Week 1b. Morphosyntactic features ch. 2.1-2.4.1

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CAS LX 522Syntax I

• Week 1b. Morphosyntactic featuresch. 2.1-2.4.1

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The atoms of the system

• Syntax tells us which arrangements of words make
  good sentences. But yet the words themselves
  dont seem to matter, they arent the basic
  elements of the system.
• Rather, it is the set of properties each word has
  that seem to be basic. Verb or not a verb, plural
  or not plural

• enthusiastic are students the
• the students are enthusiastic
• the student are enthusiastic
• the student is enthusiastic
• the students are enthusiastic
• the students is enthusiastic
• this coffee is/are hot.
• these muffins are/is tasty.

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Properties features

• Words have properties.
• There is an abstract concept of plural, that is
  morphologically realized in several different
  ways.
• A deer ate my bagel. Deer are funny.
• A dog ate my bagel. Dogs are funny.
• A goose ate my bagel. Geese are funny.
• Same agreement requirement, regardless of the
  actual morphological shape.
• The abstract property of plural (or singular)
  seems to be what the grammar is sensitive to.
• (Morphosyntactic) features.

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Agreement

• In English, the subject and the verb of a
  sentence need to agree in number and (for be)
  person.
• The dog wants food. The dogs want food.
• The dog is hungry. The dogs are hungry.
• I am hungry. We are hungry.
• If the subject is plural (has a plural feature)
  then the verb must take on a plural form.
• Crosslinguistically common to have this kind of
  agreement relation between subject and verb.
• The plural feature is interpretable on the
  subject, contributes to the meaning. On the verb,
  the (agreeing) plural feature is
  uninterpretablemore on that later.

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Data from other languages

• Il a dit qu elle
  était maladehe3.sg have3.sg said that she
  was illHe said that she was ill.
• Ils ont dit qu elle
  était maladethey3.pl have3.pl said that she
  was illThey said that she was ill.
• Standard 3-line format for examples from other
  languages (example, gloss, translation).
• Why does it matter what other languages do?

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What are the features?

• Some features matter for syntax, some dont.
• No language says that subject and verb must agree
  in the feature invented in early September,
  although there are things that have this
  property.
• For the purpose of describing the grammar and
  explaining syntactic principles, we dont care
  about invented in early September.
• We have evidence, however, that plural matters
  to syntax.
• Were looking for the minimal (least complicated)
  set of features that suffices to explain the
  grammar.

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plural

• We know number matters. In English, things can be
  singular or plural. So, a first guess is that
  nouns have either a singular feature or a
  plural feature.
• Hypothesissg and pl are features a word can
  have.
• PredictionFour classes of words sg, pl,
  sg.pl, .
• But we really only have two classes in English.
• This hypothesis overgeneratesit predicts the
  existence of the actual distinctions, but it also
  predicts other distinctions that dont exist.

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plural

• We observed the data (nouns can be singular or
  plural in English), we stated a hypothesis, which
  made predictions. We check the predictions and
  it doesnt seem right. The scientific method.
• There is a simpler story we can tell, one that
  predicts exactly two classes.
• plural for plurals, for singulars.

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Overgeneration / undergeneration

• Already we have the basic structure of our theory
  and a means of analysis evaluation.
• Two independent features pl and sg predict
  four combinations, overgenerates.
• All attested combinations are predicted.
• Some predicted combinations are not attested.
• An analysis that says All words are singular
  undergenerates.
• All predicted combinations are attested.
• Some attested combinations are not predicted.

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What kind of thing is a feature?

• Although features are properties, there are
  several views that have been taken on features.
• If we view a feature like plural as being
  either there or not, it is a privative feature.
• We might also view a feature like plural as
  having one of two values plural for plurals,
  -plural for singulars. This is a binary valued
  feature.
• We dont know from the outset which view is the
  best for describing syntax, we want to choose the
  one that captures the generalizations we see.

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Duals

• For English, either a privative plural feature
  or a binary-valued plural feature would work.
  In English there are two classes for number,
  singular and plural.
• Some languages also have a dual, a number
  reserved for pairs. Classical Arabic, for
  example, and Hopi.

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Hopi morphology

• Pam taaqa warithat man ransgThat man ran.
• Puma ta?taq-t yu?tithose manpl ranplThose
  men ran.
• Puma ta?taq-t warithose manpl ransgThose
  two men ran.

