Download pptx - King Abdulaziz University Department of European Languages & Literature Welcome to Syntax (LANE-334) Dr. Abdulrahman Alqurashi I am Dr. Abdulrahman Alqurashi

King Abdulaziz UniversityDepartment of European Languages & Literature

Welcome to Syntax (LANE-334)

I am Dr. Abdulrahman Alqurashi

2014 KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 1

Course websitehttp://aaalqurashi.kau.edu.sa/Pages-LANE-334.aspx

The course website contains the following materials for you to download

• course description• lecture materials (i.e. I will put copies of

my Powerpoint slides on the website after I finish my lectures every week)

Coursebook • Wekker, H., & Haegeman, L. M. (1985). A modern

course in English syntax. Croom Helm.


http://aaalqurashi.kau.edu.sa/Pages-LANE-334.aspx

What you should do every week

• Read the text of the appropriate chapter of your coursebook in advance of the lecture (look at the course time plan in the course description )

• Write down your questions and bring them to the lecture, so we can discuss them together.


What I will do in the lecture

• Summarize keys points of the appropriate chapter of the coursebook according to the course time plan.

• Analyse some of the exercise material in each chapter

• Answer your questions


Syntax (LANE-334)

Chapter 1Aims and Methods


What is Syntax?

• Syntax is the study of how sentences are formed.

• In other words, Syntax or Syntactic Analysis is the study of how a specific language combines words to form sentences.

• Syntax vs. Morphology

Morphology is the study of how words are formed.


The tasks of syntax

• The study of Syntax involves two related tasks:

(a) breaking down the sentence into its components parts (i.e. constituents).

(b) assigning some grammatical label to each constituent.

• Each constituent (i.e. syntactic unit) belongs to a specific grammatical category and serves a specific grammatical function.


The tasks of syntax

• Grammatical categories = parts of speech

(e.g. noun or verb )

• Grammatical function = grammatical job

(e.g. subject or predicate )


• The study of Syntax involves two related tasks:

(a) breaking down the sentence into its components parts (i.e. constituents).

(b) assigning some grammatical label to each constituents, to say what grammatical category it belongs to and what grammatical function it serves.


The tasks of syntax

An example(1). The student talked.

This sentence has two constituents :

(a). the student

(b). Talked• What is the Grammatical category of the

constituent (the student)?

- noun• What is the Grammatical category of the

constituent (talked)?

- verb


An example(1). The student talked.

This sentence has two constituents :

(a). the student

(b). Talked• What is the Grammatical function of the

constituent (the student)?

- subject• What is the Grammatical function of the

constituent (talked)?

- predicate


Syntactic units

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

PHRASE

WORD

MORPHEME


SENTENCE

CLAUSE

PHRASE

WORD

MORPHEME

An example

(2). The boy took the ball and hid it.

Q: How many sentences do we have ?

A: One. The boy took the ball and hid it.


An example

(2). The boy took the ball and hid it.

Q: How many clauses do we have ?

A: Two. The boy took the ball hid it. The boy took the ball and hid it

A sentence may consist of one or more than one clause.


An example

(3). The boy took the ball

Q: How many phrases do we have in the above clause?

A: Two. the boy

the (Det) boy (N) - (noun phrase - NP) took the ball

took (V) the (Det) ball (N) (verb phrase – VP)• Det = Determiner - N = Noun – V=Verb


An example

(4). (he) hid it

Q: How many phrases do we have in the above clause?

A: one. hid it (verb phrase – VP)

A clause may consist of one or more than one phrase.

A clause is made up of phrases


An example

(5). The boy (NP)

Q: How many words do we have in the above phrase?

A: Two. the (Det) + boy (N)

Head


An example

(6). took the ball (VP)

Q: How many words do we have in the above phrase?

A: three. took (V) + the (Det) + ball (N)

HeadA phrase may consist of one or more

than one word.


An example

(7). took the ball (VP)

Q: How many morphemes do we have in the above phrase?

A: three. took , the , ball

A morpheme is the smallest indivisible unit in syntax.


An example

(8). talked (V)

Q: How many morphemes do we have in the above word?

