Theta Theory, Binding59.108.48.12/lcwm/course/fs/lec/theta.pdf · Theta Theory Binding Argument vs. Adjunct I Arguments are selected by their head. I A head sub-categorizes for its

Theta Theory, Binding

Weiwei Sun

Institute of Computer Science and TechnologyPeking University

March 24, 2015

Theta Theory Binding

Quick recap

Phrase Structure Rules

X′′ → Specifier X′ | X′ SpecifierX′ → Adjunct X′ | X′ AdjunctX′ → X Complement(s) | Complement(s) X

Tree

X′′

X′

AdjunctX′

Complement(s)X

Specifier

Weiwei Sun Theta Theory, Binding 2/40


Quick recap

SVO:

I XP → Specifier X′

I X′ → X Complement(s)

VOS:

I XP → X′ Specifier

I X′ → X Complement(s)

SOV:

I XP → Specifier X′

I X′ → Complement(s) X

OVS:

I XP → X′ Specifier

I X′ → Complement(s) X

XP

YPX′

ZPX′

ZPX′

ZPX′

...WPX



Quick recap

CP

C′

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

P′

DP

D′

NP

N′

N

puddle

D

the

P

in

V′

DP

D′

NP

N′

N

books

D

∅

V

find

T

-ed

DP

NP

N′

PP

P′

DP

D′

NP

N′

N

Brazil

D

∅

P

from

N′

N′

N

man

AdjP

Adj′

Adj

ugly

D′

The

C

∅[-Q]



Outline

Theta Theory

Binding



Motivation

Problem with X-bar theory

X-bar theory also generates sentences that are not acceptable orgrammatical.

(1) a. Rosemary hates New York.

b. *Rosemary hates.

(2) a. Jennie smiled.

b. *Jennie smiled the breadbox.

(3) a. Traci gave the whale a jawbreaker.

b. *Traci gave the whale.

c. *Traci gave a jawbreaker.



Argument vs. Adjunct

I Arguments are selected by their head.I A head sub-categorizes for its arguments: their presence is

often (but not always!) obligatory.

I Adjuncts are some something additional about the head.I An adjunct is optional.

Test

I Adjuncts but not complements can be iterated andreordered and can stand next to one.

I Complements must be located next to the head and can’tbe reordered.

I We could conjoin complements with complements andadjuncts with adjuncts, but we couldn’t mix the two.

I etc.



Argument vs. Adjunct (1)

Semantic contribution

Arguments and adjuncts differ in the kind of semantic contribu-tion they make.

Arguments denote

I participants of an event

(4) Sandy kissed Robin.

I individuals/entities for which a state of affairs holds

(5) Sandy knew the answer.




Adjuncts denote the circumstances under which an event tookplace or a state of affairs occurred. Adjuncts refer to

I time

(6) Sandy knew the answer on Monday.

I frequency

(7) Sandy forgot her umbrella twice.

I place

(8) Sandy kissed Robin in the park.




I manner

(9) Sandy kissed Robin passionately.

I cause

(10) Sandy knew the answer because she had studied forthe test.

I effect or purpose

(11) etc. of an event or state-of-affairs.

Entailment test (Dowty)

Does the predicate entail existence of the argument?




Obligatoriness

Adjuncts are optional, arguments (of verbs) are obligatory.

(12) a. John buttered the toast at midnight with a knife.

b. John buttered the toast at midnight.

c. John buttered the toast.

(13) *John buttered.




Predictability

The selection and semantic contribution of arguments tends to beidiosyncratic, while semantic contribution of adjuncts is uniformand predictable.

(14) a. John ate the stake.

b. John ate.

(15) a. John devoured the steak.

b. *John devoured.



Valence and selectional restrictions

Valence

Subcategory Example

V[DP__] (intransitive) LeaveV[DP__DP] (transitive type 1) HitV[DP__DP/CP] (transitive type 2) AskV[DP__DP DP] (ditransitive type 1) SpareV[DP__DP PP] (ditransitive type 2) PutV[DP__DP DP/PP] (ditransitive type 3) GiveV[DP__DP DP/PP/CP] (ditransitive type 4) Tell

I The subclassification of verbs must constitute part of nativespeakers’ lexical knowlege.

I The child acquiring English will have to learn not only thesyntactic category but also subcategory of the words.


__

__

__

__

__

__

__


Thematic relations

We use thematic relations to describe the role that the argumentplays with respect to the predicate.

Agent

The initiator or doer of an action.

(16) a. Ryan hit Andrew.

b. Michael accidentally broke the glass.

