JPN494: Japanese Language and Linguistics
JPN543: Advanced Japanese Language and
Linguistics
Syntax (1)
Plan
Part I:
 The basic architecture of modern syntactic theory
Part II:
 Major constructions (passives, causatives,
benefactives).
 Pronoun “zibun (自分)”
 Particles
What is syntax?
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Syntax is the subfield of linguistics that
studies the internal structure of sentences
and the relationships among the internal
parts.
What is generative syntax?
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The basic idea of generative syntax (a.k.a.
generative grammar, formal syntax):
“A grammar is a formal (algebraic) system for
generating the sentences of a language.”
language (in this particular sense) = grammar +
lexicon
grammar = a system of rules, principles, and
constraints that characterize all and only the wellformed sentences (and meanings thereof).
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The dog bit the horse.
*Dog the horse the bit.
He likes us.
*He like we.
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They saw Pat with Chris.
Who did they see Pat with _?
They saw Pat and Chris.
*Who did they see Pat and _?
(from Sag et al. 2003)
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Pat seems to be helpful.
Pat tries to be helpful.
There seems to be a tiger in the garden.
*There tries to be a tiger in the garden.
(from Sag et al. 2003)
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Linguistic expressions must occur in a
certain linear order.
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*Dog the horse the bit.
*犬が馬かんだを
Linguistic expressions must be grouped in a
certain way.
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The mother of the boy and the girl will arrive soon.
美しい本のカバー
cf. I bought a mouse; I saw her duck
What does a “formal system for
generating the sentences of a
language” look like?
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simple phrase structure grammar
Lexicon:
D: the, a, some
A: big, brown, old
N: birds, dog, hunter, telescope
V: attack, ate, watched
P: for, beside, with
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Grammatical Rules:
S → NP VP
NP → (D) A* N PP*
VP → V (NP) (PP)
PP → P NP
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the dog attacked birds
the hunter watched the dog with a telescope
the big brown dog watched the birds besides
the hunter with a telescope
*attacked the hunter the dog
*birds dog the hunter watched
*telescope with ate the birds
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the hunter watched the dog with a telescope
Lexicon:
D: the, a, some
A: big, brown, old
N: birds, dog, hunter, telescope
V: attack, ate, watched
P: for, beside, with
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Grammatical Rules:
S → NP VP
NP → (D) A* N PP*
VP → V (NP) (PP)
PP → P NP
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Lexicon:
Mod: この, 大きな
N: 猟師 (りょうし), 肉屋 (にくや), 犬, 魚
V: あげた, 見た, ほめた
P: が, を, に
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Grammatical Rules:
S → (NP) (NP) (NP) V
NP → (Mod) N P
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猟師が肉屋を見た
猟師が大きな魚を犬にあげた
ほめた
*猟師が見た肉屋を
*犬にを見た
*をほめた
Limitations of simple phrase structure
grammar
#1 Subcategorization
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The defendant denied the accusation.
The problem disappeared.
The teacher handed the student a book.
*The defendant denied.
*The teacher disappeared the problem.
*The teacher handed the student.
VP → IV
VP → TV NP
VP → DTV NP NP
#2 Agreement and transitivity
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The bird sings.
The birds sing.
*The bird sing.
*The birds sings.
S → NP-sg VP-sg
S → NP-pl VP-pl
NP-sg → (D) N-sg
NP-pl → (D) N-pl
VP-sg → IV-sg
VP-pl → IV-pl
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The bird devours the worms.
The birds devour the worms.
The boy gives the girls flowers.
The boys give the girls flowers.
VP-sg → TV-sg {NP-sg | NP-pl}
VP-pl → TV-pl {NP-sg | NP-pl}
VP-sg → DTV-sg {NP-sg | NP-pl} {NP-sg | NP-pl}
VP-pl → DTV-pl {NP-sg | NP-pl} {NP-sg | NP-pl}
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“This set of rules is cumbersome, and clearly
misses linguistically significant
generalizations.” (ibid.: p.39)
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Phrases
(1) a group of syntactically combined expressions.
(2) a group of expressions that does not require syntactic
dependents (subject, complements, determiner, etc.);
“saturated” groups of expressions
bird, birds, small birds, small bird, the small bird, the small
birds
devours, devours a chicken, sings (itr.)
Two major approaches in formal
syntax
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transformational approach
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a.k.a.: Chomskyan syntax, minimalist approach
founder: Noam Chomsky
constraint-based approach
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a.k.a.: lexicalist approach
Transformations
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Transformations: operations that change/modify
phrase structure representations (copy, deletion,
movement, etc.)
S → NP Aux VP (e.g. John can sing.)
John sings.
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D-structure: John φ sing
intermediate stage: John -s sing (affix insertion)
S-structure: John sings (verb raising or affix hopping)
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Who did John see?
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D-structure: John -ed see who
i.s. #1: -ed John see who (subj.-aux. inversion)
i.s. #2: did John see who (do-support)
S-structure: Who did John see (wh-movement)
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The vase was broken
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D-structure: φ -ed break the vase
i.s. #1: φ -ed break-en the vase (en-insertion)
i.s. #2: the vase -ed broken (movement)
S-structure: the vase was broken (be-support)
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太郎を花子が見た
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D-structure: [S H-ga [VPT-o mi-ta]]
S-structure: [S T-o [S H-ga [VP mi-ta]]] (scrambling)
S → NP VP or S → NP NP V
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3 人の学生が来た
学生が 3 人来た
3人の学生がピアノを持ち上げた (ambiguous)
学生が 3 人 ピアノを持ち上げた (not
ambiguous)
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[3 人の学生] が来た (pre-nominal)
[学生 3 人] が 来た (post-nominal)
学生が 3 人来た (adverbial)
[(その) 3 冊の本] を読んだ (pre-nominal)
[本 3 冊] を読んだ (post-nominal)
本を 3 冊読んだ (adverbial)