Why Syntax?
1) Syntax and ELL:
Taro a dog found.
Chan, Alice Y.W. (2004). Syntactic Transfer: Evidence
from the Interlanguage of Hong Kong Chinese ESL
Learners. The Modern Language Journal, 88, 56-74.
2) Syntax to expand meaning
Language and Syntax
• Phonetics- sounds
• Morphology- sounds form meaning
• Phonology- morphemes form words- spelling rules
• Syntax- words, phrases, sentences (word order, hierarchy)
Syntax
“Part of grammar that represents a
speaker’s knowledge of sentences
and their structures is called
syntax” (Fromkin p.116)
Word Categories:
1) Lexical (Parts of Speech)
– types of meanings: noun, preposition, verb, adjective,
adverb
2) Functional
*Auxiliary (Aux) - provide verb time frame- ongoing,
past, future, have, had, be, was, were
Modal- possibility or necessity- may, might, can,
could, must, shall, should, would
*Determiner (Det)
Articles- infinite or definite noun- a the
Demonstrative- noun to context- this, that,
these, those
‘Counting words’- each, every
Phrase Categories:
Each lexical word category has a corresponding phrase
• Noun phrase
• Verb phrase
• Prepositional phrase
• Adverbial phrase
• Adjective phrase
Functions of Syntax
Syntax allows language to be limitless within the structure
rules.
John found a book in the library.
John found a book in the library in the stacks.
John found a book in the library in the stacks on the
fourth floor.
Grammar without meaning
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
A verb crumpled the milk.
* “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll
Word Order:
Languages have specific word orders.
English: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
The professor wrote the book.
Book the wrote the professor.
The book was written by the professor.
Word order changes
meaning:
Changes to conventional synatx are often used to create dramatic, poetic, or comic effect.
For instance, poets and song lyricists often change syntactic order to create rhythmic effects:
"I'll sing to him, each spring to him
And long for t he day when I'll cling to him,
Bewitched, bot hered and bewildered am I."
[COLE PORTER]
http://www.buzzin.net/english/syntax.htm
Word order in other
languages:
Basic sentence word order and phrase order
varies by language.
SVO vs. SOV
Noun Phrase: # - N vs. N- #
4 tables vs. tables 4
Adj- N vs. N- Adj
pretty girl vs girl pretty
Spanish
• Quiza venga el Presidente.
The President may come.
• La chica es una estudiante excelente.
The girl is an excellent student.
• Yo lo vi.
I saw him.
• El nino escribe poemas preciosos.
The boy writes beautiful poems.
ASL
*Word order + non-manual features
• I teacher (with head nod)
I am a teacher.
• I from Utah.
I am from Utah
• Boy fall
The boy fell down.
• My cat chase dog
My cat chased the dog.
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/syntax.htm
Constituents &
Constituency Tests
Constituents = the natural groupings of a sentence
A constituent is formed if…
1) a group of words can stand alone
Ex. “What did you find?” “A puppy” (not “found a”)
2) pronouns can substitute for natural groups
Ex. “Where did you find a puppy?” “I found HIM in the park.”
3) a group of words can be move. [move unit]
Ex. It was [a puppy] that the child found.
[A puppy] was found by the child.
• S = Sentence
The boy likes to eat cake.
• Det = Determiner
Articles: a, the
Demonstratives: this that these, those, each, every
• N = Noun
puppy, boy, cake, happiness, kiss
• Aux = Auxillary
Auxillary verbs: have, had, be, was, were
Modals: may, might, can, could, should, will, would
• V = Verb
find, run, realize, believe, want
• Adj = Adjective
red, big, candid, hopeless, lucky
• Adv = Adverb
again, carefully, never, very,
TERMS:
TERMS
• NP = Noun phrase (subject or object in a sentence)
The child is lucky.
A police officer found the criminal.
She is the girl that John loved.
• VP = Verb phrase (always contains a verb, may contain other categories,
such as noun phrase or prepositional phrase)
The child saw an elephant.
Rob slept on the couch.
• PP = Prepositional Phrase (preposition followed by an NP)
Susan devoured the cake in the pantry.
• CP = Complementizer Phrase (contains complementizer, such as
that, if, whether, and is followed by an embedded sentence)
Jack doesn’t know if he should fetch a pail of water.
Jill knows that she should fetch a pail of water.
Template vs. Tree Diagram
TEMPLATE:
The boy raced the girl.
Det-N-V-Det-N
This TEMPLATE says
that a determiner is
followed by a noun,
which is followed be
a verb, etc
• This TEMPLATE, however,
suggests that words have no
internal organization.
• Thus, we can use a TREE
DIAGRAM to make it easier
to see the parts and
subparts of a sentence.
• As a result, the structure of
the sentence can be
recognized in the tree’s
hierarchical organization.
Sentences: Hierarchical Organization
The boy raced the girl.
Words grouped into natural units:
[The boy] [raced the girl].
Further division:
[ [The] [boy] ] [ [raced] [ [the] [girl] ] ].
Tree Diagram:
verb phrase
noun phrase
noun phrase
raced
The
boy
the
girl
Phrase Structure Tree (PS Trees)
or Constituent Structure Tree:
a tree diagram with syntactic category information
The boy raced the girl.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The boy raced the girl.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The sentence above consists of syntactic category nodes VP
and NP (subject and direct object). The VP dominates over V,
NP (DO), and also Det and N [raced the girl].
Categories that are immediately dominated by the same node
are sisters. V and NP are sisters [raced] [the girl] in the PS
tree of [The boy raced the girl]
Phrase Structure Trees
Word order is important. English is a SVO language.
NOT
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Raced the girl the boy.
The boy raced the girl.
NOT
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The boy
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Boy the
PS Rules: finite set of permissible structures
1) S ->
NP VP
2) NP ->
Det N’
6) N’ -> 8) VP ->
Adj N’ V
3) NP ->
N’
7) N’ -> 9) VP ->
N
V NP
4) NP ->
NP’s N’
5) NP ->
NP PP
10) VP ->
V CP
11) VP ->
Aux VP
12) VP ->
VP PP
13) PP ->
P NP
14) CP ->
C S
Emily danced on the beach.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Mark said that you left the office.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The man loves the beautiful
intelligent woman.
NOT:
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Beautiful intelligent the woman
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
An adjective modifies
the noun BUT
The man loves the beautiful intelligent woman.
a determiner modifies
the adjective + noun
complex.
Tree Diagrams for Exercise #4:
The magician touched the child with the wand.
Tree # 1: The magician used the
wand to touch the child.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Tree # 2: The magician touched a boy
who was holding a wand.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
In groups of two or three:
create the tree diagrams
• a) She played in the park.
• b) The teacher said that the classroom needs
books.
• c) The kind handsome athletic boy mowed the
lawn.