“Any speaker of any human language
can produce and understand an
infinite number of sentences.”
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 77.
1. “Any speaker of any human language
can produce and understand an infinite
number of sentences.” (77)
2. “This system of rules explains how
speakers can store infinite knowledge in a
finite space—our brains.” (78)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 77, 78, 82.
3. “The rules of the syntax permit speakers
to produce and understand a limitless
number of sentences never produced or
heard before—the creative aspect of
linguistic knowledge.” (82)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 77, 78, 82.
4. “We can exploit the resources of our
language and grammar to produce and
understand a limitless number of
sentences embodying a limitless range of
ideas and emotions.” (82)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 77, 78, 82.
5. “Because the number of possible
sentences in every language is infinite,
there are also an infinite number of trees.
However, all trees are built out of the
finite set of substructures allowed by the
grammar of the language, and these
substructures are specified by the finite
set of phrase structure rules. (95)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 82, 95.
6. “The number of sentences in a language
is infinite and [ ] languages have various
means of creating longer and longer
sentences.” (95)
7. “Our brain capacity is finite, able to store
only a finite number of categories and
rules for their combination. Yet this finite
system places an infinite set of sentences
at our disposal. (101)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 95, 101, 128.
8. “All speakers are capable of producing
and understanding an unlimited number of
new sentences that have never before
been spoken or heard.” (128)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 95, 101, 128.
(Numbers indicate the number of embedded clauses)
0 This is the house.
1 This is the house
that Jack built.
2 This is the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
3 This is the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
4 This is the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
5 This is the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
6 This is the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
7 This is the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
8 This is the man all tattered and torn
that kissed the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
9 This is the priest all shaven and shorn
that married the man all tattered and torn
that kissed the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
10 This is the cock that crowed in the morn
that waked the priest all shaven and shorn
that married the man all tattered and torn
that kissed the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
11 This is the farmer sowing the corn
that kept the cock that crowed in the morn
that waked the priest all shaven and shorn
that married the man all tattered and torn
that kissed the maiden all forlorn
that milked the cow with the crumpled horn
that tossed the dog
that worried the cat
that killed the rat
that ate the malt
that lay in the house
that Jack built.
The Real Mother Goose. (1994). New York: Scholastic Inc., pp. 69-70.
“The part of the grammar that represents
a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and
their structures is called syntax.”
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 78.
 The RULES of Syntax
 The RULES of Morphology
 The RULES of Phonology (next semester)
 The RULES of Syntax
BUILDING BLOCKS: words, phrases
OUTPUT: grammatical sentences
 The RULES of Morphology
BUILDING BLOCKS: morphemes (free / bound)
OUTPUT: words
 The RULES of Phonology (next semester)
BUILDING BLOCKS: phonemes / phones
OUTPUT: properly pronounced words /
sentences
 Word order
 Relationship between meaning and the
arrangement of the words
 Grammatical relations—Subject and Object
 Grammatical constraints—Verb
subcategoriation
 Hierarchy of grammatical constituents
 Grammaticality judgments
 Structural ambiguity
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 78-81.
魚吃人
1. Harold hit Ivan.
2. Ivan hit Harold.
3. The student picked up the book.
4. The student picked the book up.
5. Sally kissed John.
6. John was kissed by Sally.
7. John kissed Sally.
 We say that native speakers of a
language share the same knowledge
of SYNTACTIC RULES.
 What does this mean?
Simple Answer:
 Because native speakers of a
language share the same set of
syntactic rules their grammaticality
judgments will be the same.
More Complex Answer:
 Because Native Speakers of a (variety of a)
language SHARE the same (or nearly the same)
set (group) of SYNTACTIC RULES their
Grammaticality Judgments will be
(approximately) the same.
 Their MENTAL GRAMMAR is MORE OR LESS
THE SAME
 In other words, they have the same (nearly the
same) linguistic competence because they grew
up speaking the same language
1. Does NOT depend on whether you have heard it
before
2. Does NOT depend on whether it is meaningful
3. Does NOT depend on whether you can interpret
it
4. Does NOT depend on whether it is true
5. It DOES depend on our “unconscious knowledge
of the syntactic rules of grammar”
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 82-83.
 Meaningless
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Giant tomatoes danced at my party
last week.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 82-83.
 Uninterpretable
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 82-83.
 Untrue
Today is Wednesday.
My brother had a baby last week.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 82-83.
Words
(Lexical Ambiguity)
He walked by the bank.
He got shot in the back.
Phrases
(Structural Ambiguity)
synthetic buffalo hides
small car factory
Sentences
(Structural Ambiguity)
The boy saw the man with the telescope.
For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady
with thick legs and large drawers.
 CONVENIENT way to show:
 Word Order
 Syntactic Categories
 Hierarchical Structure
 They show the syntactic structure CLEARLY /
UNAMBIGUOUSLY
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 90.
The child found a puppy.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 84, 90.
Content Words
noun
verb
adjective
adverb
N
V
Adj
Adv
NP
VP
Function Words
preposition
conjunction
interjection
auxiliary verb
modal verb
determiner
quantifier
Prep PP
Conj
Interj
Aux
Modal
Det
Quant
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2007. An Introduction to
Language, 8th edition. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, p. 124.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
S  NP
NP

VP
VP
VP
PP

VP

CP

NP

VP

VP
Det



P
V
C
NP
Aux
N
V
V
V
NP
CP
S
PP
VP
(revised 100-101)
NP
(revised 96)
PP
(added 97)
(added 107)
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2011. An Introduction to
Language, 9th edition. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 93, 96, 97, 100,
101, 107.
N

V
P
Adj
Det




child, boy, man, men, telescope,
puppy, posse, baby, buffalo, hide
find, see, flee, sleep
with, from, in, on
small, synthetic
the, a
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman & Nina Hyams. 2007. An Introduction to
Language, 8th edition. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, p. 131, adapted.
 the grammaticality of sentences
 word order
 structural ambiguity (Ex 1a)
 grammatical relations
 different structures with the same meaning
(Ex 1b)
 how / why two sentences are related (Ex
1c)
 the creative aspect of language
Fromkin & Rodman (1998), pp. 110-111
 IF our MINI-GRAMMAR is correct, THEN
every sentence that follows that grammar is
________ .
 IF our MINI-GRAMMAR is correct, THEN
every sentence that does not follow that
grammar is ________ .
 IF we find a sentence that we KNOW is
grammatical, BUT our MINI-GRAMMAR
says it is NOT grammatical, then we know
the mini-grammar is _______________ .
The boy saw the man with the telescope.
? The boy saw the man with a stick.
The boy hit the man with a stick.
The boy hit the man with the telescope.