Experiencer

Arguments that feel or perceive events.

(17) a. Leah likes cookies.

b. Lorenzo saw the eclipse.

c. Syntax frightens Kenna.



Thematic relations

Theme

Entities that undergo actions, are moved, experienced or per-ceived.

(18) a. Alyssa kept her syntax book.

b. The arrow hit Ben.

c. The syntactician hates phonology.

Goal

The entity towards which motion takes place is called a goal.Goals may involve abstract motion.

(19) a. Doug went to Chicago.

b. Dave was given the pina colada mix.



Thematic relations

Recipient

A special kind of goal. Recipients only occur with verbs thatdenote a change of possession.

(20) a. Mikaela gave Jessica the book.

b. Daniel received a scolding from Hanna.

Source

The entity from which a motion takes place.

(21) a. Bob gave Steve the syntax assignment.

b. Stacy came directly from sociolinguistics class.



Thematic relations

Location

The place where the action occurs.

(22) a. Andrew is in Tucson’s finest apartment.

b. We’re all at school.

Instrument

The object with which an action is performed.

(23) a. Chris hacked the computer apart with an axe.

b. This key will open the door to the linguistics building.



Thematic relations

Beneficiary

The one for whose benefit an event took place.

(24) a. He bought these flowers for Aaron.

b. She cooked Matt dinner.

Any given DP can have more than one thematic relation.

(25) Jason gave the books to Anna.

Agent+Source.

θ role

Theta roles are bundles of thematic relations that cluster on oneargument.



Thematic grid

The identification of thematic relations is not always easy, thoughintuitively the idea should be clear.

I The information as to the semantic relationship between thepredicate and its arguments is part of the lexical knowledge ofthe native speaker and should hence also be recorded in thelexicon.

I Rather than merely specifying the number of arguments of apredicate, one may envisage a representation which specifiesthe type of thematic roles of these arguments

I In GB Theory this is represented by means of a thematic grid.



Thematic grid

Example

place Source/Agent Theme Goal

DP DP PPi j k

I For each argument that the predicate requires, there is acolumn.

I Each of these columns represents a θ role.

I External θ role: the one assigned to the subject and indicatedby underlining.

I Internal θ role: others.

I No adjuncts: seem to be entirely optional.



The Theta Criterion

The Theta Criterion

I Each argument is assigned one and only one theta role.

I Each theta role is assigned to one and only one argument.

Example

love Experiencer Theme

DP DP

(26) *Megani loves.love Experiencer Theme

DP DPi



The Theta Criterion (cont)

(27) Megani loves Kevinj .love Experiencer Theme

DP DPi j

(28) Megani loves Jasonj Kevink.love Experiencer Theme

DP DPi j k



The lexicon

The lexicon contains all the irregular and memorized parts oflanguage. Each lexical entry must contain at least the followinginformation:

I the meaning of the word

I the syntactic category of the word (N, V, A, P, T, C, etc.)

I the pronunciation of the word

I exceptional information of all kinds (such as morphologicalirregularities)

I the theta grid (argument structure).

When you learn a new word, you memorize all this information.



The projection principle

The lexical items play an important part in its syntacticrepresentation.

I The lexical category of the head of a phrase determines thecategory of the phrase.

I The thematic structure of a word, encoded in the theta grid,determine the minimal components of the sentence.

This idea that lexical information to a large extent determinessyntactic structure is summed up in the projection principle:

The Projection Principle

Lexical information is syntactically represented at all levels.



Outline

Theta Theory

Binding



R-expression, anaphor and pronoun

Definition

I R-expression: A DP that gets its meaning by referring toan entity in the world.

I Anaphor: A DP that obligatorily gets its meaning fromanother DP in the sentence.

I Pronoun: A DP that may (but need not) get its meaningfrom another word in the sentence.

Example

I Typical anaphors are himself, herself, themselves, myself,yourself (reflexive pronouns), and each other (reciprocals).

I Typical pronouns include: he, she, it, I, you, me, we, they,us, him, her, them, his, her, your, my, our, their, one.



R-expression, anaphor and pronoun

(29) a. Felicia wrote a fine paper on Zapotec. (R-expression)

b. Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini.(Anaphor)

c. Aaron said that he played basketball. (Pronoun)

Key observations

Anaphors, R-expressions, and pronouns can only appear in spe-cific parts of the sentence.

(30) *Herself bopped Heidi on the head with a zucchini.

Binding Theory

The theory of the syntactic restrictions on where these differentDP types can appear in a sentence is called Binding Theory.



