Syntax
Chapter 4
Origin
 Syntax
came originally from
Greek.
 In linguistics, syn- "together” + tax- "an
ordering” = "arrangement" is the study of
the principles and rules for constructing
sentences in natural languages.
(Par. 4, p. 98)
 Formal
accounts of syntax are
based on establishing the basic
constituents, namely, categories,
from which word strings are
formed.
Phrase Structure Rules

Phrase-structure rules are a way to
describe a given language's syntax. They
are used to break a natural language
sentence down into its constituent parts
(also known as syntactic categories)
namely phrasal categories and lexical
categories.

Phrasal categories include the noun
phrase, verb phrase, and prepositional
phrase, etc.; lexical categories include
noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and many
others.

Phrase structure rules are usually of the form
A →B+C, meaning that the constituent A is
separated into the two subconstituents B and C.
Some examples are:

S →NP+VP The show + rocks.

NP →Det +N1 plenty of + snow
Phrasal Categories
Noun phrase—NP: a tall man, the student,
Kennedy
 Verb phrase—VP: read, hit the ball, walk
with a stick
 Prepositional phrase--PP: with a stick, in
the park
 Adjective phrase—AdjP: quite rude
 Adverb phrase—AdvP: very fast, swiftly

S


NP
The student
VP

V
NP

likes the new linguistics professor.
S





NP
VP
V
S
NP
VP
V
John insists (that) Mary take
NP
the piano class.

To make a structural description of
sentences, we shall describe various kinds
of relations between words and phrases of
sentences. There are two kinds of
relations between them.
Sequential Relations
（顺序／横向关系）Par. 2, p. 98
i. Definition: In syntax, sequential or syntagmatic
relation refers to the linear ordering of the words
and the phrases within a sentence.
ii. That is, a sentence is composed of minimal
grammatical units called ultimate constituents
（最终成分）in a particular order.
iii. The---man---hit---the---ball
linear

Sentences are made up of clauses,
which are made up of phrases, which
are made up of words, which are made
up of morphemes.

Clauses, phrases, words are all
constituents of a sentence on different
levels.
Hierarchical Relations
（等级关系）par. 3, p. 98
i. Definition: Hierarchical relation shows us the
inner layering of sentences.
ii. What means can we use to reveal the
hierarchical structure of a sentence?
-- It’s IC analysis（直接成分分析法）.
iii. The // man /// hit // the / ball.
hierarchical
Background
• In linguistics, immediate constituent analysis or IC
analysis is a method of sentence analysis that was
first mentioned by Leonard Bloomfield and
developed further by Rulon Wells. The process
reached a full blown strategy for analyzing sentence
structure in the early works of Noam Chomsky. The
practice is now widespread. Most tree structures
employed to represent the syntactic structure of
sentences are products of some form of IC-analysis.
Immediate constituent
 This
refers to the two parts that are
yielded after each cut. An immediate
constituent can be further segmented
until we obtain the smallest
grammatical unit—ultimate
constituents.
IC Analysis
The analysis of a sentence in terms of
its immediate constituents-- word groups (or
phrases), which are in turn analyzed into the
immediate constituents of their own, and the
process goes on until the ultimate
constituents are reached.
Examples

Poor John ran away.

John left yesterday.

dis place ment
More Examples

These apples are very sweet.
These apples
These
apples
are very sweet
are
very sweet
very
sweet
Little Tom runs very fast.

Little Tom runs very fast.
little Tom
Little
runs very fast
Tom
runs
very fast
very
fast
The advantages of IC Analysis
Demonstrate the internal structure of
sentences;
 Reduce ambiguity.
(The same phrase or sentence may have
two or more interpretations depending on
the hierarchical arrangement of its
constituents. Such a case is called
structural ambiguity. 结构歧义)

Leave the book on the shelf.
My small child’s cot（小床）
My small
cot for a
child.
My cot for
a small
child
The cot of
my small
child
The son of Pharaoh’s daughter is the daughter of
Pharaoh’s son.
Problems of IC analysis 1

Binary division is not always effective.

