Parsing Complementizer Phrases in Machine Translation System
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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. -
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR REVIEW I. Parts of Speech Traditional
Traditional Grammar Review Page 1 of 15 TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR REVIEW I. Parts of Speech Traditional grammar recognizes eight parts of speech: Part of Definition Example Speech noun A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. John bought the book. verb A verb is a word which expresses action or state of being. Ralph hit the ball hard. Janice is pretty. adjective An adjective describes or modifies a noun. The big, red barn burned down yesterday. adverb An adverb describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or He quickly left the another adverb. room. She fell down hard. pronoun A pronoun takes the place of a noun. She picked someone up today conjunction A conjunction connects words or groups of words. Bob and Jerry are going. Either Sam or I will win. preposition A preposition is a word that introduces a phrase showing a The dog with the relation between the noun or pronoun in the phrase and shaggy coat some other word in the sentence. He went past the gate. He gave the book to her. interjection An interjection is a word that expresses strong feeling. Wow! Gee! Whew! (and other four letter words.) Traditional Grammar Review Page 2 of 15 II. Phrases A phrase is a group of related words that does not contain a subject and a verb in combination. Generally, a phrase is used in the sentence as a single part of speech. In this section we will be concerned with prepositional phrases, gerund phrases, participial phrases, and infinitive phrases. Prepositional Phrases The preposition is a single (usually small) word or a cluster of words that show relationship between the object of the preposition and some other word in the sentence. -
1St Rule: FANBOYS and Compound Sentences FANBOYS Is a Mnemonic Device, Which Stands for the Coordinating Conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So
1st Rule: FANBOYS and Compound Sentences FANBOYS is a mnemonic device, which stands for the coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, and So. These words, when used to connect two independent clauses (two complete thoughts), must be preceded by a comma. A sentence is a complete thought, consisting of a Subject and a Verb. Conjunctions should not be confused with conjunctive adverbs, such as However, Therefore, and Moreover or with conjunctions, such as Because. 2nd Rule: Introductory Bits When using an introductory word, phrase, or clause to begin a sentence, it is important to place a comma between the introduction and the main sentence. The introduction is not a complete thought on its own; it simply introduces the main clause. This lets the reader know that the “meat” of the sentence is what follows the comma. You should be able to remove the part which comes before the comma and still have a complete thought. Examples: Generally, John is opposed to overt acts of affection. However, Lucy inspires him to be kind. If the hamster is launched fifty feet, there is too much pressure in the cannon. Although the previous sentence has little to do with John and Lucy, it is a good example of how to use commas with introductory clauses. 3rd Rule: Separating Items in a Series Commas belong between each item in a list. However, in a series of three items, the comma between the second and third item and the conjunction (generally and or or) is optional, whereas in a list of four items, the comma is necessary. -
Conjunction Junction WHAT’S THEIR FUNCTION? What Are Conjunctions, Anyway?
Conjunction Junction WHAT’S THEIR FUNCTION? What are conjunctions, anyway? A conjunction is a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause. What kinds of conjunctions are there? • Coordinating conjunctions (=) • FANBOYS • Correlating Conjunctions • Both…and, either…or, neither…nor, whether…or, not only…but also • Subordinating Conjunctions (< ) • After, although, as, because, before, how, if, since, than, that, though, unless, until, what (whatever), when (whenever), where (wherever), whereas, whether, which (whichever), while, who (whom, whomever), whose • Conjunctive Adverb () • Accordingly, however, nonetheless, also, indeed, otherwise, besides, instead, similarly, consequently, likewise, still, conversely, meanwhile, subsequently, finally, moreover, then, furthermore, nevertheless, therefore, hence, next, thus Coordinating Conjunctions • Coordinating Conjunctions are used to connect two complete sentences(independent clauses) and coordinating words and phrases. • All coordinating conjunctions MUST be preceded by a comma if connecting two independent clauses. Coordinating Conjunctions at Work • Miss Smidgin was courteous but cool. (coordinating adjectives) • The next five minutes will determine whether we win or lose. (coordinating verbs) • This chimp is crazy about peanuts but also about strawberries. (coordinating prepositional phrases) • He once lived in mansions, yet now he is living in an empty box. (coordinating independent clauses) • You probably won’t have any trouble spotting him, for he weighs almost three hundred pounds. • She didn’t offer help, nor did she offer any excuse for her laziness. • I wanted to live closer to Nature, so I built myself a cabin in the swamps of Louisiana. Correlating Conjunctions Correlating Conjunctions connect two equal phrases. Correlating Conjunctions at Work • In the fall, Phillip will either start classes at the community college or join the navy. -
Using-Conjunctions.Pdf
GRAMMAR AND MECHANICS Using Conjunctions A conjunction is the part of speech used to join or link words, phrases, or clauses to each other. Conjunctions help to provide coherence to your writing by connecting elements between or within sentences and from one paragraph to the next in order to most effectively communicate your ideas to your reader. TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS Coordinating conjunctions or coordinators (and, but, or, nor, so, for, yet) connect ideas of equal structure or function. The instructor was interesting and extremely knowledgeable about the subject. The play was entertaining but disappointing. I am a highly motivated and diligent worker, so I should be considered for the job. Correlative conjunctions come in pairs and function like coordinating conjunctions to connect equal elements. The most common correlative conjunctions are either . or, neither . nor, not only . but also, whether . or, and both . and. Either Miranda or Julia will fill the recently vacated position. Both the music and the lyrics were written by the same composer. Subordinating conjunctions or subordinators such as if, when, where, because, although, since, whether, and while introduce a subordinate or dependent clause that is usually attached to an independent clause and signal the relationship between the clauses. If the director is unavailable, I will speak with her assistant. When the speaker finished, the audience responded with tremendous applause. As a general rule, if a subordinating or dependent clause precedes the independent clause, use a comma to separate the two clauses. Since the secretary was unable to find the file (subordinating or dependent clause), the meeting was cancelled (independent clause). -
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. -
Constituency Tests Ling201, Apr
Constituency Tests Ling201, Apr. 14 The following tests help us to determine whether a string of words forms a constituent. Key: Constituents are underlined. Non-constituents are wavy-lined. Warning: Not all tests will work for all constituent types! Fragment Answers Only a constituent can answer a question, while retaining the meaning of the original sentence. That ismy rother. → !: "ho#s that$ A: &y rother. 'e is making a mess. → !: "hat#s he doing$ A: &aking a mess. The keys are on the ta le. → !: "here are the keys? A: On the ta le. I want two of those apples. → !: 'ow many apples do you want$ A: *)wo of. 'e#s preserving in wa* the earwigs I gave him. → !: "hat#s he doing with the earwigs? A: *+reserving in wa*. I gave the dog the keys. → !: "hat did you do with the keys? A: *,ave the dog. Coordination Only constituents -of the same type) can e coordinated using conjunction words like and, or, and but. 'er friends from +eru went to the show. → &ary and her friends from +eru went to the show. "e peeled the potatoes. → "e peeled the potatoes and shucked the corn. /hould I go through the tunnel$ → /hould I go through the tunnel or over the ridge$ The doughnuts were full of 0elly. → The doughnuts were full of 0elly ut slightly disappointing. 'er friends from +eru went to the movies. → *'er friends from and two guys interested in +eru went1 "e peeled the potatoes. → *"e peeled the and washed the potatoes. /hould I go through the tunnel$ → */hould I go through or I go around the tunnel$ The doughnuts were full of 0elly. -
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 -
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]