Ch. 2: Phrase Structure Syntactic Structure (basic concepts) A tree diagram marks constituents hierarchically

Transcription

1 Ch. 2: Phrase Structure Syntactic Structure (basic concepts) A tree diagram marks constituents hierarchically NP S AUX VP Ali will V NP help D N the man A node is any point in the tree diagram and it can be: Branching node like S and lower NP. Non-branching node like AUX and V. Terminal nodes: lexical items at end of tree like help Nodes are related to each other by two relations:

2 1. Dominance: A node X dominates node Y if: X is higher than Y and X is connected to Y by a branch. For example, NP dominates Ali, VP dominates D and NP. Immediate dominance: A node immediately dominates another if there s s no intervening node. e.g. S immediately dominates NP, AUX, VP but not help. 2. Precedence: A node X precedes Y if it is on the left and both aren t dominating each other. e.g. Ali precedes will,, but the doesn t precede man.

3 Phrase Structure Rules These rules derive different types of phrases and unlimited number of sentences: NP (D) (AdjP( AdjP) ) N This rule cannot predict the structure of the phrase and we need to memorize infinite number of rules. The Structure of Phrases 1. VP: It consists of - lexical category: head V - Phrasal category or maximal projection: : VP as a whole - Intermediate category: V V (part of VP)

4 V V is a level that contains the object and verb s s modifiers: The head verb (and its object if there is one) is in the lowest V level The verb s s modifiers are placed in higher V V levels, called adjunct Subject combines with highest V V level, i.e. specifier of VP For example: they eat lunch in school tonight VP spec V V they V V NP V PP tonight V NP in school eat lunch

5 Evidence for V V V is a constituent structure that can be replaced by do so: - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali does so. (eat lunch in school tonight) - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali did so this morning. (eat lunch in school) - They eat lunch in school tonight and Ali does so at work this morning. (eat lunch) adjuncts are recursive, i.e. repeatedly added. 2. NP N is a level that contains the object and noun s s modifiers: The head noun (and its object if there is one) is in the lowest N N level The noun s s modifiers are placed in higher N N levels, called adjunct The determiner combines with the highest N, N, i.e. specifier of VP For example, the big book of poems with the blue cover

6 NP Det N 1 the N 2N AP N 3 N 3 PP big N PP with blue cover book of poems Evidence for N N N is a constituent structure that can be replaced by one: - I want this [big book of poems with the blue cover] not that one (N 1) - I want this big [book of poems with the blue cover] not that small one (N 2) - I want this big [book of poems] with the blue cover not that small one with the red cover (N 3) 3. AdjP & PP We apply the same structure to these phrases:

7 He is [quite jealous of Ali]. He stood [right across the bridge] The lowest P P and adj includes these heads (and their complements). The spec combines with P P and adj and is placed by modifiers (like quite, very, rather, so for the adj and straight, right for the prep). General structure (x-bar) We can have these general rules that exactly predict the structure re of different types of phrases: XP spec X X (specifier) X X YP (head and complement) X X YP (adjunct= modifier)

8 Sentence structure Aux is the head of the sentence because it carries tense and agreement: They are working hard. But what about non-auxiliary verbs: They worked hard Aux is the head even though it isn t t overt. Evidence for aux as head of sentence: 1. Cleft sentence: work hard, they did indeed. The tense is on aux and not part of VP.

9 2. Pseudo-cleft: what they did was work hard. Tense is part of a node, Infl(ection),, which can be filled with overt aux or left empty. s NP I VP +tense +agr I is finite because it has (+t, +agr+ agr). Infinitive clause: I ask [Ali to work hard] To is the head of the infin clause and it s -t, -agr, non-finite I

10 The structure of IP IP NP I I VP will V V -ed V NP to finish the work IP spec I I I I VP VP is always a complement of I.

11 IP is a functional category, not a lexical category, because it is used for grammatical function: t, agr Complementizer phrase (CP) CP is another functional category since its head, c, introduces a subordinate clause: C= that, for [-wh[ wh] if, whether [+wh wh] I believe [that Ali will work hard]. I want [for Ali to work hard]. I wonder [if/whether Ali worked hard].

12 The above CP clauses have the following structure: CP spec C C C IP Ali will worked hard - IP is always the complement of C. - C is filled by that, for and moved will,, forming yes/no question: CP spec C C C IP will NP I [+wh wh] ] Ali I VP work hard

13 - C can be filled by either will or that, not both - Spec is filled by whether, if and wh-questions: Structure of CP: CP Spec C C C C IP CP spec C C when C IP will NP I Ali I VP work hard

14 Structural relations Government: A head governs its phrase e.g. N heads its phrase, I the IP, and C the CP. Agreement between head and non-head is established under government: 1. NP agreement NP Det N this/these N PP car/cars of Ali

15 There s s agreement in number between head (N) and spec (det). But agreement is poor in English since it s s shown morphologically in number not in gender and person as in French. 2. sub/ verb agreement There spec-head agreement between Infl and spec (sub) in number, person: IP spec I I He/they I VP -s s / ø play

16 3. CP agreement There s s a spec-head agreement in CP in [wh[ wh] ] feature: I wonder if he played. CP spec C C if C IP [+wh wh] ] [+wh wh] ] played C-command A c-commands c commands B if and if i. A doesn t t dominate B and B doesn t t dominate A; and ii. The first branching node dominating A dominates B. For instance, in (2) the spec c-commands commands every node in IP, but VP only I.

17 Let us now refine the notion of government: Government: A governs B if and if: A is a governor (i.e. a head) and A c-commands c commands B. Strict c-command c command & M-commandM 1. Strict c-commandc command VP V V PP V NP P P NP ate the food in the garden V strictly c-commands c commands NP because they re dominated by 1 st branching node but not PP.

18 2. M-commandM The head c-commands c commands the adjunct in the garden since there is a node VP that dominate both of them: A c-commands c commands B if and only if: A doesn t t dominate B and every node X (maximal projection) dominating A dominates B. V c-commands c commands NP, V doesn t t c-commands c commands PP (dominance by1 st branching node) V m-commands m NP, PP, NP (inside PP) (dominance by maximal proj.) P doesn t t m-commands m V (PP doesn t t dominate V)

19 Government is refined as: A governs B if and if: i. A is a governor; and ii. A m-commands m B; and iii. No barrier between A and B. In (1), the verb ate governs the PP, but it doesn t t govern the NP since it is a barrier. However the verb m-commands m NP.