LING 101 Lecture outline W Oct 21 Today s topic: Syntax beyond English

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1 LING 101 Lecture outline W Oct 21 Today s topic: Syntax beyond English Background reading: CL Ch 8, pp (up to example 23) and pp 318 (bottom, "Syntax")-319 1

2 0. Course information HW #8 is due - Please put it in the pile on the table in the front that is labeled with your TA s name and recitation number Iyad (10:10) 601 Emily (10:10) 602 Yuka (11:15) 603 Grant (11:15) 604 2

3 0. Course information Exam #2 in class on Monday - A study guide has been posted - You will have a chance to ask questions and review material in recitation on Friday START STUDYING NOW so that you know what questions you want to ask on Friday 3

4 1. Where we are For English, we have observed: (a) Sentences have internal hierarchical structure: constituents - Constituency can be tested for, and contributes to meaning (b) Different phrase types (NP, VP, CP,...) have the same general structure (head, complement, specifier, modifier) (c) Some sentences involve the movement or insertion of material after the basic tree structure has been built 4

5 1. Where we are Our model of syntax accounts for these patterns by proposing: (a) A relationship between phrases in the tree and constituency (b) The X' schema as a general blueprint for the structure of all phrases (c) Transformations, such as movement rules or the Do Insertion rule, which apply when their conditions are met Can our model be applied to other languages? How do they resemble or differ from English? 5

6 2. Phrase structure in Japanese Consider the Japanese data set What do Japanese X' phrases look like? What aspects of Japanese syntax are similar to English? Different from English? 6

7 2. Phrase structure in Japanese What is the relationship between the head and the complement? - English: Head-initial (or right-branching) - Japanese: Head-final (or left-branching) What side of the phrase does the specifier appear on? - English: Left - Japanese: Left Linguists have proposed that these options are parameters that can be set for each language 7

8 3. Phrase structure in Universal Grammar If every language can choose options for these two parameters: What patterns of basic word order do we predict for the languages of the world? - Head Parameter: head-initial head-final - Spec Parameter: left side right side 8

9 3. Phrase structure in Universal Grammar Head: Initial Spec: Left Head: Final Spec: Left Head: Initial Spec: Right Head: Final Spec: Right Subj V Obj (English) 488/ % Subj Obj V (Japanese) 565/ % V Obj Subj (Malagasy) 25/ % Obj V Subj (Hixkaryana) 11/ % Language typology data is from the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) Online [map] 9

10 3. Phrase structure in Universal Grammar Does there seem to be a preference for... - head as initial vs. final in X'? - specifier on left vs. right side? What about the other 21% of languages in the database? V Subj Obj 95 languages, 6.9% Obj Subj V 4 languages, 0.3% No dominant order 189 languages, 13.7% Does our model of syntax provide a way of generating these other patterns of basic sentence structure? 10

11 3. Phrase structure in Universal Grammar Are all phrases in a language guaranteed to have the head on the same side of the complement? - No; some languages show a split system - But: Typology data from WALS [map] V NP (head-initial) NP V (head-final) P NP (head-initial) NP P (head-final) The majority of languages do show same-side heads for VP, PP 11

12 4. A cross-linguistic model of syntax Consider these elements in our model of the mental grammar of English syntax: - Word categories - The X' schema (plus modifiers) - Transformations: movement, insertion rules How does our model predict that syntactic structure might differ between languages? 12

13 4. A cross-linguistic model of syntax How does our model predict that syntactic structure might differ between languages? Word categories - Which meanings are mapped onto morphemes of which word class may differ The X' schema - The order of head, complement, specifier may differ Transformations - Languages may use different rules - Languages may allow rules to apply to different classes of lexical items 13

14 5. Examples: Cross-linguistic differences Word order differences in deep structure are the result of differences of the order of elements in the X' schema or the modifier structure - Example: Heads and complements in Japanese vs. English 14

15 5. Examples: Cross-linguistic differences Other types of word order differences may come from differences in what kinds of transformational rules apply - Example: Verb Raising (V to I raising) in French vs. English - There are languages with very productive Move rules, leading to very free word order (but a deep structure or basic word order can often be identified) 15

16 6. Syntax: Answering an old question Remember this comparison from the first day of class? (a) Oscar thinks that Grover admires himself. - himself = Grover, *Oscar (b) Oscar told Grover stories about himself. - himself = Oscar - himself = Grover (in the right context) Can we use our understanding of syntactic structure to explain why (a) and (b) have different meaning possibilities for himself? 16

Structure of Clauses. March 9, 2004

Structure of Clauses. March 9, 2004 Structure of Clauses March 9, 2004 Preview Comments on HW 6 Schedule review session Finite and non-finite clauses Constituent structure of clauses Structure of Main Clauses Discuss HW #7 Course Evals Comments