1. ENG 259 - The Chomskian Revolution in Linguistics Summary on Syntax
© BTexact Technologies 2001

2. Key Points Highlighted
Syntax
Types of Grammar
American structuralism and its brief history
IC Analysis
Syntactic Categories
Lexical Categories
Chomsky and UG
© BTexact Technologies 2001

3. Syntax
Syntax: the study of the structure of sentences and the grammatical rules governing the way words are combined to form sentences.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

4. Types of Grammar Prescriptive Grammar Descriptive Grammar
Universal Grammar
© BTexact Technologies 2001

5. Prescriptive Grammar
Traditional Grammar and the prescriptive approach: Grammar as ‘linguistic etiquette’, i.e. the identification of the best/proper structures to be used;
© BTexact Technologies 2001

6. Descriptive Grammatical Rules
Descriptive rules are more general and more basic than prescriptive rules in the sense that all sentences of a language are formed in accordance with them, not just the subset of sentences that count as correct or socially acceptable.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

7. Prescriptive Rules
Grammar is a collection of rules concerning what counts as socially acceptable and unacceptable language use. These rules in question primarily concern the proper composition of sentences in written language.
Don’t start a sentence with a conjunction
Don’t end a sentence with a preposition
Don’t use sentence fragments
Don’t use dangling participles
Don’t use a plural pronoun to refer back to a singular noun; etc.
e.g. Over there is the guy who I went to the party with
© BTexact Technologies 2001

8. Descriptive Grammar
Rules of descriptive grammar have the status of scientific observations, and they are intended as insightful generalizations about the way that human language is used in fact, rather than about how it ought to be used.
Articles precede the nouns they belong to
Relative clauses follow the noun that they modify
Prepositions precede their objects
© BTexact Technologies 2001

9. Grammatical sentences
An ungrammatical sentence is conventionally prefixed with an asterisk (*) while the grammatical sentences are usually not specifically marked.
( ) Over there is guy the who I went to party the with
( )Over there is the man I went to the party with guy
( )Over there is the guy who I went to the party with
( )Over there is the guy with whom I went to the party
© BTexact Technologies 2001

10. Prescriptive vs. Descriptive
Rules of etiquette or laws of society
Rules about correct or socially accepted sentences
Rules explicitly taught
Based on the more favored variants
…The verb SHOULD agree in number with the logical subject
Rules of scientific observations
Rules about all sentences of a language
Rules followed effortlessly and consistently
Document all variants without discrimination
…the verb CAN agree in number with EITHER the expletive subject OR with the logical subject
There’s some boxes left on the porch
There are some boxes left on the porch
© BTexact Technologies 2001

11. Universal Grammar
Grammar as a form of internal linguistic knowledge that operates in the appropriate production and comprehension of natural languages.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

12. Goals of a theory of grammar
Universality: a theory of grammar should provide us with the tools needed to describle the grammar of any natural language adequately.
Descriptive adequacy: a grammar of a given language has descriptive adequacy if it explains observed language data and the intuitions of native speakers about the grammaticality of sentences of a language
Explanatory adequacy: a theory of grammar has explanatory adequacy if it explains how native speakers of a language can arrive at the knowledge of that language.
Learnability: an adequate linguistic theory must provide adequate grammars which are learnable by young children in a relatively short period of time. i.e., it must account for the uniformity and rapidity of language acquisition, given the poverty of stimulus.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

13. American Structuralism
A brief history
How is descriptive linguistics done?
IC Analysis
© BTexact Technologies 2001

14. American Structuralism: A brief history
Descriptive linguistics is the study and analysis of spoken language. The techniques of descriptive linguistics were devised by German American anthropologist Franz Boas and American linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir in the early 1900s to record and analyze Native American languages.
Franz Boas: Handbook of American Indian Languages (1911
He saw grammar as a description of how human speech in a language is organized. A descriptive grammar should describe the relationships of speech elements in words and sentences.
Leonard Bloomfield,
best known for his commitment to linguistics as an independent science and his insistence on using scientific procedures.
His major work, Language (1933) is regarded as the classic text of structural linguistics, also called structuralism.
Norm Chomsky
had studied structural linguistics, was seeking a way to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar.
This effort led him to see grammar as a theory of language structure rather than a description of actual sentences.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

15. How is descriptive linguistics done?
A corpus of data
Segmentation
Identification of the phonemes
Which phonemes can combine to form morphemes
How morphemes combine into phrases and sentences.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

16. IC analysis
The basic concern of the descriptive approach is to investigate the distribution of forms in a language. The method used is one of substitution.
Constituent: a grammatical unit which is part of a larger grammatical unit
-- e.g., sentence = noun phrase + verb phrase;
noun phrase = determiner + noun; "subject", ”verb", "determiner" and "noun" etc. are constituents
IC analysis is designed to show how small constituents in a sentence combine to form larger constituents.
My || parents | bought ||| two tickets || at ||| Christmas.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

