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Tallerman: Chapter 1 What Is Syntax? Tallerman: Chapter 1 What is Syntax? Ling 222 - Chapter 1 1 Syntax • How words group together to make phrases and sentences. • The study of the syntactic properties of languages. • Word classes; word order; constituent structure; syntactic constructions – The cook will cook dinner now. – the red shirt (English) - la chemise rouge (French) – Competent women and men will get the best jobs. – The truck hit the car. - The car was hit by the truck – It was the truck that hit the car. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 2 Morphology, Semantics, Phonology • Morphemes: smallest meaningful units: free vs. bound morphemes, inflectional vs. derivational morphemes, clitics. • Semantics: the study of meaning: morphemes, words, phrases, clauses, sentences. • Phonology: prosody interacts with syntax: e.g. intonation. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 3 Language Acquisition • Children can acquire one or more languages (simultaneously), with no effort and with minimum linguistic exposure. • Children can produce very complex utterances that they never heard before. • Many syntacticians believe that the language faculty is innate and is grounded in the biology of human cognition. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 4 • http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_JmA2ClUvUY Ling 222 - Chapter 1 5 Grammar: study of the organizing principles of language in general – Not prescriptive grammar of English • To boldly go where no man has ever gone before. • Are there some prepositions that you should never end a sentence with? – Not supposed logical properties of standard dialects: • Is that all the faster you can run? (Minnesota English) • Is that the fastest you can run? • I didn’t do nothing wrong. • Je ne mange jamais de viande (French)" I NEG eat never of meat" ‘I never eat meat.’ Ling 222 - Chapter 1 6 – Interested in rules of mental grammar of native speakers, not just rules in teaching grammars: • Who did you say John saw __? • Who did you say that John saw __? • Who did you say __ saw John? • *Who did you say that __ saw John? – Interested in language universals and language typology: • Qui avez-vous dit que Jean voyait __? (French)" Who have you said that John saw" ‘Who did you say that John saw?’ • *Qui avez-vous dit que __ voyait Jean? • Qui avez-vous dit qui __ voyait Jean?" Who have-you said who saw John" ‘Who did you say saw John?’ Ling 222 - Chapter 1 7 Grammaticality Judgments" • Our primary source of data in syntax: grammaticality judgments. • A sentence is “grammatical" if it sounds natural to a native speaker. (Descriptive, not prescriptive!) • How do we code grammaticality judgments? A star (*) before a phrase/sentence indicates that it is ungrammatical for a native speaker of the language. This could mean: – “Word salad/gibberish” (*Linguistics doctor the green drive.) – Meaning OK but syntax not (*Who does Bill wonder why John loves?) – Particular meaning not available (*Johni likes himi.) – Syntactic (*) vs. semantic (#) ill-formedness (#The table tried to tell a story.) vs. dialectal variant (% I aren’t coming.) Ling 222 - Chapter 1 8 Language change can interfere with grammaticality judgments • Standard English: – less wheat, less boredom, less milk, less difficulty (mass nouns) – fewer students, fewer sheep, fewer people, fewer difficulties (count nouns) • Nonstandard English, spreading change: – Less students, less sheep, less people, less difficulties Ling 222 - Chapter 1 9 • Other grammatical indications of count-mass distinction: MASS: How much_____ do you want? COUNT: How many _____ do you want? How do the following come out? Why? rice, beans, peas • Universal Grinder: There was dog all over the road. Universal Packager: I’ll take three coffees. Universal Sorter: The health food store sells six flours. • Do languages like Chinese only have mass nouns? English: three cups of coffee, three books Chinese: san bēi kafe, san běn shu" three cup coffee, three volume book Ling 222 - Chapter 1 10 Language change can interfere with grammaticality judgments – If any candidate hasn’t got a form, they need to get one from the office. – A controversy has emerged in the media concerning two students who submitted identical papers in an undergraduate education course. The instructor gave both students a failing grade for the assignment. One student admitted the work was not their own and accepted the failing grade, the second student appealed the failing grade that was given for "submitting identical work”. (SFU VP-Academic, 1/29/03, email announcement to faculty) – God send every one their heart’s desire. (Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.) Ling 222 - Chapter 1 11 Language change can interfere with grammaticality judgments • Negation in English: Middle English vs. Modern English – I say not this by wyves that been wyse. verb < negation – I do not say this for wives that are wise. • Inversion in English questions: