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Lecture7 & 8. Syntaxpptx

The document discusses the structure and rules of prepositional phrases in English, emphasizing the distinction between well-formed and ill-formed phrases. It introduces concepts such as generative grammar, deep and surface structure, and structural ambiguity, illustrating how sentences can be constructed and interpreted in various ways. Additionally, it highlights the importance of recursion and complement phrases in sentence formation.

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3 views

Lecture7 & 8. Syntaxpptx

The document discusses the structure and rules of prepositional phrases in English, emphasizing the distinction between well-formed and ill-formed phrases. It introduces concepts such as generative grammar, deep and surface structure, and structural ambiguity, illustrating how sentences can be constructed and interpreted in various ways. Additionally, it highlights the importance of recursion and complement phrases in sentence formation.

Uploaded by

an4555786
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Syntax

Read the following well-formed prepositional


phrases. How are they structured?

near London

with Sara
Read the following well-formed prepositional
phrases. How are they structured?

near London→ we put a preposition before a noun


with Sara → we put a preposition before a noun
Read the following ill-formed prepositional
phrases. How are they structured?

near tree

with dog
Read the following ill-formed prepositional
phrases. How are they structured?

near tree → we put a preposition before a noun

with dog → we put a preposition before a noun


We clearly need to be more careful in forming the rule that
underlies the structure of prepositional phrases in English. We might have

more success with a rule stating that we put a preposition before a noun

phrase (not just a noun).

A noun phrase can consist of a proper noun (London), a pronoun (you) or the

combination of an article (a, the) with a noun (tree, dog), so that the revised

rule can be used to produce these well-formed structures: near London /

with Sara / near a tree / with the dog.


When we concentrate on the structure and ordering of components within a
sentence= studying the syntax of language.
The word syntax comes originally from Greek and literally means “a putting
together” or “arrangement”
Humans can understand & produce an infinite number of sentences
they never heard before
“Some purple gnats are starting to tango on microwave”
Our grammar can understand and produce long sentences
“Bill said that he thought that the esteemed leader of the house had
it in mind to tell the unfortunate vice president that the calls that he
made from the office in the White House that he thought was
private.....”
Determine the grammatical relations in a sentence
Mary hired Bill Vs. Bill hired Mary
 Non-sense sentences with clear syntax
Colorless green ideas sleep comfortably.
A verb crumpled the milk.
I gave the question an angry egg.
* Comfortably sleep ideas green colorless. * Milk the crumpled
verb a.
* the question I an gave egg angry.
Sentences are composed of discrete units that are
combined by rules.
These rules explain how speakers can store infinite
knowledge in a finite space - brain.
In earlier approaches, there was an attempt to produce an accurate
description of the sequence or ordering “arrangement” of elements in the
linear structure of the sentence. In more recent attempts to analyze
structure, there has been a greater focus on the underlying rule system that
we use to produce or “generate” sentences.
When we set out to provide an analysis of the syntax of a language, we
try to adhere to the “all and only” criterion. This means that our analysis
must account for all the grammatically correct phrases and sentences
and only those grammatically and correct phrases sentences in
whatever language we are analyzing. In other words, if we write rules for
the criterion of well- formed structures, we have to check that those
rules, when applied logically, won’t also lead to ill-formed structures.
Generative Grammar (Noam Chomsky 1950s )
Question: How many well-formed phrases can we
produce “generate” using the rule which states that “a
prepositional phrase in English consists of a preposition
followed by a noun phrase” ?
Generative Grammar
Answer: We can produce “generate” infinite (i.e.
unlimited) well-formed phrases using that rule.
Generative Grammar
This reflects another goal of syntactic analysis which is to have a small
and finite (i.e. limited) set of rules that will be capable of producing a
large and potentially infinite (i.e. unlimited) number of well-formed
structures. This small and finite set of rules is sometimes described as a
generative grammar because it can be used to generate or produce
sentence structures and not just describe them.
Symbols used in syntactic description

