Syntax

I Syntax is the study of the ways in which words are combined

to form sentences.
Syntax

I Syntax is the study of the ways in which words are combined

to form sentences.
I One of the most obvious aspects of syntax is word order.
Syntax

I Syntax is the study of the ways in which words are combined

to form sentences.
I One of the most obvious aspects of syntax is word order.
I Syntax also concerns processes like agreement.
Syntax

I Syntax is the study of the ways in which words are combined

to form sentences.
I One of the most obvious aspects of syntax is word order.
I Syntax also concerns processes like agreement.
I Morphology concerns what inflectional affixes there are in a
language, and what they sound like
Syntax

I Syntax is the study of the ways in which words are combined

to form sentences.
I One of the most obvious aspects of syntax is word order.
I Syntax also concerns processes like agreement.
I Morphology concerns what inflectional affixes there are in a
language, and what they sound like
I Syntax, on the other had, concerns when these inflections may
and may not be used, and their precise grammatical functions.
Word Order

Consider these two sentences:

The cat bit the man.

The man bit the cat.

Are both of these grammatical?

Word Order

Now consider these sentences:

* The cat the man bit.

* Bit the cat the man.
Word Order

Now consider these sentences:

* The cat the man bit.

* Bit the cat the man.
* Bit cat man the the.
Grammaticality

I We are allowed to exchange the positions of some words, but

not others.
Grammaticality

I We are allowed to exchange the positions of some words, but

not others.
I Note that meaning and grammaticality are independent!
Grammaticality

I We are allowed to exchange the positions of some words, but

not others.
I Note that meaning and grammaticality are independent!
I Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Grammaticality

I We are allowed to exchange the positions of some words, but

not others.
I Note that meaning and grammaticality are independent!
I Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
I *Colorless green ideas sleeps furiously.
 Meaning & Grammar

 AGENT
 INSTRUMENT
 THEME
 EXPERIENCER
 SOURCE
 RECIPIENT
More Word Order

I Do all languages employ word order like English does?

More Word Order

I Do all languages employ word order like English does?

I Examples from Serbo-croatian:

Ivan je-napisao pismo.

John wrote letter.
“John wrote a letter”

Pismo je-napisao Ivan.

Letter wrote John
“John wrote a letter.”
More Word Order

I Examples from Japanese:

otoko ga neko o tabeta

man NOM cat ACC eat-PAST
“The man ate the cat.”
More Word Order

I Examples from Japanese:

otoko ga neko o tabeta

man NOM cat ACC eat-PAST
“The man ate the cat.”

otoko o neko ga tabeta

man ACC cat NOM eat-PAST
“The cat ate the man.”
More Word Order

I Examples from Japanese:

otoko ga neko o tabeta

man NOM cat ACC eat-PAST
“The man ate the cat.”

otoko o neko ga tabeta

man ACC cat NOM eat-PAST
“The cat ate the man.”

I Note that in both of these languages, case-marking is doing

what word order does in English.
Case marking

otoko o neko ga tabeta

man ACC cat NOM eat-PAST
“The cat ate the man.”
Case marking

otoko ga neko o tabeta

man NOM cat ACC eat-PAST
“The man ate the cat.”
Lexical categories

I In order to talk about what goes where, we need to define the

“what”.
Lexical categories

I In order to talk about what goes where, we need to define the

“what”.
I An (expanded) review of the parts of speech, a.k.a. lexical
categories:
nouns (N) Denote real, imaginary, and abstract things, people,
places, actions, etc.
verbs (V) Denote actions, events, processes, states of being.
adjectives (Adj) Describe nouns and the things they can refer to.
adverbs (Adv) Express the manner of actions
Lexical categories

I In order to talk about what goes where, we need to define the

“what”.
I An (expanded) review of the parts of speech, a.k.a. lexical
categories:
nouns (N) Denote real, imaginary, and abstract things, people,
places, actions, etc.
verbs (V) Denote actions, events, processes, states of being.
adjectives (Adj) Describe nouns and the things they can refer to.
adverbs (Adv) Express the manner of actions

I These categories are open. New words are added all the time.
Lexical categories

determiners (Det) Words like the, a, these, my

prepositions (Prep) Words like up, at, of
Auxiliary verb (Aux) Used with other verbs, e.g. will, must, have
Pronouns (Pron) Stand in for nouns or noun phrases
Conjunction (Conj) Words linking together phrases, e.g. and, but
Lexical categories

determiners (Det) Words like the, a, these, my

prepositions (Prep) Words like up, at, of
Auxiliary verb (Aux) Used with other verbs, e.g. will, must, have
Pronouns (Pron) Stand in for nouns or noun phrases
Conjunction (Conj) Words linking together phrases, e.g. and, but

I These categories are closed. New words are rarely added.