• In Hopi, the dual is expressed by combining
  singular and plural.
• If we analyzed dual as pl, sg (or as pl,
  sg), we have a kind of explanation for that.

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The fourth number?

• Three numbers are attested in the worlds
  languages singular, plural, and dual.
• We can handle this by going back to the view that
  sg and pl are independent.
• Singular sg
• Plural pl
• Dual sg, pl

• The fourth possibility should be neither. But
  there doesnt seem to be a fourth number.
• Hypothesis General constraint on grammars Nouns
  must have some number feature, sg is the
  default, added in if there is no number feature
  already.
• (Well return to this)

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Words and language

• Lets take a moment to lay out the general
  structure of this theory.
• Knowing a language is
• knowing the words
• knowing how to put them together
• knowing how to pronounce them
• knowing what they mean in combination.

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The lexicon

• To construct a sentence, we start with the
  words and put them together.
• We can describe the knowledge of the words of a
  language as being a list, a mental lexicon.

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Interfaces

• We can view a word as a bundle of features, as
  defined by its properties. The grammar assembles
  words into sentences. The sentence is interpreted
  and pronounced.
• The assembly process is the grammar proper.
• The system that interprets sentences is another
  cognitive module concerned with meaning,
  reasoning, etc. It interprets the constructed
  sentence at the interface.
• The system that determines the pronunciation of
  sentences is yet another cognitive module,
  interpreting the constructed sentence at its
  interface.

Lexicon
Grammar
A-P system
C-I system
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Tension

• For English, it seems that independent sg and
  pl features is more complicated than we need,
  it seems to overgenerate.
• In the broader picture, Language needs to allow
  for independent sg and pl features in order
  to accommodate duals in, e.g., Hopi.

• Since were striving to explain the grammatical
  system underlying all languages, we need a
  hypothesis about what is different in languages
  with no dual (e.g., English).
• One possibility The feature sg is not recorded
  in the English lexicon. Book , books pl.
• All languages have singulars, but in languages
  without duals, singular is the default, the
  number for nouns not specified for number.
• So languages can differ in whether they record
  sg in the lexicon.

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What are the features?

• Hard to say. A universal set, some used in some
  languages, but not others? Learned?
• Some features seem not to exist, why?
• Ockhams razor againwe want to define the
  simplest set of features we can to explain the
  data.

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Category

• The study of syntax is concerned with
  distribution.
• Words seem to come in distributional classes.
• For example, one class of words can appear after
  the possessive pronoun my (my book, my at, my
  quickly, my explode, my purple). The nouns. One
  class of words is compatible with past tense. The
  verbs. One class of words is compatible with
  comparative (happier). The adjectives.
• Words can be separated into classes noun, verb,
  adjective, preposition, etc.
• Classes also vary with respect to the kind of
  morphological endings they can have, and so
  forth. (Arrival, replacement, destruction widen,
  computerize)

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Distribution examples

• They have no noun.
• They can verb.
• They are adjective.
• Very adverb, very adjective.
• so long as it makes sense (e.g., with gradable
  adjectives they are very absent)
• Right preposition
• right over the house

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Nouns and verbs

• Nouns have a category feature N.
• Books N, pl.
• Verbs have a category feature V.
• Complained V
• Two independent features, four predicted
  categories
• N, V (adjectives)
• (prepositions)

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Binary vs. privative

• Theres something unsettling about saying the
  prepositions simply lack category features
  (neither nominal nor verbal).
• We can soothe ourselves somewhat by adopted
  binary category features instead of privative
  features
• N, -V noun
• N, V adjective
• -N, -V preposition
• -N, V verb
• Same predictions, but more in line with our
  intuition about what category should be.

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N, V

• The N, V category system may seem a bit out
  of the blue. But it does yield some descriptive
  benefit.
• Consider what un- can attach to
• untie, unfold, unwrap, unpack
• unhappy, unfriendly, undead
• uncity, uncola, unconvention
• unupon, unalongside, unat
• Basically, it applies to reversible verbs and
  adjectives, but not to nouns or prepositions.How
  can we state that in terms of our category
  features?

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Russian case

• Case is a morphological form nouns take on
  depending on where they are in the sentence
  (subject vs. object). English pronouns show this
  distinction I like her, she likes me. Some
  languages (like Russian) show differing case
  forms on all nouns.
• When Russian nouns are modified by an adjective,
  the adjective is also marked for case.
• What gets marked for Case in Russian?

