Lecture 7: Syntax (part 2)

Ling 243: Language EvolutionOctober 25, 2012

Outline

1. Review from Tuesday2. Acceptability judgments3. Constituency4. Trees and tree diagram5. Categories• Noun, Verb, Adjective, Determiner, Adverb

6. Phrases

Outline

1. Review from Tuesday2. Acceptability judgments3. Constituency4. Trees and tree diagram5. Categories• Noun, Verb, Adjective, Determiner, Adverb

6. Phrases

More than just words

• Ambiguity• One set of words has more than one meaning• Ex: “I saw the man with the telescope.”

• Recursivity• A structure can occur within a structure of the same type• Ex: The bookcase delivery truck repair…

• Creativity• Language isn’t a list of sentences• You can say something new that no one has heard

before and still be understood

More than just words

• Ambiguity• One set of words has more than one meaning• Ex: “I saw the man with the telescope.”

• Recursivity• A structure can occur within a structure of the same type• Ex: The bookcase delivery truck repair…

• Creativity• Language isn’t a list of sentences• You can say something new that no one has heard

before and still be understood

More than just words

• Ambiguity• One set of words has more than one meaning• Ex: “I saw the man with the telescope.”

• Recursivity• A structure can occur within a structure of the same type• Ex: The bookcase delivery truck repair…

• Creativity• Language isn’t a list of sentences• You can say something new that no one has heard

before and still be understood

Outline

1. Review from Tuesday2. Acceptability judgments3. Constituency4. Trees and tree diagram5. Categories• Noun, Verb, Adjective, Determiner, Adverb

6. Phrases

Sources of data

We can use a special experimentaltechnique for tapping our syntacticknowledge. This technique is called theacceptability judgment.

Acceptability judgments

Sometimes acceptability judgments arecalled intuitions

The term intuition is often used to refer toa kind of strange faculty (the sixth sense)that underlies judgments made intuitively(Cappelen 2012: 40)

Intuition is a loaded term; we should avoidusing it

Acceptability judgments

Sometimes acceptability judgments arecalled intuitions

The term intuition is often used to refer toa kind of strange faculty (the sixth sense)that underlies judgments made intuitively(Cappelen 2012: 40)

Intuition is a loaded term; we should avoidusing it

Acceptability judgments

Sometimes acceptability judgments arecalled intuitions

The term intuition is often used to refer toa kind of strange faculty (the sixth sense)that underlies judgments made intuitively(Cappelen 2012: 40)

Intuition is a loaded term; we should avoidusing it

Acceptability judgments

We will apply acceptability judgments inthis class non-experimentally. For themost part this will give us the right results.Experimental support of judgments ispossible.

Competing forces

A sentence is acceptable if native speakers sayit sounds good

A sentence is grammatical (with respect to aparticular grammar) if the grammar licenses it

It can be difficult to separate speakersʼ syntacticacceptability judgments from competing forces:processing loadsemantic incoherencecontext dependencyprescriptive pressure

Competing forces

A sentence is acceptable if native speakers sayit sounds good

A sentence is grammatical (with respect to aparticular grammar) if the grammar licenses it

It can be difficult to separate speakersʼ syntacticacceptability judgments from competing forces:processing loadsemantic incoherencecontext dependencyprescriptive pressure

Competing forces

A sentence is acceptable if native speakers sayit sounds good

A sentence is grammatical (with respect to aparticular grammar) if the grammar licenses it

It can be difficult to separate speakersʼ syntacticacceptability judgments from competing forces:processing loadsemantic incoherencecontext dependencyprescriptive pressure

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.Police police police police police.

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.Police police police police police.Police police police police police police…

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or evenimpossible to understand:The old man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit

melted.Police police police police.Police police police police police.Police police police police police police…

Processing load

Some sentences are hard or even impossible tounderstand:The old man the boat.

The old people man the boat.The cheese that the rat that the cat chased bit melted.

The cat chased the rat that bit the cheese that melted.Police police police police.

Internal affairs officers regulate other police officers.

Avoid obscure words. Avoid very long or complicated sentences. Place the sentence in a natural context (prose passage)

Syntactic vs. semantic judgments

Syntactic judgments concern the FORM ofa sentence* Where do you wonder if he lives?

Semantic judgments are about theMEANING of a sentence

We may appeal to both, but weʼre mostlyinterested in syntactic judgments

Syntactic vs. semantic judgments

Syntactic judgments concern the FORM ofa sentence* Where do you wonder if he lives?

