Syntax Without Functional Categories*
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The Whether Report
Hugvísindasvið The Whether Report: Reclassifying Whether as a Determiner B.A. Essay Gregg Thomas Batson May, 2012 University of Iceland School of Humanities Department of English The Whether Report: Reclassifying Whether as a Determiner B.A. Essay Gregg Thomas Batson Kt.: 0805682239 Supervisor: Matthew Whelpton May, 2012 Abstract This paper examines the use of whether in complement clauses for the purpose of determining the exact syntactic and semantic status of whether in these clauses. Beginning with a background to the complementizer phrase, this paper will note the historical use of whether, and then examine and challenge the contemporary assertion of Radford (2004) and Newson et al. (2006) that whether is a wh-phrase. Furthermore, this paper will investigate the preclusion of whether by Radford and Newson et al. from the complementizer class. Following an alternative course that begins by taking into account the morphology of whether, the paper will then examine two research papers relevant to whether complement clauses. The first is Adger and Quer‘s (2001) paper proposing that certain embedded question clauses have an extra element in their structure that behaves as a determiner and the second paper is from Larson (1985) proposing that or scope is assigned syntactically by scope indicators. Combining the two proposals, this paper comes to a different conclusion concerning whether and introduces a new proposal concerning the syntactic structure and semantic interpretation of interrogative complement clauses. Table of Contents 1. -
Linguistics 21N - Linguistic Diversity and Universals: the Principles of Language Structure
Linguistics 21N - Linguistic Diversity and Universals: The Principles of Language Structure Ben Newman March 1, 2018 1 What are we studying in this course? This course is about syntax, which is the subfield of linguistics that deals with how words and phrases can be combined to form correct larger forms (usually referred to as sentences). We’re not particularly interested in the structure of words (morphemes), sounds (phonetics), or writing systems, but instead on the rules underlying how words and phrases can be combined across different languages. These rules are what make up the formal grammar of a language. Formal grammar is similar to what you learn in middle and high school English classes, but is a lot more, well, formal. Instead of classifying words based on meaning or what they “do" in a sentence, formal grammars depend a lot more on where words are in the sentence. For example, in English class you might say an adjective is “a word that modifies a noun”, such as red in the phrase the red ball. A more formal definition of an adjective might be “a word that precedes a noun" or “the first word in an adjective phrase" where the adjective phrase is red ball. Describing a formal grammar involves writing down a lot of rules for a language. 2 I-Language and E-Language Before we get into the nitty-gritty grammar stuff, I want to take a look at two ways language has traditionally been described by linguists. One of these descriptions centers around the rules that a person has in his/her mind for constructing sentences. -
The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in Thai Amara Prasithrathsint Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand [email protected]
Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS XVII), August 31-September 2, 2007, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A. The Role of Complementizers in Verb Classification in Thai Amara Prasithrathsint Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand [email protected] ABSTRACT A complementizer is defined here as a function word that marks a complement clause, which is an argument of a matrix verb; for example, that in I think that he will leave tomorrow is a complementizer, and that he will leave tomorrow is a complement clause, which is an argument of the matrix verb think. A review of previous literature related to complementizers in Thai shows that there has been no study focusing particularly on them. Most studies treat them as elements in other phenomena, such as parts of speech, embedding, subordinate clauses, etc. Despite the important role complementizers play in forming complex sentences in Thai, their syntactic behavior is still obscure. Besides, there is dispute as to which words should be analyzed as complementizers and what conditions their occurrence. The purpose of this study is to identify complementizers in Thai and find out the conditions of their occurrence. Based on an approximately three-million-word corpus of current Thai, the findings show that there are three complementizers in Thai: thifli, wafla, and hafly. They are grammaticalized words from the noun thifli ‘place’, the verb wafla ‘to say’, and the verb hafly ‘to give’, respectively. The occurrence of each of the complementizers depends on the type of verb in the matrix clause. -