17. More exercises on IC analysis
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
John found a fly in the soup
the young king who gave up his throne
the man from the city in the little country from Western Europe
© BTexact Technologies 2001

18. Labelled Tree Diagram and Bracketing
Three aspects of a speaker’s syntactic knowledge are explicitly represented in tree diagrams:
The linear order of the words in the sentence
The groupings of words into syntactic categories
The hierarchical structure of the syntactic categories
© BTexact Technologies 2001

19. Syntactic categories
A family of expressions that can substitute for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category.
The cat chases the mouse.
The dog chases the mouse
The policeman chases the mouse.
The mother mouse chases the mouse.
If words and phrases could not be assigned to a small group of categories, it would be very hard to learn or use a language.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

20. Syntax: Lexical Categories
every word is a member of a category.
a word’s category type determines the kind of phrase it can form
a phrase is a word or string of words that functions as a unit in a sentence, built around a head
Every language has specific phrase structure rules determining how phrases can be combined to form sentences
© BTexact Technologies 2001

21. Syntax: Lexical Categories
Noun (N):
real, imaginary, abstract things
In English, if nouns refer to countable things, the regular plural is made by suffixing -s/-es
In English they can be paired with articles and demonstratives
EX: the book, this book, that book, etc.
In English they can be modified with descriptive words (adjectives)
© BTexact Technologies 2001

22. Noun Phrases (NP)
Evidence that NPs are syntactic units comes from the fact they can often be replaced by a single word such as the pronoun they or it
The students read the controversial book.
The students read it.
*The students read the controversial it.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

23. Syntax: Lexical Categories
Verb (V):
refer to states of affairs and events
express time, in most languages take a specific forms corresponding to the time of the event
EX English: walk expresses past by adding -ed
express manner (aspect) of event, in many languages take a specific form corresponding to the completedness of event.
EX English: walk expresses ongoing action by adding -ing
© BTexact Technologies 2001

24. Verbal Phrase (VP)
Evidence that VPs are syntactic units comes from the fact they can often be replaced by the word(s) did (it).
The catcher dropped the ball, and the pitcher did (it) too.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

25. Syntax: Lexical Categories
Preposisions (P): Express roles
Instrument
EX Eng: with, He cut the bread with the knife
Possessor
EX Eng: of, Monday is the best day of the week.
Spatial, directional and Temporal relations
EX English: The food was on the table before it fell to the floor.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

26. Prepositional Phrase
The substitution test confirms that PP is a unit since it can be replaced by a single word like there.
The team practiced in the park, and Lisa practised there, too.
*The team practiced in the park, and Lisa practised there the park, too.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

27. Syntax: Lexical Categories
Adjectjective (A):
describe things that nouns refer to
In English can be used in a sentence with the verb be:
EX English: He is happy. They should be ripe.
In English can be modified with degree adverbs:
EX English: He is very happy. They should be completely ripe.
In English have comparative form by adding -er:
EX English: happi-er rip-er
© BTexact Technologies 2001

28. Adjectival Phrases (AP)
An adjectival phrase can be replaced by the word so.
Linda is very intelligent, and Mark appears so too.
* Linda is very intelligent, and Mark appears very so too.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

29. Syntax: Lexical Categories
Adverbs (Adv):
Manner of action
Ex Eng: quickly, He ran quickly.
Attitude of speaker
EX Eng: unfortunately, Unfortunately,he cut the bread.
Temporal frequency
EX Eng: soon, They’ll be here soon.
Can be modified by “very” in English
© BTexact Technologies 2001

30. Syntax definitions, cont.
Determiner: a closed set of morphemes that “specify” nouns, indicating definiteness or indefiniteness. Includes articles plus other morphemes (a, an, the those, these, many,most, some)
Degree word: very, completely (type of adverb)
© BTexact Technologies 2001

31. Lexical categories Major Lexical categories Examples Noun (N)
Pierre, butterfly
Verb (V)
Arrive, discuss
Adjective (A)
Good, tall
Preposition (P)
To, in, near
Other Lexical categories
Examples
Determiner (Det)
The, this, these
Auxiliary (Aux)
Will, can, may
Pronoun (Pro)
He, she, her, his
Adverb (Adv)
Yesterday, silently
Conjunction (Con)
And, or
© BTexact Technologies 2001

32. Syntax definitions, cont.
Head (of a phrase): The constituent fundamental to the phrase, from which the phrase derives its name. (e.g. a noun phrase is “headed” by a noun).
Each phrase (NP, VP, etc) is the projection of the head.
NP is headed by N
VP is headed by V, etc.
Complement: The other constituents contained in the phrase that complete its meaning is called complements.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

