Syntax by Arnoldo Adolfo Carcamo Ramirez

The Syntax

cr20109 — 2024-05-14 03:57:50 UTC

It is about how words are put together in a sentence. It's like the grammar rules that determine the order and structure of words in a language. The word 'syntax' comes from Greek and means 'arrangement.' More recent attempts to analyze structure have focused on the underlying rule system we use to produce or “generate” sentences.

Syntactic rules

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This means we want to ensure we're considering all the right sentences and phrases, nothing more and nothing less. This helps us create rules that only generate correct sentences, not incorrect ones.

Generative Grammar

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 14:50:11 UTC

Generative grammar is a set of rules to define possible sentences in a language.

Deep and Surface Structure.

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 14:52:50 UTC

It refer to the ways sentences are structured in language, but they differ in their appearance on the surface level. In other words, they have different syntactic forms when written or spoken as English sentences

Structural ambiguity

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It is when a sentence can be interpreted in two or more ways.

Syntactic analysis

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involves using abbreviations to identify different parts of speech within a sentence. For example, "V" might stand for a verb, while "VP" could represent a verbal phrase.

Phrase structure rules.

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 14:57:40 UTC

Define how phrases of a certain type are structured, specifying that they consist of one or more constituents arranged in a specific order.

Lexical rules

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:00:08 UTC

Determine which words are allowed when we replace constituents, like proper nouns (PN), within a sentence.

Tree diagrams.

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Helps in visually representing how each part fits into the underlying structure of phrases.

Tree Diagrams of English Sentences

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Just Scratching the Surface

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Indicates that there is still much more to discover and understand in depth.

1. What was the original literal meaning of syntax in Greek?

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A putting together or arrangement

2. What is wrong with the following rule of English syntactic structure?

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:14:57 UTC

This rule will produce both grammatical structures ("with Juana"), but also ungrammatical structures (*"with woman") The rule can be improved by replacing "noun" with "noun phrase" to be able to generate both "with Juana" and "with a woman."

3. Which of the following expressions are structurally ambiguous and in what way?

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(a) These are designed for small boys and girls.

(For small boys and (all) girls)

(b) The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside.

The parents of the bride and (the parents of the) groom also (The parents of the bride and (the) groom (without his parents)

(Has a four legs) also (only one foot)

(d) We met an English history teacher.

A teacher of English history also (a person from England who teaches history.)

4. What part of speech is lovely in the following sentence?

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We saw a lovely rainbow yesterday.

Adjective

5 -How many noun phrases are there in the following sentence?

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George saw a small dog in the park near the fountain and it followed him when he left the park.

There are 8 noun phrases.

1. George

2. a small dog

3. the park

4. the fountain

5. it

6. him

7. the park

8. the park

6 -Which part of the following sentence is the VP?

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:22:48 UTC

None of the people in the building supported the proposed rent increase.

supported the proposed rent increase

7- Which of the following expressions would be generated by this phrase structure rule: NP→ {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN}?

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:23:54 UTC

(a) a lady

(b) the little girl

(d) Annie

(e) the widow

(f) she’s an old woman

(a), (b), (c), (d), (e)

8 -What kind of generative rule is this: N → {girl, dog, boy}?

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:28:52 UTC

Lexical rule

9- Do phrase structure rules represent deep structure or surface structure?

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Deep structure

10- Complete the following tree diagrams.

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Answer

cr20109 — 2024-05-15 15:34:42 UTC