Antecedent

Definition (Antecedent)

A DP that gives its meaning to another DP.

Example

Heidi bopped herself on the head with a zucchini.↑ ↑

antecedent anaphor



Coindexation

Index a DP with a subscript letter:

(31) a. [Colin]i gave [Andrea]j [a basketball]k.

b. [Art]i said that [he]j played [basketball]k in [the dark]l.

c. [Art]i said that [he]i played [basketball]k in [the dark]l.

d. [Heidi]i bopped [herself]i on [the head]j with [azucchini]k.

Definition (Coindex)

Coindexed Two DPs are said to be coindexed if they havethe same index.

Corefer DPs that are coindexed with each other are saidto corefer.



Binding

Key observations

The relations between an antecedent and a pronoun/anaphormust bear particular structural relations.

(32) a. Heidii bopped herselfi on the head with a zucchini.

b. [Heidii’s mother]j bopped herselfj on the head witha zucchini.

c. *[Heidii’s mother]j bopped herselfi on the head witha zucchini.

d. [The mother of Heidii]j bopped herselfj on the headwith a zucchini.

e. *[The mother of Heidii]j bopped herselfi on the headwith a zucchini.



C-command (Recap)

Definition (C-command)

Node A c-commands node B if every node dominating A alsodominates B, and neither A nor B dominate the other.

Definition (C-command (alternative))

Node A c-commands node B if and only if:

I A does not dominate B

I B does not dominate A

I The first branching node that dominates A, also dominatesB.



Binding

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

with a zucchini

V′

PP

on the head

DPi

herself

V

bop

T

-ed

DPi

D′

NP

N′

N

Heidi

D

∅

C-command



Binding

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

with a zucchini

V′

PP

on the head

DPi

herself

V

bop

T

-ed

DPi

D′

NP

N′

N

mother

D

’s

DP

Heidi

C-command



Binding

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

with a zucchini

V′

PP

on the head

DPi

herself

V

bop

T

-ed

DP

D′

NP

N′

N

mother

D

’s

DPi

Heidi

C-command



Binding

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

with a zucchini

V′

PP

on the head

DPi

herself

V

bop

T

-ed

DPi

D′

NP

N′

PP

of Heidi

N

mother

D

The

C-command



Binding

TP

T′

VP

V′

PP

with a zucchini

V′

PP

on the head

DPi

herself

V

bop

T

-ed

DP

D′

NP

N′

PP

P′

DPi

of Heidi

P

of

N

mother

D

The

C-command



Binding principle

Definition (Bind)

A binds B if and only if A c-commands B and A and B arecoindexed.

I Binding is a kind of coindexation that happens when one ofthe two DPs c-commands the other.

I The binder must do the c-commanding of the bindee.

Proposal

Principle A: An anaphor must be bound.



Locality conditions

(33) *Heidi said that herself discoed with Art.

TP

T′

VP

V′

CP

C′

TP

T′

discoed with Art

DPi

herself

C

that

V

say

T

-ed

DPi

Heidi



Locality conditions

Key observations

I The anaphor is bound by its antecedent.

I The anaphor seems to need to find its antecedent in thesame clause.

Proposal

I Binding domain: The clause containing the DP (anaphor,pronoun, or R-expression).

I Binding Principle A (revised): An anaphor must be boundin its binding domain.



The distribution of pronouns

Key observations

Pronouns may not be bound.

(34) a. Heidii bopped herj on the head with the zucchini.

b. *Heidii bopped heri on the head with the zucchini.

(35) a. Heidii said [CP that shei discoed with Art].

b. Heidii said [CP that shek discoed with Art].

Proposal

I Free: Not bound.

I Principle B: A pronoun must be free in its binding domain.



The distribution of R-expressions

Key observations

R-expressions don’t seem to allow any instances of binding at all,not within the binding domain and not outside it either.

I R-expressions receive their meaning from outside thesentence.

(36) a. *Heidii kissed Miriami.

b. *Arti kissed Geoffi.

c. *Shei kissed Heidii.

d. *Shei said that Heidii was a disco queen.

Proposal

Principle C: An R-expression must be free.



Reading

I Chap. 5&8. Syntax: A Generative Introduction.

* 徐列炯, 沈阳. 1998. 《题元理论与汉语配价问题》


Documents

Theta Theory, Binding59.108.48.12/lcwm/course/fs/lec/theta.pdf · Theta Theory Binding Argument vs. Adjunct I Arguments are selected by their head. I A head sub-categorizes for its