Krasivaya dyevushka vsunula chornuyu koshku v pustuyu korobku
beautiful girl put black cat in empty box
The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box The beautiful girl put the black cat in the empty box
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Lexical and functional

• Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs These are
  lexical categories. They carry significant and
  arbitrary meaning, and they are open-class (new
  ones can be invented).
• But not all words are of this kind (except maybe
  on telegrams1).
• Sentences are held together by little function
  words as well. These are the functional
  categories. We will discuss these more later.
• I expect that the CEO will want to retire.
• 1Telegram Ancient form of instant messaging

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Lexical and functional

• Functional categories are like the syntactic
  glue of a sentence, concerned more with
  grammatical properties.
• Determiners the, a(n)
• Quantifiers (determiners) some, every
• Demonstratives that, this, those
• Possessive pronouns my, your
• Any old pronouns you, him, they
• Infinitival to
• Auxiliaries/Modals have, be, do, can, should
• Complementizers that, for, if

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Determiners

• Determiners generally come before a noun, and
  come in a few different types.
• Articles the, an.
• Quantificational determiners some, most
• Interrogative determiner which
• Demonstratives that, this
• Possessive pronouns my, your, their
• These types are similar to and different from
  one another. For now, well lump them together.

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Determiners v. adjectives

• Can we lump determiners together with adjectives?
  Maybe we could have a simpler theory of
  categories if we just put determiners and
  adjectives together.
• They both come before nouns (in English)
• They both seem to modify the noun.
• Tall building.
• That building.
• A building.
• My building.

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Determiners v. adjectives

• The big fluffy pink rabbit
• The my rabbit
• The that rabbit
• Every my rabbit
• To properly describe the distribution of these
  elements, we really need to separate them into
  two classes. Lumping them together will not give
  us a simpler descriptive system.
• Determiners cannot co-occur with other
  determiners, and must precede any adjectives.
• Adjectives can occur with other adjectives.

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Pronouns

• Pronouns differ from nouns in a couple of ways
  (example case marking), and should be considered
  a functional category.
• The pronouns of English express person, number,
  and gender.
• 1st person I, me, we, us
• 2nd person you
• 3rd person he, she, him, her, they, them, it

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Auxiliaries and modals

• Different from verbs have, be, do, will, can,
  might.
• In questions, auxiliaries invert with the
  subject, verbs dont.
• Will you leave? Can you leave? Do you leave
  often? Leave you often?
• Auxiliaries occur before not, verbs dont.
• You will not leave. You did not leave. You left
  not.
• Notice the extra do do-support.
• Auxiliaries are responsible for things like
  tense, mood, modality, aspect, voice. Grammatical
  things.

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Infinitival to

• I like to go to the movies.
• Kind of looks like a preposition, but its not.
  Prepositions take nouns, to as a P has a kind of
  contentful meaning (endpoint of a path).
  Infinitival to takes (bare) verbs only, means
  nothing (apart from untensed).
• It might be more like a modal To and modals
  (can, might, should) seem to appear in the same
  place (between the subject and a bare verb form).
• I like that John can pick up his own
  dry-cleaning.
• Id like for John to pick up his own dry-cleaning.

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Complementizers

• Pat will leave.
• I heard that Pat will leave.
• I wonder if Pat will leave.
• I am anxious for Pat to leave.
• It is perfectly possible to embed a sentence
  inside another one. When we do this, it is
  indicated with a complementizer (introducing a
  complement clause).

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The P for v. the C for

• For is of course a preposition (I looked for you
  for three hours), but not when it is introducing
  clauses.
• He headed right for the back row.
• Hed like right for the class to be over.
• He expressed interest in the class to be over.
• Who would you vote for in the election?
• Who are you anxious for to win the election?

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The D that v. the C that

• Same kind of thing holds for that.
• I liked that movie.
• I heard that the movie involved guinea pigs.
• Sometimes you can replace for clauses with that
  clauses.
• It is important that Pat votes.
• It is important for Pat to vote.

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Regrouping

• Lexical categories
• N noun A adjective
• V verb P preposition
• We started a feature decomposition of these by
  proposing that they are labels for feature
  bundles like N, V, which can characterize
  certain natural classes across categories.
• But there are many more than four categories.
• Aux auxiliary D determiner
• C complementizer PRN pronoun
• Adv adverb T modals
• So, we would need more features to make all of
  the distinctions. We wont pursue that, however
  (well just use the labels, like N, V, A, P, D,
  T, C, etc.).

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