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The structure of this ppt

Structural and categorial (and some functional) issues:

1.1. – 1.12. English

2.1. – 2.6. Hungarian

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The VP lecture (1)

1.1. Structural issues

S

NP

John

VP

laughed.

read the paper.

gave Kate a present.

sang a song happily.

the subject—predicate primary division

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John

is

has

has been

will have been

will have been

will have been being

laughed

laughing

laughed

laughing

laughing

laughed

laughed

at you.

at you.

at you.

at you.

at you.

at.

at.

• multi-verb expression: verbal complex

• auxiliary/auxiliaries + lexical/full verb

• two uses of the term VP: including or excluding the

non-lexical part of the verbal complex:

(aux aux aux aux V…) vs. aux aux aux aux (V…)

• in our approach, a mixed view: aux (aux aux aux V)

verbal elements

1.2. Structural issues

The VP lecture (2)

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Quirk et al. (1985)

sentence

subject predicate

auxiliary as

operator

predication

He should(n’t) have been painting her.

Should(n’t) he have been painting her?

(generalized) functional categories

1.3. Structural issues

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our alternative

sentence

subject auxiliary as

operator

predication

He should(n’t) have been painting her.

Should(n’t) he have been painting her?

1.4. Structural issues

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1. V: w+ed; w+ing; after auxiliary: You can w.

2. VP: ellipsis, movement, pro-forms

[see slide 12 in the first ppt]

+ coordination: I will sing a song happily and write a letter.

3. N:

• w+s: book-s, but mouse, information

• after det/adjective: the boy, clever girls

4. NP:

• ’s possessive suffix: John’s book, the king’s book,

the king of England’s book (cf. his book)

• movement: I don’t like that man. That man, I don’t like.

• pro-forms: I don’t like him.

• coordination: I don’t like that man and this woman.

1.5. Structural issues (phrasal) categories

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5. A:

• w-er/-est OR more/most w: nicer, most intelligent

• between a numeral and a (plural) noun: two w boys

6. AP:

• pro: They say he is very clever, and so he may be.

• movement: How clever is he?

• coordination: He is very clever and extremely polite.

7. P:

• no morphological test

• immediately in front of a noun phrase (NP): w the park

8. PP:

• pro: They stopped in the park.

• movement: In the park they stopped.

• coordination: They stopped in the park and at the station.

1.6. Structural issues (phrasal) categories

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our alternative (1)

sentence

S

subject

NP

auxiliary as

operator

Aux

predication

VP

Aux Aux V NP

He should(n’t) have been painting her.

Should(n’t) he have been painting her?

together with phrasal (categorial) representation

1.7. Structural issues

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our alternative (2)

S

NP Aux VP

Aux Aux V NP

He should(n’t) have been painting her.

Aux NP

Should(n’t) he have been painting her?

with only phrasal (categorial) representation

1.8. Structural issues

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our generalized phrase structure

S

(XP) NP

subj

(Aux)

VP

(Aux) (Aux) (Aux) V (NP)

obj1

(NP)

obj2

XP*

a. XP: categorial variability

b. (Aux), (NP), (XP): optionality

c. XP*: any number of XPs, possibly null

d. imperative sentences often lack the subject NP

1.9. Structural issues

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1. John laughed.

2. John will laugh.

3. John ate the cheese.

4. John gave Mary the cheese (in the morning).

5. John gave the cheese to Mary (in the morning).

6. John will laugh at Mary.

7. The children were playing loudly in the bedroom.

8. Mary, John will invite her.

9. Mary, John will invite.

10. John his name is.

1.10. Structural issues

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11. In the morning I bought the tickets.

12. Did you buy the tickets in the morning?

13. What did you buy in the morning? [next slide]

14. Whose tickets did you buy in the morning?

15. John might have been being insulted by the

crowd for an hour.

16. (You) Open the window!

17. Don’t open the window!

18. John told Mary that Peter had bought the tickets

in the morning.

1.11. Structural issues

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an analysis

S

NP Aux NP

VP

N N V PP

P NP

Det N

What did you buy in the morning?

1.12. Structural issues

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a general (blank) structure

S

(XP) NP (Aux)

VP

(Aux) (Aux) (Aux) V (NP) (NP)

XP*

1.13. Structural issues

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2.1. English vs. Hungarian sentence structure

the most fundamental difference:

• English is grammatical-function-configurational: it uses

designated structural positions to (canonically) encode the

central grammatical functions: SUBJ, OBJ & OBJ2

• Hungarian is discourse-function-configurational: it uses

designated structural positions to (canonically) encode the

central discourse functions: TOP (old information) & FOC

(new information)

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1. The boy knows the girl.

1. A fiú ismeri a lány-t.

the boy.NOM knows the girl-ACC

2. *The boy the girl knows.

3. *Knows the boy the girl.

4. *Knows the girl the boy.

5. *The girl knows the boy. (!)

6. *The girl the boy knows.

2. A fiú a lány-t ismeri.

3. Ismeri a fiú a lány-t.

4. Ismeri a lány-t a fiú.

5. A lány-t ismeri a fiú.

6. A lány-t a fiú ismeri.

word order permutations and grammatical

functions in the two languages SUBJ, OBJ

2.2. English vs. Hungarian sentence structure

.NOM = unmarked nominative

(subjective) case -ACC = marked accusative

(objective) case

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1. Ismeri a fiú a lány-t.

2. Ismeri a lány-t a fiú.

3. A fiú ismeri a lány-t.

4. A ”fiú ismeri a lány-t.

5. A lány-t ismeri a fiú.

6. A ”lány-t ismeri a fiú.

7. A fiú a lány-t ismeri.

8. A fiú a ”lány-t ismeri.

9. *A ”fiú a lány-t ismeri.

10. *A ”fiú a ”lány-t ismeri.

11. A lány-t a fiú ismeri.

12. A lány-t ”a fiú ismeri.

13. *A ”lány-t a fiú ismeri.

14. *A ”lány-t ”a fiú ismeri.

word order permutations and discourse functions in Hungarian

TOP, FOC ” = heavy stress

2.3. Basic Hungarian sentence structure

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2.4. Basic English sentence structure

(a reminder)

S

NP

[SUBJ]

VP

V NP

[OBJ]

XP*

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2.5. Basic Hungarian sentence structure

S

XP*

[TOP]

VP

(XP)

[FOC]

V XP*

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S

NP

[TOP]

NP

[TOP]

VP

NP

[FOC]

V NP NP

Ismeri

Ismeri

a fiú

a lányt

a lányt.

a fiú.

A fiú ismeri a lányt.

A ”fiú ismeri a lányt.

A lányt a fiú ismeri.

A lányt a ”fiú ismeri.

2.6. Basic Hungarian sentence structure