Simpler Syntax. Ling : Sign-Based Construction Grammar Instructor: Ivan A. Sag URL:

Transcription

1 Simpler Syntax Ling : Sign-Based Construction Grammar Instructor: Ivan A. Sag URL: 1/ 58

2 Constructs ] [mtr sign construct : dtrs nelist(sign) The mother(mtr) feature is used to place constraints on the set of signs that are licensed by a given construct. The feature daughters(dtrs) specifies information about the one or more signs that contribute to the analysis of a construct s mother; the value of dtrsis a nonempty list of signs. 2/ 58

3 The cat and val values of lexical signs are packed with information. The complexity of this information is managed by the organization of lexical types and the lexical class constructions. Once these s are so empowered, the properties of clauses are ensured by simple constraints on phrasal constructs. 3/ 58

4 Three Phrasal Constructions Predicative Head-Complement Construction ( hd-cxt): pred-hd-comp-cxt mtr [syn X! [val Y ]] dtrs cat [xarg Y] syn X : L :nelist val Y L Subject-Predicate Construction ( subj-hd-cxt): subj-pred-cl mtr [syn Y! [val ] ] vf fin cat dtrs X, syn Y : aux mrkg unmk val X 4/ 58

5 Three Phrasal Constructions Headed Construction ( phrasal-cxt): headed-cxt [ ] mtr [syn [cat Y ]] hd-dtr [syn [cat Y ]] 5/ 58

6 Some Types of Phrasal Construct (Ginzburg/Sag 2000) linguistic-object... construct phrasal-cxt headed-cxt clause... head-comp-cxt subj-head-cxt... core-cl pred-hd-comp-cxt... subj-pred-cl declarative-cl... 6/ 58

7 The Sign Principle: Every sign must be listemically or constructionally licensed, where: a. a sign is listemically licensed only if it satisfies some listeme, and b. a sign is constructionally licensed only if it is the mother of some well-formed construct. 7/ 58

8 pred-hd-comp-cxt form loves, them syn cat 3 verb vf fin aux xarg 1NP select none val 1 form loves syn cat 3 verb vf fin aux xarg NP select none val 1, 2 2 form them syn cat noun case acc... 8/ 58

9 subj-pred-cl form Obama, loved, them syn cat 2 verb vf fin aux xarg NP select none 1 form Obama syn cat noun case nom... form loved, them syn cat 2 verb vf fin aux xarg NP select none val 1 9/ 58

10 An Analysis Tre 1 form Obama, loved, them cat 2 syn val form Obama syn NP form loved, them cat 2 syn val 1 form loved cat 2 syn val 1, 2 form them syn NP 2 10/ 58

11 Historical Note: Feature Decomposition of Grammatical Categories As early as the mid 1960s, Chomsky had suggested replacing familiar syntactic categories (S, NP, VP, P) with feature bundles, e.g. [ +V N ], [ +N V ], [ +V N ], [ N V V + N + V + N N, V, N, V BAR 2 BAR 2 BAR 1 BAR 0 Widely adopted in TG and elsewhere. ] 11/ 58

12 Feature Decomposition of Grammatical Categories 2 X-Theory Head Feature Principle: The category of a mother is the same as the category of the head daughter. Widely adopted in TG and elsewhere. 12/ 58

13 v + n bar 2 (=S) v n + bar 2 v + n bar 1 (=VP) two guys v + n bar 0 walked v n (=PP) bar 1 v v n n + bar 0 bar 2 (=NP) into a bar 13/ 58

14 form gave, a, watch, to, Pat verb syn cat vf fin val NP form gave form to, Pat verb syn cat form a, watch vf fin prep syn NP cat syn pf to val NP,NP,PP[to] val form to prep syn cat form Pat pf to syn NP val NP 14/ 58

15 Issues of ( Core ) Clausal Syntax Dummies/Expletives (it and there) Raising (NP-Movement) Control (of PRO) Obligatory Binding (of reflexives and reciprocals) [ Principle A effects] Obviation ( Principle B ) Effects 15/ 58

