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Syntax
Amy Reynolds
10 July 2012
LING 101 SSII
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Overview
• The Inflection Phrase (IP)
• Modifiers
• Structural Ambiguity
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Review
• Constituents
• Phrases
• X-bar Schema
• Specifier
• Complement
• Head
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Inflectional Phrases
• In Linguistics, we draw all sentences as belonging to Inflectional Phrases.
– i.e. Sentence = IP
• The head of the a sentence, then, is the category I, which stands for “Inflection”
– I always contains a tense feature (+pst or –pst) and sometime contains a modal auxiliary (may, might, can, could, will, etc.).
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Inflectional Phrases
• Unlike the previous phrases we’ve covered, within the IP
the specifier and complement are not optional. • The complement of an IP is a VP – this is the predicate of
the sentence • The specifier of IP is an NP – this is the subject of the
sentence (note that this specifier is a phrase, not a head)
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Inflectional Phrases
• What if we had the following sets of sentences? – Data never laughs
– Data is an android
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Inflectional Phrases
• Data never laughs
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Inflectional Phrases
• Data is an android
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Inflectional Phrases
• What if we had the following sets of sentences? – Data is a funny, likeable android – Data never laughs at people – Data never laughs at people on Enterprise – Data is an android from outer space – Data is an android on a starship – Data is an android on a starship from outer space.
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Modifiers
• Modifiers – Provide additional information about heads.
– APs are the most common modifiers of NPs (CL, 5th ed.) • The silly man
– AdvPs and PPs are the most common modifiers of VPs. (CL, 5th ed.) • Mal swiftly punched Simon in the face
– They can either occur before or after the head • In English, specifiers always occur to the left of the head and
and complements always occur to the right of the head
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Modifiers
• Modifiers – Structurally, we add modifiers to the sentence hierarchy by
adding another X’ level. – Modifiers are always going to be daughters of and sisters to X’
levels. – Modifiers contain optional information and can be repetitive
• E.g. “It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini”
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Modifiers
• Modifiers
– For the purposes of this class, we will only use modifiers if:
• They are not required by the head of the Phrase and: – If it is an NP, the attaching phrase is an AP
– If it is a VP, the attaching phrase is either a PP or an AdvP.
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Inflectional Phrases
• What if we had the following sets of sentences? – Data is a funny, likeable android – Data never laughs at people – Data never laughs at people on Enterprise
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Homeworks
• Due Thursday (the 12th)
– Writing Assignment 5
– p. 199, Exercise 3, (a) – (e)
– p. 200, Exercise 6
– p. 200, Exercise 7
– p. 199, Exercise 4, (a), (c), (e)
– p. 200, Exercise 5, (b), (d), (f)
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Have a good day!