File 5 - Syntax

What are examples of auxiliary verbs

*will* go *have* seen *should* run *must* leave *is* swimming

In the sentence, "Sally is fond of parties" what is the argument

- The argument is parties - Without the phrase of "parties" the sentence is ungrammatical

What is syntactic distribution

- The expressions can occur in the same syntactic environment

Examples of adverbs modifying adjectives

- Very clever - Extremely clever - Unusually hot

What is SVO

- the word order in English - Subject, verb, object

What are examples of distransitive verbs

Give, send

When words and phrases form a sentence according to the syntactic rules, such sentence is what:

Is grammatical or syntactically well-formed

Examples of determiners - possessives

My Your His Her

What is the abbreviation for the word order in English

SVO

Sally sleeps Sally travelled to France Sally put the book on the desk In these sentences, identify the verb phrases

Sally *sleeps* Sally *travelled to France* Sally *put the book on the desk*

*usually* sleep read *carefully* What are the bold vs. not bold words

bold (usually, carefully) are adverbs not bold (sleep, read) are verbs

Sally liked her cat Sally devoured an apple - liked and devoured are examples of what kinds of verbs

transitive

TV =

transitive verb

Examples of adjectives

- A *tall* man - A *cool* day - A *wonderful* trip

Syntax is a component of mental grammar that deals with what

- A component of mental grammar that deals with a system of rules and categories for constructing sentences

A noun usually has a _____ and can be modified by a ____

- A noun usually has a *determiner* and can be modified by an *adjective*

Co-occurrence involves what two main things?

- Arguments - Complements - expressions required (because of other expressions) to make the sentence grammatical

What are the different categories of determiners (3)

- Articles - Quantifiers - Possessives

What is an example of agreement in a sentence

- In he wants this book, "he" is singular and it agrees with wants (as indicated by the s) - He want this book wouldn't be grammatical

Who answered the questions: why are some expressions grammatical and some are not? What makes them grammatical?

- In the 1950s Noam Chomsky proposed and developed a particular approach to the study of syntac - generative grammar

In the sentence, "Jill likes Jack" which is the argument?

- Jack is the argument because it completes the sentence and makes it syntactically well-formed and grammatical - If there wasn't an argument (no Jack) the sentence would be ill-formed / ungrammatical

What are the major syntactic categories in English (6) and their abbreviations

- Nouns: N - Verbs: V - Adjectives: Adj - Adverbs: Adv - Prepositions: P - Determiners: Det

What is rule-governed creativity

- Says that the syntactic component is both creative and systematic (rule-governed) - Speakers of a language are able to combine words in novel ways, creating sentences they have never heard or seen before. This will be done in accordance with syntactic rules, restrictions, and syntactic properties

What is generative grammar

- Something that Noam Chomsky proposed in the 1950s that attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences

The syntactic property of agreement says what?

- That the subject and verb, determiner and noun, etc. must agree

The answer to the questions of: Why are some expressions grammatical and some are not? What makes them grammatical or ungrammatical? Has to do with what?

- With: word order, co-occurrence, and agreement

What is co-occurence

- many expressions have co-occurrence requirements where certain expressions are required because of other expressions

What are arguments

- syntactically required expressions - a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a verb

If someone has syntactic knowledge, they will be able to understand and do what (3)

- they will be able to understand & produce an infinite number of sentences they have never heard before - with our grammar we can understand and produce long sentences - determine the grammatical relation in a sentence

A cat Many kisses Few men Several sheep A small cat Many exciting kissing Few clever men Several bored sheep Are examples of what

Noun phrases

My and your are what

Possessive determiners

Some, a , the, few are examples of what

Quantification determiners

DTV =

distransitive verb

Sally sleeps - sleeps is an example of what kind of verb

intransitive

What are examples of quantification determiners

some, a, the, few

What modifies a noun

Adjective

Definition of syntax =

The part of linguistics that studies sentence structure

"A" & "The" are examples of what

Determiners - articles

What are the 3 main syntactic properties

1. Word order 2. Co-occurrence 3. Agreement

Examples of determiner - articles

A The

"My, your, his, her" are examples of what

Determiners - possessives

"Many, any, all, several" are examples of what

Determiners - quantifiers

What comes before a noun (other than proper nouns)

A determiner

____ usually has a determiner and can be modified by an adjective

A noun

A sentential complement verb requires what

A sentential complement

What requires a sentential complement

A sentential complement verb

What are syntactic categories

A set of expressions with very similar syntactic properties - approximately the same word order and co-occurrence requirements

What kind of verb requires a noun phrase complement

A transitive verb

What is an intransitive verb

A verb that does not require a complement

What is a transitive verb

A verb that requires a noun phrase complement

What is a distransitive verb

A verb that requires two noun phrase complements

Saying he want this book isn't grammatical is an example of what

Agreement

"She like this books" is ungrammatical because of what

Agreement - It should be "she likes these books" or "she likes this book"

Very is considered to be what part of speech

An adverb

What can modify an adjective

An adverb

- syntactically required expressions - a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a verb Is what?