16 Uses of Dummy It Meteorological Temporal It-Clefts It-Extraposition Idiomatic uses Never appears in a referential position 16/ 58

17 Types of Indices index ref-index it there indv-index sit-index [ ] arg-st NP ref, NP ref, NP ref 17/ 58

18 Lexemes Selecting Dummy-It as an Argument ] [syn [cat [lid meteo-fr]] meteo-lxm arg-st NP it meteo-lxm form rain [ ] cat [lid rain-fr] syn val NP it arg-st NP it form be cat [vf fin] arg-st NP it, 1XP, syn val gap 1 18/ 58

19 An Analysis Tree 1 form it, rained cat 2 syn val form it syn NP it form rained cat 2 syn val 1 19/ 58

20 1 form it, was, justice, I wanted cat 2 syn val form it syn NP it form was cat 2 syn val 1, 3, 4 form was, justice, I, wanted cat 2 syn val 1 form justice syn NP sem... 3 form I, wanted syn S[gap 3 ] sem / 58

21 It-Extraposition [ ] form bother arg-st [val ] ref, NP ref Kim/That I lost/going home... bothers me. Lexical-class construction for semantically related verbal lexemes: bother, annoy, please, trouble, unsettle, rattle,... It bothers me That I lost/*kim/*going home. [ ] it-extra-cxt mtr arg-st NP it L dtrs [arg-st L [syn[catverbal]],... ] [ ] form bother arg-st NP it, NP, S/CP 21/ 58

22 form it, bothered, me, that, he, won cat 2 syn val form it syn NP it 1 form bothered cat 2 syn val 1, 3, 4 form bothered, me, that, he, won cat 2 syn val 1 form me syn NP sem... 3 form that, he, won syn S sem / 58

23 Lexical Exceptions It seems/appears (to me) that Sandy won the race. *That Sandy won the race seems/appears (to me). form seem cat [vf fin] arg-st NP it, (PP[to],) syn val No exceptions the other way, suggesting derivational construction of extraposition I take it it /*Kim/*there (that) you agree. form take cat [vf fin] arg-st NP i, NP it, syn val 23/ 58

24 Uses of Dummy There Simple existence Nonnominal predication Uses with coming-into-existence verbs Idiomatic uses 24/ 58

25 There-Selecting Lexemes [ ] form be arg-st NP there,α, NP, XP α [pred +] There is someone sick/on the phone/smiling/affected by the decision. *There is someone an invalid. There be/exist/stand/hang/occur Presentational There: There jumped out from the bush a small, furry animal. run/walk/roll/... (verbs of motion) Lexical variation, organized in part by lexical class. Lexical idiosyncrasy: There exists a Santa Claus./A Santa Claus exists. There is a Santa Claus./*A Santa Claus is. 25/ 58

26 1 form there, is, a, spider, on, me cat 2 syn val form there syn NP there,sg form is cat 2 syn val 1, 3, 4 form is, a, spider, on, me cat 2 syn val 1 form a, spider syn NP sg [pred +] sem... 3 form on, me syn PP[loc] sem / 58

27 Locality Problem 4: English Copy Raising (Rogers 1974, Potsdam and Runner 2001, Asudeh 2002) there s going to be a storm There looks like *it s going to rain *Kim s going to win. there s going to be a storm Sandy looks like it s going to rain Kim s going to win. 27/ 58

28 External Argument (xarg) form looks [ S ] arg-st NP i, mrkg like xarg pro i [ ] form looks arg-st NP i, S[mrkg like] 28/ 58

29 Subject Raising Lexemes Continue The temperature continued to climb. It continued to rain. There continued to be clouds in the sky. Likely The temperature is likely to climb. It is likely to rain. There are likely to be clouds in the sky. seem, appear, unlikely, apt, be, auxiliaries,... Lexical classes with idiosyncrasies, e.g. *probable, *improbable 29/ 58

30 Subject Raising Lexemes sraising-v-lxm form continue arg-st X, VP[inf] [val X ] form be [ XP ] arg-st Y, cat [pred +] val Y sraising-a-lxm form likely arg-st X, VP[inf] [val X ] 30/ 58

