Notes for 9/15
General Housekeeping
1. No presentation of homework next week due to exam
2. Class notes can be found on the Syllabus page of the class website.
3. Note: test percentages (vs. other areas of evaluation) are ascribed so that one not-so-good
grade will not completely impede your progress in the course. All exams will cover main
concepts from the lectures, which are captured in the notes. Exams will be designed to take
two-thirds of class times – most like with 5 short answer (essay) questions. Do not forget the
blue books!
Class Lecture
Question: What is the difference between constituents, phrases, and clauses.
Clauses

in terms of the hierarchy, clauses could be matrix, root, or subordinate
o root clauses must have tense, can endure subject/auxiliary inversion to form yes/no
questions
o subordinate clauses cannot stand alone


tend to have predicates
arguments are attached and also can be implied  For example, in the sentence “Jackie enjoys
skiing in the mountains.”  “Skiing in the mountains.” Is a ‘geruntive’ clause where the subject
is implied.
can have non-finite verbs, such as ‘to go to work’
some languages have complementizer root clauses (e.g., Japanese, Chinese), unlike in English
where that is now allowed


Understanding constituency



A constituent is a string of words that are exhaustively dominated by another node
It’s easy to think of trees as a mobile (that you would have over a crib), where each node is selfcontained and can swing on its own axis. (see below)
o Trees are physical representation of our assertions or claims made about various
sentences. In this case, tree also
Word of nodes: can shifts if of the same parent. (see below)
S
VP1
NP1
Kim
PP
VP2
aa2
NP2
V
bought
o
With her first wages
that book
In some sense, every word is a constituent because it swings on In can swing on its own
point of origin. According to this tree diagram, the NP1 and VP1 can switch.
DP`1
NP1
DP2
her
AP
first
o
NP2
wages
‘her’ and ‘first are not constituents Because they are not exhaustively dominated under
the same origin (or node); Instead, you would have to take all 3 words ‘her first wages’
There are several bits of information you can obtain from trees:
o
o
o
Labelling: each node has a label  head initial is informed by how you label and
labelling is a claim made about structure
Precedence: the relationship between two nodes (word order)
Dominance: what node dominates others (example: If DP 1 Dominates DP2, NP1, AP and
NP2)
Precedence and dominance are mutually exclusive. If A precedes B , A cannot also be said to dominate
the B.
Where  = precedeces, V P NP (see the tree above)
Other clauses/examples:
I believe him to be nice. (‘him’ is not the OBJ – the fact that I believe)
him to be nice
Adjunct clauses are subordinate clauses.
If Judy wears the hat - (Subordinate Clause)
Although Judy wears the hat - (Subordinate Clause)
Kim wrote that book with the blue cover.
PP
P
With
dp
Det
Her
Det
She
AP
I
A
First
NP
NP
I
N
wages (head final) ‘first’ modifies ‘wages’
S
VP
AP
I
A
Started
NP
I
N
work (head initial) ‘work’ modifies ‘started.’
Exhaustively dominated by the same Phrasal structure (PP, NP etc)
PPP
DP
DPDet
NP
DP
P
NP
Det
Word order is autonomous.
Her first wages
3 types independent information
1- Labeling (categorical Nodes)
2- Precedence (word order)
3- Dominance
How added to adj. asks ‘degree.’
Ambiguity
1 and 2 billion
have you ever eaten squid fried
how was it?
better than when I was sober.
NP
I
V
ate
VP
NP
squid
AP
FRIED
Structure made to reflect meaning.
Other Q&A
Question: Are adjunct clauses considered to be subordinate clauses:
Answer: Yes!
Question: is focus a ‘universal property’ across languages?
While a language like Japanese does not show this is the same fashion as English (where ‘it was X that
did Y’), focus is present in that language; the movement test can be applied to find the focus, even
though it may appear differently than in English.
Question: How does one perform syntactic tests for other languages?
You have to first know what the language means.