Ambiguity

I Note that some words belong to more than one lexical

category:

You have the right to remain silent.

Get out right now!
Ambiguity

I Note that some words belong to more than one lexical

category:

You have the right to remain silent.

Get out right now!

I This can cause real ambiguity:

Turn right after the sign.

Ambiguity

I Note that some words belong to more than one lexical

category:

You have the right to remain silent.

Get out right now!

I This can cause real ambiguity:

Turn right after the sign.

I This form of ambiguity is called lexical ambiguity.

Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

And Leslie did too.
Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

And Leslie did too.

I What is did doing in the second sentence?

Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

And Leslie did too.

I What is did doing in the second sentence?

A big, juicy, green apple costs ninety-nine cents.

Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

And Leslie did too.

I What is did doing in the second sentence?

A big, juicy, green apple costs ninety-nine cents.

I ate one yesterday.
Syntactic structures

Robin walked slowly.

And Leslie did too.

I What is did doing in the second sentence?

A big, juicy, green apple costs ninety-nine cents.

I ate one yesterday.
* I ate a one yesterday.
Constituents

I A constituent is a group of words which form a discrete,

coherent syntactic unit.
Constituents

I A constituent is a group of words which form a discrete,

coherent syntactic unit.
I In Robin walked slowly, walked slowly is a constituent,
specifically a verb phrase (VP)
Constituents

I A constituent is a group of words which form a discrete,

coherent syntactic unit.
I In Robin walked slowly, walked slowly is a constituent,
specifically a verb phrase (VP)
I Likewise, a big juicy green apple is a noun phrase (NP)
Constituents

I A constituent is a group of words which form a discrete,

coherent syntactic unit.
I In Robin walked slowly, walked slowly is a constituent,
specifically a verb phrase (VP)
I Likewise, a big juicy green apple is a noun phrase (NP)
Constituents

I Constituents can be moved around, dropped out, and

substituted (according to certain rules):

I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

Constituents

I Constituents can be moved around, dropped out, and

substituted (according to certain rules):

I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

A bagel with cream cheese, I had for breakfast.
Constituents

I Constituents can be moved around, dropped out, and

substituted (according to certain rules):

I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

A bagel with cream cheese, I had for breakfast.
* Bagel with creem cheese, I had a for breakfast.
Constituents

I Constituents can be moved around, dropped out, and

substituted (according to certain rules):

I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

A bagel with cream cheese, I had for breakfast.
* Bagel with creem cheese, I had a for breakfast.
I eat fish with a fork, and my friends do so too.
Constituents

I Constituents can be moved around, dropped out, and

substituted (according to certain rules):

I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast.

A bagel with cream cheese, I had for breakfast.
* Bagel with creem cheese, I had a for breakfast.
I eat fish with a fork, and my friends do so too.
* I eat fish with a fork, and my friends do so a fork too.
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
I [I [eat [fish] [with a fork]]]
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
I [I [eat [fish] [with a fork]]]
I Sometimes more than one structure is possible:
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
I [I [eat [fish] [with a fork]]]
I Sometimes more than one structure is possible:
I [I [saw [the spy with the binoculars]]]
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
I [I [eat [fish] [with a fork]]]
I Sometimes more than one structure is possible:
I [I [saw [the spy with the binoculars]]]
I [I [saw [the spy]] [with the binoculars.]]
Phrase structure

I This implies that there is a certain hierarchical structure to

phrases and sentences:
I [[Robin] [walked [very [slowly]]]]
I [I [eat [fish] [with a fork]]]
I Sometimes more than one structure is possible:
I [I [saw [the spy with the binoculars]]]
I [I [saw [the spy]] [with the binoculars.]]
I This leads to a form of ambiguity called structural
ambiguity.
Phrases

I We will be concerned with noun phrases, verb phrases,

adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases.
I Examples of noun phrases:
I I the apple (Det + N)
Phrases

I We will be concerned with noun phrases, verb phrases,

adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases.
I Examples of noun phrases:
I I the apple (Det + N)
I a red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N)
Phrases

