Syntax:

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Syntax

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What is Syntax, really?

• Syntax is the study of how words/morphemes
  combine into sentences and the rules which govern
  the formation of sentences.

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What is the goal of a syntactician?

• To build a model of the syntax producing
  mechanism in the human braina model following a
  theory that matches all the data.

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Chomsky The Syntax Rah Rah

• Chomskys big idea is that words cannot just be
  randomly strung together like beads on a string.
  There are rules about what beads can be next to
  what other beads. There is an exquisite pattern
  to be followed. And the human brain generates
  this exquisite pattern without instruction.

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Whats Wrong with the Beads-On-A-String Theory?

• Words cant just be thrown together willy nilly
  and be expected to mean anything. Moreover,
  the same exact words, when rearranged, may have
  radically different meanings. The exquisite
  arrangement of the beads is the keywhat is the
  pattern engraved in the Universal Grammar?

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Of Stars and Beads

• Sentences are not simply random words strung
  together (as Chomsky says, like beads on a
  string) by means of various devices. We do
  not find English sentences like
• The large spider terrified Aunt Matilda swims of
  Sheba by a car.

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What is a starred sentence?

• It is unsayable. Nongrammatical.
• Barfed in class after woke up Chomsky he.
• Your linguistics professor is inadvisable to
  annoy.
• The cat moon jumped over.
• Up the mouse ran the clock.

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What is a starred sentence?

• Its not a beautiful sentence that sticks in the
  minds of hearers for generations (like A rose by
  any other name would smell as sweet, for
  example). Sorry, no cigar.
• A starred sentence is one that a native speaker
  recognizes as unsayable, nongrammatical because
  it fails to mean (not because it differs from the
  prestige variety).

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Infinity. . .

• While languages are infinite in that you can add
  any number of words to it and can always utter
  sentences that have never been uttered before and
  you can add adjectives, theoretically, ad
  infinitum to a sentence (or even repeat the same
  word 276 times such as he was an old, old, old,
  old . . . coot), the number of possible sentence
  patterns in a language is quite finite.

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Recurring Sentence Patterns Ltd

• English, like every other language, has a limited
  number of recurring sentence patterns. A
  fundamental technique of syntactic analysis is to
  identify these patterns.

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The Problem

• How does a language show the relationships
  between the words in a sentence?

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Three Ways Human Languages Manage Their Beads

• 1) Inflections
• 2) Function Words
• 3) Word Order

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1) Inflections

• Magna aranea perterruit Matildam amitam.
• Large spider frightened Matilda Aunt.
• The large spider frightened Aunt Matilda.
• Magna Matildam perterruit amitam aranea.
• Latin is a nonconfigurational language, whereas
  English is configurational.

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2) Function Words (/or) Particles

• The Queen of Sheba.
• I know that Penelope will come.
• Aunt Matilda was terrified by a spider.
• Matilda amita ab aranea perterrita est.
• (Matilda-aunt-by-spider-frightened -is was)

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3) Word Order

• Brad loves Angelina.
• Angelina loves Brad.
• Brad is loved by Angelina.
• Herman bit the gecko.
• The gecko bit Herman.
• The gecko was bitten by Herman.

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What is Constituent Analysis?

• The linguistic procedure which divides
  sentences into their component parts or
  constituents in this way is known as constituent
  analysis.

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Constituency

• Two principles of sentence organization
• 1. Linear Order
• 2. Constituency
• Sentences have an internal hierarchical
  structure comprised of semantically coherent
  groupings.
• constituent
• A semantically coherent grouping of elements
  within a sentence.
• constituent structure
• The relationships between constituents in a
  sentence.

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Constituent Structure

• How do we chunk words together?
• How do we identify a true chunk (i.e.,
  constituent)

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The Syntactic Component

• Syntactic component must account for
• 1. What a speaker needs to know to produce all
  the grammatical sentences, and none of the
  ungrammatical sentences, in a language.
• 2. Properties of Syntax in Human Languages
• generativity (productivity, infinite output)
• ambiguity
• hierarchy
• infinite recursion

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On Syntax and Tree Hugging. . .

• The successive layers of constituents which make
  up a sentence can be shown most clearly on a tree
  diagram -- so called because its branches
  resemble the branches of a tree. In a tree
  diagram, a basic sentence type at the top
  branches downwards into ever increasing
  complexity.

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Re-write Rules (or Node Loads ?)

• An alternative way of expressing the formulation
  found on a tree diagram is by means of rewrite
  rules. A rewrite rule is a replacement rule in
  which the symbol to the left of an arrow is
  replaced by an expanded form written to the right
  of the arrow. What that tells you is what
  constituent load a particular node type can bear.
  

