1. Chapter 3: Syntax Presented by Kak Sovanna Academic Year: 2014-2015 16/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 2. 6/28/2015 2Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 3. Read the following sentences and try to identify various meanings in each sentence. The camper saw a bear with binoculars. I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. Flying planes can be dangerous. A: I just saw someone carrying a monkey and an elephant go into the circus. B: Wow, that someone must be pretty strong. 6/28/2015 3Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 4. The camper saw a bear with binoculars. 6/28/2015 4Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 5. The camper saw a bear with binoculars. 6/28/2015 5Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 6. Content What is syntax? Generative Grammar Syntactic Description References 6/28/2015 6Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 7. What is syntax? It comes from Greek, syntaxis (syn together + taxis to arrange -> to arrange together) Syntactic is the adjective from syntax. 6/28/2015 7Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 8. What is syntax? (1) Syntax is the study of rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. (About.com) It could also refer to the arrangement of words itself in a sentence. (About.com) 6/28/2015 8Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 9. What is syntax? (3) Linguistically, Syntax is also defined as a major component of the grammar of a language that concerns the ways in which words combine to form sentences and the rules which govern the formulation of sentences, making some sentences possible and others not possible within a particular language. (Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 4th edition) 6/28/2015 9Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 10. Generative Grammar A type of grammar, inspired by Noam Chomsky, that attempts to define and describe, by a set of rules or principles, all the grammatical sentences of a language and no ungrammatical ones. This type of grammar is said to generate, or produce, grammatical sentences. 6/28/2015 10Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 11. Generative Grammar (1) Language is seen as consisting of a set of finite numbers of rules, which enable the production of infinite numbers of well-formed sentences. 6/28/2015 11Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 12. Generative Grammar (2) This is very similar to mathematics. E.g. 3x + 2y = z If x=5 and y=10 then z=35 If x=2 and y=1 then z=8 If the sentences of a language can be seen as a comparable set, then there must be a set of explicit rules that can produce all those sentences. 6/28/2015 12Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 13. Generative Grammar (3) Deep and Surface Structure Generative Grammar also attempts to describe (a) how to 2 different sentences are closely related, and (b) how to 2 similar sentences are different. 6/28/2015 13Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 14. Generative Grammar (4) Charlie broke the window. The window was broken by Charlie. 6/28/2015 14Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 15. Generative Grammar (5) Deep and Surface Structure (2) The first sentence is active, focusing on Charlie. The second is passive, focusing on window. The meaning is still the same, and therefore, what makes them different is just their written forms. This is called the Surface Structure. 6/28/2015 15Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 16. Generative Grammar (6) Deep and Surface Structure (3) In fact, the all the aforementioned examples derive from a common basic structure, which consists of the same constituents or components (Charlie, window, break). This is called the Deep Structure. 6/28/2015 16Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 17. Generative Grammar (7) Deep Structure is an abstract underlying level of structural organization in which all the elements determining structural interpretation are represented. 6/28/2015 17Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 18. Generative Grammar (8) Deep and Surface Structure (4) Suppose we have a deep structure: NP + V + NP 6/28/2015 18Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 19. Generative Grammar (9) Deep and Surface Structure (4) The following sentences can be derived: a)Charlie broke the window. b)The window was broken by Charlie. c)It was Charlie who broke the window. d)Was the window broken by Charlie? 6/28/2015 19Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 20. Generative Grammar (10) Deep and Surface Structure (5) In short, Deep Structure = Basic Structure Surface Structure = Transformed Structure 6/28/2015 20Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 21. Generative Grammar (11) Deep and Surface Structure (6) Sometimes, 2 different deep structures could also be expressed in the same surface structure. 6/28/2015 21Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 22. Generative Grammar (12) Eg. The camper saw a bear with binoculars. (1) would mean that the camper use binoculars to see a bear (2) would mean that the camper see a bear who is using a binocular 6/28/2015 22Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 23. Deep and Surface Structure (7) 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 23 24. Deep and Surface Structure (8) 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 24 25. Generative Grammar (13) Deep and Surface Structure (9) This is called Structural Ambiguity. Structural Ambiguity occurs when a particular sentence (or structure) could have two or more underlying interpretations that have to be represented differently in deep structure. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 25 26. Generative Grammar (14) E.g. Those small boys and girls have been selected for the contest. E.g. Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend; inside its too hard to read. Everybody knows dogs are man's best friend, right? Well, books are, too-in a way. You can read books and understand them, but dogs aren't easy to understand. that's what "inside if a dog it's too dark to read" means. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 26 27. Generative Grammar (15) Recursion Recursive rules have the capacity to be applied more than once in generating a structure. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 27 28. Generative Grammar (16) Recursion E.g. The gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom of the old house. E.g. John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped George. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 28 29. Syntactic Description In describing syntax, the following symbols should be remembered. S Sentence NP Noun Phrase N Noun VP Verb Phrase V Verb PP Prepositional Phrase Art Article PN Proper Noun 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 29 30. Syntactic Description (2) Adj Adjective * Ungrammatical sent. Adv Adverb Consists of/ Rewrites as Pro Pronoun ( ) Optional constituent 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 30 31. Syntactic Description (3) Prep Preposition { } One and only one of these constituents must be selected. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 31 32. Syntactic Description (4) Therefore, if we were to describe a noun phrase (NP), the structure shall be written as: NP Art N 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 32 33. Syntactic Description (5) Because a noun phrase generally consists of an article and a noun, as in The dog. Yet it is also possible for an NP to further include an adjective, as in The small dog , and therefore, could be rewritten as: NP Art (Adj) N 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 33 34. Syntactic Description (6) As we have learnt, an NP could consist of a pronoun or a proper noun (Name of people, places, etc.), then we could have the following: NP Art N NP Pro NP PN 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 34 35. Syntactic Description (7) But instead of that, we can choose to write NP { Art N, Pro, PN} 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 35 36. Syntactic Description (8) With these descriptions, we can go about describing the Phrase Structure Rules of a sentence. 1. S NP VP 2. NP Art N 3. VP V NP As in: The child found a puppy. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 36 37. Syntactic Description (9) Sometimes, a VP might also include a PP. To be more specific, the structure could be written as: 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 37 38. Syntactic Description (10) 1. S NP VP 2. NP {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN} 3. VP V NP (PP) (adv) 4. PP Prep NP As in David rode a bike in the garden yesterday. 6/28/2015 Presented by Mr. Kak Sovanna (+85593600021) 38