Detecting Complements and Adjuncts

1. Detecting Complements and Adjuncts Rajat Kumar Mohanty Center for Indian Language Technology IIT Bombay

2. Outline • X-bar Theory Revisited • Complement and Adjuncts within an NP • Detecting Complements and Adjuncts • Structural Ambiguity • Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases • Reordering of Adjuncts • Co-ordination • Extraposition • Preposing • Co-occurrence Restrictions • Generalization • Exercises CFILT

3. X-bar Theory • It tells us how words are combined to make phrases and sentences. • It captures the commonality between different types of phrases, which PS-rules cannot. CFILT

4. X-bar Projection XP (Maximal projection) (Intermediate projection) X ` YP X (Minimal projection) ZP CFILT

5. X-bar Projection XP (X-phrase) YP (Specifier) X ` X (Head) ZP (Complement) CFILT

6. X-bar Projection XP X ` YP (Specifier) X ` ZP (Adjunct) (Head) ZP (Complement) X CFILT

7. X-bar Projection NP N ` NPspecifier John’s Nhead PPcomplement solution to the problem CFILT

8. X-bar Projection NP N ` Detspecifier the PPadjunct N ` in the cabinet meeting PPcomplement Nhead of the cricket match discussion CFILT

9. Complement and Adjuncts within an NP NP N ` Detspecifier a PPadjunct N ` with long hair PPcomplement Nhead student of NLP CFILT

10. Structural Ambiguity in an NP • A student [of high moral principles] • Is there any ambiguity in this NP ? • a person who studies high moral principles • a student who has high moral principles • This ambiguity can be characterized in structural terms CFILT

11. a person who studies high moral principles NP N ` Detspecifier a PPcomplement Nhead of high moral principles student CFILT

12. a student who has high moral principles NP N ` Detspecifier a PPadjunct N ` of moral principles Nhead student CFILT

13. Examples • Arguments [with John] are often pointless. (???) • Arguments [with few premises] are often pointless. (???) • Arguments [with John] [with few premises] are often pointless. • *Arguments [with few premises] [with John] are often pointless. CFILT

14. Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases • The complement must precede an adjunct. • Rules • NP N’ (PP) adjunct rule • N’ N (PP) complement rule • Examples • a student [of Physics] [with long hair] • * a student [with long hair] [of Physics] CFILT

15. Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases • Adjunct rules are recursive. • A complement rule is not recursive, i.e., it can apply only once. • Examples • a student [with long hair] [with short arms] • * a student [of Physics] [of Chemistry] CFILT

16. Reordering of Adjuncts • Unlike complements which have to precede adjuncts, adjuncts can be freely reordered with respect to each other. • a student [with long hair] [with short arms] • a student [with short arms] [with long hair] CFILT

17. Co-ordination • Complements can be co-ordinated with other complements. • a student [of linguistics] and [of Computer Science] • Adjuncts can be co-ordinated with other adjuncts. • a student [with short arms] and [with long hair] • But adjunct PPs and complements PPs cannot be co-ordinated. • * a student [of Physics] and [with short arms] • * a student [with short arms] and [of Physics] CFILT

18. Extraposition • Adjuncts are less tightly bound to the head noun than complements. • It is possible to extrapose adjuncts PPs but not possible to extrapose complement PPs. • Examples • A student [with long hair] came to see me yesterday. • ? A student came to see me yesterday [with long hair]. • * A student came to see me yesterday [of Physics]. CFILT

19. Preposing • Complements and Adjuncts behave differently with respect to preposing. • Examples • [What branch of linguistics] is John a student of? • * [What kind of hair] is John a student with? • Note that Complements and Adjuncts go in opposite directions with respect to Extraposition and Preposing. • Heads are more closely related to their complements than to their adjuncts. CFILT

20. Co-occurrenceRestrictions • Heads place significant restrictions (i.e. , subcategorisation) on what can appear as their complement. • a student of NLP • * a boy of NLP • * a girl of NLP • * a teenager of NLP • No similar restrictions are imposed on adjuncts. • a student with long hair • a boy with long hair • a girl with long hair • a teenager with long hair CFILT

21. Generalization • Heads are more closely related to their complements than to their adjuncts. • Subcategorisation restrictions hold only between a head and its complement, not between a head and its adjuncts. CFILT

22. Exercise-I • Identify the complements and adjuncts in the following NPs: • your reply [to my letter] • the attack [on Starr] • the loss [of the ship] • John’s disgust [at Mary’s behavior] • his disillusionment [with life] • the book [on the table] • the advertisement [on the television] • the fight [after the match] • his resignation [because of the scandal] • a cup [with a broken handle] CFILT

23. Exercise-II • Provide trees for the bracketed NPs in the following sentences: • I met [a specialist in fibreoptics from Japan]. • [The journey from Mumbai to Delhi on the Christmas Day] was tiring. • [The discussion of the riots in the bar] was full and frank. • [The solution to the problem given by John] is better than the solution given by Mary. • [The solution to last week’s quiz on page 20] is a better one. CFILT

24. Sources and Suggested Readings • Introduction to Government and Binding Theory, 2nd edn., Liliane Haegeman, Blackwell, 1994. • Syntactic Structures Revisited, Howard Lasnik, MIT Press, 2000. • Bhatt, R. 2003. Introduction to Syntax. • Principles and Parameters, Peter Culicover, Oxford, 1997. CFILT

25. THANK YOU CFILT