Semantic judgments are about theMEANING of a sentence

We may appeal to both, but weʼre mostlyinterested in syntactic judgments

Syntactic vs. semantic judgments

Syntactic judgments concern the FORM ofa sentence* Where do you wonder if he lives?

Semantic judgments are about theMEANING of a sentence

We may appeal to both, but weʼre mostlyinterested in syntactic judgments

Semantic incoherence

Combating this interfering force:Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.Colorful green toads croak furiously.

Sally frightened a chunk of granite.I dreamt that Sally frightened a chunk of granite.

Context dependence

# Bagels, I like.# That The Shining is a veiled confession

of this, I canʼt believe.

Note: Semantic or pragmatic infelicity ismarked by placing a ʻ#’ (pound or hash) infront of an example.

Context dependence

# Bagels, I like.# That The Shining is a veiled confession

of this, I canʼt believe.

Note: Semantic or pragmatic infelicity ismarked by placing a ʻ#’ (pound or hash) infront of an example.

Context dependence

# Bagels, I like.# That The Shining is a veiled confession

of this, I canʼt believe.

Note: Semantic or pragmatic infelicity ismarked by placing a ʻ#’ (pound or hash) infront of an example.

Context dependence

Combating this competing force:

Bagels, I like. Itʼs muffins that I canʼt stand. Iʼll accept that the U.S. government hired

Stanley Kubrick to film the moon landing.That The Shining is a veiled confession ofthis, I canʼt believe.

Context dependence

Combating this competing force:

Bagels, I like. Itʼs muffins that I canʼt stand. Iʼll accept that the U.S. government hired

Stanley Kubrick to film the moon landing.That The Shining is a veiled confession ofthis, I canʼt believe.

Context dependence

Combating this competing force:

Bagels, I like. Itʼs muffins that I canʼt stand. Iʼll accept that the U.S. government hired

Stanley Kubrick to film the moon landing.That The Shining is a veiled confession ofthis, I canʼt believe.

Context dependence

Combating this competing force:

Bagels, I like. Itʼs muffins that I canʼt stand. Iʼll accept that the U.S. government hired

Stanley Kubrick to film the moon landing.That The Shining is a veiled confession ofthis, I canʼt believe.

Finding syntax in the wild

Combating competing forces:Listen to actual conversations.Pay attention as you read.Search the internet.Trust your judgments, but also trust other

peopleʼs judgments -- variation is okay, too!

In sum

A sentence is acceptable if nativespeakers say it sounds good

A sentence is grammatical (with respect toa particular grammar) if the grammarlicenses it

Warning: It can be difficult to determine if aparticular example is grammatical or not.There are competing forces that we needto combat

Outline

1. Review from Tuesday2. Acceptability judgments3. Constituency4. Trees and tree diagram5. Categories• Noun, Verb, Adjective, Determiner, Adverb

6. Phrases

Exploring constituency

Preliminary definition:

Constituent: a group of words that functionstogether as a unit.

What does this look like in real sentences?

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky deskThe students put the red linguistics book on itThe students put the red linguistics book there

The students put the red one on the creaky deskThe students put it on a creaky desk

The students put it thereThey put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

They put it thereThey did

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

The notion of constituency

What are these circles?Constituents!

What are the lines connecting the words?Syntactic relationships!

The notion of constituency

The students put the red linguistics book on a creaky desk

Noun PhraseNoun PhraseNoun Phrase

Preposition PhraseNoun Phrase

Verb Phrase

The notion of constituency

It isnʼt always clear if a particular string ofwords is a constituent.

Linguists have developed a number ofbroadly applicable diagnostic tests forconstituent structure.

Coordination

Coordination: If a string of words can beconjoined, then it is a constituent.

Coordination

Homer talked to Marge. → Homer talked toMarge and to Lisa.

Homer talked to a woman. → Homer talked to awoman and a girl.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and on Tuesday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart and chased Lisa on Monday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and chased Lisa onTuesday.

Coordination

Homer talked to Marge. → Homer talked toMarge and to Lisa.

Homer talked to a woman. → Homer talked to awoman and a girl.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and on Tuesday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart and chased Lisa on Monday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and chased Lisa onTuesday.

Coordination

Homer talked to Marge. → Homer talked toMarge and to Lisa.

Homer talked to a woman. → Homer talked to awoman and a girl.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and on Tuesday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart and chased Lisa on Monday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and chased Lisa onTuesday.

