CAS LX 522
Syntax I
Week 4a. The DP and
the geometry of trees
Previously, in LX522…
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Sentences are made of constituents, themselves
possibly made of constituents, etc.

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[The kid [who [dropped [the cookie]]]] [ate [it]]
Any account of syntactic knowledge will need to
provide this kind of hierarchical structure.
Overall idea: The syntactic system we have in
our head builds trees, such that all and only the
trees that the system can build are grammatical.

To the extent that grammatical and ungrammatical
sentences are distinguished in terms of the
hierarchical structure, it must be part of the system.
Minimalism

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As we try to determine what the properties of
this grammatical system are, we should assume
as little as we can get away with.
Any language-like system that is going to create
hierarchical structure is going to need something
that takes two (or more, but let’s say that “two is
simpler than any other number”) things and puts
them together into something eligible for further
combinations.
So, the machine that builds the trees has at least
the operation Merge.
X-theory

A phrase is a syntactic
object formed by
combining (merging) two
syntactic objects, with the
properties inherited from
one of them (the head of
the phrase).
maximal
projection
intermediate
projection
XP

A word is a syntactic
object.
minimal
projection
YP
specifier
X
X
head
ZP
complement
X-theory

In the ’70s and ’80s, these ideas went by the
name “X-theory”.

Every XP has exactly one:




head (a lexical item)
complement (another XP)
specifier (another XP)
maximal
projection
for any X (N, V, A, P, I, etc.)
XP
YP
specifier
minimal
projection
intermediate
projection
X
X
head
ZP
complement
Radford and the X(P)


To forestall confusion: lunch is both a minimal
projection and a maximal projection. It functions
as a phrase, an XP, but it has nothing in it but a
head, an X.
Since you need to write something, Radford
generally opts to write X for these X/XPs.
VP
V
NP
eat
lunch
Radford and the X(P)

In this class, and on my overheads, I will usually write
X/XP as XP. You should do the same, but you should be
aware that Radford does it differently.

In general, this will depend on whether the properties we
are focusing on are those of phrases (XPs) or heads (Xs).
In these ambiguous cases, it will almost
invariably turn out that
VP
they act like phrases
with respect to what we
are focusing on.
V
NP
eat
lunch
Radford and the X(P)

Another similar comment pertains to the status
of IP below. It is an IP. It is not an I. It’s true that
it will be an I after we combine Pat with the IP,
but it isn’t yet. Cf. Radford p. 120.
N
Pat
IP
I
will
VP
V
NP
eat
lunch
X, X, XP
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In English, the head and the complement always
seem to come in that order: head-complement.
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

at lunch(P NP = PP)
eat lunch
(V NP = VP)
will eat lunch (I VP = IP)
But here, languages differ.
English is a head-first (or
head-initial) language.
PP
P
NP
at
lunch
X, X, XP

In Japanese, the head follows the complement.
Japanese is head-final.



ringo-o tabeta (NP V = VP)
apple ate
toshokan de (NP P = PP)
library
at
This seems to be a
parameter that
distinguishes languages
(the head parameter)
PP
NP
P
toshokan
de
X, X, XP


Whether the specifier comes before X or after is
independent of whether the head comes before
the complement.
Specifiers are overwhelmingly initial, although a
few languages may be best analyzed as having
final specifiers (sometimes).
IP

E.g., Japanese, which is
NP
I
head-final, nevertheless
has initial specifiers.
Ringo-ga VP
ringo-o tabe-
I
ta
Narrowing in: NP?


Traditionally, a phrase like the students is
called a noun phrase and written as NP.
What does this imply about the structure?
What category is students?
 What category is the?
 Which one is the head?
 Where is the other one?

Narrowing in: NP?


Traditionally, a phrase like the students is
called a noun phrase and written as NP.
What does this imply about the structure?
What category is students?
 What category is the?
 Which one is the head?
 Where is the other one?


Is this Japanese?
NP
DP
the
?
N
students
Narrowing in: NP?


There are a couple of problems with this.
There’s the headedness problem

The syntactic object that combines with the head is
the complement, not the specifier.