31 Cross-Categorial Lexeme Types lexeme... adj-lexeme sraising-lxm sraising-a-lxm sraising-lxm [ arg-st X, ] XP [val X ],... 31/ 58

32 form seems, to, like, Boulder syn val 1 NP ref form seems syn val 1 form to, like, Boulder syn val 1 form to syn val 1 form like, Boulder syn val 1 32/ 58

33 form seem, to, be, clouds, in, the, sky [ ] syn val 1 NP there,pl form seem syn val 1 form to, be, clouds, in, the, sky syn val 1 form to syn val 1 form be, clouds, in, the, sky [ ] syn val 1 NP there,pl 33/ 58

34 Long-Distance Agreement in Raising Structures They seem/*seems to like Boulder. There seems/*seem to be [a difference of opinion]. There is/*are likely to be [a difference of opinion]. 3rd Singular Present Indicative Verb Forms are specified as: [arg-st NP sg,... ] %There s likely to be [differences of opinion]. %There seems to be [differences of opinion]. 34/ 58

35 Syntax-Semantics Interface Expletive-selecting lexemes have one arg-st element (the expletive) that is not assigned any semantic role in the lexeme s semantics. Subject-raising lexemes have one arg-st element (the raised subject) that is not assigned any semantic role in the lexeme s semantics. This is all that needs to be said in order to induce the mismatch between the number of syntactic and semantic arguments. 35/ 58

36 Object Raising Lexemes believe We believed the temperature to be climbing. We believed it to be raining. We believed there to be clouds in the sky. believe, consider, prove,... Lexical class with idiosyncrasies 36/ 58

37 Object Raising Lexemes oraising-v-lxm form believe [ VP[inf] ] arg-st NP, Y, val Y 37/ 58

38 form believe, there, to, be, clouds, in, the, sky syn val 2 form believe syn val 2, 1, 0 form there syn NP there,pl 1 0 form to, be, clouds, in, the, sky syn val 1 form to syn val 1,4 form be, clouds,. [ syn val 1 NP ther 4 38/ 58

39 Syntax-Semantics Interface Object-raising lexemes have one arg-st element (the raised object) that is not assigned any semantic role in the lexeme s semantics. This is all that needs to be said in order to induce the mismatch between the number of syntactic and semantic arguments. 39/ 58

40 Subject Control Lexemes Try Sandy tried to climb a mountain. *It tried to be 94 degrees out *There tried to be clouds in the sky. eager Sandy is eager to climb a mountain. *It is eager to be 94 degrees out. *There are eager to be clouds in the sky. try, attempt, want, hope, desire, promise, vow,... eager, anxious,... 40/ 58

41 Subject Control Lexemes scontrol-v-lxm form try arg-st NP i, VP[inf] [val NP i ] scontrol-a-lxm form eager arg-st NP i, VP[inf] [val NP i ] 41/ 58

42 form tried, to, like, Boulder syn val 1 NP i form tried syn val 1,2 form to, like, Boulder syn val 3 NP i 2 form to syn val 3, 4 form like, Boulder syn val / 58

43 Object Control Lexemes persuade Sandy persuaded them to climb a mountain. *Sandy persuaded it to be 94 degrees out. *Sandy persuaded there to be clouds in the sky. ocontrol-v-lxm form persuade arg-st NP j, NP i, VP[inf] [val NP i ] persuade, dissuade, convince, force, invite, appeal (to),... 43/ 58

44 form persuaded syn val 1,2,3 form persuaded, us, to, like, Boulder syn val 1 NP form us syn NP i 2 form to, like, Boulder syn val 4 NP i 3 form to syn val 4, 5 form like, Boulder syn val / 58

45 Locality Problem 3: Prevent From Kim prevented Pat [from reading Proust]. **Kim prevented Pat [for/to... reading Proust]. **Kim prevented Pat [from (to) read Proust]. **Kim prevented Pat [from the Proust recital]. This prevent is a raising verb: She prevented there from being a riot in the square. The high pressure concentration to the north prevented it from raining on our party. 45/ 58

