STRUCTURE

1. STRUCTURE • Syntactic structure is analyzed by means of how words combine together to form phrases and sentences. • Merger operations are operations that combine pairs of constituents to form larger units. PHRASES Each phrase has a HEAD as well as at least one complement: VP: [VP[Vhelp[ [PRNyou]] VP V PRN help you

2. The HEAD determines the syntactic and semantic properties of the entire Phrase. • The verb help requires a complement with accusative case, as it is a transitive verb. • Each category is represented by a single labeled node in the tree diagram. • In general, all phrases are formed in essentially the same way; i.e., by binary merger operation which combines 2 constituents together to form a larger constituent.

3. A. What was your intention? B. To help you • This TP is formed by merging the infinitive marker to with the verb phrase help you; the head of the entire phrase is to; help you is a projection of the head to • Different words have different subcategorizations or selectional properties, so that ought selects for an infinitive phrase as its complement

4. VP V TP trying T VP to V PRN help you An interesting property of syntactic structures is recursion, whereby a given structure is allowed to contain more than one instance of a given category

5. Since the linguist’s goal in developing a theory of UG is to attempt to establish universal principles governing the nature of linguistic structure, it is important to determine general principles of constituent structure which might be abstracted from actual sentences. • As a result of such an analysis, we are able to propose structure principles: 1. Headedness Principle: every syntactic structure is a projection of a head word. 2. Binary Principle: every syntactic structure is binary-branching

6. Establishing such principles: 1. Reduces the range of alternatives which children have to choose between when trying to determine the structure of a given kind of expression (i.e., we are able to develop a more constrained theory of syntax). 2. Binary Principles apply not only to the syntax but also to phonological structure (e.g., a syllable such as bat is made up of two constituents, an onset, b, and a Rhyme, which in turn is made up of two constituents, a nucleus, a, and a coda, t) and to morphological structure (e.g., in a words such as unhappily, un- attaches to happy and then -ly attaches to unhappy), and this binary principle applies to all natural languages.

7. CLAUSES In order to comply to the Binary principle, we assume that any clause is formed by merging two constituents at a time: TP PRN T’ We T VP are V TP trying T VP to V PRN help you

8. When we merge a tense auxiliary, T, with a verb phrase, VP, we form an intermediate projection denoted as T’, and only when we merge the relevant T’ constituent with a subject do we form a maximal projection or a more complete TP. • Chomsky (1982) proposes that auxiliaries have two projections as a result of what he refers to as the Extended Projection Principle: A finite tense constituent T must be extended into a TP projection containing a subject In other words, all finite auxiliaries must have a subject. This is a purely syntactic requirement, as shown in the following examples: It is illegal to buy drugs. There has been some trouble. These pronouns are referred to as expletives, as they do not enclose any semantic content. The subject of any finite clause is referred to as the specifier (Spec).

9. COMPLEMENTIZER PHRASES Complementizers like that, for, and if/whether introduce complementizer phrases. The head of the complementizer phrase (CP) is said to be the complementizer itself. C then merges with a TP to form a CP, and the complementizer itself constitutes the head of the XP.

10. CP C TP that PRN T’ we T VP are V TP trying T VP to V PRN help you

11. Testing Structure • Coordination: [fond of cats] and [afraid of dogs] [slowly] but [surely] [to go] or [to stay] run[up the hill] and [down the mountain] No at any strings of words can be coordinated: *ring [up the phone company] and [up the electricity company] *the [chairman has resigned from the board] and [company has replaced him] Two strings of words can only be coordinated if both are constituents and, more precisely, if both are constituents of the same type.

12. Substitution: if a string of words can be replaced by (or serve as antecedent of) a single word. • The chairman has resigned from the board, and he is now working for a rival company. • The press say that the chairman has resigned from the board, and so he has. • If the managing director says the chairman has resigned from the board, he must have done so. • If the chairman has resigned from the board (which you say he has), how come his car is still in the company car garage?

13. Preposing: moving one constituent in order to highlight its semantic content in some way. • The press said that the chairman would resign from the board, and resigned from the board he has. • I will certainly try to give up smoking Give up smoking, I will certainly try to *To give up smoking I will certainly try In the last example, it appears as though the semantic content in to is lacking and hence, it is an unsuitable candidate for highlighting. This leads to a new Principle, namely: The smallest possible maximal projection is moved which contains the highlighted material.

14. Similarly, examples such as the one below lead to another Principle, the Functional Head Constraint: The complement of a certain type of functional head F (such as a determiner or complementizer) cannot be moved on its own (without also moving F) Nobody had expected that [the King of the FBA] would assassinate the king of Ruritania. *King of Ruritania, nobody had expected that the FBA would assassinate the.

15. here • Overall, a tree diagram provides a visual representation of the constituent structure of a given expression. • Each node in the tree represents a different constituent of the sentence; hence, there are as many different constituents in a given phrase as there are nodes carrying category labels. • Nodes at the very bottom of the tree are called terminal nodes; other nodes are non-terminal nodes. The top-most node in any tree structure is the root, and each node in the tree carries a single lexical item.

16. Tree structures represent containment relationships: in the tree diagram below, we can say that A is the mother of B and E (and conversely B and E are daughters of A); B is the mother of C and D; E is the mother of F and G, and G is the mother of H and J. Likewise, B and E are sisters, as are C and D, F and G, and H and J. A B E C D F G H J

17. A particular syntactic relation is that of c-command, which constitutes a useful way to determine the relative position of two different constituents within the same tree: A constituent X c-commands its sister constituent Y and any constituent Z which is contained within Y. How does c-command apply in the previous tree structure?

18. C-command applies very clearly in anaphors, which include reflexives (himself/herself) and reciprocals (each other/one another): • These entities must be bound (c-commanded) by an appropriate antecedent (i.e., one within the same Phrase or Sentence): He must be proud of himself The President may blame himself *She must be proud of himself *Himself must be proud of you *Supporters of the President may blame himself Draw tree structures for the first and last sentences and notice how c-command works

19. hmk • Draw tree structures for the following sentences: • He has become fond of Mary • She must be pleased to see you • He may need to ask for help • They are expecting to hear from you • You should try to talk to the President • Inflation is threatening to undermine the growth of the economy • He may refuse to admit that he was defrauding the company