• S (= sentence)
• NP (= noun phrase)
• N (= noun)
• Art (= article)
• (= consists of)
For example:
• NP Art N
• It’s a shorthand way of saying that a noun phrase consists of
an article and a noun.
Symbols used in syntactic description
• round brackets ( ) = an optional constituent
• For example:
• The dog = NP
• The small dog = NP
• When we want to use a NP in English, we can include an (Adj),
but we don’t have to. It’s optional.
• NP Art (Adj) N
• It’s a shorthand way of saying that a noun phrase consists of an
article (Art) and a noun (N), with the option of including an
adjective (Adj) in a specific position between them.
Symbols used in syntactic description

curly brackets { } = only one of the elements enclosed within the


curly brackets must be selected.
For example:
NP Art N (e.g. the car)
NP Pro (e.g. her it)
NP PN (e.g. Sara)

NP Art N
NP Pro
NP PN
Symbols used in syntactic description
Deep and Surface Structure

Charlie broke the window. (active)

The window was broken by Charlie. (passive)

The distinction between the two sentences is a difference in their


surface structure, that is, the different syntactic forms they have as
individual English sentences.
Deep and Surface Structure

Charlie broke the window


NP + V + NP

The window was broken by Charlie


NP + V + NP

This other underlying level, where the basic components (NP+V+NP)


shared by the two sentences can be represented, is called their deep
structure (structural organization).
Deep and Surface Structure
The grammar must be capable of showing how a single underlying
abstract representation (NP+V+NP) can become different surface
structures (Charlie broke the window. / The window was broken
by Charlie.)
Structural Ambiguity

Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.


Structural Ambiguity

Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.

Annie bumped into a man with her umbrella.


Structural Ambiguity

Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.

Annie bumped into a man who had an umbrella.


Structural Ambiguity
Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.

-Annie had un umbrella and she bumped into a man with it.

-Annie bumped into a man and the man was carrying an


umbrella.
Structural Ambiguity

The sentence “Annie bumped into a man with an umbrella.” shows


how two different versions of events can actually be expressed in
the same surface structure form. This sentence provides an
example of structural ambiguity. It has two distinct
underlying interpretations that have to be represented
differently in deep structure
Structural Ambiguity

(Annie) (bumped into a man) (with an umbrella)

(Annie) (bumped into) (a man with an umbrella)


Lexical Structure

Phrase structure rules generate structures.


In order to turn this structure into recognizable English, we also need

lexical rules:
PN {Mary, George}
N {girl, dog, boy}
Art {a, the}
Pro {it, you}
V {followed, helped, saw}
Adj {small, crazy}
prep {near, with}
Adv {recently, yesterday}
Structural Ambiguity
Structural Ambiguity

Meaning: The boy saw the man. The man had a telescope.
Structural Ambiguity

Meaning: Using the telescope, the boy saw the man


Recursion
Rules can be applied more than once in generating sentences
 e.g. repeat prepositional phrase more than once

The gun was on the table.


The gun was on the table near the window.
The gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom.
Put sentences inside other sentences
Mary helped George
Cathy knew that Mary helped George.
John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped George.

This is the cat that ate the rat that ate the cheese that was sold by the man
that lived in the city that was on the river...
•No end to recursion that would produce longer complex sentences.
Complement phrases

The word that, as used in these examples, is called a complementizer (C).


The role of that as a complementizer is to introduce a complement phrase (CP).
For example, in the second sentence (Cathy knew ...), we can identify one CP which
contains that plus Mary helped George. We already know that Mary helped George is a
sentence (S).
So, we are now in a position to define a CP in the following way: “a complement phrase
rewrites as a complementizer and a sentence,” or CP → C S.
We can also see from the same sentence that the complement phrase (CP) comes after a
verb (V) knew. This means that we are using the CP as part of a verb phrase (VP), as in
knew that Mary helped George. So, there must be another rule that says: “a verb phrase
rewrites as a verb and complement phrase,” or VP → V CP.
Complement phrases

If we now look at these two new rules in conjunction with an earlier rule, we can see how
recursion is built into the grammar.
S → NP VP
VP → V CP
CP → C S
Complement phrases
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:
Tree Diagrams
Examples:

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