首先，开始的时候有些提倡者坚持二元切分。任何结构体
在任何层面都分成两个部分。但实际上并不总是如此。比
如，old men and women是有歧义的，既可以是old +
men and women的意思，也可以是 old men + and
women。这两种方法中的任何一种都需要三分：第一种解
释里的 men + and + women，第二种解释里的 old men +
and + women。and只跟前边的部分组合或只跟随后的部
分组合都是不可能的。
Problems of IC analysis 2

It cannot divide constructions with
discontinuous constituents,
e.g., make it up
Summary
My litter sister bought an old bike last week.
NP/Sb
My little sister
Det/M NP/H
My
little sister
A/M N/H
little sister
VP/P
bought an old bike last week
VP/H
bought an old bike
V/V
bought
NP/M
last week
NP/C
A/M N/H
an old bike last week
Det/M NP/H
an
old bike
A/M N/H
old bike
Construction (p. 99)

Constituents are what a construction is made up
of, and a construction is considered to have a
hierarchical organization of constituents.

Immediate constituents are immediately, directly,
below the level of a construction.
Endocentric and Exocentric
Construction 向心和离心结构

The syntactic constructions analyzed are of
two types:
endocentric and exocentric constructions,
depending on their distribution and the
relation between their constituents.
Endocentric（向心结构）

ENDOCENTRIC construction is one whose
distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or
more of its constituents, i.e., a word or a group of
words, which serves as a definable CENTER or
HEAD.

An endocentric construction: a headed
construction.
至少有一个直接成分与整体在语法功能上
相同、在语义上受到相同的语义选择限制
的句法结构。向心结构中与整体功能相同
并且受到相同的语义选择限制的直接成分
是它的核心。
 结构的整体功能与其构成部分的一个成分
功能相同。








Typical endocentric constructions:
noun phrases (the three small children),
verb phrases (will have been working),
adjective phrases (really very late)
The head:
1) the last constituent, or
2) at the beginning
the book on the shelf,
the man about whom I’ve been talking,
walked away immediately,
hot beyond endurance,
afraid of the talk
Exocentric（离心结构）
EXOCENTRIC construction is just the
opposite of endocentric construction.
 It refers to a group of syntactically related words
where none of the words is functionally
equivalent to the group as a whole, that is, there
is no definable “Center” or “Head” inside the
group.


Exocentric construction usually includes basic sentence,
prepositional phrase, predicate (verb + object)
construction, and connective (be + complement)
construction.

Ex.
She likes dancing.
on the shelf
wrote a book
Is a teacher





The whole construction has a different
grammatical function from either of its immediate
constituents. They cannot substitute for each other.
 系连式：直接成分一个是系连
成分，另一个是表述成分：is a
big man(是个大人物)；is
tired(疲劳了)；became
excited(激动起来)；1ay in the
corner motionless(躺在角落里
不动)。

主谓式：直接成分一个是话题，另一个是
说明：He is a big man(他是个大人物)；
She sings beautifully(她唱得极好)；I saw
him（见到他)；That man just I don’t
like(那个人我就是不喜欢)；(She watched)
us cross the street(〔她注视着〕我们穿过
大街)。
More Examples

引导式：直接成分一个是引导成分，另一
个是轴心：in the box(在盒子里)；on the
table(在桌子上)；if he is going(如果他去)；
while we were there(我们在那儿的时候)；
saw John(看到了约翰)；asked me a
question(问我——个问题)；asked me(问
我)。



Two subtypes of Endocentric constructions:
COORDINATE constructions (并列结构)
SUBORDINATE constructions (主从结构)
Coordinate construction:
1) there are more than one head
2) all are capable of serving as the head
Subordinate constructions:
There is only one head, with the head being
dominant and the other constituents dependent.
Coordination



A common syntactic pattern in English and other
languages formed by grouping together two or more
categories of the same type with the help of a
conjunction such as and, but and or. This phenomenon
is known as coordination.
These two or more words or phrases or clauses have
equivalent syntactic status; each of the separate
constituents can stand for the original construction
functionally.
That is, in a coordinate sentence, two (or more) S
constituents occur as daughters and co-heads of a
higher S.
Subordination
SUBORDINATION refers to the process or
result of linking linguistic units so that they
have different syntactic status, one being
dependent upon the other, and usually a
constituent of the other.
 Thus the subordinate constituents are words
which modify the Head. Consequently, they can
be called modifiers.

