syntax

Syntax

LING 001 - October 11, 2006 Joshua Tauberer

Syntax

How can the words of a languagebe put together?

Syntax

What makes a valid combination or order of words?

What are the relations between the words in a sentence?

What is the mechanical system by which we put words together?

Sentence or Word Salad?

good students take a linguistics course

students linguistics course good a take

students good take a course linguistics

take students course good linguistics a

good students a linguistics course take


✓good students take a linguistics course

* students linguistics course good a take

* students good take a course linguistics

* take students course good linguistics a

* good students a linguistics course take


✓good students take a linguistics course

* students linguistics course good a take

* students good take a course linguistics~ Romance languages

* take students course good linguistics a

* good students linguistics course a take~ Japanese, Turkish


Sometimes rearranging the words yields word salad.

Sometimes rearranging the words gives a different meaning. John likes Mary. Mary likes John.

Sometimes one arrangement has two meanings I saw the man with a telescope. Is this syntax or semantics?

What’s a valid sentence?

verb noun verb noun verb noun


verb Leave! noun verb I ate. noun verb noun Students like linguistics.


verb Leave! noun verb I ate. noun verb noun Students like linguistics. noun verb noun preposition determiner noun

Billy sent letters to his mom. noun verb det noun noun verb

Sally found the gold I burried. and on...

What’s not a sentence?

*noun *noun noun verb verb determiner *noun adjective det det noun adjective verb


Can we list all valid POS strings? Is there a longest sentence?

Language is unbounded in many ways coordination X and Y and Z and . . . modifiers in the house on the table . . . recursion who chased the dog that ate the .

. . We need a finite set of rules (the grammar) that

gives us an infinite set of strings (the language).

Two Models of Syntax

Words as Building Blocks

Constituent Structure


A model of syntax: (loosely based on Tree Adjoining Grammar)

The mind’s vocabulary comprises a set (lexicon) of special domino-puzzle pieces.

nounS

verb

verb

adj

prep

verb prep


Assemble the pieces any way so that there are no bumps or holes at the end.

Colors must match like dominos.

Start with the special S piece.

Bill

ate

S

cake

read words from left to right(actually “infix order”)

the mechanical system


Bill

ate

S

cakesome


ate

S

storetheBill cake

from


S

store

the

ate

Bill cake

from


S

cake

store

the

ate

Bill

from


Bill

S

cake

store

the

atefrom


Bill

S

cake

store

the

ate

from


The way the pieces connect tell us how the words are related.

The organization of pieces tells us about the meaning.

Bill

ate

S

cake

John

likes

S

Mary


The organization of pieces tells us about the meaning.

This bump isfor the subject.

This bump isfor the object.

Mary

likes

S

John

I

S

saw

awith

mana

tele-scope

How many ways are there two assemble the pieces to make the sentence?

with

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

Prepositional Phrase Attachment

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw a

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw a man

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw a man with

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw a man with a

man

I

S

a

tele-scope

saw

aman

I

S

a tele-scope

saw a

with

with

“Infix Order”I saw a man with a telescope

Garden Path Sentences

The horse raced past

the barn fell.

Grammatical?

Garden Path Sentences More from Wikipedia:

The man who hunts ducks out on weekends.

The cotton clothing is usually made of grows in Mississippi.

The old man the boat.

The player kicked the ball kicked the ball.


horse

S

the past

barn

fell

the

?raced

raced


horse

thepast

barn

fell

the

raced

raced

S


horse

S

thepast

barn

fell

the

raced


horse

S

the

past

barn

fell

the

raced


horse

S

past

barn

fell

the

raced

The horse (that was) raced past the barn fell.

the

The yellow ‘raced’ pieceis used for relative clauses.

Garden Path Sentences More from Wikipedia:

The man [who hunts] [ducks out on weekends].

The cotton (that) clothing is usually made of grows in Mississippi.

[The old] [man the boat].

The player (that was) kicked the ball kicked the ball.

Constituency and Substitution

A second perspective on syntax. Sentences seem to have replaceable parts.

Billy ate peaches from the store

Billy ate cookies from the store

Billy ate the pie from the store

Billy ate the pie in the box

Billy ate the pie on the box

Billy sold the pie on the table

the store sold the pie on the table


But parts can’t be replaced with just anything.

Billy ate peaches from the store

Billy ate sold from the store

on the table ate peaches from the store

Billy ate peaches the pie

Just as words are categorized by part of speech, replaceable parts (“constituents”/ phrases) come in different types.



nouns = { pie , cookies , store , table , Billy } verbs = { ate , sold } prepositions = { from , in , on } noun phrases = { cookies , the pie } prepositional phrases

= { from the store , in the box , on the table , just until the clock struck seven }



nouns = { pie , cookies , store , table , Billy } verbs = { ate , sold } prepositions = { from , in , on } noun phrases = { nouns , det + nouns } prepositional phrases

= { preposition + noun phrases }

determiner = article (‘the’, ‘a’)

Context Free Grammar

Let’s say a sentence (S) is defined by a rule:

NounPhrase Verb NounPhrase

And a NounPhrase is defined as either: Noun or Determiner Noun

Keep substituting symbols with other constituents of the same category until only words in the language remain.


S


Noun ate Determiner Noun

Billy ate the cookies


S


Determiner Noun has Determiner Noun

the store has the pie


Trees show order symbols were replaced. Also shows the constituent structure.

Recursion

Billy eats worms Ruthy made Billy eat worms The teacher let Ruthy make Billy eat worms I saw the teacher let Ruthy make Billy eat

worms The principle knows I saw the teacher let Ruthy

make Billy eat worms The superintendent wonders whether the

principle knows I saw the teacher let Ruthy make Billy eat worms

Recursion

S

NP Verb S

NP let S

Det Noun let S

the teacher let S

the teacher let Noun Verb S

the teacher let Ruthy make S

the teacher let Ruthy make Noun Verb Noun

the teacher let Ruthy make Billy eat worms

Recursion

Recursion

verb

Recursion

PP Attachment with Trees How is PP-attachment ambiguity represented with

trees? Let’s define a Prepositional Phrase first:

S → NP Verb NP NP → Det Noun PP → Prep NP

Recursively define S’s and NP’s. S → S PP NP → NP PP

“Any valid S/NP can have a PP tacked on and still be a valid S/NP.”

PP Attachment with Trees

syntax

Documents

building blockswords

noun noun verb verb

noun verbi

noun verb nounstudents

takestudents good

valid sentence

building blocksassemble

order of words