LIN 1310B Introduction to Linguistics

CLASS 13, Feb 16, 2007 LIN 1310BIntroduction to Linguistics Prof: Nikolay Slavkov TA: Qinghua Tang

Today • Announcements and Reminders: -Continue reading chapter 5. -DGD attendance. • Today’s Lecture: • Continue with Syntax • Distribute unmarked homework (due after the break)

Review from last time • Terminological clarification: Modal auxiliary verbs = Modals (can, will, etc.) Non modal auxiliary verbs = Auxiliaries (be, have) Main verbs = Verbs (e.g. write, see, go, etc.) • Semantic, Inflectional and Distributional properties of Modals. • X’ schema: head, specifier, complement;

X’ schema Note that in the X’ schema, a phrase may be the complement of another phrase. Note the three levels of terminology: Specifier, Head, Complement Syntactic position/role (e.g. subject, predicate, object) Syntactic category (noun, verb, adjective, determiner, etc.)

The Merge Operation • Combine words in a manner compatible with the X’ schema. • The operation Merge applies recursively. • It accounts for the formation of phrases and sentences of unlimited complexity.

Example of Merge • P. 140: fig 5.7 a, b.

Sentences • Sentences are the largest syntactic unit that we analyse. • The head of a sentence is an abstract category, which we will call I or Infl (for inflection). This category tells us the tense of the sentence. • IP=Inflection Phrase=sentence • Inflection takes VP (verb) as a complement and NP (subject) as a specifier.

Example of an IP (Sentence) • P. 140, 5.8

IP • Tense in English is analysed as past or non-past (+pst vs. -pst). Therefore, we write the feature +Pst or -Pst under I. • The feature under I dictates the morphology of the verb under V. In other words, if I is +Pst, the verb will have –ed (for regular forms).

IP • Overall, we analyse a sentence in the same way as a phrase: compatible with the X’ schema. In other words, the sentence (IP) has a head, a specifier and a compliment position. • Even though tense is an abstract category, i.e. just a feature, it is an obligatory one, a head of a phrase (IP). This is so because all sentences necessarily have tense (i.e. I is an obligatory category).

An IP with a modal • What are the temporal characteristics of Modals? Consider the following data: *He can work yesterday will must may should => Modals have inherent tense, which seems to be non-past (i.e. it can be either non-past or future or both).

An IP with a Modal • Now consider the following data: He could work yesterday would He could swim today/tomorrow would • The modals could and would can be either past or non-past • However, in general, we conclude that most modals are inherently non-past.

An IP with a Modal • We will assume that a modal goes under I. (See tree on next slide.)

An IP with a Modal

Why don’t we postulate future tense in English • Several reasons: It is not morphologically marked on the verb (i.e. English verbs are only marked for past –ed, and unmarked for present or future, i.e. non-past) The future in English is carried by the modal, not by the verb Saves us introducing extra complexity/redundancy in the system.

Why do we put modals in I • I is an abstract tense category or feature, so why would we put modals there? -Because modals inherently carry tense, so it is logical to put them in I. -Because modals occur between the subject and the verb, (i.e. I may go), and it is therefore logical to place them under I. In this way, modals take the VP as a complement and the NP subject as a specifier.

Back to Phrases or Constituents • Now that we have build a system that creates basic sentences, let’s step back and consider what the units that we use are. • We said that sentences are made up of phrases and sentences are phrases themselves. But how do we determine what a phrase is? • So far we have used our intuition but is there a principled way to do that?

Constituency Tests • Constituency tests help us determine what elements act as units in language. These units are called phrases or constituents. • There are several different constituency tests, but we will go over just a few: -substitution -movement -coordination -deletion (ellipsis)

The Substitution Test • If a string can be substituted by an element such as they, it or do so and the sentence remains grammatical, then that string is a constituent. The president of the University of Ottawa will give scholarship cheques to the students. He will give scholarship cheques to the students. • [The president of the University of Ottawa] is a constituent. The president of Carleton will do so too. => [will give scholarship cheques to the students] is a constituent.

The Movement Test • If a string can be moved, then it is a constituent. -They went to the store. -To the store, they went. • [to the store] is a constituent -*To the, they went store => [to the] is not a constituent.

The Ellipsis (Deletion) Test • If a string can be deleted, then it is a constituent. - Mary will buy a car tomorrow, and I will too. => [buy a car tomorrow] is a constituent.

The Coordination Test • If a string can be joined to another string using a conjunction such as and or but, then it is a constituent • The chair of the department was sacked. • The chair of the department and of the union was sacked. => [of the department] is a constituent.

A note about constituency tests • While constituency tests can be very helpful, they do not necessary work in all cases. Therefore, if one test does not work, we should try to apply another one, etc. before we come to a final conclusion. Exercise: Use your intuition to propose different constituents for the following sentence, and apply constituency tests to provide evidence for your proposal: The president of the University of Ottawa will give scholarship cheques to the students.

Unmarked Homework (due after reading week) 1) Draw trees for the following words, phrases and sentences: table; very confident; in the store; write reports on poverty in Africa; The captain will wreck the ship; The students provided the answers. 2) Use a few different constituency tests to determine if the bracketed strings below are constituents: [The committee for judicial assessment] [disseminated very] serious [criticisms] [of the] activities of the Bank [of Canada].

LIN 1310B Introduction to Linguistics