RC HUMS 392 English Grammar and Meaning Complements
RC HUMS 392 English Grammar and Meaning Complements 1. Bill wanted/intended/hoped/said/seemed/forgot/asked/failed/tried/decided to write the book. 2. Bill enjoyed/tried/finished/admitted/reported/remembered/permitted writing the book. 3. Bill thought/said/forgot/remembered/reported/was sad/discovered/knew that he wrote the book. 4. Bill asked/wondered/knew/discovered/said why he wrote the book. There are four different types of complement (noun clause, either subject or object – the ones above are all object complements): respectively, they are called infinitive, gerund, that-clause, and embedded question. These types, and their structures and markers (like to and –ing) are often called complementizers. Other names for these types include for-to complementizer (infinitive), POSS-ing (or ACC-ing) complementizer (gerund), inflected (or tensed) clause (that), or WH- complementizer (embedded question). Which term you use is of no concern; they’re equivalent. Infinitives and gerunds are often called non-finite clauses, while questions and that-clauses are called finite clauses, because of the absence or presence of tense markers on the verb form. That-clauses and questions must have a fully-inflected verb, in either the present or past tense, while infinitives and gerunds are not marked for tense. Non-finite complements often do not have overt subjects; these may be deleted either because they’re indefinite or under identity. Very roughly speaking, infinitives refer to states, gerunds to events or activities, and that-clauses to propositions, but it is the identify and nature of the matrix predicate governing the complement (i.e, the predicate that the complement is the subject or object of) that determines not only what kind of thing the complement refers to, but also whether there can be a complement at all, and which complementizer(s) it can take, if so. -
The Quotative Complementizer Says “I'm Too Baroque for That” 1 Introduction
The Quotative Complementizer Says “I’m too Baroque for that” Rahul Balusu,1 EFL-U, Hyderabad Abstract We build a composite picture of the quotative complementizer (QC) in Dravidian by examining its role in various left-peripheral phenomena – agreement shift, embedded questions; and its par- ticular manifestation in various constructions like noun complement clauses, manner adverbials, rationale clauses, with naming verbs, small clauses, and non-finite embedding, among others. The QC we conclude is instantiated at the very edge of the clause it subordinates, outside the usual left periphery, comes with its own entourage of projections, and is the light verb say which does not extend its projection. It adjoins to the matrix spine at various heights (at the vP level it gets a θ-role, and thus argument properties) when it does extend its projection, and like a verb selects clauses of various sizes (CP, TP, small clause). We take the Telugu QC ani as illustrative, being more transparent in form to function mapping, but draw from the the QC properties of Malayalam, Kannada, Bangla, and Meiteilon too. 1 Introduction Complementizers –conjunctions that play the role of identifying clauses as complements –are known to have quite varied lexical sources (Bayer 1999). In this paper we examine in detail the polyfunctional quotative complementizer (QC) in Dravidian languages by looking at its particular manifestation in various construc- tions like noun complement clauses, manner adverbials, rationale clauses, naming/designation clauses, small clauses, non-finite embedding. We also look to two left-peripheral phenomena for explicating the syntax and semantics of the QC –Quasi Subordination, and Monstrous Agreement. -
BCGL13, 16-18.12.2020 1 the Syntax of Complementizers
BCGL13, 16-18.12.2020 The syntax of complementizers: a revised version Anna Roussou University of Patras ([email protected]) BCGL 13, The syntax and semantics of clausal complementation 16-18.12.2020 [joint work with Rita Manzini] 1. Setting the scene A clarification: why ‘a revised version’ Roussou (1994), The syntax of complementisers – the investigation of three basic constructions: (a) factive complements and extraction, Greek oti vs factive pu – a definite C (b) that-complements and subject extraction, an agreeing null C (c) na-complements in Greek and the subject dependency (control vs obviation) • Assumptions back then: -- that is an expletive element (Lasnik & Saito 1984, Law 1991) – complementizers in general are expletives -- But in some cases, as in factives, they may bear features for familiarity (Hegarty 1992) or definiteness, or license a definite operator (Melvold 1991) [that-factives are weak islands, pu- factives are strong islands] Some questions a) What is a complement clause? b) What is a complementizer? c) What is the role of the complementizer? d) How is complementation achieved if there is no complementizer? Some potential answers to the questions above a) complement clauses are nominal (the traditional grammarian view): mainly objects, but also subjects; it is a complement or a relative (?) b) not so clear: the lexical item that introduces a clause or the syntactic head C (Bresnan 1972) – in the latter reading, C can be realized by a variety of elements including conjunctions (that, oti, pu, che, etc.), prepositions -
