Syntax

1
Syntax

• 1st class on Syntax
• Chapter 4

2
Hierarchical Structure

• Sentences have internal structure that makes them
  more than just a sequence of words.
• They consist of semantically coherent groupings,
  which are organized into larger groupings.
• The largest grouping is the sentence itself.
• These groupings are called constituents.

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Constituents

• NP Noun Phrase
• e.g., the boy
• VP Verb Phrase
• e.g., ate the apple
• PP Prepositional Phrase
• e.g., in the house
• AP Adjective Phrase
• e.g., beautiful

4
Constituents Tests

• Ability to stand alone (as answers to questions)
• Linguists draw phrase tree structures to have
  fun.
• Who draw phrase tree structures to have fun?
• Linguists
• What do linguists do?
• draw phrase tree structures to have fun
• Why do linguists draw phrase tree structures?
• to have fun
• What do linguists draw to have fun?
• phrase tree structures

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Tests (constituents)

• The substitution test
• ? replace by an element such as they, it (NP),
  do so (VP), there (PP)
• e.g., The children will stop at the corner
• NP (they) VP (do so)
• PP (there)

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Tests (constituents)

• The movement test
• ? it can be moved as a single unit to a
  different position within a sentence
• E.g.,
• To have fun, linguists draw phrase tree
  structures.
• Phrase tree structures are drawn by linguists.

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Which of the underlined expressions are
constituents?

1. Chris ate the stale candy.
2. Chris ate the stale candy.
3. My little brother snores.
4. My little brother snores.
5. The clouds rolled across the sky.
6. Some students hate computers.
7. Many retired workers spend their time on relaxing
   hobbies.
8. Many retired workers spend their time on relaxing
   hobbies.
9. Many retired workers spend their time on relaxing
   hobbies.
10. We drank too much coffee last night.

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Other examples

• The child should put the puppy in the garden.
• John and Mary are going to get married next week.
  

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Syntactic Categories

1. That glass suddenly broke.
2. A jogger ran toward the end of the lane.
3. These dead trees might block the road.
4. The detective hurriedly looked through the
   records.
5. The peaches appear quite ripe.
6. Jack will play the trumpet and the drums in the
   orchestra.

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Trees

• The puppy found the child.
• Category of each word?
• The determiner (det)
• Puppy noun (N)
• Found verb (V)
• The determiner (det)
• Child noun (N)

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Trees

• The puppy found the child.
• Constituents?
• The puppy (NP)
• Found the child (VP)
• The child (NP)

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Trees

• S
• NP Aux VP

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Trees

• S
• NP Aux VP
• Det N
• the puppy

14
Trees

• S
• NP Aux VP
• Det N past
• the puppy

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Trees

• S
• NP Aux VP
• Det N past V NP
• the puppy found det N
• the child

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Other examples

• The sun melted the ice.
• The children put the toy in the box.
• You should buy a house.