46 The Solution to the Prevent From Problem In American English, from functions as a marker (not a head) when it cooccurs with prevent. v. Van Eynde 2007 on head-functor s, using select. cf. also Abeillé, Bonami, Godard, and Tseng 2005, 2006 on weak heads in French. Predicts: What did you prevent them from *?(doing)? 46/ 58

47 Some marking Values (bis) marking unmk than as of det a def the most general marking value - a supertype of the rest s that aren t marked, e.g. we read compared s, e.g. than we read equated s, e.g. as I could some of-s, e.g. of mine determined nominal signs (see below) a subtype of det, e.g. a book definite nominal signs, i.e. the table, Prince, we 47/ 58

48 Head-Functor Construction: hd-func-cxt mtr [syn X! [mrkg M ]] ] cat [select Y ] dtrs syn[, Y :[syn X] mrkg M 48/ 58

49 hd-func-cxt form a, puppy syn cat 3 [ noun select none ] val L mrkg 2a form a syn cat [ det select 1 ] mrkg 2a 1 form puppy syn cat 3 [ noun select none ] val L mrkg unmk 49/ 58

50 hd-func-cxt form happy, puppy syn cat 3 [ noun select none ] val L mrkg 2unmk form happy syn cat [ adj select 1 ] mrkg 2unmk 1 form puppy syn cat 3 [ noun select none ] val L mrkg unmk 50/ 58

51 form from, doing, that verb cat syn vf ger mrkg from val 1NP form from syn cat prep select 2 mrkg from form doing, that [ verb cat syn vf mrkg unm val 1 2 ] ger 51/ 58

52 form from syn cat prep mrkg from select VP[ger] val form prevent syn cat verb val NP, X, VP [ mrkg from val X ] 52/ 58

53 Some Idiosyncrasies grow, get, end up, become, turn out, wax consider, regard, rate, count allow, permit 53/ 58

54 Passive passive-cxt mtr dtrs form F pastp (Y ) syn X :[cat [vf pas]] arg-st L (PP[by] i ) trans-v-lxm form Y syn X arg-st NP i L 54/ 58

55 Some Active/Passive arg-st Correspondences Active: [arg-st NP i, NP j ] hit, like,... [arg-st NP i, NP j, NP ] give, tell,... [arg-st NP i, NP j, PP ] put, place,... [arg-st NP i, X, VP[val X ] ] believe, consider, prove,... [arg-st NP i, NP j, VP[val NP i ] ] persuade, force, invite,... Passive: [arg-st NP j (, PP[by] i ) ] hit, like,... [arg-st NP j, NP (, PP[by] i ) ] give, tell,... [arg-st NP j, PP (, PP[by] i ) ] put, place,... [arg-st X, VP[val X ] (, PP[by] i ) ] believe, consider, prove, [arg-st NP j, VP[val NP i ] (, PP[by] i ) ] persuade, force, invite, 55/ 58

56 form believed, to, like, Boulder syn val 1NP ref form believed syn val 1 form to, like, Boulder syn val 1 form to syn val 1 form like, Boulder syn val 1 56/ 58

57 Transmitting Dependencies Through Passivized Structures Kim ref was believed to [like Boulder]. There there was believed to [be a riot in Tripoli]. It it was believed to be [raining] in Tripoli. It it was believed to be [obvious that the answer was 2 ]. Kim ref was persuaded to [like Boulder]. *There there was persuaded to [be a riot in Tripoli]. *It it was persuaded to be [raining] in Tripoli. *It it was persuaded to be [obvious that the answer was 2 ]. There were/*was believed to [be three solutions to this problem]. 57/ 58

58 Passive Irregularity Kim was alleged to be 111 years old. *They alleged Kim to be 11 years old. alleged has a listeme; not derived by passivization. The book cost twenty dollars *Twenty dollars were cost by the book. cost is not a transitive verb lexeme. Same for weigh, symmetric predicates (e.g. resemble, equal), etc. Tuesday found us in Rome *We were found in Rome by Tuesday. Temporal, Locative advancements are derivational constructions that give rise to nontransitive verb lexemes. 58/ 58