(Note: There is a way out of this, we’ll see it later)
Supposing that the is a whole DP is suspicious,
because it can never be
NP
?
modified by anything.
Modifiability is a signature
DP
N
property of phrases.
the
students
DP!

If the students is not an NP, it must be a DP.



It’s head-initial, like English should be.
The NP can of course be modified (happy students).
There are several reasons to think that the
students is a DP and not an NP, even better than
these two, which we’ll see in
DP
!
due course (…at the appropriate
juncture, in the fullness of time). D
NP
the
students
DP

Consider the genitive (possessive) ’s in English:



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John’s hat
The student’s sandwich
The man from Australia’s book
The man on the hill by the tree’s binoculars
Notice that the ’s attaches to the whole possessor
phrase—in the last two examples, it isn’t even
attached to the head noun (it’s the man’s book and
binoculars, not Australia’s or the tree’s, after all).
This is not a noun suffix. It seems more like a little
word that signals possession, standing between the
possessor and the possessee. (Recall, it’s a clitic).
DP

It seems to be impossible to have both a ’s and a
determiner.

*The building’s the roof




Cf. The roof of the building
*The tiger’s the eye
Determiners like the and the possession marker
’s seem to be in complementary distribution—if
one appears, the other cannot.
You may recall a similar pattern from a couple of
weeks ago. What was the explanation for the *s?


The big fluffy pink rabbit
*The that rabbit
*The my rabbit
*Every my rabbit
DP

*Pat’s the big fluffy pink rabbit

This would make sense if both the and ’s are
instances of the category D; DP can have only
one head.
Possessors

This suggests a structure like this for
possession phrases:

The possessor DP is in the specifier
of DP. And of course, this can be as
complex a DP as we like, e.g., the
very hungry linguistics student by the
tree with the purple flowers over there.

The possessed NP is the
complement of D.
DP
DP
D
D
NP D
the
student ’s
NP
book
Recursion

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Another noteworthy aspect of the
possessor phrase is its recursive property.
The possessor is a DP in the specifier of
DP. That means that the DP possessor
could have a possessor too…
The student’s father’s book
The student’s mother’s brother’s
roommate
X-bar theory: DP

DP
The student’s
mother’s
brother’s
roommate
DP
DP
DP
D
the
D
D
NP
D
D
D
D
NP ’s roommate
NP ’s brother
student ’s mother
NP
X-bar theory: DP

What do we do with apparently simple “NPs” like
John or students (e.g., Students in the class
complained bitterly)? Are these NPs or DPs?

Well, there are two options…

One: They are NPs.



Pro: Just as they appear.
Con: Subjects, objects, etc. can be either NPs or DPs.
Two: They are DPs.


Pro: Subject, objects, etc. are always DPs.
Con: Not obvious from the surface pronunciation.
X-bar theory: DP

What do we do with apparently simple “NPs” like
John or students (e.g., Students in the class
complained bitterly)? Are these NPs or DPs?

Well, there are two options…

One: They are NPs.



Pro: Just as they appear.
Con: Subjects, objects, etc. can be either NPs or DPs.
Two: They are DPs.


Pro: Subject, objects, etc. are always DPs.
Con: Not obvious from the surface pronunciation.
Pronouns

Consider: me, you, him (or I, you, he)…

Since a pronoun can be the subject of a
sentence (e.g., I left), a pronoun must be part of
a DP.
For pronouns, however, there’s some reason to
believe that they actually head the DP. That is,
that the pronoun I is a D.


That is, not PRN as we’d called it up until now, but
actually in the same category as the and ’s.
X-bar theory: Pronouns

Consider the following:




You politicians are all alike.
We linguists need to stick together.
The media always mocks us
academics.
These seem to have a pronoun
followed by a noun inside the DP;
we can make sense of this if the
pronoun is a D which can
optionally take an NP complement.
DP
D
NP
we linguists
X-bar theory: Bare nouns and
proper names



How about something like students (in
Students poured out of the auditorium at
noon) or John (in John went for a walk)?
For students, we want to believe that it is an
instance of the N category (in order to make
sense of the students or we students or
John’s students. But if this N is contained in a
DP (the complement of a D head), where is
the D?
In order to maintain consistency, we’ll
suppose that in bare nouns D is present but
null (it has no phonological representation;
X-bar theory: Bare nouns and
proper names


So for the bare noun students, we
have a structure like that shown
here.
DP
D
Ø
As for proper names like Pat, we
will assume that they are
essentially like students.

