1. Syntax Word order, constituency LING 200 Spring 2003 Reading: Files 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.7

2. Overview What is syntactic competence? Morphology and syntax: inflectional morphology Word order Representing the structure of sentences Arguments for constituent structure Transformations Cross-linguistic variation

3. Syntactic competence Possible vs. impossible sentences Restricted distributions of words/ morphemes What sentences mean What native speakers know about:

4. Sources of evidence in syntax Observation of native speaker productions Elicitation of native speaker grammaticality judgements –from self –from others

5. Morphology overlaps with syntax DerivationInflection 1. Category changing? often -able: likeable -ness: happiness no -s pl.: apples -s 3sS: sees Syntactically relevant morphemes: inflection

6. Inflection vs. derivation DerivationInflection 2. Productive? (very general conditions on affixation?) often restricted: -hood: brotherhood, neighborhood, *daughterhood yes, but subject to blocking by irregular forms: -s pl.: child, *childs, children Russianize vs. Russify

7. Inflection vs. derivation DerivationInflection 3. Morpheme order inner: usu. added before inflectional: -] N al] Adj -] N,Adj ize] V -] V ation] N industrializationalize outer: usu. added after derivational: 3sS -s industrializationalizes

8. Inflection vs. derivation DerivationInflection 4. Syntactic relevance nousually sensitive to syntactic information; -s 3sS: Rose sees (vs. I see_)

9. Some verbal inflectional affixes -ing present participle visitingI am ___ Virginia now. -ed pastvisitedLast weekend I ___ Virginia. -ed past participle visitedI have just ___ Virginia.

10. Syntactic relevance: agreement Spanish: adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number gender: (arbitrary) noun classes entrada ‘ticket (to a show)’ vs. boleto ‘ticket’ ‘the’‘this’‘expensive’ sg.entradala entradaesta entradaentrada cara pl.entradaslas entradasestas entradasentradas caras sg.boletoel boletoeste boletoboleto caro pl.boletoslos boletosestos boletosboletos caros

11. Agreement Vendiste las entradas? ‘Did you sell the tickets?’ you sold the tickets No, las (*los) tengo todavía. ‘No, I still have them.’ them I have still

12. Word order English vs. Witsuwit’en 1. Prepositions precede nouns in English. count for me Postpositions follow nouns in Witsuwit'en: spe c’o  t  w‘count for me’ me for you (sg.) count

13. Word order 2. In English, adjectives precede nouns. narrow rope In Witsuwit'en, an adjective follows a noun: t  'o  tet ‘fine babiche’ rope narrow

14. Word order 3. In English, the possessor noun normally precedes the possessed noun. my friend's house but can follow the possessed noun: the house of my friend In Witsuwit'en, the possessor noun always precedes the possessed noun: sq'aq h  p  y  ‘my friend’s house’ my friend his/her house

15. Word order 4. Subject of sentence: instigates action (transitive verbs), undergoes action or state (intransitive verbs) In both Witsuwit'en and English, subjects precede verbs: Driftwood is floating around. t  z n  t  driftwoodit is floating around

16. Word order 5.(Direct) (undergoes action of verb) object only in sentences with transitive verbs. In English, the direct object follows the verb. We bought food. In Witsuwit'en, the direct object precedes the verb: t'a  nets'ot  tq h  t food we bought

17. Attested word order patterns (S = Subject, O = Object, V = Verb): SOVWitsuwit'en SVOEnglish VSOIrish OSVApurinã (Arawakan, Brazil) OVSParecís (Arawakan, Brazil) (also SOV) VOSOro Win (Chapacura-Wanham, Brazil) (5 speakers)

18. Frequency of each type < Sample of 402 languages. Word order# languages SOV18045% SVO16842% VSO379% VOS123% OVS51% OSV00%

19. Recursion and phrase structure (Potentially) infinitely long sentences: This is the house that Jack built. This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built....

20. This is the priest all shaven and shorn that married the man all tattered and torn that kissed the maiden all forlorn that milked the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built....

21. How to characterize (potential) infinity? Phrase structure rules. Properties:  specify word order  are recursive (output of one rule can be rewritten via another rule)

22. Phrase structure rules General schema: X  Y Z (“X consists of/is Y Z”) examples: English: PP  P NP Witsuwit'en: PP  NP P PP = Pre/postpositional phrase P = Pre/postposition NP = Noun phrase

23. Equivalent representational devices phrase structure rule: PP  P NP labeled bracketing: PP [P NP] tree structure: PP P NP

24. Some terminology constituent syntactic unit consisting of one or more words = node (in tree) root node branching nodes terminal nodes PP P NP with Det N the money

25. More phrase structure rules S  NP VP S = sentence NP = noun phrase VP =verb phrase

26. More phrase structure rules NP  (Det) (Adj + ) N (PP) Det =determiner Adj =adjective N =noun ( ) = optional

27. Determiners vs. adjectives NP  (Det) (Adj + ) N (PP) Det  a/an, some, the, your (etc.) Adj  big, green, juicy (etc.) One determiner per NP: your pickle, the pickle, *your the pickle, *the your pickle More than one Adj is possible ( + notation): your big pickle, your big green pickle, your big green juicy pickle

28. More phrase structure rules VP  V trans (NP) (PP) (Adv) VP =verb phrase V trans =transitive verb Adv =adverb

29. Some simple tree structures S  NP VP NP  (Det) (Adj + ) N (PP) VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv) S NP VP N V cats sleep

30. Some simple tree structures NP  (Det) (Adj + ) N (PP) PP  P NP NP N PP fog P NP in Det N the morning

31. NP Det N PP the piano P NP on Det N PP the stage P NP in Det N PP the music building P NP on N campus

32. Some simple tree structures VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv) VP V NP PP put Det N P NP the car in Det N the garage

33. Summary of syntax (so far) Syntactic competence Morphology and syntax: inflectional morphology Word order Recursion Representing the structure of sentences –phrase structure rules –tree diagrams –labeled bracketing