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Demystifying the abbreviations

• S Sentence
• NPNoun Phrase
• VPVerb Phrase
• D Determiner

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S gt NP VP

• means
• replace the symbol S by NP VP
• (or S NPVP)
• (or S DNVNP)

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Identifying Lexical Categories

• Not Meaning
• Not all nouns are names of persons, places, or
  things.
• the destruction of the city action
• the way to San Jose a path
• the redness spreads rapidly quality
• three miles along the path measurement in space
• Not all verbs are names of actions
• know, like mental states
• own, have possession
• Several lexical categories One meaning
• noun I was surprised by her interest in fungi.
• verb Fungi are starting to interest her more and
  more.
• adjective Fungi seem interesting to her.
• adverb Interestingly, the fungi grew an inch in
  an hour.

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Reference Lexical Categories

• Open Classes
• N noun gargoyle, silence, Hades
• V verb haunt, freeze, jump
• A adjective creaky, tall, friendly
• Adv adverb often, now, then, here, there,
  silently, ferociously, well
• Closed Classes
• P preposition of, to, from, into, in, near, at,
  by, with, under
• PRO pronoun personal I, me, we, us, you, she,
  he, it, they, them, him, her, us
• Wh-words who, what, where, how, why
• DET determiner definite/indefinite determiners
  the, a, an
• demonstratives this, that, these, those
• possessive pronouns my, our, your, her, his,
  its, their
• interrogatives which, what, whose

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Reference Lexical Categories
Open Classes Nouns (N) plural books DET
(ADJ) the werewolves, a brilliant idea
LV ADJ John is tall. Verbs (V)
tense walked 3rd p. sg. she walks
progressive She is walking. AUX can go,
will drive (Please) Please leave!
Please take a seat! Adjective (A) (DET)
N unexpected guests, a true story LV is
sunny, seems angry, looks ready more/most
more beautiful, most beautiful
er/est heavier, heaviest ADV very rude,
highly qualified Adverb (Adv) ADJly unusually
nice, happily, unexpectedly, eagerly
V quietly entered the room V moved
carefully, left early, ate nearby ___
Adj unusually nice more/most more
skillfully
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Closed Classes Preposition (P) NP the
man with the beard right NP right into the
store Determiner (DET) (ADJ) N the book,
many blue pencils, her submarine Linking V (Vl)
ADJ is smart, seems happy, looks
tired Auxiliary V (AUX) not must not
carry, is not howling VP I might
go. Conjunction (CONJ) Adj ___ Adj big and tall
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Basic Sentence Structure

• 1. Every basic sentence has a subject and
  predicate.
• Subject Predicate
• The vampire slept soundly.
• The black bats ate the green watermelon.
• The full moon energized the werewolves.
• It bubbled onto the surface.
• The ghastly goblins gave some goo to the ghoulish
  ghosts.
• The foolish fiends believed that the wise witches
  were waking the wizards.
• The Subject is a Noun Phrase (NP).
• The Predicate is a Verb Phrase (VP).

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• 2. NPs perform different Syntactic Roles
• Subject The vampire slept soundly.
• The green watermelon was eaten by the black
  bats. (Always in NOMINATIVE case.)
• Object The black bats ate the green watermelon.
  (Always in ACUSATIVE case.) direct object of the
  verb or of the prepositional phrase
• Indirect Object The goblins gave some goo to the
  ghoulish ghosts. (Always in DATIVE case.)

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• Basic Sentence Types
• Simple Sentences
• Intransitive NP V The vampire slept soundly.
• Transitive NP V NP The black bats ate the
  green watermelon.
• Ditransitive NP V NP NP The goblins gave the
  ghosts some goo.
• Predicate Adjective NP LV AP The werewolf became
  angry.
• Predicate Noun NP LV NP The werewolf is a hairy
  monster.
• Predicate Locative NP LV PP The werewolf is
  under the table.
• Complex Sentences
• Clause (S) embedded in VP NP V S
• The foolish fiends believed that the wise witches
  were waking the wizards.
• Clause (S) as NP subject NP VP

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Ambiguity

• Ambiguity
• An expression with two or more possible meanings.
• Lexical Ambiguity
• A sentence that has two or more meanings because
  it contains an ambiguous word. The cranes were
  transported by boat to Minneapolis.
• Some Newspaper Headlines
• Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should
  Be Belted
• Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
• Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
• New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
• Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
• Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
• Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
• Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire

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Structural Ambiguity Examples
Example 1. more intelligent leaders
possible paraphrase a greater number of
intelligent leaders
possible paraphrase leaders who are more
intelligent
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Example 2. Barbara Walters discussed sex with
Dick Cavett.

• Possible paraphrases
• (a) Barbara Walters and Dick Cavett had a
  discussion about sex.
• Barbara Walters had a discussion about what it is
  like to have sex with Dick Cavett.
• Source of ambiguity
• Which constituent contains Dick Cavett? see next
  slide

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Paraphrase 1. with Dick Cavett is part of VP
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Paraphrase 2. with Dick Cavett is part of NP