Coordination

Homer talked to Marge. → Homer talked toMarge and to Lisa.

Homer talked to a woman. → Homer talked to awoman and a girl.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and on Tuesday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart and chased Lisa on Monday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and chased Lisa onTuesday.

Coordination

Homer talked to Marge. → Homer talked toMarge and to Lisa.

Homer talked to a woman. → Homer talked to awoman and a girl.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and on Tuesday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart and chased Lisa on Monday.

Homer chased Bart on Monday. → Homerchased Bart on Monday and chased Lisa onTuesday.

Coordination

Homer handed Lisa a baby. →* Homer handed Lisa a and Bart a baby.Homer chased Bart on Monday. →* Homer chased Bart on and Lisa on

Monday.

Coordination

Homer handed Lisa a baby. →* Homer handed Lisa a and Bart a baby.Homer chased Bart on Monday. →* Homer chased Bart on and Lisa on

Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Coordination

Homer chased Bart on Monday.

Proform replacement

Proform replacement (pronominalization,substitution): If a string of words can bereplaced by a proform, then it is aconstituent.

Proform replacement

I, you, he, it, we, they, yʼall this, that, these, thoseone (as in the tall one) there, then his, hers, our, ours, their,

theirs, your, yours, my, minesodo it, do that, do so

Proform replacement

The little boy fed the cat. → The little boyfed her.

Black cats detest green peas. → Blackcats detest them.

Put it on the table → Put it there I am very happy … and Leslie is so, too.She wrote a book. → She did so.

Proform replacement

The little boy fed the cat. → The little boyfed her.

Black cats detest green peas. → Blackcats detest them.

Put it on the table → Put it there I am very happy … and Leslie is so, too.She wrote a book. → She did so.

Proform replacement

The little boy fed the cat. → The little boyfed her.

Black cats detest green peas. → Blackcats detest them.

Put it on the table → Put it there I am very happy … and Leslie is so, too.She wrote a book. → She did so.

Proform replacement

The little boy fed the cat. → The little boyfed her.

Black cats detest green peas. → Blackcats detest them.

Put it on the table → Put it there I am very happy … and Leslie is so, too.She wrote a book. → She did so.

Proform replacement

The little boy fed the cat. → The little boyfed her.

Black cats detest green peas. → Blackcats detest them.

Put it on the table → Put it there I am very happy … and Leslie is so, too.She wrote a book. → She did so.

Proform replacement

Put it on the table thatʼs by the door →* Put it there thatʼs by the door.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis: If a string of words can be elided,then it is a constituent.

Ellipsis

Homer could chase Bart, and Marge couldchase Bart too. → Homer could chaseBart, and Marge could ∅ too.

Clefting

English has a couple of constructions in which aconstituent of a corresponding simpler sentenceappears in predicate position. For example, acleft sentence has it as its subject and whatappears to be a relative clause at its end.

Ordinary cats detest the smell of citrus. →It is ordinary cats that detest the smell of citrus.

Ordinary cats detest the smell of citrus. →It is the smell of citrus that ordinary cats detest.

Clefting

Clefting : If a string of words can beclefted, then it is a constituent.

Clefting

The cat strolled across the porch with aconfident air.

It was with a confident air that the catstrolled across the porch.

Leslie returned from her travels wiser thanbefore.

It was wiser than before that Lesliereturned from her travels.

Clefting

Ordinary cats detest the smell of citrus fruits.* It is the smell of that ordinary cats detest citrus

fruits. The cat strolled across the porch with a

confident air.* It was with a confident that the cat strolled

across the porch air. Leslie returned from her travels wiser than

before.* It was wiser than that Leslie returned from her

travels before.

CAUTION!

The constituency tests are NOT fool proof.You should always apply at least two toany given string of words, just in case youhave got false results for some reason.

Sometimes, when a constituency test fails, that actuallymeans you have found something with a more complexunderlying structure!

Syntacticians love this because it means they can learnmore about the structure of the relationships betweenthese words.

Applying constituency tests

Using the constituency tests we reviewed, determinewhether the underlined strings in the following sentencesare constituents. Be sure to include the evidence onwhich your conclusions are based.

John bought a book on the table. John put a book on the table. She turned down the side street. She turned down his offer. He looked at a book about swimming. He talked to a girl about swimming. He talked with a girl about swimming.

This exercise is from Jong-Bok Kim and Peter Sells. 2008. English Syntax: An Introduction. Stanford,CA: CSLI Publications.