (NP) – subject or object in the sentenceVerb Phrase (VP) – verb by NP or PP
Sentence (S)Determiner (Det)
Adjective (Adj)Adverb (Adv)
Noun (N)
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES
Pronoun (Pro)Preposition (P)
Prepositional Phrase (PP)Auxiliary Verb (Aux) –have, be, will, must, etc.
Verb (V)
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES
A tree diagram with syntactic category information provided (syntactic labels)Constituent structure tree
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
the child found the puppyS
the childNP
found the puppyVP
theDet
childN
foundV
the puppyNP
theDet
puppyN
The TREE DIAGRAMRoot (entire sentence)
Leaves (individual words)
Hierarchical structure (groupings)
Constituent structures
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
the child found the puppy
the child found the puppy
the child found the puppy
the puppy
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
the child found the puppyS
the childNP
found the puppyVP
theDet
childN
foundV
the puppyNP
theDet
puppyN
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
S
NP VP
Det N V NP
Det N
the puppy
foundchildthe
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
S
NP VP
Det N V NP
Det N
the puppy
foundchildthe Lexical Categories-lowest categories in the tree.
Syntactic Categories
Node
PHRASE STRUCTURE TREE
S
NP VP
Det N V NP
Det N
the puppy
foundchildthe Lexical Categories-lowest categories in the tree.
Syntactic Categories
Node
“ALL” is important
MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
S
NP VP
Det NPN PP
the boy
V
saw P NPDet N
the man Det Nwith
the telescope
Three different structural positions representing three grammatical relations.
MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
S
NP VP
Det NPN PP
the boy
V
saw P NPDet N
the man Det Nwith
the telescope
Reveal ambiguities
MORE PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES
S
NP VP
Det NPN
the boy
V
saw
P PP
Det N
the man
Det Nwith
the telescope
NP
Reveal ambiguities
There is no longest sentence in any languageSpeakers can lengthen any sentence by various means
Adding adjectives, clauses, etc.
THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE
THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE
NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N
the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim
Limitless aspect of languageIs reflected in phrase structureTrees.
THE INFINITUDE OF LANGUAGE
NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N PP
P NP
Det N
the girl with the feather on the ribbon on the brim
But as the structures grow longerThey become more increasinglyDifficult to produce and understand. -due to short term memory limitations -muscular fatigue* -breathlessness, etc.*
ANY QUESTION
?
Find the VPs in the following sentences. 1. She wrote several books on British history. 2. She apparently believes the stories about the aliens. 3. She read a book and went to bed. 4. They emptied and refilled the tank.
Find the NPs in the following sentences. 5. People from the mainland often forget Tasmania when
they draw maps of Australia. 6. 2. At the next meeting, the president of the committee
called in an expert on environmental
TEST
S
NP VP
Pro V Pro
I thank you
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