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Syntax Continued

Syntax Continued. Constituency Tests Phrase Structure Rules. How to determine constituency. Semantic Intuitions sometimes, we just know that certain strings of words go together as a unit. Constituency Tests (more reliable)

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Syntax Continued

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  1. Syntax Continued Constituency Tests Phrase Structure Rules

  2. How to determine constituency • Semantic Intuitions • sometimes, we just know that certain strings of words go together as a unit. • Constituency Tests (more reliable) • tests that can be applied to string of words in a given sentence to determine if the string is a constituent or not.

  3. Three kinds of constituency tests • Stand Alone Test • Substitution Test • Movement Test

  4. Stand Alone Test • A constituent can often be replaced by a question expression such as who, what, where, how, why, or do/did what. • The replaced constituent can then stand alone as an answer to the question.

  5. Stand Alone Test • Clarice played the accordion under the table. Q: Where did Clarice play the accordion? A: under the table • Clarice played the accordion under the table. Q: Clarice played whatunder the table? A: the accordion

  6. Substitution Test • Only constituents can be replaced by pro-forms. Pro-formexamples pronouns she, he, it, they, us, her, that pro-verbs do, be pro-adverbs there, then, here pro-adjectives such, so, thus

  7. Substitution Test • Clarice played the accordion under the table. • Clarice played the accordion there. • Clarice played the accordion under the table. • Clarice played it under the table. • Clarice played the accordion under the table. • Clarice did. (Who played the accordion under the table?)

  8. Movement Test • If a string can be moved to the beginning of a sentence, it is a constituent. • Clarice played the accordion under the table. • Under the table, Clarice played the accordion. • ? The accordion Clarice played under the table. (We already know this is a constituent.) • * Played the accordion under the table Clarice. (We already know this is a constituent.) • Sometimes, constituency tests won’t work for strings that are actually constituents.

  9. When applying constituency tests, keep this in mind… • The tests are not foolproof. Often a constituent will only pass two of the three tests. • Decide whether or not a string is a constituent based on how convincing the test results are. • One strong pass is enough to determine constituency in some cases.

  10. When applying constituency tests, keep this in mind… • We can only say whether or not a string is a constituent relative to a particular sentence. • Time flies like an arrow. • Fruit flies like a banana. • We watched shooting stars all night • The Milky Way was shooting stars from the galactic center.

  11. Phrase Structure Rules • Our Grammar Consists of a set of rules acquired in order to form sentences • They are formed by putting words from different lexical categories together • PSRs (Phrase Structure Rules) differ from language to language.

  12. Lexical category • Parts of speech • Many words, limited categories • What you learned in school • Noun • Person, place or thing • Verb • Action word • Adjective • Describes something

  13. But… • “bad” • “oops, my bad” • “sandwich” • “to sandwich something between two things”

  14. Determiners • a, an, the, every, this, that, those, her, his, my, yours • ______ (Adj) N • Det

  15. Nouns • ______ + plural morpheme {-s} • Det (Adj) ______ • N

  16. Adjectives • ______ + comparative/superlative morpheme (-er, -est) • more/most ______; very/quite ______ • linking verb ______ (seems, feels, is) • Det ______ N • A

  17. Verbs • ______ + progressive morpheme {-ing} • ______ + past tense morpheme {-ed} • auxiliary verb______ (must, will, might) • to ______ • ___ (NP) (PP) • V

  18. Prepositions • at, up, over, into, above, through • right ______ NP • ___ NP • P

  19. Phrasal Categories • Phrasal Categories: A set of constituents that behave the same and share the same function. • Phrasal Category is named after its head element: • The boy, a girl, girls are NP’s. • NP[The boy] VP[hit him]

  20. Phrase Structure Rules (PSRs) • Make observations about language • subject and predicate (NP and VP) • Make a rule • S  NP VP • “a sentence consists of an NP and a VP”

  21. Noun phrases (NPs) • Cats make good pets • NP  N • The book is red • NP  Det N • My friendly neighbor enjoys jogging • NP  Det Adj N

  22. Collapse the rules • NP  N • NP  Det N • NP  Det Adj N = NP  (Det) (Adj) N

  23. English PSRs • S  NP VP • NP  (Det) (AP) N • VP  V (NP) (PP) • AdjP  (Adv) Adj • PP  P NP

  24. Building trees • Words and rules • Different ways • top-down • bottom-up

  25. Top-down S

  26. Top-down S VP NP

  27. Top-down S VP NP NP V

  28. Top-down S VP NP NP Det A N V Det A N

  29. Top-down S VP NP NP Det A N V Det A N My new roommate eats my leftover food

  30. Bottom-up My new roommate eats my leftover food

  31. Bottom-up Det A N V Det A N My new roommate eats my leftover food

  32. Bottom-up NP NP Det A N V Det A N My new roommate eats my leftover food

  33. Bottom-up VP NP NP Det A N V Det A N My new roommate eats my leftover food

  34. Bottom-up S VP NP NP Det A N V Det A N My new roommate eats my leftover food

  35. Practice Sentences • The energetic boy ran up the hill. • The little dog ate the biscuits.

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