Reports 9, the Yugoslav Serbo-Croatian -English Contrastive Project
*CUM? RESUME , FL 006 501 ED 108 465 A / . AUTHOR- c" FiApovic, Rudolf, Ed. TITLE Reports 9, the YugOslav Serbo-Croatian -English Contrastive Project. INSTITUTION Center for Applied Linguistics,Washington, D.C.; Zagreb Univ. (Yugoslavia). Inst. ofLinguistics. PUB DATE 74 ; NOTE 126p. AVAILABLE FROMInititut Za Lingvistiku, Filozofski Fakultet, Box 171, 41001 Zagreb, Yugoslavia (13.00) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.76 HC-$6.97 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS Adjectives; Annotated Bibliographiesk*Contrastive Linguistics; Descriptive Linguistics; Determiners (Languages); English; Gia.mmar; Semantics; *Sentence Structure; *Serbocroatian; lavic Languages; *Structural Analysis; Synchroclinguistics; Syntax; Verbs ABSTRACT, The ninth volume in this seriescontains seven articles dealing with various aspects ofEnglish - Serbo-Croatian contrastive analysis. They are: "A Noteon Modifiers of Comparatives in English and Serbo-Croatian," byNaples Browne; "Superlative Structures in English and TheirCorrespondents in Serbo-Croatian," by Vladimir Ivir; "Semantic Aspects of AdjectiveComparison in English and Serbo-Croatian," by ,Vladimir Ivir;"Passive Sentences in English and Serbo-Croatian," byL/iljana Mihailovic; "The Definite Determiner in English and Serbo-Croatian,"by Olga Miseska Tonic; 'Englishand Serbo-Croatian VH-Wordt, their Derivatives andCorrelates," by Olga Miseska Tosic; and "An AnnOtatedBibliography of Research in Scientific and Technical Language," by L.Selinker, L. Trimble, and T. Huckin. (AN) *********************11************************************************* -
On Multi-Functionality of Determiners in Grammar and Discourse
愛知教育大学研究報告,5On Multi-Functionality7(人文・社会科学編) of Determiners in Grammar,pp.2 and7~3 Discourse5, March,2008 On Multi-Functionality of Determiners in Grammar and Discourse Tomoko YASUTAKE Department of Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language, Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Aichi448―8542 Japan 0.Introduction This paper aims to shed light on the involuted workings of function words in English. Focusing on the articles and the in- definite determiners, I propose a new understanding of the concept of meaning in grammar and discourse. Drawing on evidence from present-day English, I point out that each determiner carries more than one function and different layers of meaning. The indefinite article a(n) is a prototypical example of multi-functional grammatical item: it signifies ‘oneness’ as its core lexical meaning and marks ‘hearer-new’ information at the same time. Functions of other determiners, however, are not so well recog- nized. More often than not, one of the functions stands out and attracts attention, while all the others are backgrounded, unrec- ognized or neglected. In some cases, multiple functions tend to be treated as polysemy. The new approach to multi- functionality of determiners permits better understanding of linguistic meanings than have hitherto been possible. 1.Determiners in English A determiner is a grammatical element whose main role is to co-occur with nouns to express such semantic notions as quantity, number, possession, and definiteness; e.g. the, a, this, some, my, much. These words ‘determine’ the way in which the noun phrase is to be interpreted (e.g. acarvs. the car vs. -
Complex Adpositions and Complex Nominal Relators Benjamin Fagard, José Pinto De Lima, Elena Smirnova, Dejan Stosic
Introduction: Complex Adpositions and Complex Nominal Relators Benjamin Fagard, José Pinto de Lima, Elena Smirnova, Dejan Stosic To cite this version: Benjamin Fagard, José Pinto de Lima, Elena Smirnova, Dejan Stosic. Introduction: Complex Adpo- sitions and Complex Nominal Relators. Benjamin Fagard, José Pinto de Lima, Dejan Stosic, Elena Smirnova. Complex Adpositions in European Languages : A Micro-Typological Approach to Com- plex Nominal Relators, 65, De Gruyter Mouton, pp.1-30, 2020, Empirical Approaches to Language Typology, 978-3-11-068664-7. 10.1515/9783110686647-001. halshs-03087872 HAL Id: halshs-03087872 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03087872 Submitted on 24 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Public Domain Benjamin Fagard, José Pinto de Lima, Elena Smirnova & Dejan Stosic Introduction: Complex Adpositions and Complex Nominal Relators Benjamin Fagard CNRS, ENS & Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle; PSL Lattice laboratory, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 1 rue Maurice Arnoux, 92120 Montrouge, France [email protected] -
Noun Phrase “The Big Blue Ball”