Arguments

Where do determiners occur in a phrase or sentence

Before nouns

What are examples of sentential complement verbs

Believe, say

Arguments and complements are part of what main category?

Co-occurence

"The children are fond of" is ungrammatical because of what

Co-occurence - Co-occurrence requirements are violated because 'of' needs an argument of some kind as in "the children are fond of ice cream"

"Sally bought computer" is ungrammatical because of what

Co-occurence - Co-occurrence requirements are violated since computer needs a determiner of some kind such as "a computer"

Non-subject arguments are called what

Complements

This and that are what

Demonstrative determiners

Articles, quantifiers, and possessives are all examples of what

Determiners

What kind of verb requires two noun phrase complements

Distransitive verbs

The word syntax originated from what

From Greek syntaxis: syn (together) + taxis (arrangement)

Noam Chomsky attempted to answer questions of why some expressions are grammatical and some are not and he talks about something that attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences This is called what

Generative grammar

In "I want these books" what is the word order? Is this well-formed/grammatical?

I (subject) want (verb) these books (object) - yes, this follows SVO and is well-formed and grammatical

- I want these books = example of ____ - Want these I books = example of ____

I want these books = grammatical or syntactically well-formed Want these I books = ungrammatical or syntactically ill-formed

Examples of prepositions

In On About With At To Of Under

Will any combinations of words form a sentence? Why or why not?

No, not any combination of words will form a sentence - this is because of rule-governed creativity and although speakers can create new sentences, those sentences must be done in accordance to the rules, restrictions, and syntactic properties

Do other languages have the same word order as English? This makes the classification of word order ____

No, they dont - Turkish is SOV - Arabic is VSO - The classification is relative

What are complements

Non-subject arguments

Nouns create what

Noun phrase(s)

What kind of verb does not require a complement

Intransitive verb

When words and phrases do not form a sentence according to the syntactic rules, such sentence is what:

Is ungrammatical or syntactically ill-formed

Examples of determiners - quantifiers

Many Any All Several

What is an example of having syntactic knowledge and being able to use that to determine the grammatical relations in a sentence

Mary hired Bill vs Bill hired Mary

What do adjectives do

Modify a noun

Examples of possessive determiners

My, your

Determiner + N =

NP

The fact that syntax both allows a speaker to combine words in new ways and create sentences that they have never heard before but that they must do this in accordance to the rules, restrictions, and properties. This is called what

Rule-governed creativity

The fact that syntax is both creative and systematic =

Rule-governed creativity

What is an example of a sentence with an intransitive verb

Sally sleeps - sleeps is an intransitive verb because it does not require a complement

SV =

Sentential complement verb

English has what word order

Subject --> Verb --> Object (SVO)

A set of expressions with similar syntactic properties - approx. the same word order and co-occurrence requirements is called what

Syntactic categories

The expressions that occur in the same syntactic environment =

Syntactic distribution

Word order, co-occurrence, and agreement are all part of what

Syntactic properties

Examples of demonstrative determiners

This, that

____ can combine with an auxiliary and can be modified by an adverb

Verbs

Adverbs can modify what

Verbs - Ran quickly Adjective "unusually hot" Other adverbs "very quickly"

Verbs can combine with _____ and can be modified by ____

Verbs can combine with an *auxiliary verb* and can be modified by *an adverb*

What can very modify

Very can modify an adverb or adjective "very fast" "very quickly" but cannot modify a verb

When does verb phrase result in a sentence

When combined with a noun phrase on the left

Nouns usually have a determiner, when do they not

When it is a proper noun

A sentence is grammatical or syntactically well formed when it what

When it is formed according to the syntactic rules

A sentence is ungrammatical or syntactically-ill formed when what

When the sentences are not formed according to the syntactic rules

What is grammaticality

When words and phrases form a sentence according to the syntactic rules, such sentence is grammatical or syntactically well formed

"Drink cows water" is ungrammatical because of what

Word order - if you switch the order around you would get "cows drink water" which is grammatically correct