I We will be concerned with noun phrases, verb phrases,

adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases.
I Examples of noun phrases:
I I the apple (Det + N)
I a red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N)
I the palm of my hand (Det + N + Prep + Det + N)
Phrases

I We will be concerned with noun phrases, verb phrases,

adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases.
I Examples of noun phrases:
I I the apple (Det + N)
I a red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N)
I the palm of my hand (Det + N + Prep + Det + N)
I Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (N + Conj + N)
Phrases

I A red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N) makes

much more sense when you notice that (Adj + Conj + Adj) is
itself an adjective phrase:
Phrases

I A red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N) makes

much more sense when you notice that (Adj + Conj + Adj) is
itself an adjective phrase:
I A [red and green] bulb = (Det + (AP) + N)
Phrases

I A red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N) makes

much more sense when you notice that (Adj + Conj + Adj) is
itself an adjective phrase:
I A [red and green] bulb = (Det + (AP) + N)
I How do we know red and green is a constituent?
Phrases

I A red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N) makes

much more sense when you notice that (Adj + Conj + Adj) is
itself an adjective phrase:
I A [red and green] bulb = (Det + (AP) + N)
I How do we know red and green is a constituent? Try deleting
it:
Phrases

I A red and green bulb (Det + Adj + Conj + Adj + N) makes

much more sense when you notice that (Adj + Conj + Adj) is
itself an adjective phrase:
I A [red and green] bulb = (Det + (AP) + N)
I How do we know red and green is a constituent? Try deleting
it:
I A bulb = (Det N)
Another phrase example

“The palm of my hand”

Another phrase example

“The palm of my hand”

I my hand (Det N) = NP
Another phrase example

“The palm of my hand”

I my hand (Det N) = NP
I of my hand = (Prep NP) = PP
Another phrase example

“The palm of my hand”

I my hand (Det N) = NP
I of my hand = (Prep NP) = PP
I the palm of my hand = (Det N PP) = NP
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Wild alaskan salmon, I like to eat.
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Wild alaskan salmon, I like to eat.
* Alaskan salmon, I like to eat wild.
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Wild alaskan salmon, I like to eat.
* Alaskan salmon, I like to eat wild.
You wear combat boots in bed, and your mom does too.
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Wild alaskan salmon, I like to eat.
* Alaskan salmon, I like to eat wild.
You wear combat boots in bed, and your mom does too.
* You wear combat boots in bed, and your mom does bed
too.
Constituency Revisited

I Constituents are groups of words which behave

(grammatically) as some kind of a unit.

I like to eat wild alaskan salmon.

Wild alaskan salmon, I like to eat.
* Alaskan salmon, I like to eat wild.
You wear combat boots in bed, and your mom does too.
* You wear combat boots in bed, and your mom does bed
too.

I The underlined phrases are both constituents. If you move or

substitute part of it, you have to move or substitute all of it.
Hierarchical structure

I Constituents are often composed of other, smaller

constituents.
Hierarchical structure

I Constituents are often composed of other, smaller

constituents.

[I [like [coffee [without sugar]]]].

Hierarchical structure

I Constituents are often composed of other, smaller

constituents.

[I [like [coffee [without sugar]]]].

[[The [book [on [the table]]]] [has [a [[red and yellow]
cover]]]].
Hierarchical structure

I Constituents are often composed of other, smaller

constituents.

[I [like [coffee [without sugar]]]].

[[The [book [on [the table]]]] [has [a [[red and yellow]
cover]]]].
[[Robin and Leslie] [baked [cookies and muffins]]].
Tests for constituency

I There are several tests you can use to figure out whether
something is a constituent or not:
Tests for constituency

I There are several tests you can use to figure out whether
something is a constituent or not:
I Deletion – I planned to [watch the movie] today, but you
planned to yesterday.
Tests for constituency

I There are several tests you can use to figure out whether
something is a constituent or not:
I Deletion – I planned to [watch the movie] today, but you
planned to yesterday.
I Substitution – I planned to watch [the movie] today, but you
already watched it.
Tests for constituency

I There are several tests you can use to figure out whether
something is a constituent or not:
I Deletion – I planned to [watch the movie] today, but you
planned to yesterday.
I Substitution – I planned to watch [the movie] today, but you
already watched it.
I Movement - Alaskan wild salmon, I eat all the time.