 A subordinating
construction contains a
subordinator, which is a prep. (1), a
particle (2), a subordinating conj. (3), and
a dependent unit (4):
(1) A teacher at the podium
(2) A play to be performed by them
(3) They left because they were tired.
(4) A bird singing in the woods
Sentence Types (句子类型) p. 100
simple
Sentence
complex
non-simple
compound
41
Simple sentence 简单句

Definition：also called independent clause,
which contains a subject and a verb, and it
expresses a complete thought.

Ex.:
Jim and Mike play football every afternoon.
Mary goes to the library and studies every day.


Coordinate sentence并列句




Definition: contains two independent clauses
joined by a coordinator(并列连词) : for, and, nor,
but, or, yet, so (fanboys). Coordinators are often
preceded by a comma.
Ex.:
I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to
speak English.
Lily went to play football, but Maria went
shopping.
Complex sentence 复杂句




Definition：A complex sentence has an
independent clause (matrix clause) joined with
one or more dependent clauses (embedded
clause) by one or more subordinators(从属连词) ,
such as if, when, because, although.
Ex.:
As he is growing old, he seldom goes out.
He is growing old, whereas he becomes
healthier.
Review of Terms
Immediate constituent; ultimate constituent
 Construction
-- endocentric / exocentric construction
 Primary grammatical categories
-- parts of speech=lexical categories
 Secondary grammatical categories
-- number, gender, concord, etc.
 Functional categories
-- subject, predicate, object, etc.

Prescriptive Rules
Don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
2. Don't use contractions.
3. Don't use sentence fragments.
4. Don't end a sentence with a linking verb.
5. Don't use dangling participles.
6. Don't end a sentence with a preposition.
7. Don't use an object pronoun for a subject pronoun in
a conjoined subject.
8. Don't use a plural pronoun to refer back to a singular
noun like everyone, no-one, someone, and the like.
9. Don't split infinitives.
10.Use whom, not who, as the object of a verb or
preposition.
1.
Choose the best answer
1. The head of the phrase : the city of Rome”
is ___.
 A. the city
B. Rome
 C. city
D. the city and Rome.

2. The phrase “on the shelf” belongs to
_____ construction.
 A. endocentric
B. exocentric
 C. subordinate
D. coordinate

3. The sentence “ They wanted to remain
quiet and not to express themselves” is a
____ sentence.
 A. simple
B. coordinate
 C. compound
D. complex

4. ___ is a subfield of linguistics that
studies the sentence structure of language.
 A. Morphology
B. Syntax
 C. Semantics
D. Pragmatics

5 ___ does not belong to major syntactic
categories.
 A. Auxiliary
B. NP
 C. N
D. PP

7. The criterion used in IC analysis is
____.
 A. transformation
B. conjoining
 C. grouping
D. substituability


Substitutability, that is, whether a sequence of
words can be substituted for a single word and
the structure remains the same, is the criterion
used in IC analysis. For example, in Lovely Lucy
ran away, Lovely Lucy can be replaced by Lucy
and ran away by ran without changing the
structure, but Lovely Lucy ran away cannot be
replaced by Lucy or any other single word
without changing the structure.
9. The phrase “ my small child’s cot” is an
ambiguous phrase, which can be revealed
by ___ tree diagrams.
 A. one
B. two
 C. three
D. four


a very old wooden house down the lane
a very old wooden house
a very old wooden house
very old
very
down the lane
down
wooden house
old
wooden
house
the
the lane
lane
The pavilion on the hill collapsed in the wind.
The pavilion on the hill
collapsed in the wind.
The
collapsed
pavilion on the hill
pavilion
on the hill
on
in
the hill
the
in the wind.
hill
the wind.
the wind.
Everybody knew that the president would win the election.
Everybody
knew that the president would win the election.
knew
(that) the president would win the election.
the president
the
president
would win the election.
would
win the election.
win the election
the
election
More IC Analysis Exercises
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The naughty girl put the beautiful book
under the desk.
I believe he is coming.
He might have been waiting for us.
The cucumber has been eaten by Mike.
He had not finished the work.