Middle English vs. Modern English – Say you no? subject and verb are inverted – Do you say no? “do-support" in Qs • But notice that subject-verb inversion still happens with auxiliary verbs: – He will leave. Will he leave? “subject-aux inversion” – He left. Did he leave? “do-support” Ling 222 - Chapter 1 12 Dialect differences can interfere with grammaticality judgments • Positive “anymore” in Standard English vs. Nonstandard English dialects – I *(don't) watch that show anymore. – She *(never) dances anymore. – %He's been reading a lot of books anymore. • Double modal auxiliary verbs in Nonstandard English dialects: – I can read that. – *I will can read that. *I will should read that. – %I might could read that. %I might should read that. 13 Dialect differences can interfere with grammaticality judgments • Colloquial Canadian English: “be done X” construction (Jennifer Hinnell, MA thesis, SFU, 2012) – I am done my homework. – I am done with my homework. – My homework is done. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 14 Discourse factors can interfere with grammaticality judgments – Topicalization: • The tea Kim drank. • The tea, Kim drank __, but the homemade beer, she really hated __. • Q: Which languages besides English do you know, and how well do you know them? • A: Spanish, Italian, French, and Latin. Spanish and French I can read __ well and understand __ verbally, but my speaking is slow. Italian I understand __, but I don’t read it. I speak it less well than Spanish and French. Latin I read __ pretty well, and can write it quite well. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 15 All Languages have Structure – Embedded sentences – [I wonder [if Lee will arrive late] ]. – [The claim [that she doesn’t like Kim] is very convincing]. – [ [Whenever Kim and Lee arrive] we’ll set off]. – [ [That we’ve no coffee left] isn’t my fault]. – Recursion – Kim couldn’t swim. – Lee thought that Kim couldn’t swim. – I said that Lee thought that Kim couldn’t swim. • No longest sentence in any language. • All languages have an infinite number of sentences. • (Recent controversy: Daniel L. Everett, Language: the Cultural Tool, 2012: Pirahã (Brazil) has no recursion.) Ling 222 - Chapter 1 16 Basic Word Order • Languages can be typologically distinguished on the basis of how they (usually) order the Subject (S), the Object (O), and the Verb (V). • Kim drank the tea. SVO" *Kim the tea drank. SOV " *Drank Kim the tea. VSO " *Drank the tea Kim. VOS " *The tea drank Kim. OVS " The tea Kim drank. OSV • SVO, SOV, and VSO are the most common basic word orders " VOS: Malagasy (Madagascar)." OVS, OSV are rare, but found in the Carib family of the Amazon. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 17 Basic Word Order • We can determine an unmarked (basic, most common) word order for most languages. • But some (e.g. Warlpiri, Australia) are argued to be “free word order" languages. • Languages differ in the variants they permit, and what those orders are used for. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 18 When do we use marked word orders in English? – Heavy NP shift (e.g. SVOx SVxO) • Mary sent a letter to John. • Mary sent to John a letter. (Better with a comma after “John”.) • Mary sent to John [a letter which described all the wonderful meals she ate while she was vacationing in Hawaii]. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 19 When do we use marked word orders in English? • Promotion and demotion processes, e.g. passive – And he is unsettled by what he hears from his other son, Neil, a lieutenant in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. [The Times Picayune, 3/25/03] – Active version: What he hears from his other son Neil, a lieutenant in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, unsettles him. – (a) object is promoted to subject position. – (b) subject is demoted to by-phrase (or deleted). – (c) verb changes form. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 20 Structure Dependence • The syntactic rules of all languages are structure-dependent, not just based on linear order. • Phrasal verbs vs. Prepositional phrases. – I ran up the bill. I ran up the hill – I ran the bill up. *I ran the hill up. – *It was up the bill that I ran (not the debt). " It was up the hill that I ran (not the stairs) – *I ran up the restaurant bill and up the phone bill too." I ran up the hill and up the stairs too. – I [ran up] the bill Phrasal verb – I ran [up the hill] Prepositional phrase Ling 222 - Chapter 1 21 Structure Dependence • Possessive -'s in English: – What was that lady who brought us the cake's name. – I hate the guy next door's dog. – *What was the lady’s who brought us the cake name? – *I hate the guy's next door dog. – [the guy next door]'s – [the lady who brought us the cake]’s • The possessive -s attaches at the end of a whole phrase. Ling 222 - Chapter 1 22 Psychological factors can interfere with grammaticality judgments The horse raced past the barn fell.
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