Syntax
Chapter 8
Syntax
The study of the structure of sentences.
Generative Grammar
One goal of syntactic analysis is to have a small
and finite (i.e. limited) set of rules that will be
capable of producing a large and potentially
infinite (i.e. unlimited) number of well-formed
structures. This small and finite set of rules is
sometimes described as a generative grammar
because it can be used to “generate” or produce
sentence structures and not just describe them.
Example
We can produce unlimited number of sentences
from the present tense rule.
John goes to school every day.
Anna lives in Italy.
He is a teacher.
Deep and Surface Structure
The difference between the two sentences
Charlie broke the window.
The window was broken by Charlie.
is in their surface structure, that is, difference is
in their syntactic forms. However, they have the
same deep structure which means that they
have the same meaning.
Structural Ambiguity
A situation in which a phrase or sentence has
two or more different underlining structures and
interpretations.
interpretations= meanings
Example of Structural Ambiguity
The sentence “I took a picture of an elephant in
my pajamas” has two meanings that can be
represented differently in deep structure. This
sentence is an example of structural ambiguity.
The first meaning is “I took a picture of an
elephant while I was in my pajamas”. The second
meaning is “ I took a picture of an elephant which
was in my pajamas”. These are two different
underlying structures with the same surface
structure.
One surface structure:
I took a picture of an elephant in my pajamas.
Two deep structures (two interpretations,
meanings)
1. I took a picture of an elephant while I was in
my pajamas.
2. I took a picture of an elephant which was in
my pajamas.
homework
Give an example that shows that we can make
unlimited number of sentences from limited
rules?
Recursion
It means that a sentence can have another sentence
inside it or that a phrase can be repeated more than
once.
Examples
The gun was on the table.
We can repeat this type of phrase, prepositional
phrase, more than once to produce the sentence:
The gun was (on the table) (near the window) (in the
bedroom).
Tree Diagrams
Symbols and abbreviations used in tree
diagrams:
S = sentence.
NP = noun phrase.
VP = verb phrase.
PP = Prepositional phrase.
N = noun.
PN = Proper noun.
V = verb.
Adj = adjective.
Adv = adverb.
Pro = pronoun.
Prep = preposition.
Art = article.
Draw tree diagram for the following
sentences
The girl saw a dog.
John loves rain
I saw Anna in class.