SI485i : NLP Set 7 Syntax and Parsing Syntax • Grammar, or syntax: • The kind of implicit knowledge of your native language that you had mastered by the time you were 3 years old • Not the kind of stuff you were later taught in “grammar” school • Verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc. • Rules: “verbs take noun subjects”… 2 Example • “Fed raises interest rates” 3 Example 2 “I saw the man on the hill with a telescope.” 4 Example 3 • “I saw her duck” 5 Syntax • Linguists like to argue • Phrase-structure grammars, transformational syntax, X- bar theory, principles and parameters, government and binding, GPSG, HPSG, LFG, relational grammar, minimalism.... And on and on. 6 Syntax Why should you care? • Email recovery … n-grams only made local decisions. • Author detection … couldn’t model word structure • Sentiment … don’t know what sentiment is targeted at • Many many other applications: • Grammar checkers • Dialogue management • Question answering • Information extraction • Machine translation 7 Syntax • Key notions that we’ll cover • Part of speech • Constituency • Ordering • Grammatical Relations • Key formalism • Context-free grammars • Resources • Treebanks 8 Word Classes, or Parts of Speech • 8 (ish) traditional parts of speech • Noun, verb, adjective, preposition, adverb, article, interjection, pronoun, conjunction, etc. • Lots of debate within linguistics about the number, nature, and universality of these • We’ll completely ignore this debate. 9 POS examples • N noun chair, bandwidth, pacing • V verb study, debate, munch • ADJ adjective purple, tall, ridiculous • ADV adverb unfortunately, slowly • P preposition of, by, to • PRO pronoun I, me, mine • DET determiner the, a, that, those 10 POS Tagging • The process of assigning a part-of-speech or lexical class marker to each word in a collection. -
Lx522f08-10A-Cp.Pdf
Types of sentences • Sentences come in several types. We’ve mainly seen CAS LX 522 declarative clauses. Syntax I 1) Horton heard a Who. • But there are also questions (interrogative clauses)… Week 10a. 2) Did Horton hear a Who? CP & PRO 3) Who did Horton hear? (8.1-8.2.5) • …exclamatives… 4) What a crazy elephant! • …imperatives… 5) Pass me the salt. Declaratives & interrogatives Clause type • Our syntactic theory should allow us to distinguish between clause types. • Given this motivation, we seem to need one more category of lexical items, the clause • The basic content of Phil will bake a cake and Will Phil type category. bake a cake? is the same. • We’ll call this category C, which traditionally • Two DPs (Phil, nominative, and a cake, accusative), a stands for complementizer. modal (will), a transitive verb (bake) that assigns an The hypothesis is that a declarative sentence has Agent !-role and a Theme !-role. They are minimally • a declarative C in its structure, while an different: one’s an interrogative, and one’s a interrogative sentence (a question) has an declarative. One asserts that something is true, one interrogative C. requests a response about whether it is true. Embedding clauses What’s that ? • The reason for calling this element a complementizer stems from viewing the • We can show that that “belongs” to the embedded problem from a different starting point. sentence with constituency tests. 1) What I heard is that Lenny retired. • It is possible to embed a sentence within another sentence: 2) *What I heard that is Lenny retired. -
Modeling Clausal Complementation for a Grammar Engineering Resource Olga Zamaraeva University of Washington, [email protected]
Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics Volume 2 Article 6 2019 Modeling Clausal Complementation for a Grammar Engineering Resource Olga Zamaraeva University of Washington, [email protected] Kristen Howell University of Washington, [email protected] Emily M. Bender University of Washington, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/scil Part of the Computational Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Zamaraeva, Olga; Howell, Kristen; and Bender, Emily M. (2019) "Modeling Clausal Complementation for a Grammar Engineering Resource," Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics: Vol. 2 , Article 6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/dygn-c796 Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/scil/vol2/iss1/6 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modeling Clausal Complementation for a Grammar Engineering Resource Olga Zamaraeva Kristen Howell Emily M. Bender University of Washington University of Washington University of Washington [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Abstract because of their interaction with other phenomena. A grammar that cannot support subordinate clauses We present a grammar engineering library will fail to provide analyses for a big portion of a for modeling objectival declarative clausal typical corpus and will not support the grammar complementation patterns attested cross- engineer in exploring how well the analyses used linguistically. Our primary contribution is positing a set of syntactico-semantic analyses for modeling simple clauses generalize.