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Lecture Four: X’-theory

Lecture Four: X’-theory. Ian Roberts. The story so far:. Syntactic theory provides structural descriptions of sentences (labelled bracketings, tree diagrams) in terms of categories and constituents

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Lecture Four: X’-theory

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  1. Lecture Four: X’-theory Ian Roberts Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  2. The story so far: • Syntactic theory provides structural descriptions of sentences (labelled bracketings, tree diagrams) in terms of categories and constituents • PS-rules specify all and only the grammatical structures (well-formed structural descriptions) of a language • PS-rules can be recursive, and thereby specify an infinite set of well-formed structural descriptions • Constituency tests can be used to show which structural descriptions are correct • Today we will make a significant refinement to the system of PS-rules. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  3. Some PS-rules of English: a. NP  (D) N (PP) [NP [Dthe ] [N picture ] [PP[Pof ] [NP [NJohn ]]]] b. AP  (Mod) A (PP) [AP [Modvery ] [Aangry ] [PP [Pwith ] [NP [NJohn ]]]] c. PP  (Mod) P NP [PP [Modjust ] [P beyond ] [NP [Dthe ][N frontier ]]] d. VP  (AdvP) V NP [VP [AdvPreally] [Venjoy ] [NP [Dthe ][N movie ]]] Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  4. Some impossible PS-rules: • NP  V AP • PP  N V c. AP  V NP Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  5. A generalisation over attested PS-rules XP  (highly optional stuff) X (fairly optional stuff) In fact, the stuff following X depends on the lexical entry of X. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  6. Some sample lexical entries buy(V) ___ NP So: VP  V NP rely(V) ___ PP So: VP  V PP put(V) ___ NP PP So: VP  V NP PP say(V) ___ CP So: VP  V CP • The material following X is known as the complement of X; that preceding it as the Specifier of X (the Determiner “specifies” something about the Noun; the modifier “specifies” something about the A/P, etc.). Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  7. Collapsing the PS-rules into the X’ schema a. XP  Spec X’ b. X’  X complement -- here X is a categorial variable whose possible values are one of N, V, A, P. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  8. In tree format XP ru YP X’ ru X ZP • structurally, therefore, a complement = the sister of a head, while a specifier = the sister of the head + complement structure (X’) → different levels of syntactic “closeness” are structurally represented Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  9. Evidence for X’ from coordination a. the [ pictures of John ] and [ books about Mary ] b. very [ angry with John ] and [ worried about Mary ] c. just [ beyond the frontier ] and [ down the road ] d. really [ enjoy the movie ] and [ dislike the book ] Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  10. 3-level structure: • head (X) • head (X) + its complement = X’ • [X’ head (X) + its complement] + specifier = XP Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  11. Some terminology: • X’ is an intermediate projection between the head (X) and its maximal projection (XP) • depending on the information in the lexical entry, the complement may, like the Specifier, not be generated: smile(V) ___ (so V’  V) • X-Bar Theory is nevertheless meant to operate in a “blind” fashion as far as its hierarchical structure is concerned: although complements and specifiers are generated depending on lexical considerations, it is always essential that X be dominated by X’ and that X’ be dominated by XP – cf. the X-Bar representation of Liz (strictly speaking; textbooks generally don’t bother to fill in all the redundant structure, but this is theoretically important) Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  12. NP | N’   | N Liz Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  13. Extension to functional categories a. John will/can/should/would/won’t/doesn’t talk to Mary. b. John has/hasn’t left. c. John is/isn’t leaving. -- evidence for an Aux position in English sentences, which is distinct from VP. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  14. VP-fronting a. We expected John (not) to talk to Mary, and [VP talk to Mary ], John will/can/should/would/won’t/doesn’t t. b. We thought John leave, and [VP left ] he has t /[VP leaving ] he is t. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  15. VP-proform (do so) • Angela will [VP finish the race in under an hour] and Michael will do so too. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  16. Elision Richard has [VP entered the competition] → I know he has [ ] Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  17. S → NP (Aux) VP Is Aux really optional? What (grammatical) information does it contain? Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  18. a. Michelle has finished her paper → I know she has [ ] b. Richard has entered the competition → I know he has [ ] Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  19. Tag questions • Aux and subject of the main clause, confirming it’s true: a. So her work is finished, is it? b. So he has entered the competition, has he? Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  20. Do • If no auxiliary is present in the main clause, do appears: a. Michelle finished her paper.  I know she did [ ]. b. Richard entered the competition.  I know he did [ ]. c. So she finished her work, did she? d. So he entered the competition, did he? Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  21. Aux always expresses at least tense and agreement with the subject • The appearance of do where the verb is deleted implies that tense and agreement (i.e. Aux) must always be expressed. If there is no verb or auxiliary independently available, do shows up. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  22. S  NP Aux VP • doesn’t fit the X’-schema, but there is evidence from coordination for an intermediate-level category: John [ should talk to this man ] and [ will then act on the consequences ]. Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  23. S  NP ?? ??  Aux VP • -- What category is this? Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  24. AuxP AuxP ru NP Aux’ • he ru • Aux VP • should ru • V PP • talk ru • P NP • to ru • D N • this man Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  25. What about when there is no auxiliary? • There is still a tense. So we rechristen AuxP as TP (better for other languages, as nearly all languages have tense but not all languages have auxiliaries). Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  26. TP TP ru • NP T’ • heru • T VP • should r u • V PP • talk r u • P NP • to ru • D N • this man Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  27. What about CP? • We can treat complementisers as heads, so we have: • C’  C TP Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  28. CP (John said) CP | C’ ru C TP that ru NP T’ he ru T VP should ru V PP talk ru P NP to Mary Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  29. “Sluicing” and the Specifier of CP John knew he had to talk to one of the students, but he couldn’t remember [CP which one ([TP he should talk to]) Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

  30. (He couldn’t remember) CP ru NP C’ which oneru ru C TP ru NP T’ he ru T VP should ru V PP talk ru P NP to t - note the wh-movement here Roberts, Structure, Mich 2010, Lecture 4

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