33. General Phrase Structure (XP)
Key Points Highlighted
© BTexact Technologies 2001

34. More exercises: tree-diagram or bracket the following the structures
The teacher put the answers on the board
He ran towards the red post
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
John found a fly in the soup
the young king who gave up his throne
the man from the city in the little country from Western Europe
© BTexact Technologies 2001

35. Chomsky and UG Chomskyan revolution Universal Grammar (UG)
A historical review of UG
From PS rules to X-bar theory
Parameters and Cross-linguistic Variation
From Transformation to Movement
UG and language acquisition
© BTexact Technologies 2001

36. Chomskyan revolution Chomsky,
has attracted worldwide attention with his ground-breaking research into the nature of human language and communication.
has become the center of a debate that transcends formal linguistics to embrace psychology, philosophy, and even genetics.
his "formulation of 'transformational grammar' has been acclaimed as one of the major achievements of the century.
his work has been compared to the unraveling of the genetic code of the DNA molecule."
his discoveries have had an impact "on everything from the way children are taught foreign languages to what it means when we say that we are human."
is also an impassioned critic of American foreign policy, especially as it affects ordinary citizens of Third World nations.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

37. Central Claims Main features of TG Grammar
Chomsky’s TG Grammar differs from the structural grammar in a number of ways:
(1) rationalism;
(2) innateness;
(3) deductive methodology;
(4) formalization;
(5) emphasis on linguistic competence;
(6) strong generative powers;
(7) emphasis on linguistic universals.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

38. Universal Grammar Knowledge of Language Universal Grammar
Lexicon Grammar
Knowledge of words -Knowledge of rules
Learned Innate
Language specific Language Universal
Universal Grammar
The grammar which characterizes the innate predisposition to learn language. UG is a set of rules that all human possess by virtue of having certain common genetic features which sitinguish them from other species.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

39. A historical review of UG
Standard theory
Extended Standard Theory
Rule-based
80s
Government and Binding Theory
Principle and Parameter Theory (PPT)
Principle-guided
90s
Minimalism Program
Economy-driven
© BTexact Technologies 2001

40. Generative-Tranformational Grammar
TG developed in the 1950s in the context of “cognitive revolution”, which marked a shift of focus from a concern with human behaviour to the mental processes underlying human behaviour.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

41. Deep Structure and Surface Structure
© BTexact Technologies 2001

42. Principle and Parameter Theory
knowledge of language comprises a lexicon, together with a set of innate principles (that means, X-bar Theory, Binding Theory and Case Theory, etc.) and set parameters.
 Principle and Parameter (P&P) approach has proved fruitful for
constraining the core of innate grammatical knowledge (Pprinciples)
defining the differences found between individual languages (parameters)
describing diachronic change (parameter resetting) and
the investigation of first and second language acquisition (parameter setting and resetting). .
© BTexact Technologies 2001

43. From transformation rules to Movement
Transformation rules: part of TG grammar, functions to convert a surface structure to deep structure
I can solve this problem.
This problem, I can solve. (Move)
The dog chases the mouse.
The mouse is chased by the dot (Move and Insert)
Move alpha: Move any category anywhere.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

44. Movement Head movement Wh- movement
The movement of a word from the head position of one phrase to the head position of another phrase
The president was lying
Was the president – lying?
Wh- movement
The movement of an operator expression into the specifier position within CP
You can speak what languages
What languages can you speak __?
© BTexact Technologies 2001

45. Movement The voters would choose who Who would the voters __ choose __
© BTexact Technologies 2001

46. Movements are structurally dependent
The man who kicked him escaped the scene.
Did the man who kicked him __ escape the scene?
* Did the man who ___ kick him escaped the scene?
© BTexact Technologies 2001

47. Movement are constrained
The senator knew the voters would choose who
The senator knew who the voters would choose__
*The senator knew who would the voters choose__
The man might wonder the detectives found whose shoes at which house
*Whose shoes might the man wonder which house the detectives found__ at__?
*Which house might the man wonder whose shoe the detectives found __at__ ?
NP and an embedded S containing a wh-phrase appear to create islands.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

48. UG and Language Acquisition
Logical Problem: is our knowledge of grammar given, or learned? Nature vs. nurture
Learning the grammar = setting the parameters. Our competence in syntax is given in part by UG, in part by parameters defined by UG. The parameters are set in the process of language acquisition on the basis of exposure to a particular language
switchbox
Traffic rules
© BTexact Technologies 2001

49. Parameters [value] [+] Language A Principle [-] [value] Language B
© BTexact Technologies 2001

50. The notion of modularity
Central Processes
Language module UG
Grammar
Memory
Belief
Pragmatics
Real-word Knowledge
Problem-solving abilities
Language
Parser
Langauge
Learning
principles
Perceptual module
vision, hearing, etc.
© BTexact Technologies 2001

51. UG and L2 acquisition
© BTexact Technologies 2001