Syntax

1. Syntax LING 001 - October 11, 2006 Joshua Tauberer

2. How can the words of a language be put together? Syntax

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

6. Sentence or Word Salad? ✓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

7. Sentence or Word Salad? • 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?

8. What’s a valid sentence? • verb • noun verb • noun verb noun

9. What’s a valid sentence? • verb Leave! • noun verb I ate. • noun verb noun Students like linguistics.

10. What’s a valid sentence? • 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...

11. What’s not a sentence? • *noun • *noun noun verb verb determiner • *noun adjective det det noun adjective verb

12. What’s a valid sentence? • 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).

13. Two Models of Syntax • Words as Building Blocks • Constituent Structure

14. S prep verb verb verb noun prep adj Words as Building Blocks • A model of syntax: (loosely based on Tree Adjoining Grammar)The mind’s vocabulary comprises a set (lexicon) of special domino-puzzle pieces.

15. S ate Bill cake Words as Building Blocks the mechanical system • 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. read words from left to right (actually “infix order”)

16. S ate Bill cake some Words as Building Blocks

17. ate S from store Bill cake the Words as Building Blocks

18. ate S from store Bill cake the Words as Building Blocks

19. ate S from store Bill cake the Words as Building Blocks

20. ate S from cake store Bill the Words as Building Blocks

21. ate S from Bill cake store the Words as Building Blocks

22. ate S from Bill cake store the Words as Building Blocks

23. S ate Bill cake Words as Building Blocks • The way the pieces connect tell us how the words are related. • The organization of pieces tells us about the meaning.

24. S S likes likes John Mary Mary John Words as Building Blocks • The organization of pieces tells us about the meaning. This bump isfor the object. This bump isfor the subject.

25. S with with saw I man a a tele-scope • How many ways are there two assemble the pieces to make the sentence?

26. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope Prepositional Phrase Attachment

27. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order”

28. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order”

29. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order”

30. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I

31. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw

32. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw

33. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw

34. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a

35. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man

36. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man

37. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man

38. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man with

39. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man with a

40. S S with with saw saw man I man I a a a a tele-scope tele-scope “Infix Order” I saw a man with a telescope

41. Garden Path Sentences The horse raced past the barn fell. • Grammatical?

42. 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.

43. raced S fell past raced horse barn the the Garden Path Sentences ?

44. raced S fell past raced horse barn the the Garden Path Sentences

45. S fell past raced horse barn the the Garden Path Sentences

46. S fell past raced horse barn the the Garden Path Sentences

47. the S fell past raced horse barn the Garden Path Sentences

48. fell the S past raced horse barn the Garden Path Sentences The horse (that was) raced past the barn fell. The yellow ‘raced’ piece is used for relative clauses.

49. 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.

50. 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