UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE NICARAGUA, MANAGUAUNAN-MANAGUA

FACULTAD REGIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARIAFAREM-CARAZO

Theme 3: Syntax

I. Words are organized into phrases and clauses

II. Each phrase is of a particular syntactic category (Noun phrase, Verb phrase, Adjective phrase, etc.), and each has a head (Noun, Verb, Adjective, etc.)

III. Phrase structure rules provide us with a way to draw, or diagram, phrases and to capture certain important generalizations about how to organize syntactic structures

Summary of Phrase Structure Rules

NP (D) (AP) N (XP)

D That, then, some, the

VP Aux V (XP)

Aux modal, have, be

AP (Deg) A

AdvP (Deg) Adv

PP (Deg) P (XP)

Deg very, so, too, clear,

IV. The largest phrase is the clause, a syntactic unit consisting of a subject and a predicate

V. Clauses are independent and subordinate, depending on the whether they are contained in larger phrases.

To sum up: a clause is a syntactic unit named (NP VP). A sentence, on the other hand, could be a single clause, two clauses, or much more. A sentence can include any number of clauses (both independent and subordinate) and when written can be of any length. Using different types of punctuation (colons, semicolons, dashes), it’s possible to string together any number of clauses and call the entire unit a sentence.

More syntactic concepts

1. The Hierarchical structure property of a phrase structure is when a phrase dominates another. For example: C1 dominates the NP and VP; the VP dominates V and AP; just as VP dominates V and PP in another sentenceC1: the tree was so tall.C1: each child rolled down the hill.

2. Ambiguity: Joe is a rat. 2. 1: lexical ambiguity: a word in the sentence has more than one meaning

Rat: a furry rodent Rat: an unsavory (nasty) person 2. 2: syntactic ambiguity: a clause or a phrase has more than one meaning because it has more than one syntactic structure The cat chased the rat with a knife. Which animal had the knife?

a. NP: the rat…b. NP: the rat with…

3. Recursion: is the grammatical property of unlimited extension of phrases. Recursion is what makes subordination possible.

I think that Wiley claimed that Joachim believed that Daria said that Isabelle detests clams.C1

NP VP

V C1 C1 C1 C1

4. Substitution: is a process by which a pronoun replaces a Noun phraseThe new houses will make a fine addition to the neighborhood. They will make a fine addition to the neighborhood.

They: the new housesThat mouse ran under the bed.

It ran under the bed.It: that mouse

5. Deep and Surface StructureDS clause is the clause base word order (SVO) before syntactic rules as movements or deletion apply.SS clause is the clause in its derived order after movement or deletion rules have been applied.

a. deletion rules: a process by which constituents are deleted in a sentence under certain syntactic conditions Examples: verb phrase deletion: Alfie is riding his motorcycle across the dessert, and Ziggy is, too.

Sally said she would get a car, and she did. Even though he shouldn’t, Mario likes to eat salty food.

b. gapping deletion: is the operation that applies in coordinate clausesExamples: Tom bought a Harley, and Jerome bought a Honda.

Tom bought a Harley, and Jerome a Honda. Sara likes mangoes, but Peter likes apples.

Sara likes mangoes, but Peter apples.

More examples:1. Deep structure Sally wanted to buy a llama, and she did buy a llama.

Application rule VP deletion

Surface structure Sally wanted to buy a llama, and she did.

2. Deep structure Sally likes llamas, but Sam likes alpacas.

Application rule gapping

Surface structure Sally likes llamas, but Sam alpacas.

c. Reordering phrases: Movement 1. Subject-auxiliary Inversion (SAI). This rule has the effect of moving an auxiliary verb to sentence-initial position:Example: Minerva is singing opera. (Deep structure)

SAI rule (Application of the rule)

Is Minerva singing opera? (Surface structure)

2. Active-Passive voice movement: the passive syntactic operation in which an active sentence is reordered.Example: Beowulf killed Grendel. (Deep structure)

Passive (Application of the rule)

Grendel was killed by Beowulf. (Surface structure)

3. Wh-movement: a third movement rule in which an interrogative phrase is moved to sentence initial position.Example: You talked to Bill. (Deep structure)

You talked to who(m)? rule 1: substitute the wh-phrase

Who(m) did you talk to _____? rule 1: substitute the wh-phrase

Who(m) did you talk to? (Surface structure)

Homework: (Due May 29th via email)

I. Read each sentence. Then identify each word syntactic category and constituents. Complete the chart in your notebook. Finally, draw each sentence’s syntactic clause.1. The boy sat on a mushroom.2. Bill likes pieces of cabbage with sauce.3. Seven large turtles climbed up the bank4. I don’t think that Barry was happy that Sam won the raffle.5. Dogs are free to run, jump, and play with the toys at the park.

II. Write three examples of each of the following conceptsa. Ambiguity (lexical and syntactic)b. Substitutionc. Deep and Surface Structure (rules: deletion, gapping, and movements)

Contributions:Chapter 7 and 8 SyntaxDenham, C. and Lobeck, A. 2010. An Introduction: Linguistics for Everyone Lic. Jose Luis García GuzmánLinguistics 1May 2014