Defining Syntax.Lec. 1

1. What is Syntax? O Syntax is the scientific study of

sentence structureO Science: methodology of studyO Hypothesis observation

generalization

Sentences O A declarative sentence asserts

that an event or a state of affairs has occurred (or hasn’t occurred).

e.g. Susan ate an apple. Susan didn’t eat an appleO a yes/no question is a question

that can be answered by yes, no or maybe.

e.g. Did Susan eat an apple?

Exercise 1 O Identify which of the following

sentences are yes/no questions, which are declarative sentences, and which are neither:

O John hasn’t eaten anything.O Does Bill really prefer meatballs?O Has Peter eaten his smoked salmon yet?O What Has Peter done now?O Heather smokes too much.O John did WHAT?

Hypothesis 1O yes/no questions are formed by

moving the second word in the equivalent declarative sentence to the front:

O Frodo will eat the magic beans. (declarative)

O Will Frodo eat the magic beans? (yes/no question)

O The little hobbit will eat the magic beans. (declarative)

O Will the little hobbit eat the magic beans? (yes/no question)

Ungrammatical sentences

O In syntax, ungrammatical sentences are always marked with an asterisk *

O The hobbit who will dance at the party has eaten the magic beans.

O * Will the hobbit who dance at the party has eaten the magic beans?

O Has the hobbit who will dance at the party eaten the magic beans?

Hypothesis 2 O yes/ no questions are formed by

moving ……………………………………………………………

(Complete)*It is often the ungrammatical sentences that inform us as how to revise our hypothesis

Hypothesis 3 O yes/no questions are formed by

moving……………………………………………………..

The structure of sentences

O The formation of yes/no questions makes reference to whether the auxiliary is embedded or not. Sentences are heirarechily structured.

Exercise O Yellow, singing, a, the, elephant, mouse,

sniffed O Using each word only once, and using every

word, try to come up with as many grammatical sentences as possible.

1. A singing elephant sniffed the yellow mouse

2. 2…………………………………………………………..

3. 3…………………………………………………………..

Notices O The position of the words relative to

one another makes a difference in meaning

O Sentences are structured entities O We can represent the syntactic

structure of sentences with (i) tree diagrams, (ii) bracketing, or (iii) boxes.

Tree diagram

Th e s in g in g elep h an t sn iff ed t h e yellow m ou se

Thr singing elephant

The Singing

Elephant

Sniffed the yellow mouse

Sniffed The yellow mouse

????

2. Syntactic data O The scientific method requires data,

so it is reasonable to ask how we gather that data and what kind of data we use. One obvious source of data is what we hear spoken around us or find written in books and newspapers.

Corpora O A collection of written or spoken

material representing real-world usage of a language is called a corpus (plural: corpora)

O Judgment task & the analysis of sentence structure

Corpora O A corpus with an interlinear gloss

has 3 lines:1. The example in the original

language2. a word-by-word gloss3. An idiomatic translation into English

Corpora & word-aligned gloss

ذهبت فاطمة الى المدرسة

school to Fatima go+ed

Fatima went to school

Syntactic definitions O Nominative case:Is the marking associated with subjects. For example (I, we, you, she, he, & it)O Accusative case:Is the marking associated with direct objects. For example (me, him, her, & them)O Dative case: Is the marking often associated with indirect objects and nouns marking the location of an event. For example (to, in, at, & on)

Exercise O In English, the order of word is: Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Dative

O What is the order of words in Arabic?

O Note that there arte limits to the number/ kinds of generalizations that can be found in corpora

Acceptability & Grammaticality

O Acceptability refers to native-speaker judgment, whereas grammaticality refers to what our hypothesis predict

O Native speaker judgments come of 2 kinds: syntactic judgment & semantic judgment

e.g.*John peanuts the ate# the coffee table brushed its teeth

Acceptability & Grammaticality

O Chomsky (1957) came up with a famous sentence to show the independence of meaning & structure:

O Colorless green ideas sleep furiously

Exercise O Mark each of the following sentences

as being syntactically * and/or semantically # unacceptable:

1. The book was arrived by John2. Susan taught Tom mathematics3. Michael thought that mathematics bored

himself 4. Susan said that Bill books read5. The stone ate a carrot6. Tom learned Susan chemistry

Exercise

7. I think Louis bought a syntax book8. I wonder who bought what9. Who do you think bought a syntax

book?10. What do you think Louis bought?11. What do you wonder who bought?12. Who do you wonder who read a

book by?

Exercise

13. John’s sister is not his sibling14. Who do you think that saw Bill?15. William gave a book to Marian16. William gave Marian a book17. William donated a book to the

charity18. William donated the charity a book

Hypotheses O Hypotheses are described in terms of

formal rules & formal constraints

O A rule is a statement phrased in a positive form that describes possible structures. Structures that are claimed to be acceptable by a native speaker

A paradigm O A paradigm is a list or table of

forms that represents the combination of different grammatical dimensions

Nominative Accusative

Singular plural Singular Plural

1st I we me us

2nd You

3masc heThey

him them3fem she her

3neuter it it

A paradigm O Now consider the following

sentences: I kissed her* Me kissed her She loves her * Him ate it

Exercise O Rule 1:Use the nominative case when the pronoun appears ……………………….the verb.

O Rule 2:Use the accusative case when the pronoun appears ……………………….the verb.

Constraints O A constraint is a formal statement

of structures that are impossible structures that are claimed to be unacceptable to native speakers

O Rules and constraints are two sides of the same coin: Rules state what you must do, constraints tell us what you cannot do.

Rules & Constraints O Rule 3: To form an affirmative statement, put the subject noun before the verb.

O Constraint 3:In affirmative statements, do not put the subject anywhere except before the verb

Prescriptive & Descriptive Rules

Prescriptive rule Descriptive rules O They prescribe how we

should speakO Prescriptive rules are

not scientific.e.g. O Never end a sentence

in a preposition O Do not use a noun as a

verb

O The describe how we should speak

e.g. O A yes/ no question

is the question which answer is either yes, no, or maybe.

grammarO A grammar is a collection of

descriptive rules & constraints