A: two. talk + ed

A word may consist of one or more than one morpheme.


Representing a syntactic structure

• There are two ways to represent a syntactic structure:

a). Labelled Bracketing

[a square brackets ] = [ S John died]

b). Tree Diagrams


XP X XP X XP X X

Examples

Labelled Bracketing Sentence (S):

e.g. The boy took the ball and (he) hid it.

• [S1 [ S2 the boy took the ball] and [S3 hid it]]

Clauses (S):

• [ S1 the boy took the ball] and [S2 hid it]

• [ S the boy took the ball]

• [S he hid it]


Examples

Phrases (P):


• [S1 [ S2 [NPthe boy] [VP took [NPthe ball]]] and [S1[VP hid [NP it]]]]

• [NP the boy]

• [VPtook]

• [NPthe ball]

• [VPhid]

• [NP it]


Examples

Words: e.g. The boy took the ball and hid it

• [NP [Det the] [N boy]]

• [VP [V took]]

• [NP [Det the] [ N ball]]

• [Coord and]

• [VP [V hid]]

• [NP [ N it]]

Coord = Coordinator


Examples

[NP [ N it]]


• [VP [V took]]


• [Corrd and]

• [VP [V hid]]

• [NP [ N it]]


Examples

[VP [V hid] [NP [ N it]]]


• [VP [V took]]


• [Corrd and]

• [VP [V hid]]


Examples

[S1[NP [N he]] [VP [V hid] [NP [N it ]]]]


• [VP [V took]]


• [Corrd and]

• [NP [N (he)]]


Examples

[Corrd and]



• [VP [V took]]


• [Corrd and]


Examples

[NP [Det the] [ N ball]]

[Corrd and]

[S1[NP [N (he)]] [VP [V hid] [NP [N it ]]]]


• [VP [V took]]



Examples

[VP [V took] [NP [Det the] [ N ball]]]

[Corrd and]

[S1[NP [N (he)]] [VP [V hid] [NP [N it ]]]]


• [VP [V took]]


Examples

[S2[NP [Det the][N boy]] [VP [V took] [NP [Det the] [ N ball]]]][Corrd and]




Examples

[S1[S2[NP [Det the][N boy]] [VP [V took] [NP [Det the] [N

ball]]]] [Cor and] [S3[NP [N he]] [VP [V hid] [NP

[N it ]]]]]



b). Tree Diagrams



it


b). Tree Diagrams



PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



NP

PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



NP hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



V NP hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



VP V NP (he) hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



NP VP PRN V NP (he) hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



S3

NP VP PRN V NP (he) hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



N ball


b). Tree Diagrams



N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



NP Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



NP took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



V NP took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



VP

V NP took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



VP

V NP boy took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



VP

N V NP boy took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



VP

N V NP the boy took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



VP

Det N V NP the boy took Det N the ball


b). Tree Diagrams



NP VP



b). Tree Diagrams


S2


NP VP



b). Tree Diagrams



S2

NP VP Det N V NP the boy took Det N the ball

S3

NP VP

PRN V NP(he) hid PRN it


b). Tree Diagrams



S2


S3

NP VP


and


b). Tree Diagrams



S2


S3

NP VP


Coord

and


b). Tree Diagrams



S2


S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

Assignment

Choose one of the sentences on P.7 and analyze it from sentence level to word level using labelled brackets and a tree diagram.

See you next week.


Additional terminology

Node is the point in a tree diagram which carries a category label (e.g. S, NP, VP, N … etc).



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2

Node is the point in a tree diagram which carries a category label (e.g. S, NP, VP, N … etc).

Branch : e.g. S2, S3, and Coord are branches of S1



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


Terminal Node is one at the bottom of the tree (e.g. Det, N, V, PRN).

Terminal nodes are immediately above words (i.e. lexical items)



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


Terminal Node is one at the bottom of the tree (e.g. Det, N, V, PRN).

Non-terminal Node is one which is not at the bottom of the tree (e.g. S1, S2…)



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2



Mother: (e.g. S1 is the mother of S2, and S3,).

Daughter: (e.g. S2,and S3, are daughters of S1).

