S YNTAX Lecturer Ms Abrar Mujaddidi I NTRODUCTION

S YNTAX Lecturer : Ms. Abrar Mujaddidi

I NTRODUCTION In the previous chapter, we moved from the general categories and concepts of traditional grammar, to more specific methods of describing the structure of phrases and sentences. In earlier approaches to syntax, there was an attempt to produce an accurate description of the sequence of ordering of elements in a sentence. In more recent approaches, work in syntax attempted to account for the type of agreement we observe in the structure of sentences.

W HAT IS SYNTAX? Syntax is the study of the structure and components within a sentence. That means that syntax deals with the concept of what are acceptable sentential arrangements in a language. Syntax does not deal with meaning. e. g. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

G ENERATIVEGRAMMAR Generative grammar was originated by Noam Chomsky. It deals with linguistic structure of a language in mathematical terms. Generative grammar defines the syntactic structure of a language

CONT. , Generative grammar proposes that a set of explicit, finite rules that can produce all (infinite) and only well formed sentences in a language. It reveals the basis of two other phenomena: 1. Superficially different sentences but closely related. 2. superficially similar sentences but actually different.

D EEP AND SURFACE STRUCTURES Consider the following examples: Charlie broke the window The window was broken by Charlie

C ONT. , surface structure deep structure the different syntactic abstract level of forms of sentences in English structural organization in which elements determining structural interpretation are presented

S TRUCTURAL A MBIGUITY Annie wacked a man with an umbrella This is a structurally ambiguous sentence: it has two distinct underlying interpretations that has to represented differently in deep structure. Try to guess these two meanings! The grammar will have to be capable of showing the structural distinction between these underlying representations.

R ECURSION Recursion means that we can use the same type of rule (e. g. PP) with an endless number of words. on the table in the bag at the door We must also be able to put sentences inside sentences: Mary helped George Kathy knew that Mary helped George

S YMBOLS USED IN SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION 1. Abbreviations of syntactic categories: S sentence NP noun phrase etc. . ‘Consists of’ 2. NP Art N 3. ( ) ‘ optional constituent’ 4. Only one of the elements enclosed inside the brackets must be selected. 5. Note: refer to the symbols on pgs. 89 -90

T REE DIAGRAMS

P HRASE STRUCTURERULES We can look at tree diagrams as a way to generate a very large number of other sentences with similar structures. We can use phrase structure rules to represent the information of the tree diagram in a different way: NP Art N NP Art N

M ORE ON PHRASE STRUCTURERULES S NP VP NP {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN) VP V NP (PP) (Adv) PP Prep NP

L EXICAL RULES Phrase structure rules generate structures. In order to turn this structure into recognizable English, we also need lexical rules: Which words can be used in the same spot. PN {Mary, George} V {followed, helped, saw} N {girl, dog, boy} Adj {small, crazy} Art {a, the} prep {near, with} Pro {it, you} Adv {recently, yesterday}

CONT. ,

C OMPLEMENTPHRASES Cathy knew that Mary helped George that= complementizer (C) = introducing complement phrase (CP) that Mary helped George= CP CP C S “A complement phrase consists of a complementizer and a sentence. ”

CONT. , From the same sentence, the CP comes after a V (knew) This means that we are using the CP as part of a VP (knew that Mary helped George). Now, we have a new rule, “A verb phrase consists of a verb and a complement phrase. ” or, VP V CP

CONT. ,

T RANSFORMATIONAL RULES Phrase structure rules represent ‘deep’ structure- always generate structures with fixed word order. Mary saw George recently Recently Mary saw George Transformational rules= take a specific part and attach it in another place You will help Cathy Will you help Cathy?

CONT. ,

T IME FOR EXERCISES!! 1. Draw a labeled tree diagram for the following English phrases. a. Stuffed chickens b. in the dark night c. Met a friend

CONT. , 2. Draw phrase structure trees for the following sentences: The puppy found the child The ice melted The hot sun melted the ice. The house on the hill collapsed in the wind. The boat sailed up the river. A girl laughed at the monkey. George saw a dog with Mary

CONT. , In what way are these sentences ambiguous? We met an English history teacher Flying planes can be dangerous The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside The students complained to everyone that they couldn’t understand.

Thank you!