Why? Why not like I, me, them?
NP
students
DP
D
Ø
NP
John
Trees

We will be working with trees a lot, and the
geometry of trees will be quite important.
We need some terminology to talk about
the parts of trees.
Trees
An abstract tree structure…
A
B
C
D
E
Trees

A
B
C
D
E
The “joints” of the tree are
nodes. The nodes here are
labeled (with node labels).
Trees

A
B
C
D
E

The “joints” of the tree are
nodes. The nodes here are
labeled (with node labels).
Nodes are connected by
branches.
Trees

A
B
C
D
E


The “joints” of the tree are
nodes. The nodes here are
labeled (with node labels).
Nodes are connected by
branches.
The node at the top of the
tree (with no branches above
it) is called the root node. A
is the root node.
Trees

A
B
C
D
E

Nodes with no branches
beneath them are called
terminal nodes.
B, D, E are terminal nodes.
Trees

A
B
C
D

E


Nodes with no branches beneath
them are called terminal nodes.
B, D, E are terminal nodes.
Nodes with branches beneath
them are called nonterminal
nodes.
A, C are nonterminal nodes.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E
A node X dominates nodes
below it on the tree; these
are the nodes which would
be pulled along if you
grabbed the node X and
pulled it off of the page.
Tree relations

A
B
D
C
D
C
E
E

A node X dominates nodes
below it on the tree; these
are the nodes which would
be pulled along if you
grabbed the node X and
pulled it off of the page.
C dominates D and E.
Tree relations

A
B
D
C
D
C
E
E
Remind you of anything?
To briefly reconnect with
actual language data, it
seems as if you do
something to C (like pull it off
the page), it affects D and E
as a unit.
Tree relations

A
B
D
C
D
C
E
E


A set of terminal nodes is a
constituent if they are all
dominated by the same node
and no other terminal nodes
are dominated by that node.
“D E” is a constituent.
“B D” is not.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E

A node X immediately
dominates a node Y if X
dominates Y and is
connected by only one
branch.
A immediately dominates
B and C.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E


A node X immediately
dominates a node Y if X
dominates Y and is
connected by only one
branch.
A immediately dominates
B and C.
A is also sometimes called
the mother of B and C.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E



A node which shares the
same mother as a node X is
sometimes called the sister
of X.
B is the sister of C.
C is the sister of B.
D is the sister of E.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E
A node X c-commands its
sisters and the nodes
dominated by its sisters.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E

A node X c-commands its
sisters and the nodes
dominated by its sisters.
B c-commands C, D, and E.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E


A node X c-commands its
sisters and the nodes
dominated by its sisters.
B c-commands C, D, and E.
D c-commands E.
Tree relations

A
B
C
D
E



A node X c-commands its
sisters and the nodes
dominated by its sisters.
B c-commands C, D, and E.
D c-commands E.
C c-commands B.
X-bar configurations

XP
YP
The complement is the sister
of the head.
X
X
ZP 
The specifier is the sister of
X that is a daughter of XP.
Precedence

The tree also encodes the linear order of
the terminal nodes.
Precedence


The tree also encodes the linear order of
the terminal nodes.
The is pronounced before students.
NP
D
the
N
students
Precedence



The tree also encodes the linear order of
the terminal nodes.
The is pronounced before students.
Saw is pronounced before the and
students.
VP
V
saw
NP
D
the
N
students
Precedence

That is, V is pronounced before NP,
meaning V is pronounced before all of the
terminal nodes dominated by NP.
VP
V
saw
NP
D
the
N
students
Precedence

Even if the tree is drawn sloppily, nothing
changes—(everything dominated by) V is
pronounced before (everything dominated
by) NP. This is still “saw the students”.
VP
V
saw
D
the
NP
N
students
No line crossing

One of the implications
of this is that you
cannot draw a wellformed tree with lines
that cross.

The can’t be
pronounced before V
because The is part of
DP and V has to be
pronounced before all of
DP.
VP
DP
D
the
V
meet
NP
students
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