Sister: (e.g. S2,and S3, are sisters).



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2

S S - Coord - S



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2

Phrase Structure Rules (PS rules)

S S - Coord - S S NP – VP



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


S S - Coord - S S NP – VP VP V – NP



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


S S - Coord - S S NP – VP VP V – NP NP {Det – N / N}



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


The node labeled S1 immediately dominates the nodes S2, coord, and S3.

S2, coord, and S3 are sister nodes related to the same mother node S1



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


The node labeled S2 immediately dominates the nodes NP and VP.

S2 also dominates Det, N, V, NP, Det, and N but not immediately dominates them.



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


The node labeled S3 immediately dominates the nodes NP and VP.

S3 also dominates PRN, V, NP and PRN but not immediately dominates them.



S3

NP VP


Coord

and

S1

S2


What is a constituent? • A constituent: is a syntactic unit which combines

with other components to form a larger structure such as a phrase , a clause or a sentence.

Types of constituents? Words : (e.g. Mary , take, he, smart …etc). Phrases: (e.g. [NP the boy] , [ VP took [NP the ball ]]

• Clauses: (e.g. [ S1 [ S2 The boy took the ball] and [S3 (he) hid it] ].


Constituency

How to test constituents? • There are many ways to test whether or not a string

of words is a constituent. One way to test the structure is to use clefting. • Clefting is a process by which a constituent can be

given more emphasis by placing it at the beginning of the sentence and surrounding it by the words it is/was ….. that

• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• It was on Friday that John gave this book to Mary.On Friday is a constituent.


Constituency

✔

Clefting• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• It was to Mary that John gave this book on Friday.To Mary is a constituent.

• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• It was this book that John gave to Mary on Friday.This book is a constituent.


Constituency

✔

✔

Clefting• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• It was John that gave this book to Mary on Friday. John is a constituent.

• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• It was John gave that this book to Mary on Friday.• John gave is not a constituent.


Constituency

✔

✖

*

How to test constituents? Another way to test whether a string of words is

a constituent or not is by Pseudo-clefting. • Pseudo-clefting is a process that is similar to

clefting but it involves the use the word what to form a sentence.

• e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• What John did was gave this book to Mary on Friday.gave this book to Mary on Friday is a constituent.


Constituency

✔

Pseudo-clefting • e.g. John gave this book to Mary on Friday.• What John gave to Mary on Friday was this book.• This book is What John gave to Mary on Friday.This book is a constituent.


Constituency

✔

✔

How to test constituents?

Another way to test whether a string of words is a constituent or not is by Passivisation. • Passivisation is a process by which a constituent

undergoes movement from the object position to the subject position

• e.g. John wrote several books.• Several books are written.• Several are written books. Several books is a constituent.• Several is not a constituent.


Constituency

✔

✖

*


a constituent or not is by Substitution. • Under coordination a constituent can be substituted by a

single word.

• Examples:

a) Ahmad likes the math teacher and the students like him too.

b) Ahmad met his brother at the university and Ali met his friend there too.


Constituency

Substitution.

c) I visit my grandfather every week and Hind does (so) too.

d) The teacher thinks that Ali is a good student and the principle thinks so too.


Constituency


a constituent or not is by Fronting. .

• A constituent may be fronted as a unit.

• Examples:

a) The minister received the letter directly from the king.

b) Directly from the king, the minister received the letter.


Constituency

In generative grammar, recursive rules generate constituents:

.

S NP – VP • A sentence consists of an NP plus a VP VP V – NP • A transitive verb consists of a V plus an NP

NP Det – N • A noun phrase consists of a determiner plus a noun

2014

KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 81


Different constituent structures may give rise to different meanings like the following:

• John [VP hit [NP the man with an umbrella]].

• John [VP hit [NP the man] [PP with an umbrella]].

• John [VP saw [NP a man with binoculars]].

• John [VP saw [NP a man] [PP with binoculars]].

This is known as ambiguity

.

2014KAU-Syntax/ LANE-334 82



S

NP VP V NP John hit

the man with an umbrella

Ambiguous sentences

S

NP VP V NP PP John hit

the man with an umbrella


Thank you

See you next time