Language and CognitionColombo, June 2011

Day 2Introduction to Linguistic Theory, Part 4

Plan

• Syntactic movement• Theta theory (syntax meets semantics)

Transformational grammar

• Chomsky (1957, 1965)– Two stages phrase structures for a sentence

• Build Deep Structure– Build from phrase structure rules– One constituent at a time

• Convert to Surface Structure– Built from transformations that operate on the deep

structure» Adding, deleting, moving

– Operate on entire strings of constituents

S --> NP VPVP --> V (NP)NP --> (A) (ADJ) N

Transformational grammar• 1 deep structure, 2 surface

structures:– Active/passive sentences:

• The man bit the dog.• The dog was bitten by the man.

• 2 deep structures, 1 surface structure:

• Sherlock saw the man with binoculars

Passive transformation rule:

NP1 + V + NP2 ---> NP2 + be + V + -en + by + NP1

Syntactic movement

• The sailor is kissing the girl• Who is the sailor kissing?

• The sailor is kissing who• Who is the sailor tis kissing tthe girl/who?

Psycholinguistic evidence for trace

in the garage

S

NP VP

NPVP PP

Deep structure Surface structure

The car

was put (trace)

NP VP

NPVP PP

S

in the garage

the carwas put

Movement transformation

probe

Some “activation” of car

• evidence for reactivation of moved constituent at the trace position

Cross modal priming experiments

I to C movementBruce can play the didgeridoo.Can Bruce play the didgeridoo?He might annoy the neighbours.Might he annoy the neighbours?He has lost his mind.Has he lost his mind?The earplugs are helping.Are the earplugs helping?

• In each of the derived questions above, the auxiliary verb {can, might, has, are}has moved from its original position to the front of the sentence

• This kind of movement, previously referred to as ‘Subject-Auxiliary Inversion’, is now described as I to C movement

I to C movement• Notice that S = IP• C is a functional

head that has a projection higher than the level of the sentence

• The moved element is shown with an arrow attached, linking it to its original position

• The trace of movement is marked with a t

Under the old system…

What about empty Infl?

• Insertion of a dummy auxiliary – a placeholder

Multiple movements

Let’s do one together….

• Using either PS rules or the X-bar style trees, draw diagrams for the following sentences, showing the movement:– The boy ate the apple– Did the boy eat the apple?– What did the boy eat?

Introduction to theta theory• Sentence = predicate (an expression denoting an event or a

state) and a set of arguments (the participants in the event)

• The arguments of a verb = the subject and object• Complements of verbs = objects: they are positioned inside

the first projection of the V, so they are called internal arguments

• Subjects are positioned outside the verb’s first projection, so they are called external arguments

• But arguments can be understood in different ways – they play different roles in the events denoted by the predicate

• a typology of thematic roles

Thematic roles• Theme or Patient: entity undergoing the effect of

some actionMary fell over

• Agent or Causer: the instigator of some actionJohn kissed Mary

• Experiencer: entity experiencing some psychological stateBill felt sad

• Recipient or Possessor: entity receiving or possessing something

Mary got John a gift• Goal: entity towards which something

movesJohn went home

Mapping• It’s not enough to “know” (implicitly) what the structure

of a sentence is• We also have to know how to interpret the structure• So we need knowledge of thematic roles• Thematic roles are assigned in structural relations – e.g.

the Verb assigns a thematic role (usually Theme) to its complement

• Items in other positions get other thematic roles – Agent is usually in specifier position near the verb (sister to a higher projection)

• Some lexical items assign specific thematic roles – e.g. prepositions like by

Mapping

• This all becomes very important when we look at grammatical knowledge in aphasia

• Theta-roles: assignment of interpretive roles to syntactic objectssubject verb object Grammatical rolesJohn kissed Mary

Theta roles

• Non-canonical word order reliance on grammatical structure

object verb subjectJohn was kissed by Mary

• To be continued…..

Agent Patient

Agent?? Patient??